One of the things I've always loved about being a freelancer is the schedule. Sure, sometimes it's nuts... "Can you work tomorrow?" "Hi Dave. I've got a shoot tomorrow in Sweden - can you do it?" As a freelancer, a lot of times, you don't know when your next gig will be so when that 10PM call about a 5AM shoot tomorrow comes in, we usually take it if we're free. BUT WE DON'T HAVE TO. In theory, there's always the option to just say "no" and take some personal time. I have yet to really test that theory.
I remember the first couple of years of freelancing as being stressful, and work so erratic that any normal person might have thrown in the towel. I took ANYTHING that came up, in case nothing ever came up again.
Things lately have been amazing, and "amazing" in freelance language, means "busy." I've been scooped up into the sports department at the news station, which is very consistent work. If I'm available for them, I can count on at least a few days a week there. Add to that some work on a PBS-bound doc, an explosion of high-end corporate stuff in the first quarter of this year, and my own feature documentary (post to follow). This is the kind of schedule freelancers dream of in the early years of their career. I've worked hard to expand my network and I have the ideal consistency of work.
And no free time.
I realize that some independents don't have that sort of flow and I know I'm fortunate to have the workload, but I remember those scary times between jobs, and I think to myself, honestly, Dave, was it so bad? You could use a week off...
But I never actually follow through.
Showing posts with label freelance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freelance. Show all posts
15 May, 2014
19 May, 2013
Hi, my name is Dave. I'll be your [insert title here] today...
If you've been reading this blog, you'll have read "my clients this" and "my clients that." Every business around is about providing a service to a client, whether that service is a design or website or even a tall non-fat chai latte. Fast food customers are clients just as much as a brand is to an ad agency. Sometimes, however, the whole client relationship can get a bit confusing. Take my role as a freelance cameraman, for instance. My clients are usually the producers. Most of the time, the producers have clients as well. So that would be the client of my client. Sometimes there's even one more layer of clients... So who the heck are we serving? In the most ideal situation, my client, the producer, has his/her client's best interest in mind, so everything is in line. I'm lucky enough that all of the people I deal with are good enough at their jobs that there is no confusion. But, oh, I've heard horror stories...
For a freelancer in a crew position (cameraman, sound, gaffer, etc.) most of the time the client relationship is very simple. You're there to do something you're good at (that's why you were hired) and you really only have to do that job. When you're the producer on a shoot, though, everything is different. For the longest time, though, us crew folk never had to worry about the extras. Things, however, are rapidly changing in the industry.
About a year ago I was in Florida on a shoot. The sound guy was hired locally, so during a break, I casually asked how the industry was down there... boy, should I just have kept that curiosity to myself. It's rough, I was told. Less and less work for sound mixers with cameramen being expected to pull double duty. Even the camera guys are starting to struggle now that producers are learning how to shoot. One day soon, the editors will be struggling, after they coach the producers how to cut... Basically, it's getting to the point where if you want to survive in this industry in this market, you're going to soon have to know how to do EVERYTHING. Great...
Before you go and think me lazy, I'll remind you (in case you haven't read the "about me" section), I have a very well-rounded formal training in filmmaking. In addition to cinematography, I studied the ins and outs of editing, sound, producing, writing, and all of that. I spent a lot of time doing all of that stuff in and out of school. My B.F.A. was all about becoming a good all around filmmaker. I know how to record and edit sound and I know how to cut on all major digital editing systems, and even on an analog 16mm flatbed system. After college, though, one of the biggest accomplishments I was working towards (and was proud to achieve) was becoming a specialist. It was a sign of professionalism, I thought, to be just a great cameraman. Avoid that whole jack of all trades stigma... I shoot for a living, I told people. I didn't mention the editing or writing or anything like that. It avoided a lot of eyerolls that I saw my colleagues do when encountering excited interns who were "cinematographers and directors and editors and writers and..." - you get the point.
I think a lot of what has changed as of late is the accessibility of it all and the economics. Video cameras and editing systems are easier to use than ever before, so many producers of corporate and industrial video shoot and edit for themselves. Often, they do very good jobs at it and, being able to do it all, they can keep their costs low and price their services more competitively. However, for the freelance cameramen (and women) who do a lot of corporate work, this means fewer gigs in that world. So the specialists, if they want to keep working, need to open up a bit.
