What kinds of production do you?

[Dean Sensui]

I produce a fishing show in Hawaii.

After 24 years I left the newspaper business and made the transition from news photography to full-time TV production. The transition took place over many years as I was learning all about video production in small steps. But when the time came to make the jump, everything was in place. I had the right skill set and the equipment.

It's entirely a one-man band operation in the field, especially on boats where space is at a premium. I shoot, edit, write scripts and handle just about every aspect of the company incuding bookkeeping.

We have three terrific hosts and I work alongside some very nice folks whenever I need a second camera for multi-cam shoots.

A degree in journalism helps a lot when it comes to coming up with a storyline from random real-life events.

It's nice to see what others are doing. Sometimes there's a nice solution or workflow suggestion to be found. Was particularly interesting to see that the guys who shoot "Wicked Tuna" are doing pretty much the same thing I'm doing, including using the same camera, a Sony EX-1.

[Mike Watson]

Corporate work, mostly 2-5 minute pieces destined for b2b sales or internet distribution.

Just finished a three-part series for ReadyOC:

Ready & Freddy Preparedness PSA - YouTube

[Chris DeVoe]

Five camera concert video shoots. By myself.

I carry all the equipment necessary in a custom-built backpack. Here's an example of a five camera shoot: Adele - Rolling In The Deep - Highwood School of Rock - YouTube

I have one camera set for a wide view of the whole stage, two that I control manually - one for close-ups, one for medium shots - and two on pan-tilt heads for cross angles that I control with a remote. I do a board feed, as well as a pair of audience mics, and I record audio on all the cameras to sync for edit.

After the shoot, I import all the camera videos into my editing program and do a multicam edit. I'm quite proud of my workflow, and have managed to do as many as four two-hour shows in two days, delivering all the edited masters in a week.

[Brian Brown]

I do mostly documentary-style, unscripted, seated interviews to create short productions for non-profits, municipalities, and small businesses. 95% of the time, it's just me as a "one man band" on-location. Most of these short films are for the web or fundraising events, although I still dupe quite a few DVDs each year. Roughly a half-dozen times a year I'll get asked to run a 2nd camera for another producer, and this is nice to turn off the camera and collect a check, knowing I don't have to head home and edit!

I also teach about 4-6 classes a quarter at a regional, private cooperative in DSLR filmmaking and Adobe post-production software. They also line me up with one-on-one training gigs maybe a dozen times a year. I enjoy teaching, and it keeps me on my toes to always be learning something myself in order to teach it.

Just this year, I decided to pursue my passion as a historical documentary filmmaker and am self-producing a feature-length doc on a "ghost" ski area just up the road from me in the National Park. I did a bit of crowd-sourcing for it, and have raised a little over $2k so far. The premiere is scheduled for July, and would love it if I could sell out the room of 500.

YouTube Channel: BrownCow Productions - YouTube
Documentary film Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SkiHiddenValleyEstesPark

[Richard Collins]

Really interesting to read all of the varied workflows and experiences among the board members.

My situation is again, quite different!

I graduated from University in 2006 and I've since been working different jobs whilst producing video and shooting stills on the side. I currently work full time at a National Museum, which is one of my main clients for video and exhibition graphics. I've produced documentaries and gallery content for web and on site. In 2010 I worked two part time jobs, one working at the museum, and the other as camera operator for an independant TV company in the city.

I do just about everything video related, including assistant camera on narrative films, documentary for TV and music videos. I do about 2-3 projects a month for money, and there's a few in the pipeline for fun. I've just bought my first house, so I'm hesitant of going full time freelance, not until the economy improves a little at least.

I've been lucky enough to shoot on a varied range of cameras, from the PD170, EX3, HDSLRS, the RED ONE and I'm currently shooting on the Canon C100 and 7D as a b-roll camera, but I own a GoPro HD2 for anything that needs it.

I did own FCPS3 but I sold it and made a £200 profit when FCPX was released. I now own FCPX and I edit on Premiere Pro CS6 at the museum.

[Allan Barnwell]

Test, training, product, promotional...

Omega Broadcast Group - YouTube

[Ryan Douthit]

I do a lot of work producing editorial-style videos for car makers. I filmed at Pike's Peak last year for Mitsubishi as they were running a pair of electric cars in the race. I shot a season of Global Rallycross for Ford, in addition to Brian Deegan and his Lucas Truck in 2011. Filmed some Drifting for Mazda last year. This season I'm mainly working on a documentary-style series that involves Subaru in addition to filming car reviews for my web/TV series Driving Sports. I also help companies with their digital distribution strategy.

For years I shot with an NX5U, which was handy but had its limits. I shot a small documentary last year with a Sony A77 as I transitioned to the FS100, which I now use as a primary camera (with an A77 as a B-Cam).

Here's a trailer for the documentary I shot with the A77. Hated having to fuss with a second sound system in the thick of things. This one was just picked up by IndieFlix.

