shoot fast/shoot slow?

New_Zealand

New_Zealand

Veteran
Working with the DVX100 I was able to shoot pretty fast BUT working with the HVX200 with the Redrock gear and Nikons lense it took me much longer to set up a shot due to the prime lenses needing focus pull etc....

My producer would be yelling;
"Shoot faster"
"Quit taking so long for that shot"
"No you don't need to do another take we don't have time move on the next shot"
"If you got an EX1 instead it would be much faster shoot!!!!"

Does anyone else find that it takes awhile to set up a shot? Or is it just me that wants to take the time to get a good shot or am I just slow?

Thanks,
 
So the producer is upset that you care about the images you capture.

If you'd put the Redrock on the DVX, you'd have been in the same situation...
 
It's your responsibility to make the film as great as possible. It's your producer's responsibility to get it finished on time and on budget.

This is why we have the two roles. Of course, your producer should also respect your process and your judgement, but if he knows what he's doing and he telling you that you've run out of time, then that's the way it is.

This is what preproduction is for. basically you've discovered that you chose a more time consuming way to shoot, but scheduled as if you were using a simpler way. You probably should have scheduled more days, which of course means you'd need to raise more money, etc.

Unless your producer's just being a douche, which is always possible.
 
Producer sounds like a jackass either way. As cheesesailor77 said, there needs to be a clear understanding in the pre production phase about what's going to happen, obviously with changing lenses all the time, it's not going to be a point and click shoot. I guess it also depends on what this is for?
 
Wait, what exactly are you shooting? Did they request the adapter? If it's a 'film', I understand taking your time for the setup... but if you're shooting some company thing, and there's no need for the film look, lose the adapter.
 
It is for a film. She has never work on a film project that uses prime lens and adapter. The only camera she work with was the DVX100 stock. I needed one week for a certain location shoot which she promised me and after traveling 9000 miles to arrive at the location she told me "oh we only have this place for three days (that is to look the location over and shoot all the scenes)" I needed at least a day (if not three days) just to look the location over, talk with the talents and go over the shot list. We had 15 pages of dialog/scenes to shoot in 3 short days. We had to set up dolly shots, boom shot etc...
 
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An adapter makes everything you do go much slower. That's the price you pay for getting the look that it gives.

If someone wants a fast shoot, an adapter isn't going to help that process.
 
Thanks Barry for your reply. I do apologize to the producer that worked with me on the film project. I needed to go out on the forum to see if it was just I and I’m I being over sighted or is it that we needed to spend more time understanding each other or??? I know even though I was mad at the situation we both put each other in I will be working with her again and again over the years. We have both worked together on one very cool film based on a true story and that is what really brought us together (well we worked on two earlier films also but the true story is what bond us together as a working group).
 
In my experience the adage "Good, fast, cheap, pick any two" comes into play here. Going fast doesn't necessarily mean sacrificing quality, but you do have to have the manpower or the money to back it up. Neither of you are completely free of fault here. Both should have taken into consideration the time available and make a call on whether an adapter is appropriate for the task. Things like dolly, crane, adapter etc. are always going to add extra setup time and if you have a small crew or are on a strict time constraint the right call would have been to trim down on the excess gears.
 
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