So where does one draw the line in defining themselves professionally? For me, it's been (until recently) easy to keep my experience in one department. My IMDb page has credits as cameraman, director of photography, camera operator and gaffer throughout. All of those, you can argue, are within the realm of image acquisition, and in a lot of ways, they all support each other. The gaffer work illustrates that I've got a command of lighting, which is certainly a boost when I'm being considered for a DP gig. The operating credits say that I understand composition (also good to think about in other types of work). I've even recently done a number of days as Technical Director on a multi-cam talkshow (too recent to appear on my IMDb just yet), which encompasses a lot of the skills I use in other crew roles; being able to communicate with the show's Lighting Director and the camera operators and handling the engineering aspects of the job (which I'm comfortable with having spent so much time on the other side of the headset as an operator on multi-cam things). That's pretty consistent in terms of branding my skillset as a camera & lighting professional. But wait, there's more...
One of my better clients a few years ago was a startup marketing/ad/consulting company that was still defining itself. A very big part of their work was video storytelling, so they had a producer, director and editors on staff. For the smaller things, the producer or director would grab a camera and shoot. For the larger, more complex stuff, they hired a DP (me). It was a very comfortable relationship and very much within my advertised skillset. A couple of years into this particular client-vendor relationship, however, the company took a shift to the somewhat more cerebral stuff. They began to spend more time in design and less in the conventional marketing elements. Shooting jobs with them all but dried up for almost a year. In that time, there was some internal restructuring there and the staff video guys moved on to other things. As luck would have it, about a year ago, one of the design gigs morphed for them. A very large client of this company needed a video and, as I understand it, knew of the quality and style they turned out back when video was big for them. Suddenly, I was in a meeting, discussing the project as - get this - a producer. You see, having shifted their staff around, there was no longer any full-timers to handle the producing and editing, so knowing the quality I had always delivered as a shooter, they approached me first to discuss a new relationship. Eager to rekindle the fire with a company that was, at one time, an excellent client of mine, I obliged and sat down to meet. It was a very successful get-together and a gentleman's agreement was made at the end of it. Going forward, I would be their go-to video vendor. They'd give me the budgets and the directives and I'd make it happen. Now I can add bona fide producer to my list of credits... It's been a trip taking on this new roll. I'm still shooting (yes, now I'm one of those producers who also shoots), although I hire very very competent 2nd shooters for all of the shoots that call for it. I try to hire a sound mixer whenever budget allows, although sometimes I do have to mic up the interviewees and worry about sound all by myself (so yes, now I'm one of those shooters that does their own sound). I also usually edit these videos, because it makes the most sense with the budgets I'm getting (sigh, a producer/shooter who edits).
Yep... I did it... I'm that guy, the one who does it all.
In my defense, this new role only takes up a small portion of my workload. For the most part, I'm still a camera/lighting specialist, but the variety does keep life interesting. I mean, hell, isn't that why I chose to freelance in the first place?
For a freelancer in a crew position (cameraman, sound, gaffer, etc.) most of the time the client relationship is very simple. You're there to do something you're good at (that's why you were hired) and you really only have to do that job. When you're the producer on a shoot, though, everything is different. For the longest time, though, us crew folk never had to worry about the extras. Things, however, are rapidly changing in the industry.
About a year ago I was in Florida on a shoot. The sound guy was hired locally, so during a break, I casually asked how the industry was down there... boy, should I just have kept that curiosity to myself. It's rough, I was told. Less and less work for sound mixers with cameramen being expected to pull double duty. Even the camera guys are starting to struggle now that producers are learning how to shoot. One day soon, the editors will be struggling, after they coach the producers how to cut... Basically, it's getting to the point where if you want to survive in this industry in this market, you're going to soon have to know how to do EVERYTHING. Great...
