Lessons Learned and Report on All My New Equipment
- Thread starter ptalsky
- Start date
Tim,
I know you didn't ask my advice, but I'm going to throw it in anyway. For me, I charge a flat fee for my kit, and that includes everything. I work on a lot of low budget projects, and to have to "negotiate" on set if I decide we need another wireless kit, or a different set of mics, or another mixer, or whatever really won't work. So, for me, a straight up flat fee works best. As I move up into better funded projects, this may change, but for now, I'm doing pretty well this way.
The project I described in starting this thread is a good example. I went for a complete switch over from sit and mix to ENG. I'm glad I didn't have to have a major discussion with the producer over a complete switch in equipment (which is essentially what I went through). The producer never even realized what happened. It was simply a discussion between myself and the DP.
Phil
I know you didn't ask my advice, but I'm going to throw it in anyway. For me, I charge a flat fee for my kit, and that includes everything. I work on a lot of low budget projects, and to have to "negotiate" on set if I decide we need another wireless kit, or a different set of mics, or another mixer, or whatever really won't work. So, for me, a straight up flat fee works best. As I move up into better funded projects, this may change, but for now, I'm doing pretty well this way.
The project I described in starting this thread is a good example. I went for a complete switch over from sit and mix to ENG. I'm glad I didn't have to have a major discussion with the producer over a complete switch in equipment (which is essentially what I went through). The producer never even realized what happened. It was simply a discussion between myself and the DP.
Phil
timapter
Veteran
Phil,
thanks for chiming in... the more input the better. at the moment, with my level of work, i also charge a flat rate which covers my time, and also "rental" on my gear...
i think you are right phil, as i slowly move up the chain, these circumstances change, and one day perhaps ill be working as oleg does. but for now i work just as you do.
i wonder whether rates where you are are very different to here? if bringing up a value is inappropriate, please just ignore this question/comment.. here in south africa, ENG style sound (3 channel mixer, basic wireless, shotgun mic) pays around $230 per 10 hour day for gear and services.. that seems to be a pretty flat figure, although naturally rates will differ from job to job.
im just wondering if i should come to the states next year on working visa.
thanks for chiming in... the more input the better. at the moment, with my level of work, i also charge a flat rate which covers my time, and also "rental" on my gear...
i think you are right phil, as i slowly move up the chain, these circumstances change, and one day perhaps ill be working as oleg does. but for now i work just as you do.
i wonder whether rates where you are are very different to here? if bringing up a value is inappropriate, please just ignore this question/comment.. here in south africa, ENG style sound (3 channel mixer, basic wireless, shotgun mic) pays around $230 per 10 hour day for gear and services.. that seems to be a pretty flat figure, although naturally rates will differ from job to job.
im just wondering if i should come to the states next year on working visa.
wabbit
Evil has Ears
I have two packages, ENG and film. With ENG you get the 3 channel mixer, boom mic, and 2 wireless. With Film you get that plus recorder, 6 wireless, comteks, and 8 channels. If anything extra is needed then I charge a rental fee for getting the needed equipment from another mixer. It simplifies the negotiation but pisses off the no-budget filmmaker who wants everything for cheap.
One thing I learned early on is to never forgo the kit fee to use the filmmakers audio kit. It burns you everytime. There are a couple of films out there I would like to Alan Smithee my credit on.
Cheers
One thing I learned early on is to never forgo the kit fee to use the filmmakers audio kit. It burns you everytime. There are a couple of films out there I would like to Alan Smithee my credit on.
Cheers
this is a great thread!
one of the more useful ones lately.
i don't have any fancy battery distribution system, for now i just have a splitter off of my np-1 battery that splits it from one hirose power to two and that powers my 744t and my 442.
i still have two sets of sennheiser wireless, g1 and g2.
i'd love to goto lectrosonics at somepoint and a small bonus would be getting a receiver model where i could run two or more receivers off of a bds system and save the batteries at least on the receiver end.
which model zaxcom do you use to feed the two channels to the camera exile?
matthew
one of the more useful ones lately.
i don't have any fancy battery distribution system, for now i just have a splitter off of my np-1 battery that splits it from one hirose power to two and that powers my 744t and my 442.
i still have two sets of sennheiser wireless, g1 and g2.
i'd love to goto lectrosonics at somepoint and a small bonus would be getting a receiver model where i could run two or more receivers off of a bds system and save the batteries at least on the receiver end.
which model zaxcom do you use to feed the two channels to the camera exile?
matthew
Oh yeah, I forgot one big thing that happened around 3:30am on Sunday. We were shooting a scene around the dining table, and I kept hearing this ticking noise. I was running the boom around peoples watches and the clock in the room to see if I could find it, and one actor spoke up and said it was two of his heart valves I was hearing. I'd heard about this, but had never experienced it before. Has anyone found a good solution for this?
Phil
Phil