GH2 How to look 'impressive' with a small DSLR on a professional shoot...

Haha, I love the cardboard post. I want to point out that for a lot of people, it's not the client that makes these comments, but the people that you're interviewing. In those cases, the way that your present yourself and respond to the query is what the client is going to care more about.
 
"How to look 'impressive' with a small DSLR on a professional shoot..."

who cares how to look, BE 'impressive' :) actions speak louder than words... and looks!
 
#1: Well you could always mount an Optimo 24-290mm lens to your camera.

#2: Or you could impress your clients by delivering a quality product on time and within budget.

Seriously though, somebody mentioned firing clients, and that is exactly what I did. My current clients could care less with what my camera looks like. It's the product I deliver which is important.
 
Just know what you're doing, shoot a great product and your clients will be impressed. And of course a cage, monitor and matte box will help too.
 
7 pages of responses yet most people have missed the OP question, which asked "how to look impressive" and not "how to be impressive".
 
LyleGorch said:
7 pages of responses yet most people have missed the OP question, which asked "how to look impressive" and not "how to be impressive".
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As it's normally the case in forums. Everybody is willing to speak their minds, add their 2 cents, but not always bother to answer the question at hand.

For those who say you don't need to look professional, impressive or whatever the term is and that your work should speak for itself and etc, etc, I think they are totally missing the point. For starters, they wont see your work till it's finished, and the insecurities about your equipment, you or whatever will arise at the time of shooting. Just telling them to trust you that you will deliver will not really do anything to easy their minds. Then I know people will say you should have shown them your awesome demo reel or whatever to show your work is quality. Again people forget that not everybody on the set has seen that demo reel. Maybe who hired you has, but not the actor in front of the camera, or the person you are interviewing. If they perceive you as unprofessional, amateur, or that you may not know what you are doing, they wont give you their best in front of the camera. Not everybody is a camera buff and for most who see a stills camera and specially something smaller such as the GH2 or GH3, they just think amateur. It's a fact of life. Producers may know better, but talent most likely will not. Having the attitude " I wont work with a client who cares more about my gear than me" really does nothing for you but make you sound like a pompous *. They don't have any obligation to know. You are the one who need to make the effort to send the right message about yourself and your services. Whatever that takes.

To the OP, it has already been said that normally, adding accessories helps a small camera to look more like it means business. I wouldn't add accessories only for that reason. But I feel a mattebox, follow focus and external monitor are a big help anyway. I basically always have them, unless I'm trying to be discreet.
 
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Adamsenoj said:
Then I know people will say you should have shown them your awesome demo reel or whatever to show your work is quality.
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I've had clients talk to me before about people they hired who had an impressive demo reel, but the results they delivered where sub-par. Here's the problem with demo reels:

a) only the best shots. Sometimes anyone can get lucky. On top of that, there might be very frustrated editor who made it shine even though what he got was mostly poor.

b) All outdoor. I've actually mentioned this to people to look for reels that only involve outdoor/event style shooting. If you're in a good location with the sun directly overhead, you really have to not know what you're doing at all in order to mess it up. I've seen reels that consist solely of this material, and are labeled as "cinematography" reels. That's fine if that's the shoot the client is looking to hire for, but sometimes that means the representation of the reel is skewed.

c) There's a load of B.S. in demo reels. I have know people to include material they didn't shoot, or even edit. Sometimes it's fine if you know that you can essentially deliver the exact same thing, but I'm sure there are instances where it's not even close to what can be delivered.

Personally, I don't even have a demo reel. I feel like I've shot enough varied material that I can point people towards an entire project that is close to what they are looking for (haven't had any issues with not having a "proper" reel either).

I setup lights, a cheapo mattebox, follow focus, SmallHD, ect. ect. and never had any complaints about the camera (mostly comments about how everything's shrinking), but I will say that the first time I pulled out the C100 on a shoot, it definitely got a reaction, especially with the Ninja attachment.
 
You don't need to look impressive, it really is down to the way you conduct yourself on the job and the work that has come before you that they are likely to have seen. I haven't had many, if any clients that just hired me blind. I built a collection of work for free when I first started and used that to get paying jobs. I went from shooting a small Superbike video for fun on a fixed lens hybrid camera from Casio, on a race day i paid to go see with friends, to walking onto the grid for the BMW Superbike team a year later and following them all season with two GH1s, one on a cheap stedicam. The last work I did at the close of the superbike season this year was filming an interview for a short tv style spot on the AF100 right in the pit lane as the sun came down after everything had closed down for the night. It was cool, exciting, professional and paid! I would never have gotten there without a little self promotion or at least having something for the Team to put there money behind.

Forget looking good, impressive etc. Be professional, answer people's questions and produce great work, if you are on a paid gig chances are the client knows everything they need to know about you and actors/interview subjects couldn't care less for the camera, in fact it's in the way a lot of the times, they care about your reel or previous works first and then you, which translates to; do they like your work and can they work with you.
 
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Good point Gary, a reel is intended to show the best of someone and is needed at the very least but most ask for examples of work and if you have online clients (most of s do) then you have something to point them too. Some shooters though ave absolutely no material on the web to show a client, its rare but it happens if the shooter works within private corporate video. I did 9 vids for Bupa on the future of medicine and it had confidential material in the Drs lectures so that won't be online for anyone to see but I could post a grab if a client was interested in this style of work.
 
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