Listing gear on your website

[Peter Osinaki]

Hello,

I am just posting this to feel out what the general opinion is on the topic.

I have seen a lot of different production company websites and the one thing that kind of gets to me is when people list their gear. I would have to assume that if you are listing your gear you are assuming that the client will know what you are talking about and it will be some kind of selling point but doesn't that kind of limit you as a company?

What I mean is why wouldn't people just list their services and samples of their work and let those speak for themselves. That way people are saying "I've seen your work and its great, tell me what I need to do to make my commercial/documentary/web video look that good" not "Why do you use that I heard this one is better?"

For example: You own a modest DSLR/Prosumer camera set up and land a commercial gig. Based on the project you think it would be best to rent a (insert high end/high speed camera here) and have that be part of the budget. The client sees this and says hey why not just use the one you have? It's a legitimate question for them to ask but it is an issue you have created for yourself.

The other issue I see is that if you have gear listed and it's not what the client thinks or knows to be "a good camera" they might pass on you without you even knowing it.


Now this doesn't apply to specialty production companies (people who do aerials and underwater etc) because their gear is a result of the specialized work that they do. I am only referring to companies who do general production work.

 

[Matt Gottshalk]

In my area clients are pretty educated on what the different cameras are and what they can and cannot do.

Most like to see what you have as well as what you can do with it.

It's not a big deal.

The other issue I see is that if you have gear listed and it's not what the client thinks or knows to be "a good camera" they might pass on you without you even knowing it.

Then thats not the kind of client I want to work with anyway.

 

[RyanT]

I agree, especially for a production company. They aren't a rental house and the gear owned is not really important, more about the people and the work they produce.

 

[Cassius]

A lot of clients ask me what gear I have. That's just how some market segments work, especially ones with a budget or an interest in matching footage.

 

[sonofaresiii]

I would suspect it's more of a trend since the economy collapsed (in my neck of the woods anyway... but then, I wasn't getting any gigs before it collapsed, so I'm only speculating) but a lot of time when I get asked what gear I own, it's because the production DOESN'T have much of a budget to rent gear, or at least want more for their money when hiring someone... so getting someone with better gear is a plus over someone that would need the production to spend more money renting.

This may seem like the cinematographer is getting screwed by not getting paid for his gear, but the usual market laws seem to apply, i.e. a cinematographer with more gear is more likely to apply to and be hired by a production paying more than an equally talented cinematographer with less gear. It's more that the production wants to know they won't have to go out and deal with renting gear... many just budget for a cinematographer and expect that to be the end of it.

note-- i put this in terms of a cinematographer being hired, rather than a production company, but that's because i've only had experience being hired as a cinematographer though I expect the reasons are the same for both. Also, I should note that occasionally the production will have a specific camera or gear in mind, either for their particular style or they understand their budget level. This has become popular with the new "fad" cameras... take, for instance, the director who decides he wants to shoot his money on that new RED camera that's supposed to be super cheap but they totally shot Spider-Man on it, well he's going to go looking for cinematographers that have that same camera he's been hearing so much about (DP wanted, RED camera a plus!). But this is probably more just for cinematographers than production companies.

 

[Cassius]

My price factors in a basic production kit, and I make it clear that other equipment may be needed and will be charged separately. Even some of the equipment I own is charged for. I also like to tell people what I have experience with in case renting is necessary. Right now I sell myself a lot of times as a 'DSLR shooter', since that's what a lot of people are looking for. If they aren't I just don't mention it, and it wasn't too prevalent on my website when I had one (just mentioned). But that's probably not a sustainable business model. I'm not trying to have a sustainable business model anymore, so my opinions on that are probably quite different.

 

[thabo]

I've thought about this too. When I setup a website for my production company I listed my gear but really, not sure it matters for my particular clientele. Not sure if they'd know an AF101 from a Red. But if another production company is looking for a Red shooter to match their other Reds then that's what they want to see and if you've got it listed on your website you're going to get a call. And no I don't own a red, I'm on the other end of the spectrum, GH2!