Advice and opinions please.

ryan brown

ryan brown

lOwEr CaSe Member
I've been asked to submit a proposal as potential DP on a new 1 hour doc style TV show in the style of "VH1 behind the music". Interviews with various celebs intercut with footage of their careers, that type of thing. Will be aired on cable television as it's first outlet.

The director wants me to send him a few ideas I have on the look, what camera to shoot on, what lights we'd need and why. Some info: We'll be a small crew and we need to stay as portable as possible, as there will be a lot of travel involved. Most of my job wold be camera/lighting of the interview portions of the show, along with some B-roll etc. I'm assuming because of busy scheduling, a few of the interviews won't give me a lot of setup time, but I will have a small team with me.

The director does not want to use a backdrop, but he wants some sort of uniform look for all the interviews. From the work I've done with him previously, I know he likes very shallow DOF.

I already have my ideas of what I'd shoot on and everything else I need, but I don't want to influence this thread yet, so I'd like to hear what you guys come up with. I'm hoping to hear some fresh ideas that I've overlooked or haven't even thought of.

Need to submit in two days, so any and all advice and opinions are welcome!

cheers
 
I dunno Ryan, no real advice from me. I think you'll figure it out. I'd just like to say the situation you're in sounds like a good problem to have.

If I recall, you made the leap from Texas to LA to pursue TV/film work. This type of gig seems a hell of a lot cooler than shooting weddings, no?

I hope you land the job.
 
David W. Jones said:
My first question is always.... What is my working budget?
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Good question, and I should have given more info on this. Well, I don't have exact numbers on what they'll be spending on camera department, but I know there's a budget between 100K and 150K per episode, and the first 8 episodes are whats been greenlit and contracted so far. I'm putting together a 3 tier proposal, for 3 separate budget levels.
 
Scott F said:
I dunno Ryan, no real advice from me. I think you'll figure it out. I'd just like to say the situation you're in sounds like a good problem to have.

If I recall, you made the leap from Texas to LA to pursue TV/film work. This type of gig seems a hell of a lot cooler than shooting weddings, no?

I hope you land the job.
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Wow, thanks man. I'm surprised anyone remembers, but yes, that was me. I've now been in L.A. for almost a year and a half, and while it's been by far the hardest working year of my life, california has been nothing short of fantastic for me.

Actually, I just released my new reel which is about 90% work I've done since I got here, and I'm locked in to shoot my first feature very soon (budgeted with a very well known cast). My reel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZUOfJlLK_0

Thanks, and yes, I've got a very solid grasp on the proposal already, just wanted to see if anyone came up with something more outside of the box than where I'm sitting now.

cheers
 
Well, I know this didn't get a lot of responses, but I wanted to update in case it can help anyone out in the future.

I got the job, and here's what I put in my proposal:

I opted to shoot firstly on the canon C300 for it's ease of use, quick setup times, and quality for television and low light capabilities. Since we're doing a lot of quick setups and run and gun stuff, this is my camera of choice for this project.

To get the uniform look the director is looking for without a backdrop, I recommended we use a similar color scheme to all interviews. This is what I think set me apart from the other DP's up for the job. I don't think they came up with a solid answer for a tricky scenario from the director. I said I'd bring two additional lights to all interview shoots, and gel them a specific color scheme (to be discussed later), and we use a similar setup no matter the location. This will give a uniform look or "style" to the interviews, no matter what location we're at and what's going on in the background.

I recommended switching from his usual setup consisting of kino's and hot lights for background, to LED panels for ease of use, portability and size for airplane traveling, and optional battery operation. I think this helped my case also, as previously he's had to either rent at the various locations and cities, or have lights shipped if in a remote area. Now we can travel with our entire setup with us at all times.

Those were the main points I outlined in my proposal. The director and EP called me last night to let me know I'm in, and we're pushing forward "full throttle".

Maybe this thread can help out others. cheers
 
Well, I know this didn't get a lot of responses
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Yeah, these boards have been dead as a fart lately.....not sure where everyone is. I'll be optimistic and say hopefully working! A lot of old dvxusers seemed to have moved on.

BUT, yes, congrats on this emerging project. and of course I'd love it if you can share footage, show times or BTS (if allowable). This thread at least gets me fired up for some personal projects that are not as cool, but still fairly interesting.
 
Congrats on getting the gig, Ryan! I too remember your moving from DFW to LAX, sounds like you made a great move!
And yeah, pretty quiet around here *crickets*
 
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