it sucks being a one man crew

ugafan

ugafan

Looking for a woman
anyone else deal with this? how do you stay sane when you have to do everything and you don't have the money to hire professionals?

end rant. :angry:
 
It was so funny watching the Ford commercial shooting in the park across from my house this past weekend. I went out and sat nearby to check out how the pros do it, and couldn't believe how many people were crewing this thing, which consisted of two shots at this location. I counted 60 people. It was a shot of a car from one angle, and the same car from another angle. There were people running all over the place, but frankly I didn't really see many people who had all that much to do. Let's put it this way, 3 people were assigned to run after the soccer ball being kicked by an actor. Three! And I couldn't help comparing it all to a recent short I shot where I did everything except for the help on the shoot day of a great cameraman and a few friends to hold boom poles and stuff. I was still running around like an idiot, getting props, moving lights, changing lenses, ensuring people were fed, ensuring people were happy, arranging rides for the actors, running extension cords, decorating the set, watching for continuity. Once in a while, I actually directed the actors too. The worst though was doing that on a two day shoot, and I don't think I slept for 72 hours and I was physically more exhausted than ever in my life. I don't think that's healthy! What else are ya gonna do though. Unless you're rich or exceedingly charming (I'm neither!) it's hard to get capable people to fill all those jobs for the price we can afford (free).
 
It seems that at professional shoots there are WAY too many people hanging around for all the work that actually needs done. Like the gaffers ( there were 4 there....one who actually adjusted the lighting, one to help him set up lights, one to run to the truck to get things and another was there just in case the other three were busy). I just wonder how much money is wasted on having such a large crew for something that half the amount of people could accomplish. I assume that there are probably union issues that state that a certain amount of people be on set, but I am not sure about that.

I've directed and ran camera and audio on my own, and have had other cases where I was strictly on camera, and I have to say getting to concentrate just on one thing is not only easier, but it makes for a better result at the end of the day.
 
On the bright side, being a one man crew means you shouldn't have to deal with idiot co-workers. I did say "shouldn't", but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
 
Just keep doing what you're doing, until what you're doing entices other people to be involved. There's a slight catch 22 built in, however.

I'm not a fan of large crews, but I am a fan of enough crew. I would rather have a small group of people willing to wear a couple of hats that were really good, rather than a ton of people that are ineffectual.

That said, at a more professional level you're usually going to get people that are better at doing "that one thing" than on an indie level where you've got a gaffer that is also your dolly grip and is also your set decorator. :) there are a few that are good enough to be really good at more than one thing, but on average it's not the case.

If you wear too many hats something will usually be left undone....at least for most people.
 
With no money, I'd rather have a one man crew and do everything myself because I know I care enough to do the best job possible. That limits the scale of things you can do, but I'd rather do a great job on something small, then beg a bunch of people that don't really know what the hell they're doing to work for free and end up producing something mediocre.
 
I prefer shooting either by myself or with a small cast and a couple of "crew" members helping. It's more intimate to me. But I shoot verite style, so there isn't much lighting to do, and I never decorate sets, or even have sets to decorate to begin with. It's usually real locations, available lighting, with me directing and operating the camera, someone doing sound, and someone else to do whatever else we need them to do.
 
sean90291 said:
It was so funny watching the Ford commercial shooting in the park across from my house this past weekend. I went out and sat nearby to check out how the pros do it, and couldn't believe how many people were crewing this thing, which consisted of two shots at this location. I counted 60 people.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a lot, but in my experience, you can always use an extra set of hands. Numbers also depend a lot on OT and stuff like that. It's usually better to hire one more gaffer than you think you need if it might speed things up a little than to be undermanned and go over your day, and therefore have to pay the smaller crew you do have more money b/c of OT rates. It usually works out to be cheaper to have more crew on for the day than to have a small crew but go over your day.

I'll reiterate something though...you never have enough gaffers on a pro shoot, trust me.......
 
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