[Thomas Miller]

Looks like you got lots of good tips from people. I would add that you should find something that not a lot of others in your market are doing, or doing well, and become known for it. For example, we’ve been hiring a young guy a lot who does excellent media management, but also does some light gripping and PA work. He’s become very valuable, and I try to get him on as many shoots as we can with the budget. When there are no cards to download, he finds other things to do. When something on the set needs to be done, he just does it. If he doesn’t know how, he either figures it out, or waits and asks when it won’t slow down the production. The great things about that for him is that he is learning, and getting paid, and becoming more and more valuable. It helps that he has a great attitude.

There’s another lady who we’ve been working with for years that calls herself the “Production Goddess” – and she truly is. We hire her mostly as a teleprompter operator, but she’s a HUGE asset on the set because she fills in the cracks of whatever else needs to get done – from taking great script notes to wrapping stingers.

I would say take the attitude of “I am here to do whatever it takes to advance the cause of this shoot.” When you are on a set, try to anticipate what is happening next, and find a way to help with it. The more you do it, the better you get. Also, get a sense of set etiquette – which is basically show up on time, know where not to stand, and know when not to talk. Also, try to stay off your cellphone where there are other things to be done (don’t get me started!!)

And take that same attitude when you start calling people. Call camera guys, sound people, and production companies, tell them you are a Utility Grip – here to help with whatever they need. Tell them you’ll do it for 250/day to start. Don’t even tell them all the other skills you have yet. Just be a Grip, or Productions Assistant. Specialize in that. Then little by little, as various companies get comfortable with having you around, you can reveal your other skills.

On our last shoot, our media manager guy helped out with one of the cameras. I also learned he’s a great editor. But I learned that by getting to know him, and trusting him with the basics of set etiquette first. Not from a phone call where he rattled off the 16 things he knows how to do.

By the way, if you need to learn any of the basic gripping skills, find someone with an Arri light kit. Ask them they will show you how to set up lights, work with Chimera soft boxes, wrap stingers, and open and close flex fills. If you want to learn how to work with larger lights, perhaps visit a grip/lighting house in town. See if you can help out there. But first, I would see if there is a DP who would take you under his or her wing. Believe me, good help is hard to find sometimes, and it’s worth it for us to train people.

Lastly, how do you find these people? Visit the Cow or crewing sites such as production Hub that list crews by region. You can also check with your local production guide, or even a crewing agency like Crew Connection or Crews Control. Find the top 10 DPs in your area – the ones who own gear. Do the same for production houses. Call them with the pitch above, and then followup with a very personal and professional email with all of your contact info. The follow-up again – by email – every month or so.

Anyway, my two cents. Good luck!

—

Tom Miller
Director of Photography
big Pictures Media, Inc.
https://www.BigPicturesMedia.com

Author of the Master Series DVD “Lighting and Shooting Gorgeous Interviews”

[Thomas Miller]

Just for some perspective, our rates for a two-person crew range from $1,650 to $2,250 – depending on the camera package we use. But that’s with 25 years experience, very high end equipment, and lots of bells and whistles. Also, we almost always go out with a highly experienced sound person. I’ve never heard of a 450 rate with gear, unless shooting with an iPhone! Even then, that’s way lower than my rate without gear. Advice – don’t give your services away! It’s a slippery slope that will follow you your entire career. Be the best, not the cheapest. You will find that you will attract the best clients as well. That being said, there is always a need in any business for a Walmart – if that’s what you want to be. Good luck!

Tom Miller
Big Pictures Media
Denver, Colorado

http://www.BigPicturesMedia.com

[Thomas Miller]

Hi Rick, we put a little teaser up here:

https://store.creativecow.net/p/136/lighting_and_shooting_gorgeous_interviews

[Thomas Miller]

Hi Michal, sorry you are running into these issues. That’s maddening! We own an HDX900, and have not run into any problems except occasional pixel issues that need to be masked. This has been a rock solid camera for us for many years now. In fact for a while we had two of them – both with not a single problem. We usually run panasonic stock through it, though sometimes clients replace with Fuji. And like my fellow forum poster and friend Ernie, now have a Nano Flash for those clients who don’t want to deal with tapes. It’s an excellent system.

