[P. j. Severtson]

All this talk of Chimeras is great. They are also expensive. A Chimera and speed ring for a 2K can set you back $500. Nothing controls a light, however, like a flag on a C stand; the stock in trade of grips.

Just for grins and giggles, check out the Barger-Baglight at: https://www.barger-baglite.com/buzz.htm They’re intensity is controllable by just switching one or more lights on or off.

Try double diffusion with: 1) diffusion clipped to the outside of the barn doors and 2) a knife blade frame in front of that, on a C stand (which) gives a great control without spending $500 on Chimera, speed ring, etc. Now you can flag the light off of the back ground or other tallant as needed.

Short on C stands? The C stand can be eliminated by using a Mathews Mafter clamp on your light stand and a grip arm to hold the knife blade frame. Don’t forget the sand bag.

Chimeras are great for creating a large soft semi-controllable light source but they are really costly, especially for a 2K or larger.

A 4ft by 4ft Mathews knife blade frame, on the other hand, costs about $100 and lasts forever. You now have a choice of diffusion types, depending on your diffusion needs. Chimeras, however, are not so cheap and long lasting. Flags are usually necessary in any event.

It all depends on if you are doing an interview or lighting a large studio set for a four person cast.

Just a thought.

Best wishes,

PJ

[P. j. Severtson]

You’re absolutely right about budget. Many clients want what they can’t afford. It’s up to the videographer to educate them and not let them grind him down to an unprofitable price when they don’t really know what they want or its fair market value.

Remember: The joy of a low price quickly fades with the reality of a low quality product. Low quality products will not get you repeat business and your business won’t grow. Consistent high quality helps your business to grow. Clients need educating.

When the client gives you a “low ball” price that you know is not realistic, you need to educate him.

You might try giving them a proposal with different tiers of prices with minimal quality, medium quality and best quality. A short demo of each quality level lets the client know exactly what they’re buying and may help to sell a higher quality. The hitch is that you must make your client aware when they pick the minimal quality that the may not get the product that they want.

Remember the old saw: Quality, speed, price. Pick any two.

Wireless mics have the inherent risk of having the audio signal getting “stepped on” by other transmissions during the recording as frequency bands are continually getting more and more crowded.

Wired mics are generally a better idea. A shotgun mic on a boom arm is ideal for an interview, as it gets better sound and the tallant doesn’t have to fiddle around with it.

A realistic business plan with all of your costs included will tell you what you need to price as a minimum to break even. You are the only one to determine your minimal quality product. Most videographers don’t fail based on poor quality products, but as poor businessmen.

As for lighting, if you can pick up used lighting gear bit by bit over time, you’d be surprised how quickly it adds up. Check with rental houses for sales on used gear.

I don’t mean to “preach” but there are all too many clients who will gladly run a videographer out of business. They’re called “grinders”. One is better off letting the job go to some one who doesn’t want to stay in business for long.

Good luck,

PJ

[P. j. Severtson]

Dimmers present several problems for the videographer when using tungsten lights. First, when you use dimmers, you also drop the color temperature. Now you have mixed color sources that are difficult to control or repeat. If you shoot out of sequence, you’ll have continuity problems. Best to use scrims and gels if you want to warm it up a bit or cool it down a bit. You can always color correct in post, but that takes more time and money. Light it right the first time.

Household dimmers get hot as they are resistance type dimmers. They are not intended for use with movie lights. SCR dimmers are expensive and can buzz. Dimmers are only generally useful with events, but not used much in features or commercials. In music videos, anything goes.

650 watts is actually not much light by the time you add diffusion. Unless you want a specular pinpoint light, you’ll diffuse your light probably by one to two stops.

If you’re only doing interviews, you don’t need much light. Add one person, double the amount of light needed. Now person A’s key is person B’s fill. You’ll need 1/2 scrims to even out the intensity.One kicker for A and one for B. Light the background separately and you’ll have some depth to your image.

Also HDV requires more light than DV. Additionally, remember the inverse square law. Light intensity diminishes inversely to the square of the distance increased. Double the distance of your light, and you drop the light intensity of the light by the inverse square of the increased distance. e.g.

Sounds like you might benefit by studying some lighting basics. Check your local library or book store for books on motion picture lighting.
A lack of basic knowledge of your craft will hold you back and make your efforts less than professional. Lighting takes study and practice.

A good start would be “Motion Picture and Video Lighting” by Blain Brown, published by Focal Press. If you want to know about the different equipment that is used, try “Set Lighting Technician’s Handbook” by Harry C. Box, also published by Focal Press.

Hope this helps.

