David Willert Posted January 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 Out of curiosity, and sort of related, do you find that low budget productions often try to talk down the rental rate, but then a day later call and ask "by the way, does your kit come with a follow focus?" Hey William, I cannot talk so much about Steadicam in specific, but I had that happen to me as a cam op with additional equipment. When someone says, nah, we just need a camera, and in the end its a camera, fluid head tripod, mattebox, filters, ff, some sort of top light/ring light, and ideally a basic light kit as well let alone adapters, cables and stuff. Sometimes, depending on the experience and technical know how of the people hiring you, they might also not realise what comes with a kit naturally, or what you realistically need with it. So someone recommends you as a steady op for a production, and everyones happy to have a cheap steadycam on set, but no one talked to you that knows to care about discussing specifics upfront. Although I think you are talking about people consciously trying to get more for less?! Luckily cant say I had that happen to me before; but I had my rate in whatever capacity being pushed down massively just like that, many times before ;)... What I also noted, even with higher budget productions is, that they sometimes dont calculate properly for certain shots/sequences that require more specialised equipment like cranes/steadycam/helicopter/special rigs/underwater or dont even know before hand that they want a certain shot and then come up with it on the go, when budget is already strained; that is depending on the nature of the shoot of course. Then again, I dont have much experience in the feature film or commercials sector, talking mostly about event doccies/docu dramas/and the indie (short) film segment... I worked on a production once, where we hired some top underwater cam ops. You think their rate is actually pretty decent, but you havent even calculated shipping all their gear around the globe which might cost you the same or even more than the operator/gear rental for a few weeks. Another reason to negotiate the rate down as well, although its not really the ops problem... Although this is not an issue if you shoot in a studio environment or use gear thats readily available... Anyways, I drifted off a little, nonetheless my 2 cents on that matter from my limited experience... Cheers, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Willert Posted January 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 Hey Jim! Thanks for the details. I might even be in the states, depending on where I will get my other gear from... Pete, Also thanks for your details. Im not sure if Ill be attending the BVE, but if I am, I will come and check out your stand. all the best, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Markus Kuballa Posted January 5, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 Out of curiosity, and sort of related, do you find that low budget productions often try to talk down the rental rate, but then a day later call and ask "by the way, does your kit come with a follow focus?" I would call that standard procedure in my line of work.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmanuel Lariviere Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 News from Viewfactor. http://viewfactor.net/forum/index.php?topic=57.msg341#msg341 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Tomas Riuka Posted January 26, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 maybe finally they will bring out a proper product and customer support? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Amando Crespo Posted March 24, 2011 Premium Members Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 ...To be or not to be?.... To have or not to have your own.... sled, arm, vest, follow.., screws... The reason is that if you´re the owner, there will be the probability of no mistakes... Is your equipment, you know it and is your second skin... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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