Before you go and think me lazy, I'll remind you (in case you haven't read the "about me" section), I have a very well-rounded formal training in filmmaking. In addition to cinematography, I studied the ins and outs of editing, sound, producing, writing, and all of that. I spent a lot of time doing all of that stuff in and out of school. My B.F.A. was all about becoming a good all around filmmaker. I know how to record and edit sound and I know how to cut on all major digital editing systems, and even on an analog 16mm flatbed system. After college, though, one of the biggest accomplishments I was working towards (and was proud to achieve) was becoming a specialist. It was a sign of professionalism, I thought, to be just a great cameraman. Avoid that whole jack of all trades stigma... I shoot for a living, I told people. I didn't mention the editing or writing or anything like that. It avoided a lot of eyerolls that I saw my colleagues do when encountering excited interns who were "cinematographers and directors and editors and writers and..." - you get the point.
I think a lot of what has changed as of late is the accessibility of it all and the economics. Video cameras and editing systems are easier to use than ever before, so many producers of corporate and industrial video shoot and edit for themselves. Often, they do very good jobs at it and, being able to do it all, they can keep their costs low and price their services more competitively. However, for the freelance cameramen (and women) who do a lot of corporate work, this means fewer gigs in that world. So the specialists, if they want to keep working, need to open up a bit.
So where does one draw the line in defining themselves professionally? For me, it's been (until recently) easy to keep my experience in one department. My IMDb page has credits as cameraman, director of photography, camera operator and gaffer throughout. All of those, you can argue, are within the realm of image acquisition, and in a lot of ways, they all support each other. The gaffer work illustrates that I've got a command of lighting, which is certainly a boost when I'm being considered for a DP gig. The operating credits say that I understand composition (also good to think about in other types of work). I've even recently done a number of days as Technical Director on a multi-cam talkshow (too recent to appear on my IMDb just yet), which encompasses a lot of the skills I use in other crew roles; being able to communicate with the show's Lighting Director and the camera operators and handling the engineering aspects of the job (which I'm comfortable with having spent so much time on the other side of the headset as an operator on multi-cam things). That's pretty consistent in terms of branding my skillset as a camera & lighting professional. But wait, there's more...
One of my better clients a few years ago was a startup marketing/ad/consulting company that was still defining itself. A very big part of their work was video storytelling, so they had a producer, director and editors on staff. For the smaller things, the producer or director would grab a camera and shoot. For the larger, more complex stuff, they hired a DP (me). It was a very comfortable relationship and very much within my advertised skillset. A couple of years into this particular client-vendor relationship, however, the company took a shift to the somewhat more cerebral stuff. They began to spend more time in design and less in the conventional marketing elements. Shooting jobs with them all but dried up for almost a year. In that time, there was some internal restructuring there and the staff video guys moved on to other things. As luck would have it, about a year ago, one of the design gigs morphed for them. A very large client of this company needed a video and, as I understand it, knew of the quality and style they turned out back when video was big for them. Suddenly, I was in a meeting, discussing the project as - get this - a producer. You see, having shifted their staff around, there was no longer any full-timers to handle the producing and editing, so knowing the quality I had always delivered as a shooter, they approached me first to discuss a new relationship. Eager to rekindle the fire with a company that was, at one time, an excellent client of mine, I obliged and sat down to meet. It was a very successful get-together and a gentleman's agreement was made at the end of it. Going forward, I would be their go-to video vendor. They'd give me the budgets and the directives and I'd make it happen. Now I can add bona fide producer to my list of credits... It's been a trip taking on this new roll. I'm still shooting (yes, now I'm one of those producers who also shoots), although I hire very very competent 2nd shooters for all of the shoots that call for it. I try to hire a sound mixer whenever budget allows, although sometimes I do have to mic up the interviewees and worry about sound all by myself (so yes, now I'm one of those shooters that does their own sound). I also usually edit these videos, because it makes the most sense with the budgets I'm getting (sigh, a producer/shooter who edits).
Yep... I did it... I'm that guy, the one who does it all.
In my defense, this new role only takes up a small portion of my workload. For the most part, I'm still a camera/lighting specialist, but the variety does keep life interesting. I mean, hell, isn't that why I chose to freelance in the first place?
