Bands last gig...How much should i charge to shoot it?

B

benandaim

Well-known member
Hi,

I just wanted to get some indicator as to how much i should charge a band that want me to shoot their last gig. I'll have access to LINE in XLR so i can move around with sound from the mixing desk. They will be playing for about 3 hours... I know there are a lot of variables regarding the pricing but could i get some rough ideas please. I'll be shooting on mini DV.

Thanks :thumbup:
 
I can tell you one thing.. You should get an audio recorder to get the line feed from the board.. sucks to be teathered to a cable while you shoot. Also, a board feed is really thin and flat so you'll want to get a stereo recording of the performace as well to get the feeling and impact from the live show. You could do a small mix between the board feed and a couple of audience mikes. You onboard will also do in a pinch. That's my audio .02


As for charging them for a 3 hour shoot and the post I'm assuming, I'd try to get 500 bucks for the shooting at a MINIUM... but they are a band which is like the kiss of death. Most don't have any money.... So, you might need to get 500 for the shoot and the edit and that would be a minium I'd say to do it for.. but that's an arbitary thing and it depends upon your bottom line. I'd say to fix a price you are willing to do it for and realize though that you'd have to add some aggrevation tax to that price as there's always crap to deal with...
 
Fixed price contract is the best way to go, but put it in writing as to what the final deliverable will contain; i.e. how much post editing and content. And get a deposit to cover your labor of the shoot in case they bail on you.
 
benandaim said:
Hi,

I'll have access to LINE in XLR so i can move around with sound from the mixing desk.

Thanks :thumbup:
Click to expand...
I just shot a live concert with audio from the mixer and I can hardly imagine moving around with 2 thick XLR cables attached to the HVX200. Unless you have 1-2 assistants at hand.
 
TECH

See if you can have the master mix recorded to a digital deck at the console. Also have the feed transmitted to a receiver on the camera for one channel of reference if possible.

Split your built-in mic for another (lower level, since it's just "room tone" audio) reference track in the event that the wireless goes South or takes hits during the long performace if you can't change out batteries.

PAYOLA

For single camera, with no edits in post, you can easily track your time for prep, shoot, batch, edit, color and render plus materials and other incidentals. Six hours - ten? That's up to you and what you know will go into getting this thing done.

Single camera for three hours is going to be rough (to watch, as the viewer), but editing two or three cameras to break it up brings your client into a new world of stacked timelines and perhaps a week or weeks of post.

I'd give them options and watch them fall naturally into what their budget allows.

e
 
One other question, can u mic the fronthouse pa with a good shotgun commonly used for video work, i.e ME66? Just wondering if it would damage the mic. And how would it sound.
 
I´d rather use dynamic mics with stereo setup if possible, they will handle the high sound pressure better...
And the mixdown from the soundguy won´t get across the "live" atmosphere most of the time, so yeah only as reference...
For further questions I´d repost this in the audio section...
 
Board mix to ch1. A dynamic mic to ch2. An ME66 is no good for this, it's far too sensitive for anything louder than some smoooooooth jazz from the back of the room. If you're the only camera guy you shouldn't be to concerned about being tethered I'd assume your camerawork will be fairly conservative with 1 camera. And since you're asking 200-250 is probably a pretty fair price.
 
Thanks for the advice. What type of dynamic mic would be suitable (is a sure sm58 a dynamic mic?) And i think the pricing you suggested is fair.
 
On the low end an sm 57 or 58 would do fine a little nicer would be a sennheiser 421/441 or a shure ksm 27/32/44. Generally, dynamic mics can deal with higher spls than condensers. Good Luck.
 
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