Tom Miller
Big Pictures Media
Denver, Colorado

http://www.BigPicturesMedia.com

[Thomas Miller]

Here is the link to more info about the DVD:

https://store.creativecow.net/p/136/lighting_and_shooting_gorgeous_interviews

[Thomas Miller]

Here is the link to more information about the DVD, and how to order:

https://store.creativecow.net/p/136/lighting_and_shooting_gorgeous_interviews

[Thomas Miller]

Excellent Mike. Please let me know what you think!

Tom Miller
Big Pictures Media
Denver, Colorado

http://www.BigPicturesMedia.com

[Thomas Miller]

Hi Rich,

We regularly travel with 8 to 12 additional bags – some of them weighing well over the 50 lb limit. Even though we get reimbursed by our clients, we still fight for the media rate to save them money. Most airlines do give us a media rate – which can add up to a substantial discount. Used to be that you could just show them a business card – but now they have gotten more stringent. So we show them a press pass from whomever has hired us – whether it be ESPN, ABC, or one of the other networks. If it’s a corporate shoot it can be a bit tougher, but even then some kind of media pass with your picture will often suffice. It’s all very subjective, and much depends on the experience and mood of the United Airlines CSR or whoever you are dealing with. I’ve had both legs of the same trip add up to amounts that differ by hundreds!

Good luck and safe travels!

Tom Miller
Big Pictures Media
Denver, Colorado

http://www.BigPicturesMedia.com

[Thomas Miller]

Great advice, thank you. I totally agree about monitor calibration. We deal with that in the field with production monitors all the time.

I think we’ve got this one worked out. I really appreciate your replying though.

Tom Miller
Big Pictures Media
Denver, Colorado

http://www.BigPicturesMedia.com

[Thomas Miller]

Sorry for not reading that sticky first. Here are more details (probably way more than you need!):

Computer doing the compressing – Mac 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad Core Intel xeon running 10.6.7,
and most recent version of FCP and Compressor.

The majority of the original footage was shot using a Panasonic HPX170 P2 camera onto DVCPRO HD footage, 720p with a frame rate of 29.97. Additional footage was shot with a Panasonic HDX900 HD camera and encoded with a Kona LHe into ProRes 422. Both were intercut into DVCPRO HD 720p/60 sequences, vid rate 29.97, and aspect of 960×720.

We’ve tried many compression paths, but the latest was to export those files out of Final Cut as self-contained files with no setting changes (Export as Quicktime Movie). Then we brought them into Compressor and did a batch compression using a with the following settings:

File Extension: mov
Estimated size: 691.2 MB/hour of source
Audio Encoder
AAC, Mono, 44.100 kHz
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: (100% of source)
Height: (100% of source)
Pixel aspect ratio: Default
Crop: None
Padding: None
Frame rate: 29.97
Frame Controls: Off
Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 75
Min. Spatial quality: 50
Temporal quality: 50
Min. temporal quality: 50
Average data rate: 1.536 (Mbps)
Maximum data rate: 20.972 (Mbps)
Hinted for QuickTime
streaming server

This created files with the following specs – Here is one example:

Format: H.264, 960×720, AAC, 1 channel, 44100
FPS: 29.97
Data Size = 13MB
Rate of 1,571 kbit/sec

These files look great on our Macs, but are described as looking “washed out” when played on someone’s Window’s computer who is testing the files. They look good on someone else’s Windows computer. Both say they are running Windows 7, and have the latest version of QuickTime.

Any thoughts?

Tom Miller
Big Pictures Media
Denver, Colorado

http://www.BigPicturesMedia.com