One of our members, Philip Fass, has made a suggestion via email about the
viability of a dedicated forum for operators who do it all themselves -- in other words,
one-person crews. From Philip: "...a place to share suggestions for people who have
to do everything themselves...running the camera, lights, mics, mixer, etc. Lots of
unique challenges that need innovative solutions."

The idea here is to seek alternative answers to the standard reply of "just hire an
audio person," which we get a lot around here but isn't always do-able. Thoughts?

Makes sense. Start it.....

Sounds like a very good idea to me. Bearing in mind it's perfectly possible for one person to operate alone with compact but still excellent equipment any suggestions and recommendations would be useful.

Most of my work for the past 20 years has been one-man-band from news to industiral and I still find myself finding and learning better ways to do stuff. That and the equipment use to weigh a lot more.... I think its a good idea.

i'd love a forum for one man crews. almost all my work is done alone. sharing tips would be fantastic

I chip in wholeheartedly.

Great idea! A one man band forum would be sweet!

Do we have any existing discussion threads that would qualify for such a forum?

I'd suss them out myself, but am currently neck-deep in newsletter prep...

philip-

thank you for making a suggestion i thoroughly support and would look to as a resource.

chris-

thank you for being open to suggestions that make dvinfo.net a site that only gets better and better.

be well

rob
smalltalk productions

Yup. I'm up for it as well!

My 2 cents, no need for a separate forum. Just mention that you're a 1-person crew in your post.

With a separate 1-person forum, I think people will feel the need to duplicate the same posts in multiple forums Here's a quick thought experiment - imagine you're a 1-person crew who needs advice on microphones. Would you be satisfied with just posting in the 1-person crew forum? Wouldn't you also want to post in the audio forum ... just to be safe? And wouldn't you rather just post in the audio forum anyway, since you might get advice you didn't get in the 1-person forum? Apply that same experiment to advice on lighting, editing, cameras, weddings etc. and I think there will be a lot of unnecessary duplicate posts.

With the current setup, a single post in the right forum keeps the process practical and the answers more effective.

I'm tending towards Michaels' view.

If anyone can give me an example of something a 1 man band would ONLY find in such a thread, as opposed to the numerous distinctly seperate components of such work as are liberally spread throughout DVinfo, I could be persuaded, but it would need to be real good.

The possibilities for the "belt and braces" approach by posters seems high to me as well.


CS

From my experience on the Panasonic3CCDuser site, too many sub forums makes it hard for visitors, and we found the majority only have limited time on the boards .. and this was before Facebook and Twitter.

New camera owners study 'NEW POSTS' in general and evaluate the quality of, not only the information but the general attitude and promptness of the members with their replies.

If they 'like' what they read, they'll come back a few times .. then maybe join up, otherwise we're all only talking to ourselves.

The wedding sub forum is the one that works very well, from all points of view.

Cheers.

MIchael, to use your example. If I wanted advice on the best $1000 shotgun microphone for outdoor shooting in exteme weather, I'd post in the audio forum. If I wanted to know how single shooters have used the microphone in a shoot when they don't have a "sound guy" I'd post in the new forum. (If I were King, the rule would be, no answers of "hire someone" or "don't even try it." It's all about being resourceful and self-reliant.)

Just a suggestion based on my own needs. At least a few others seem to want it, too.

I'm very much into the one-person crew thing. I'm right now planning a shoot where I am both crew and cast: where I carry and or operate camera and sound equipment while acting.
However, when I look for information, I'm going to be looking all over dvinfo. So, when I want audio info, I'll go to the audio forum, and look at the appropriate threads. If I need info on one-person-crew-and-cast audio situations, then I would prefer to join in or start such a thread in the audio forum, as against going over to the one-person-crew-and-cast forum [ if or when Chris starts one! ]. I will look in the various forums because that is where the people with experience and expertise post.

If it helps any, a recent survey on the Wedding Forum showed that the overall majority of us wedding videographers tend to shoot solo and only now and gain use an assistant so most topics in the wedding forum are already from one person crews.

However there could be considerable benefit for other shooters especially indie shooters who often will, as already said, film and act in their own movie!!!

Chris

In Sydney, TV stations are now sending out a number of SPC's (single Person crews) to cover basic media releases. Audio is usually just line out from a desk.
I did see a funny scenario from a well-known sports channel that sent out a SPC to work with a presenter, and who decided to also use a reflector. So, locked off the shot, checked the levels, ran around to the side and bounced in the light. Run back, cut and check shot. Do again for safety....very funny.

I think a virtual member map might be useful. A member could insert a diiferent color symbol (say a star for legal businesses a dot for others) where they are located on a zoomable map. mouse over the star and get the public information / gear / experience etc on that person or entity. Blue symbol cinema, gold TV, red journalism, white still. Big project, just a thought from the many times people are looking for help and would promote DV members and their businesses.

OK, given the unique nature of the topic it might not be a bad idea.

This is a great idea. There are things you do as one-person crew that specific to one man bands.

I solo most things. But I can cull information from a post that just has "information" in. I thought it sounded great at first, but what if we try to just ask a question in a "normal" thread and simply tag it "One Person Crew Rules In Effect"...or something like that.

SPC: See Title above

Bet that works for now, though if there were an SPC forum I'd use it...

.02

As far as I know there isn't such a forum anywhere else. If I'm wrong, I'd love to know where to find it. I think its a fantastic idea with great potential.

