Interviewing your DP

I did a still job in Japan last year. The way the Japanese work is very demanding and you must always suck ass to the client. Well,... I work the way I work.... I figure that's what there paying for.

Well, I'm looking at the schedule. About a 12 hour day. I also notice that there are no breaks.... Not even a lunch break. I ask some of the Japanese crew.... What's up with this schedule..... They basically say..... Welcome to Japan with a laugh!

Well, noon time comes around and I send an assistant out to buy 15 bowls of Udon noodles. I call lunch break for 30 minutes. Everybody got kind of quiet and the client came up to me and asked what was going on, You cannot stop, we still have allot of work to do. I said, Relax.... Eat some noodles, I'll finish on time. So we all had some Awesome noodles for lunch.

Same thing at around 4 o'clock. I get 15 Ice Coffees from a vending machine. Call a 10 minute coffee break.

I tell the client.... I get better performance from the crew if I treat them well.

We finished an hour early and shot a few extra shots I felt were needed as well as numerous variations that I wanted to do a different way.

Every one of the Japanese crew thanked me after we were done..... And I thanked them, because they really did step up for me.

I thought I blew this client out, and would never get another gig from him again. He is a regular now and never questions a thing! He always says "You Crazy"

Note: I am Japanese/American born in San Francisco. Drive a GMC truck and ride a Harley Davidson kind of American. In Japan there is a blurry line as far as cultural expectations of me.

frisco
 
HAHA, that's a fantastic story. You have to have breaks...

The last shoot I did we got quite a bit done, ended up being for most people 9:30 or 10 a.m. to 5-7 p.m. When we broke off to do some story segments, I let the grips and 1st A.D. wrap up some equipment, load it into the truck, and then leave if they wanted while we were out filming the story stuff around the area. Pretty easy day I think for most people. Not for me, but the crew didn't have to work too hard.
 
Budgets are getting worst every year!!!!!!!!

Budgets are getting worst every year!!!!!!!!

JonathanLB said:
I think it kinda is everyday reality. The music video industry sucks. If they can't afford to pay enough, they certainly can't afford to pay me to direct songs I hate or for that matter songs I only sorta like, but don't really like. This isn't 1999 or 2000 again. It's 2008 and the budgets are awful. If I'm going to waste my time on a music video it better be a good song at least. Don't get me wrong, I'd make a music video for a not-so-great song if the pay was great, but otherwise? No way. Not worth sacrificing your name for a few bucks. If you want to make it big one day, certainly it's not worth it for your reputation. Only work with good artists and good songs unless the pay is too good to deny.
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Jonathan, there is no other way to say it the way you did. Your so damn right about that. Music Videos are getting ridiculous short ended. It's sad where music videos are going today. After my release of my last music video for a indie group out of Orlando, FL. I was getting hit up every where to do music videos. Sad thing is, the budget sucked or they could not afford my rate. So, for now I'm producing videos until I come across a expensive budget or a song that I like or might be getting a lot of plays on the radio. Jonathan's right though, don't waste your time with something that could or will ruin your name. You have to look out for yourself. Once you start making or bringing in the money, then start looking for a Video Rep. or try to get signed with a production company. Good place for that is videostatic.com. I make more money color correcting for music videos than I do directing them at the moment.

As for your DP. There is a lot of things you can ask him. First thing is first though, always try to know a little more than your DP. DP's wont work with directors that don't know what their doing, because their name is attach to the project as well.

The best questions to ask him at the moment is what the first guy told you on this forum. I think he was the first one to reply to your question.

Hope everything works out for you buddy. Good Luck. Keep us all posted of what's going on.

Cheers,

Murray
 
Music videos are a depressing industry for me right now. It's a long story how I got started in this field and now have more experience as a music video director than any other field, but I've been trying to build up my corporate reel because at least there's money in that.