PJ

[P. j. Severtson]

Many videographers think only about camera gear and NLEs. As you know, the technology is changing at a very rapid pace. What many videographers completely forget about is lighting and grip gear. Almost all videographers I have known have only an interview kit with three lights.

If you’re only doing interviews, well good enough. Event venues typically don’t light for the video camera! As such, the venue lighting is awful, with way dark and way blown out areas.

I have been a working event videographer (weekly) for more than seven years and am always having to adjust the iris to get good exposure at different parts of the stage or when pulling out to get more of the audience. This cannot be done on a prosumer camera with a little wheely thingy on the side of the camera that adjusts the iris in steps.

The other thing that is frequently forgotten is the audio with mics, mixer, digital(or DAT) recorder, etc. Oh, and you need a sound guy to run this stuff. The sound off of the venue PA board is not intended for the video and the levels cannot be counted on to be correct. Distorted or soft sound is difficult and time consuming to handle in post.

Try to pick up used motion picture lighting gear as you can, if it is available, possibly through ebay. Lighting gear holds its value while (purchased) cameras’ value drops like a stone.

If you must own something, think about renting your camera as needed (SD, HD, HDV, etc.) and investing in quality lighting and grip gear; even a good mixer, mics and digital recorder with multi-channels. All this stuff will hold its value long after the camera of the month has been scrapped.

Good luck,

P. J. Severtson

[P. j. Severtson]

I started out with the same conundrum I was working as a video camera operator but had no camera. The technology was changing faster than I could keep up. This is even more true today. HDV is a good format, but does have its limitations, as does any format. The technology is changing even more rapidly.

So I looked around at what my videographer friends did not have and saw another viewpoint. Most did not have any lighting and grip gear beyond a small interview set; three lights. A lot more than that is needed for a real production and event venues are not lit for the video camera.

Let’s see: Should I invest in a camera that looses its value rapidly? Or should I invest in lighting and grip equipment that grows in value and lasts?

That was seven years ago. Although I have kept working as a camera operator, I now have more than $30,000 in lighting, sound, and camera auxiliary gear that grows in value and gets me work as a lighting technician as well. Find a need and fill it.

I have now partnered with another videographer who has a Sony F-900 and 3 JVC HD100s. Between the two of us, we can do a feature, commercials, etc.

Just another view point. Two can grow faster than one.

Good luck,

P. J.

[P. j. Severtson]

Unions are their own thing. In internationally (including the USA) we have The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, etc., etc., etc., I.A.T.S.E. (https://www.iatse212.com/) It’s pretty much all encompassing. Each city has their own locals, however. Most are difficult to get in to, as there is much competition. Do your home work and good luck.

P. J. in Hollywood

[P. j. Severtson]

You’ll need a video switcher with camera, preview and program monitors. Thats five monitors for a three camera shoot. You’ll need a deck and a back-up deck to record to. You’ll also need a means of communicating to your camera operators on shots you need and to tell the camera operators when he’s “on” and not. You are now the director.

Recording live to a lap top with DV rack is also nice for keeping levels below 100 IRE and not blowing out your whites. It saves capturing later.

Most live venues do not light for cameras, so your operators need to constantly monitor and adjust their irises. When they pull out, the need to open their irises. When they zoom in, they need to close the iris down, all so that the viewer does not see it. This is quite a skill, made more difficult by pro sumer cameras that have amateur lenses (no iris ring on the lens). Auto iris goes nuts when light levels drop. It is a distraction to the viewer and is not a professional product.

There are many commercial equipment houses that can advise you on this as well as different levels of equipment. If you only do it once in a while, you may want to check into renting a package. With the rapid changing of technology, that may be a good way to go. Imagine investing thousands of dollars in SD equipment only to have to replace it with HD equipment a few years later.

You need to do your homework, but in any case, it gets really expensive when you do a live to tape mix of an event with multi-cameras.

Best to hook up with someone who already does this and tag along for some experience. The gear can start out at under $10,000 (for the video mixer, monitors and decks and quickly go up from there. Mistakes, however, are expensive.

Next comes audio. Most venue PA systems cannot be depended on for a quite audio feed, but its worth checking it out. The PA volumes, however, may not be suitable for your video levels. Even if you can get a feed from the PA board, you’ll need to monitor your levels so that you don’t distort your sound or have it so soft that its not usable.

You’ll need your own mics, an audio mixer with personnel to mix the feeds, to feed into your decks. Thats a whole other subject. If this is not possible, take an audio feed off of the PA board. Do not use your camera mics, or your audience will be louder than the talent on the stage.

Again, best to start out with someone who is already a pro at this; watch and learn.

Good luck,

P. J. in Hollywood.