25 November, 2012
Busy vs. Social Media
Looked at my site today and I realized that it's been a while since I've posted a proper post. It reminded me of the funny balance of being busy and looking busy. Any casual viewer of my site might think I haven't had anything worth posting about, but the truth is, it's been too busy to post... I've been working on a large corporate gig, a few more art videos, and doing some TV work for some Discovery Channel recreation crime shows. I've been able to tweet fun stuff from these jobs, including pictures from the set and other things worth sharing, but that's all on my smart phone. It's difficult to actually get some time to sit down and write a post. Hopefully by moving my Twitter feed to a more featured location, it will help convey that I am actually working, even if I'm not posting a lot on this blog.
Here's something new, another art video I recently shot for Particle Productions:
Produced and directed by Philip Dolin
Lighting cameraman: Me
Sound recordist: Ben Berger
Production Company: Particle Productions
Here's something new, another art video I recently shot for Particle Productions:
Produced and directed by Philip Dolin
Lighting cameraman: Me
Sound recordist: Ben Berger
Production Company: Particle Productions
05 January, 2012
Another Year In Review
Hello 2012! 2011 had some fun stuff going on... you've got some pretty big shoes to fill...
2011 Highlights:
*I got married.
*I worked on a nice variety of documentary, art, industrial and commercial work. New territory included some great transmedia work with Kinetic Fin, and my return to commissioned film (doc for hire sort of stuff).
*I finished up work on a compelling documentary, "Different Is The New Normal." This was a great film on a boy with Tourette's Syndrome and aired on PBS in the fall.
*I attached myself to a very important documentary-in-progress, "Coached Into Silence."
*I bought a home and subsequently set up a sweet gear storage setup in my new garage.
*I shot (2nd) an episode of Animal Planet's "Confessions: Animal Hoarding."
All in all, I had a great year, both professionally and personally. Let's hope 2012 continues the positive trend.
CHIN CHIN!
2011 Highlights:
*I got married.
*I worked on a nice variety of documentary, art, industrial and commercial work. New territory included some great transmedia work with Kinetic Fin, and my return to commissioned film (doc for hire sort of stuff).
*I finished up work on a compelling documentary, "Different Is The New Normal." This was a great film on a boy with Tourette's Syndrome and aired on PBS in the fall.
*I attached myself to a very important documentary-in-progress, "Coached Into Silence."
*I bought a home and subsequently set up a sweet gear storage setup in my new garage.
*I shot (2nd) an episode of Animal Planet's "Confessions: Animal Hoarding."
All in all, I had a great year, both professionally and personally. Let's hope 2012 continues the positive trend.
CHIN CHIN!
10 June, 2011
09 January, 2011
A year in review
2011 starts off slow (I'm taking it easy because I'm getting married in 6 days)
So, 2010 in review:
* Budapest
* A feature film I shot in the spring, "Director's Cut" is produced (and is currently at the Hollywood Reel Independent Festival and other festivals)
* "One Night Only: Barbra Streisand and Quintet Live at the Village Vanguard" (which I was a key camera operator) is released on DVD
and Blu-ray
(and DVD/CD combo
) and subsequently goes platinum.
* I shot a number of great videos with Kinetic Fin for Gevalia Coffee.
* I shot a very nice tribute video for Ruth Messinger featuring a pretty awesome interview lineup, including Mia Farrow, former NYC Mayor David Dinkins, NY Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof and more.
* I shot second unit and b-cam material for a nice series of videos for Columbia Business School.
* I became a HDSLR convert (I'm not a an evangelical HDSLR shooter but I've discovered it's an amazing tool for a lot of things).
* Some fun industrial work for Nokia, Wunderman, PwC, BBCAmerica, and Kraft Foods.
* Gaffed and shot NY material for a feature doc, "Small Matters" (currently in post-production, eying a PBS run).
* I lit a commercial photo shoot... for video. That was different. For designer, Ippolito.
* A whole bunch of other little things...
...I learned a lot this year, as a cameraman and gaffer and filmmaker in general. When I was assisting, my years tended to yield lessons on practice - new lighting principles, methods of operating, craft-based things like that. As a working cameraman (and occasional gaffer for other D.P.'s), my years have brought about fewer and fewer new technical lessons. This year was sponsored by... "Compromise."
2010 was a great year and there's some pretty fun stuff on the horizon for 2011, not the least of which is getting married. More on that (and the great video team I hired for the event) and other stuff in February, when I return...
