[Bob Woodhead]

Also, Mark’s idea about shooting for a producer is excellent. Sometimes the production could use a 2nd shooter, but the budget won’t support a “regular pro rate” – this could be your entry. Offer your shooting experience at a discount in order to get in the door. Put together a reel of your best camerawork. Be nice, be honest, be flexible. The other BIG (huge, that is) advantage this approach will offer you is the opportunity to see how an established team works this kind of shoot. Many differences from event shooting, some of which you wouldn’t want to have to figure out on the spot.
One problem you might face is if they want you to use a camera/format you’re not familiar with. Offer to become familiar before the shoot. If they own it, ask to come in days before the shoot & learn it. If they rent, ask the rental house if you can come in and spend some time with it when it’s not out on rental.

[Bob Woodhead]

“If you do the work, it’s worth getting paid for it, that’s a concept so old it is in the bible. ” What a fantastic line! Think I’ll have that written in stone tablets. Excellent way to put it Mark.

I would disagree with Mark on one point – sartorial. I find all of the corporations I work with (and many are Fortune 100) EXPECT to have the “artists” dress…. “artistically”, that is, good looking, clean, fashionable, but not suit n’ tie. No complaints from me!

Ummm… as for zrb’s comments, well, if you wright a script as pourley as he wrights his comennts, your in truble. (I pray there aren’t too many out there with those writing skills passing themselves off as “professionals”… whew.)

[Bob Woodhead]

A full Arri kit (5 lights) is $2900: 2 Fresnel 150, 1 Fresnel 300, 2 Fresnel 650 Lights, Barndoors, Filter Frames, Scrims, Super Clamp, Accessory Pack, Bulbs, Light Stands, Heavy Duty Case.

A combo Kino 4-bank (lamps for 3200 & 5600) is $1300. (Diva-Lite 400 Universal)

You’ll need more C-stands, clamps, arms, sandbags, etc etc, call that $500. Maybe a 1k Lowel Tota (open face, not expensive). A Chimera (soft box for the Tota) and SpeedRing would be a great 2nd soft – around $500 I think.

So $5000 or so gets you a basic professional, flexible light kit. Add greenscreen and you’ve got budget left over. Maybe buy a nice tripod ($1700 or so) for your camera rentals.

[Bob Woodhead]

We’ve used a service from Delta Air called Delta Dash – but I forget if it’s same day or not. Vyvx is another good bet.

[Bob Woodhead]

$10k… without taking the time to add a bunch of stuff up, may I suggest buying the lighting (and perhaps greenscreen foam – not sure what they cost), and NOT a camera yet? Reason being – without experience in different cameras & formats, knowing what’s good for what, and not so good for something else, you could easily spend thousands on something not correct for your needs. But lighting doesn’t care what format, CCDs, or lens you’re using. It’s useful on ANY camera. And since it doesn’t sound like you’re out shooting frequently, why not rent for your initial work? You don’t mention if it’s HD or SD, but assuming it’s SD, I’d rent a format with good colorspace for your greenscreen – BetaSP, DVCPro50, maybe a HVX200 using the P2 card (NOT the HDV tape). You really want 4:2:2 colorspace for good keying.
For lighting, a great setup is a Kino/Chimera for main light, some low intensity soft light as fill, a small fresnel doored tight as a backlight or “kicker”, and whatever it takes to create a nice **EVEN** light over the screen. We usually use Arri 600, 300, Lowel Tota and Omni’s on the screen, depending on size. Don’t try to throw too much backlight (or color it heavily) on the talent in an effort to make the key better or easier – just light it for the best look; the chromakey will take care of itself, assuming the screen is EVENLY lit. A hard backlight will make the talent “pop” too much, instead of blending nicely in the composite. (Did I mention to make sure the screen is evenly lit?)
Used the foam once for a medium shot, didn’t have any issues with it. Don’t know if using it “under foot” would be any different.
Try to get as much separation as possible between the talent and the screen.
Beware the same color on both talent & screen (duh), and also reflective thingys.
Keep in mind the edges of the raster and what’s being cut off as you shoot.
Keying software – Primatte & Keylight in Shake, Advantedge & Keylight in AFX. Love both Keylight & Advantedge.

Bob Woodhead / Atlanta
Quantel-Avid-FCP-3D-Crayola
G5/DP, 10.4.7, 3.5GB RAM, FCP 5.1.something, Aja IO, Huge 320R/raid3

[Bob Woodhead]

I don’t know the name of the hardware offhand, but there’s “black box” hardware that’s controlled by a single computer, that will run multiple playback screens.

[Bob Woodhead]

I *think* they service Knoxville – try CTG – Comprehensive Technical Group in Atlanta. Good guys.

[Bob Woodhead]

I was working during a football (not soccer) live feed through an un-named network’s Master Control… the TD (not at the stadium, we’re at NOC) had been “perking” up his coffee with a splash o’ Jack… we go to break, everyone leans back for a moment. Remember this is a NOC, with lots of other feeds accessible, and the TD happens to be a fan of another team that playing on another major network. So we come back from break, take the live feed… recue stuff from the break… lean back again… and the Exec. Producer (who just happened to be in the NOC that day) starts shouting “THAT’S NOT OUR GAME!! @*^&%$#”…. You can imagine the rest. Oh yeah, to keep this on topic, this was during the era of inserting spots into the program 1” reels. Grin… another time I’ll tell the story of what happens when the take-up capstan motors fails on a one-hour show reel that’s on-air….

Bob Woodhead / Atlanta
Quantel-Avid-FCP-3D-Crayola
G5/DP, 10.4.7, 3.5GB RAM, FCP 5.1.something, Aja IO, Huge 320R/raid3

[Bob Woodhead]

STAY AWAAAAYYYYYYYYY…… 😉

sorry to hear the woes, mate.

[Bob Woodhead]

We went with a 15″ Broadcast from PrompterPeople. Don’t know if they have Mac apps. But it takes nothing of a system to run, so maybe use an old PC laptop instead.