Essentially, though, I started a business with an Assyrian, born in Iran, great guy, who had a lot of connections to Persian musicians here in Los Angeles. We were planning on trying to take over the Persian music video market, we knew the budgets wouldn't be huge, but they'd be respectable, like the $5,000 to $15,000 range, and we were targeting mainly the $8,000 and more videos. Where we could make a small profit and shoot hopefully enough of them per month to make a decent start in the business before we jumped into other types of work. Unfortunately, we even found that with that market, we weren't getting the types of offers that could make money for us as a production company. We were getting the types of projects that if you were a one-man-crew, you could take and make a few bucks. But we wanted to show those musicians some better quality work, pro Hollywood stuff, not amateur Persian music video stuff, and a lot of what is being done in that market is just frankly awful. So I knew we could crush the competition. But that's the problem, we couldn't compete in pricing for what they'd offer. So I built my reel and gained my initial knowledge doing music videos, but then I realized the harsh reality that I already knew was true in the American market, which is that unsigned bands don't have any money that interests me.

I've spoken to and contacted dozens and dozens of bands in the Los Angeles area, and the most I found was offers like $550, one time $1,000 (that band is pretty awesome, and I'm willing to make them a video for free because I believe in them that much, plus I'm in love with this one song they did and feel nobody else should get to direct that video but me, haha), and almost every other time no money whatsoever. I think one of the most frustrating parts is we get shortchanged big time. It's not that they have no money. That's wrong. They DO have money. But they are spending all of that money on recording and mixing and producing their music, and buying cooler guitars or amps, or whatever else. So at the end of all that, they deem a music video to be the least important thing, and then tell us they have no money. It's kind of unfair, though, because if they thought of having a professional music video as very important to their presentation and to getting themselves out there, they'd find a way to set aside money for it. I've even made good bands an offer of doing the work for free, I just wanted my crew and expenses to be paid, so I could have made something for $3,000, $4,000, which is still maybe about $1,000 per band member but that's an amount they could probably save up or find a way to get or borrow if they really believed in it. But they just don't want to bother.

So that's when I realized that I have to do video work for signed artists, for record labels in other words, or just move on to other mediums where there's better prospects for making money.

I suppose with my reel, if I was able to shoot everything myself, edit it, etc., I could probably find bands willing to pay maybe $800 or something for a video, but it'd be false advertising because they'd be looking at a reel of work made with crews of 8-18 people, budgets of $3,000 to $10,000 with my equipment thrown in for free (a total of $80,000 of production and post-production equipment, my annual insurance policy, etc.), my time for free, etc. So for $800 they'd get a video much less polished and professional than what's on my reel and wouldn't be happy, probably, even though they were paying nothing. And of course I wouldn't be happy either, selling my name so cheap. I'd rather not bother.

As for the DP issue, the DP I have been working with for the last two projects is way more experienced than me, I'm not sure how many features he has shot but I know he's shot at least 3-4, and he's shot 26 music videos now I believe, tons of commercials, short films, etc. He is a consummate professional, whereas just being honest I'm a wannabe. I may have the skills but I haven't broken into the industry professionally. Doing corporate work isn't really being "in the industry," in my mind, it's just a good way to pay bills, haha. I have appreciated my DPs experience and his insight into all kinds of matters that I may not have thought of without his help. I know at first, my inexperience was something he probably thought about a bit, but he also knows I'm a very hard working guy who learns quickly, and is eager to take advice when it will benefit the project and help my career. I guess on my first project with him, which was a rather large shoot, still the biggest I've done, the Unit Production Manager asked him, "Does Jonathan's inexperience bother you?" and my DP said, "No, because you tell him something once, he gets it, you don't have to tell him again. He picks up information quickly and works hard." So that was a nice compliment and I've really enjoyed working with people more professional than myself. Or rather more experienced, at least. I hope I conduct myself professionally at least! haha.

That being said, it's also very tough. When you're directing something and it's a good bet that anyone on your set has more years of experience than you do, it always puts you in a stressful position a bit because you're kind of wondering if anyone is thinking they could do better than you, or maybe you weren't decisive enough and the crew questions what you were thinking, etc. I will look forward to the time when I'm working on a shoot and I'm not worried about that, which I think will come when I feel I've proven myself a bit more. But ultimately I don't worry too much about everyone's experience level so long as they are able to do a good job, and I don't worry about what they think of me because I'm doing what I need to do to hone my craft.
 
