First paying gig is coming up and I need advice! Please critique my previous work!?

Ferret Lady

Ferret Lady

Well-known member
hi guys. i have my first paying gig on thursday where i will be filming a band performing in a club for their album release party. they had actually seen some videos i did for my friends band (which i did for free, to get experience), and asked me how much i charge.

I'm obviously very excited about this, and want to do the best job I can. I'll share with you that I'm only charging $500 for the filming part, and $100 per video that I edit from it (probably will do a video per song, for the purpose of internet distribution, but they said they'll start with one and see how it goes).

so i'm going to have three cameras. one is mine, the xh a1. one is a dvx100. and one is an hvx200. my plan was that i would do the wide shot of the band from a stationary position in front of the band on a tripod. this is due to my lack of experience with a camera (i really am a noob with filming, editing is more my bag). the guy with the dvx100 is my stage man, getting on the stage and infront of the lead singer and getting all those great close up shots. this is the set up i had for the videos i did for free. and now i've added a third camera man, with the hvx200. i've asked him to basically be all over the place, getting shots of the band from different angles throughout the club, shots of the crowd enjoying the show, etc.

i would like you guys to check out the videos i did for my friends band and critique my work. i know it's not professional, trust me, and i was having some issues with vibrations so my far away footage is a little shaky at times... but assuming that my camera work gets a little better the second time around, i want to know what you think, and also what advice you can give me to get better results next time around. i value your opinion and i don't mind if you give it to me straight (without being mean of course) but all i ask is you give me your comments in this forum, and not on youtube video itself, as i dont want the band to see anything like that. unless it's positive :)

here's a link to one of the videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vByvFP_GxDw

and i created that channel so all the videos under that username area also done by me. there are 3 videos from that show in total.

thanks guys,

Alison
 
oh also i wanted to add that the reason you sometimes see shaky footage is because when i first got to the club and set up my camera, i realized that the bass was causing serious vibrations! i didnt know what to do and ended up balancing the tripod on my foot for the entire show. next time around i'm going to put some sort of rubber mat under the tripod and also hang a weight from it to help it stay steady and hopefully i won't have the same issue....
 
First, congratulations on your first paid gig - always a milestone and one of those life memories that gets freeze framed.

Second - you didn't charge enough. Funny how the two always seem to go together. Lets just say your work is solid - don't be afraid to ask for more.

Technical nitpicks
- the background behind the band seems to have the crawlies on the distance wide shots.

- the sound sync on the distance shots is just a hair off. It's presently exactly how you'd hear it if you were actually there with the distance delay. For vid it's common to slide it slightly so it's exactly in sync with the lead guitar's hand movement.

- I'd personally go for more closeups and audience shots - any one perspective for more than a few seconds gets boring.

These are really just nitpicks - it was really nicely done. The band wasn't bad either.

Best wishes :beer:

Edit - Just watched it again, liked it even better second time around. Scratch the crawlie note - damn fine for balanced on your foot!
 
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"the background behind the band seems to have the crawlies on the distance wide shots."

sorry, i know you said to scratch that note anyways, but what exactly are 'the crawlies'. something to do with stabilization?

"I'd personally go for more closeups and audience shots - any one perspective for more than a few seconds gets boring."

yep, i agree with that for sure. my close up camera guy didnt get enough footage of the band for me to work with that time, he really filmed the audience too much. however next time around, i've got a third camera man to focus on the audience and stuff, so there will be more close ups for sure.

"the sound sync on the distance shots is just a hair off. It's presently exactly how you'd hear it if you were actually there with the distance delay. For vid it's common to slide it slightly so it's exactly in sync with the lead guitar's hand movement."

uh oh, you've lost me now. i was trying to sync it up to the lead singer as i figured that was the easiest way for someone to notice if the sync is off. i kinda thought the guitar players hands are easier to get away with .. if you could explain this in more depth it would be much appreciated.

and wow, i didnt charge enough? mind if i ask what you'd charge for such a task? i'm just amazed someone is willing to pay me anything!

thanks very much for your critique, and the compliments as well. i really appreciate it and will take all this into consideration on my next project for sure.
 
Ok - deep breaths. You've got 3 cameras, you're gonna do fine! First rule - there is no such thing as too much footage. Bring lots of tape -

I'm assuming they're not going to allow you a dolly track all around the front of the stage and your rovers probably don't have glidecams or a crane so accept this isn't a controlled hollywood soundstage level shoot.

That said, handheld sucks and sticks are pretty unwieldly. I've found monopods really help. A little practice and you can even imitate a short dolly or jib shot. These can even be last minute DIY rigs from short painters poles.

It also helps to put your crew in special shirts and get friendly with security to help you maneuver around the brow of the stage.

You never mentioned the venue or location - if you're in the east coast meltdown, one shooter I know wears one of those camelback drinking bladder systems. He also has custom molded earplugs. Not sure what he puts in the bladder but he always comes out smiling . . .

I said earlier you can't have too much tape - that depends. Post is time and time is money. I've got a feeling what you've charged would barely cover equipment rental. What little I've seen shows you're fully capable of delivering a professional product - don't be afraid to ask fair compensation. That being said,
new bands are always broke - if you like 'em and want to give 'em a break, at least take a percentage.

I purposely haven't addressed the sound sync question hoping one of the sound heavies from the audio thread will weigh in.

Best wishes ! :beer:
 
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*taking deep breaths* ok. i'm calm, i'm calm. heh.

we had an unfortunate turn of events today - the third camera guy bailed on me! ouch. he said his filming partner will take his place however. i emailed this guy and am waiting to hear back confirmation. if he doesnt show, well, this is gonna end up being a 2 camera gig. man i hope that doesnt happen.

the venue is a nightclub in vancouver, bc. fans will be right up against the stage, so having a dolly track, even if i had one which i dont, isnt possible. but that's ok. we will manager.

shirts is a great idea, which i'm planning on getting when i have a bit more money to seriously start this business (and decide on my new company name...)

we each have our own camera so ya, $500 is probably what it would cost to rent that stuff but we already have it, so. for me $500 for one nights work seems pretty sweet. i'm still in the practicing stage so i will be charging more in the future, just not yet.

thanks for your confidence in me, pixelated. it helps.

any advice for avoiding bass vibrations on the camera/tripod?
 
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