I appreciate what some have said about the possibility of duplicate posts but as far as I'm concerned, the benefit of having such posts in one place would outweigh this. Some clearly posted ground rules on using the forum would probably help with that and yes, the moderators would still probably need to keep a close eye, at least to begin with.

As someone on some dvinfo forum said, "its about learning the art of acceptable compromise". No one likes to admit there is any kind of compromise in their work but then there's reality, especially in uncontrolled shooting environments.

One of the bigger things I deal with in shooting both documentary and live events is anticipating what I'll need without lugging around too much gear (and often having them in places where they might get a little help in walking away). When shooting situations are frequently so different, its very easy to bring too much, too little or just the right amount but not quite the right stuff. No crystal balls out there I'm sure, but we all pick up little things along the way that the next person would never think of.

Jase, I really appreciate your last paragraph, especially since I've gotten to an age where "lugging" is one of the biggest challenges. Another thing I try to do is get the best things for my needs, even if they cost a bit more, because they often seem to do some of the work for me, and prevent excessive worry.

perhaps a smiley that indicates "one man band"
graphics people get to it !

I have to echo the one or two members that spoke on "duplicate" information in threads. I can't quite put my finger on it, probably because I'm sitting at work, but I don't see a great benefit. It is a good idea, but I think tagging the post as SPC or something like mentioned above would be just as effective. Or even if there was a sticky about One Person Shooting that answered basic questions like "how much gear to bring" and "am I responsible for audio if I'm the video guy?" I understand that some info is specific to the single person crews, but I think so much more is the same. The goal is always to be prepared and to effectively get the job done.

Currently, I'm solo on 80% - 85% of my gigs.

JS

i think it's great idea

I think it would be very interesting. I am doing Indie Docs as a one person crew.

Everything I usually ever do is only me so I support very strongly having this kind of "one man show" forum area.

I see it going to be more and more necessary in the future as well.

This suggestion for a thread/forum on one-person crews is a good idea.

As far as I know there isn't such a forum anywhere else. If I'm wrong, I'd love to know where to find it. I think its a fantastic idea with great potential.

I appreciate what some have said about the possibility of duplicate posts but as far as I'm concerned, the benefit of having such posts in one place would outweigh this.

So true.

I reckon DVINFO would benefit by having a forum for one person crews. As mentioned above it would be the only one on the internet, so this should draw new users into the network here; which can only be a good thing.

I would love a forum totally dedicated to the One Man Person Crew approach. In fact I think that the technology has evolved so much in the last few years, that a forum dedicated to exploring technologies, challenges and opportunities of a "light" way of production would be filling a real need in the market.
I dream of a forum where we could explore the cheapest and smartest and most efficient ways to produce quality material putting content and storytelling first. You Tube and the likes are open to anyone and the revolution has just started and will required a totally different mindset, this is why I would rather see a new forum than just a thread on this one, yet I am convince that nobody can bring the discipline, expertise and managerial integrity better than the good people of DVINFO.

I personally think an SPC area would be a good thing. Not that I encourage everyone to go solo, but because of the efficiency it requires. Techniques for SPC applied an a two or three man crew would let you extend your capabilities even further. I'm for any tips or hints that let me get by with a lighter gear load-out, or make better use of what I've got.

Regards;
Martin

Whilst I can understand the "duplicate-post" arguments against, as a solo shooter when out as a videojournalist, I'd read a One Person Crew forum avidly for any helpful tips that could make my life easier, so it gets my vote.

Regards
Dave

I vote "yes!" We all have to be resourceful and nimble just to do what we do, but it takes an extra measure of both to (effectively) be a one-man-band. My $0.02.

~TW

I'd find it very helpful

This thread has been started over a year ago, maybe Chris can see now if it's an option?

I made the suggestion and assumed it was dead by now. I'd still like to see it, and I think the cross-post objection is a red herring. I could name a bunch of forums pairs that would be equally relevant for a given post. (Adding microphone X to camera Y, using the share menu in FCP X to author a DVD, best tripod to take when traveling, etc.)

I am a three person crew...me, myself and I, usually in a blur. I would very much like a dedicated forum on solo operators. I hope Chris can see the value of this and roll it out.

I vote again for having this. I just finished a production last week all by myself since I just moved to the U.S. and have no assistants yet. ;)

Yes, a very good idea!

Hopefully it will also attract some of us legal videographers (all of us are one-man band) when in need of technical advice - legal video fora cover mostly the legal aspects.

I agree that having one spot for us solos to get hints and tricks would be great. There'll be all sorts of helpful hints to be shared without doing a hit and miss search over all the other forums! Looking forward to it.

I would follow that forum. The concerns about duplication of threads makes sense. Maybe moderate it or provide some guidelines so that it has a narrow focus. Can think of all sorts of topics for it.

I'm a one-man-band all the time, great idea as these questions seem to come up frequently.

I'm in. I'm finishing my documentary I shot in Antarctica with the GH2, my Nikon lenses and a Marantz PMD660 recorder. No penguins were injured during filming.

agreed; there are very few simple working solutions in terms of gear for a single person crew. i typically have one trainee with me, but must know what everything does at all times, and usually end up doing it all in the end.

Would love it!

Good idea.
+1

Yep, i'd like a " one man band" forum too!

There are certainly unique logistics specifically around production, cameras, lighting setups (and breakdowns), transporting it all, for the solo crew.

I really think we need a one person crew forum.

I'm in. I'm finishing my documentary I shot in Antarctica with the GH2, my Nikon lenses and a Marantz PMD660 recorder. No penguins were injured during filming.

Antarctica as a one-man-crew!? You're crazy brave:-) how did it turn out?