Hmm, also as far as what I said with bands who aren't signed being usually unwilling to pay, I mean maybe if I was a better salesperson I could convince them just how important a good music video is to their band and their chances for success (whether or not that's true, I don't know, I'm just saying), but so far I don't think I'm a great salesperson. I think I'm great at the line producing element of filmmaking, I am detail-oriented and can handle a lot of tasks at once, figure out budgeting, keep everything together, etc. And I can direct when I get to that point. But selling people on my work or on my company, that part needs improvement. I have no choice but to get better at it, obviously, or I won't be in business long! haha. My former business partner was great at that element of things, he could sell ice to an eskimo. But he sees himself more as a businessman, he doesn't care about the artistry of film unless it makes him money. Whereas for me, I'd rather be a director in the future. I would consider it an ideal reality where I never had to produce anything, just direct. It's not to say I'm not business-oriented, I've run small businesses since I was seriously 7 years old (golf ball sales on a golf course, haha), so I have that entrepreneurial spirit, but to be honest I'd prefer to focus on directing rather than worrying about the business aspect of everything I'm doing. For now, no choice but to produce/direct everything with the small projects.
 
JonathanLB said:
But we did a 24 hour day on my first music video. That was just because it took 3 hours to drive to the location and 3 to drive back, and there was loading and unloading equipment. I did that with my business partner so we were the ones working the longest day, but the actual filming was definitely only about 12-14 hours if you take away the meal breaks. There just wasn't any other way to do it. We couldn't afford to rent hotel rooms in that tiny town before the shoot unfortunately.
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This is just incredibly stupid for any number of reasons. A friend of mine from college died in a car accident because of exactly this. Working insane hours and then getting behind the wheel is a recipe for disaster. Think about it, and think about all the other people on the road. How much does a hotel room cost? Worst case, how much does sleeping in your car cost? Nothing.

See also Haskell Wexler's documentary Who Needs Sleep?
 
See also: "First Time Director" by Gill Bettman -- "Sleeping is for amateurs." I'm sorry, that's the reality of the industry, there are a lot of times you get on the road when you're tired. But driving with my business partner, we were way too amped up from the production to fall asleep. You think somehow he's going to fall asleep when we're on our 7th Red Bull (have a heart attack, maybe, sleep? No) and I'm talking at him?

As for the rest of the crew, yeah it's a concern, but that was the project. Now I wouldn't take on a project like that because either 1) There needs to be money in the budget to cover us staying overnight, or 2) There's no budget and I have no interest.

I'm sorry, though, this is film, if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. It's not uncommon at all for film productions to have ridiculously long days, even in the editing room. I'm sorry if someone can't handle that -- there are lots of 9-5 jobs for those people.
 
JonathanLB said:
I would normally agree with you, but that's just not always the case. Ask anyone doing music videos. It's not at all abnormal for music video shoots even for major record labels (especially?) to go to 18 hour days. I think it's insane too. But we did a 24 hour day on my first music video. That was just because it took 3 hours to drive to the location and 3 to drive back, and there was loading and unloading equipment.
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that is just dangerous.
 
JonathanLB said:
I'm sorry, though, this is film, if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. It's not uncommon at all for film productions to have ridiculously long days, even in the editing room. I'm sorry if someone can't handle that -- there are lots of 9-5 jobs for those people.
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"This is film" is probably the weakest possible argument you can make in this situation. "Film" is not fighting in combat, it's not saving the world... it's a job. It's a very competitive job, and it demands the best from the best and brightest, and people take it very seriously, but at the end of the day it's a creative career, no more and no less. So this is not about "taking the heat". It's about making sensible decisions that don't put people's lives at risk.

My guess is that if you had lost friends and colleagues as a result of stupid decisions, you wouldn't feel so cavalier about it being "part of the industry".
 