So, 2010 in review:
* Budapest
* A feature film I shot in the spring, "Director's Cut" is produced (and is currently at the Hollywood Reel Independent Festival and other festivals)
* "One Night Only: Barbra Streisand and Quintet Live at the Village Vanguard" (which I was a key camera operator) is released on DVD
and Blu-ray (and DVD/CD combo) and subsequently goes platinum.* I shot a number of great videos with Kinetic Fin for Gevalia Coffee.
* I shot a very nice tribute video for Ruth Messinger featuring a pretty awesome interview lineup, including Mia Farrow, former NYC Mayor David Dinkins, NY Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof and more.
* I shot second unit and b-cam material for a nice series of videos for Columbia Business School.
* I became a HDSLR convert (I'm not a an evangelical HDSLR shooter but I've discovered it's an amazing tool for a lot of things).
* Some fun industrial work for Nokia, Wunderman, PwC, BBCAmerica, and Kraft Foods.
* Gaffed and shot NY material for a feature doc, "Small Matters" (currently in post-production, eying a PBS run).
* I lit a commercial photo shoot... for video. That was different. For designer, Ippolito.
* A whole bunch of other little things...
...I learned a lot this year, as a cameraman and gaffer and filmmaker in general. When I was assisting, my years tended to yield lessons on practice - new lighting principles, methods of operating, craft-based things like that. As a working cameraman (and occasional gaffer for other D.P.'s), my years have brought about fewer and fewer new technical lessons. This year was sponsored by... "Compromise."
- While working on the Ruth Messinger piece, for the higher profile interviews, the crew went in with the mentality that the subject could walk in any minute and demand to do the interview then. Working faster that we'd have normally liked was the compromise for having access to these folks.
- On "Director's Cut" the production had much less time and money than ideal. We compromised on setups to get the movie finished.
- For the BBCAmerica videos which took place in real, functioning focus group sessions, we had to have high production values in terms of lighting and camerawork, but at the same time, we, the crew could not infringe upon the participants' comfort levels. Usually, what's out of frame doesn't matter (leading to forests of c-stands, messy rigging contraptions and stuff like that just out of the camera's view), but for this, it had to be pretty. Even a clean-looking large Chimera overhead was too "movie-set" for the clients liking. But they loved when we rigged a very large chinese lantern overhead (it felt "homey"). Meanwhile at the PwC industrial I gaffed maybe only a month or two prior, the client insisted we use the Chimera for it's "expensiveness." In that situation, meanwhile, it would have been a LOT easier to rig than the large Chimera. Compromise...
2010 was a great year and there's some pretty fun stuff on the horizon for 2011, not the least of which is getting married. More on that (and the great video team I hired for the event) and other stuff in February, when I return...
20 October, 2009
Nature of the business
The freedom of freelance is great and I love what I do but it certainly does have its ups and downs. The ups are that I truly love what I do and if I ever want to go away or do something with my family or whatever, I don't have to ask anyone if it's OK. Also, when business is good, it's really good (if you get my drift). The downs suck, though. While half the time you get booked with a lot of notice, the other half of the jobs come up with really short notice. This is more on the documentary side as reality doesn't always have the luxury of careful planning like commercial and fiction work. So you often find yourself making last-minute changes to your personal life. Sometimes it's not a problem, sometimes it is. It's a balancing act. Ups and downs...
Last week's thing with Clive Davis didn't happen... that was a down.
Last week's thing with Clive Davis didn't happen... that was a down.
The Mira Nair thing two weeks ago was interesting to say the least. I liked the people I was working with but there were definitely some communication issues between the Fox Searchlight people and the Indian TV folks. Despite some equipment hiccups, we made the best of what we had and though it wasn't quite what was expected, we got some nice footage.
Tomorrow I'm off to shoot the 3-day Long Island stretch of Lon Blais's charity bike ride. Last night I met up with Elana, who shot him in Maine and is editing the piece. Stuff looks good but it's hard to say at this point if there's anything substantial. There's definitely enough to edit something together but I'm not sure if there's a story this year. We'll see what happens in L.I.
Also, looks like the Babs concert at the Village Vanguard will be released as a DVD. Not sure when, but that's the word from the director. Will update on that.
Stay tuned for a report from the road and more fun stuff (a possible feature shoot on the horizon).
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