Livin' the Dream: Olympus 2012 on Vimeo

[Kyle Root]

Fun reading everyone's posts here.

I've been a weekend warrior for about 13 years now, holding down a day job as a mechanical engineer all this time. Back in the mid to late 90s when I was single, my friends and I were travelling all over the place in college and shortly after graduating. I was using my dad's 8mm camera to film our adventures. Later when we started planning bigger trips to places like New York and DC etc, I took things up a notch and plunked out the cash for a Canon GL1. A few months later, another one of us bought another GL1. Around 2000 We had a local cable access channel and thought it would be fun to try and do a comedy show to put on it so we started working on that. While working on the pilot, I got a call from another friend to help shoot a wedding. From that point on, I've never lookied back and found it's been a fun way to make some nice cash on the side.

Originally, there were 3 of us working together, but over time and life changes etc we broke the partnership up in 2008 and I've been working solo since then.

Now, all I do is weddings and some promo work for local photographers etc. Since I'm a one man show I try to keep things simple as possible. My Sony NX5U is my main camera and I've got a Canon HV40 and GoPro Hero2 that I use regularly for B roll. I also recently started using a Nikon 1 V1 as well.

I don't do anything fancy with audio, but I do use a Sennheiser ME66 and a G3 wireless system when needed. I also have a Tascam DR40 (similar to a Zoom H4) but I have yet to use it.

[Roger Van Duyn]

Mostly corporate video for the internet. Also work as camera operator or various AV jobs. Along with the higher paying corporate work, which involves a lot of time editing, I really enjoy shooting sports for a couple of established clients. Run and done plus getting paid quickly is a nice break.

Jobs with a lot of editing pay a lot more, but I get feeling cooped-up.

[Phillip Palacios]

Documentary
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Most of my productions are solo, occasionally I'll have one assistant.

Documentary:

Clarity - restoring the macatawa watershed on Vimeo

Demo Reel

Palacios Pictures Demo on Vimeo

[Phillip Palacios]

Originally Posted by Dean Sensui

I produce a fishing show in Hawaii.

After 24 years I left the newspaper business and made the transition from news photography to full-time TV production. The transition took place over many years as I was learning all about video production in small steps. But when the time came to make the jump, everything was in place. I had the right skill set and the equipment.

It's entirely a one-man band operation in the field, especially on boats where space is at a premium. I shoot, edit, write scripts and handle just about every aspect of the company incuding bookkeeping.

We have three terrific hosts and I work alongside some very nice folks whenever I need a second camera for multi-cam shoots.

A degree in journalism helps a lot when it comes to coming up with a storyline from random real-life events.

It's nice to see what others are doing. Sometimes there's a nice solution or workflow suggestion to be found. Was particularly interesting to see that the guys who shoot "Wicked Tuna" are doing pretty much the same thing I'm doing, including using the same camera, a Sony EX-1.

Dean, post collage pre-kids my wife and I lived in Hilo, HI. Loved it there, such a great place.

[Dean Sensui]

Originally Posted by Phillip Palacios

Dean, post collage pre-kids my wife and I lived in Hilo, HI. Loved it there, such a great place.

Philip... I was Kona just this past weekend. Did a bunch of dive surveys to get a sense of diversity and number of fish. While the "fish houses" weren't all that clear, some of the sites were amazing. I don't get to spend time in water with that kind of clarity!

Hoping to get out there more often.

[Michael Dalton]

Have been shooting documentary series for Discovery, Animal Planet, Nat Geo in Africa. Mainly a one man band, although I do follow subjects around. Each year I direct, shoot, edit, produce about 10 episodes. Started shooting on an Xl1s and today shoot everything on Red Epic. Most of my gear stays in Africa.

[David Johns]

I'm a video journalist for ITV in the UK and do occasional corporate bits on the side.

At the risk of moaning, we VJs are a much-maligned species with many craft camerapeople assuming we're all incompetent morons who just put the camera on auto and can barely compose a shot...!

I hope that I do better than this (for a start, it's in full manual control and I try my damnedest to make it look nice) but I'm always keen to learn more hence popping by on this forum whenever I get a chance.

Regards
Dave

[Geoff Cockwill]

I run a production company, mostly me day-to-day but I work with a couple of guys regularly. I mostly shoot music video and corporate video but also do live events, acting showreels and edit only jobs.

It's my full time job and has been for 5+ years. I am very lucky to have turned my hobby into my job and one I love.

I shoot Canon 5D or Sony PMW and EX cameras but am moving into RED and Alexa slowly. I edit using Premiere and I also dabble in After Effects.

I run everything from our website to taking meetings, planning projects, sourcing crew, kit, actors, props, locations to doing the invoicing, editing, final distribution to the client and so on.

I studied film at College and then Uni and then had experience running on adverts before my own short film work led to some work on my own and then I gave it a go at getting my own work and it went from there. It's tough these days and I think starting a company now would be extremely hard.

Here's our recent vlog with some examples of our work in...

Thanks
Geoff

YouTube (Short URL)