JonathanLB said:
I'd ask the DP if he is up for working more than 12 hours if that's what it calls for, but then again I'm not union. The answer to that question is very important to me.
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As a DP, this question would be a huge red flag for me that the person asking it was not even going to try and make a 12-hour day. If a director or producer goes into a shoot assuming that you're going to shoot for 18-hours, you will be shooting for 18-hours. This kind of question tells me the person asking has no qualms about abusing crew and is already planning on saving some money by scheduling two days of shooting into one.

TimurCivan said:
JonathanLB said:
I would normally agree with you, but that's just not always the case. Ask anyone doing music videos. It's not at all abnormal for music video shoots even for major record labels (especially?) to go to 18 hour days. I think it's insane too. But we did a 24 hour day on my first music video. That was just because it took 3 hours to drive to the location and 3 to drive back, and there was loading and unloading equipment.
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that is just dangerous.
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And stupid.

As an AC I did a 22+ hour day back in the early 1990s. Never again. As a DP I'd shut down the set before that ever happened. I'm willing to push past 12 hours if it is necessary, couldn't be prevented, and isn't because of somebody's stupidity, but once you start moving towards 16 hours or more, it's ridiculous. Somebody at the top made, and is still making, bad decisions.

12 on, 12 off
 
I haven't shot more than a 12-hour day except that one project, so don't get all up in arms. Some of us are businessmen, we're not employees, and we take risks that we need to take to get our businesses going. We couldn't afford to pay for a two-day shoot and pay everyone double. It wasn't an option. We had to take a few risks and they paid off, everything turned out fine. I don't do that now because I am more safety / insurance conscious, but when you're starting out? Absolutely. It's worth the risk to make things happen.

I like to know from a DP that he's there for me, though, if things did get over 12 hours and we needed to finish, he's not just going to leave me out to dry. Then again since it's not in the crew deal memo, if he walked off after 12 hours he just doesn't get paid, basically. But that's never happened so far. We've always met our days. But I don't want a DP who is great for 12 hours and then if that 1 in 25 chance happens where things get screwed up, and we need to push for another hour or two, he creates a mutiny on the set and says he won't do it. I think that's where creating a friendship with the DP comes into play so that he has your interests in mind too and looks after making the project work. I have no problems paying people a bit extra in situations like that, too, but I do like to know they are willing to help me out to finish the project.
 
JonathanLB said:
Hahaha! Very true.

What I don't like is when someone sends me, "Hey this is a short film I directed, edited, shot, and did the music for!" Uhh, sorry, that doesn't count as a reel. I don't know what was going on there, but if you did it all I don't want to see it. I just want to see what you actually were DP for.
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Haha, as someone who does it all I find that offensive... jk.
You know I pride myself as being valuable on set because I can do more than one job. Maybe you shouldn't be too hard on the guys and "direct/edit/light/dp/act"
 
I've seen (and hired) DPs to work for far less. The trick is I've also hired them to work for far more – so people I bring on know that I'll take care of them when there's a budget if they've got my back when there's not.

Since we're necroposting...

JonathanLB said:
Some of us are businessmen, we're not employees, and we take risks that we need to take to get our businesses going. We couldn't afford to pay for a two-day shoot and pay everyone double. It wasn't an option.
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And some of us are businessmen who take our employee's health and safety seriously. My business is doing just great, thanks. I don't mean to harp on this point forever, but someone can always learn from it, even if it's not you.

Absolutely. It's worth the risk to make things happen.
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My old college buddy and aspiring DP Richard would probably agree with you, except that he's dead now. He's dead because he flipped his car off an embankment on the interstate driving home after working a series of ridiculously long shoots. He should have known better, and so should everyone around him.

There's better ways to save a few bucks.
 
If that doesn't put the subject in perspective nothing ever will. Sorry for the loss of your friend. May he rest in peace.
 
Ya we try to limit our shoots to 12 hours for anyone not directly involved in the company (work we hire or have volunteer). Its only the three of us who put in the 16+ hour days...still risky for us I guess but thats something we're taking on, not pushing it on others.

Sorry for your loss as well
 
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