FX6: The Sony ILME-FX6V Owners Club

LennyLevy said:
haha - Speak for yourself Rob. Don't know how many people on this forum shoot and edit their own material, but I've been a DP for over 30 years and have a large circle of friends in the business. None of us primarily shoot and edit their own material. We all have our own projects of course, some more than others, but as a DP for hire - most of shoot and hand off the files.
Click to expand...

more and more people are doing everything. hence a big appeal of the Fx6. it is a no holds sort of affordable camera. perhaps a ideological/spirited succesor to the DVX100, in ways. Not the only one to ever follow, but certainly one of the more true embodiments of the appeal of the original dvx.
 
Back in the day, it was very uncommon for videographers to edit, especially the old-timers.

IMO - while growing in the business - I learned there were mainly three kinds of videographers:
(1) Those who weren't quite sure what to do with their lives after HS and stumbled upon operating a camera and became really, really good at it and worked their way up the camera operating opportunity ladder.
(2) Curious brains who had many skills and tried to learn anything and everything, and used any of their talents at any time to make money.
(3) Absolute film nuts with only one purpose and that was to create films...good or bad, they did it.

__

Today, I don't know anyone who doesn't edit their own material (if they are doing this to make a living).

Like of course many are hired only to shoot, but I would say 90%+ are filming and editing more than they are just filming.
 
NorBro said:
I would say 90%+ are filming and editing more than they are just filming.
Click to expand...




I am probably 70/30% just filming /filming and editing but all these cameras are being used across a very wide range of disciplines that have very little in common. Hence all of us arguing about workflow.

Docs
Lifestyle/Reality
Live TV
News / Current Affairs
Music Promos
Narrative
Automotive
Vlogging
Branded/Social content
Stock Footage

etc etc etc

Lots of gigs in there where you might never even see the rushes let alone cut them. And also lots where you will do everything and lots in between.
 
Last edited:
90% of the total...90% of videographers are filming and editing, 10% are just filming. (You'd be in the 90%.)

The actual ratio would be less, and for some even much less like in your case - but 30% is still a decent amount of editing opposed to a random project every month or two.
 
I started off in post production so it's always been there for me.

But I would say I am not a videographer. I'm a DOP or a camera operator. Occasionally I edit. I don't really advertise that I edit.
 
LennyLevy said:
haha - Speak for yourself Rob. Don't know how many people on this forum shoot and edit their own material, but I've been a DP for over 30 years and have a large circle of friends in the business. None of us primarily shoot and edit their own material. We all have our own projects of course, some more than others, but as a DP for hire - most of shoot and hand off the files.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input Lenny, you've given me a lot to think about.
 
NorBro said:
IMO - while growing in the business - I learned there were mainly three kinds of videographers:
(1) Those who weren't quite sure what to do with their lives after HS and stumbled upon operating a camera and became really, really good at it and worked their way up the camera operating opportunity ladder.
(2) Curious brains who had many skills and tried to learn anything and everything, and used any of their talents at any time to make money.
(3) Absolute film nuts with only one purpose and that was to create films...good or bad, they did it.
Click to expand...

(4) Call yourself a production company and start doing turnkey productions where you bill the client for an entire project rather than by the hour or day. Shoot, write, produce, direct, and edit, as you feel comfortable with, and then hire people to do what you don't want to do or don't have the skills for. Get yourself 6-10 regular corporate/government clients who view you almost as a team-player in-house video department, and then stay as busy as you want to be. That is the best way to make money and have control over your own schedule and destiny while still having creative control and funding whatever equipment purchases you want to justify. 90% of the people I know in this business who earn a really good steady income are doing it as a small (or even one-man-band) production company. That stabiliity and steady income then gives you a nice base to do whatever else you might want to do without regard to how it pays.
 
Now if I was a betting man, I'd say that's your next book... :happy:

HOW TO MAKE MONEY IN VIDEO PRODUCTION
 
NorBro said:
Back in the day, it was very uncommon for videographers to edit, especially the old-timers.

IMO - while growing in the business - I learned there were mainly three kinds of videographers:
(1) Those who weren't quite sure what to do with their lives after HS and stumbled upon operating a camera and became really, really good at it and worked their way up the camera operating opportunity ladder.
(2) Curious brains who had many skills and tried to learn anything and everything, and used any of their talents at any time to make money.
(3) Absolute film nuts with only one purpose and that was to create films...good or bad, they did it.

__

Today, I don't know anyone who doesn't edit their own material (if they are doing this to make a living).

Like of course many are hired only to shoot, but I would say 90%+ are filming and editing more than they are just filming.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on your definition of ‘back in the day.’ I worked at
quite a few TV stations and every single videographer edited their own
stuff. We would usually do a couple VO/SOTs and at least one full on
package (almost like a mini doc) every day....often we would also have
to set up a live shot for the reporter we worked with to intro the
package. And every creative services person at those stations also
edited the stuff they shot for promos. It was how it was done at every
TV station I ever worked at (and I worked at over 10 of them.)
Now, years later, almost every one of those former videographer/editors
or creative services people has gone into business as themselves as a
‘one man production company..’
 
Doug Jensen said:
(4) Call yourself a production company and start doing turnkey productions where you bill the client for an entire project rather than by the hour or day. Shoot, write, produce, direct, and edit, as you feel comfortable with, and then hire people to do what you don't want to do or don't have the skills for. Get yourself 6-10 regular corporate/government clients who view you almost as a team-player in-house video department, and then stay as busy as you want to be. That is the best way to make money and have control over your own schedule and destiny while still having creative control and funding whatever equipment purchases you want to justify. 90% of the people I know in this business who earn a really good steady income are doing it as a small (or even one-man-band) production company. That stabiliity and steady income then gives you a nice base to do whatever else you might want to do without regard to how it pays.
Click to expand...

Agreed 100%. This is very good advice.
 
The thing about being a one-man band is that (for me) it's nowhere near as rewarding as working on a proper production and I adore working on productions where the Director is just Directing and giving it 100%, the DOP and Sound etc are doing the same and so on and so on.

One man band jobs are by their nature always a compromise and wearing many hats means you are never quite able to to them all as well as people dedicating all their attention to them. Plus the creative and human reward of working with other creative people in that environment makes you improve. So I tend (or tended to pre covid) to split my jobs between both types of works.

But sure, you can make money by doing everything yourself if you have a few repeat clients and a well oiled small crew.
 
James0b57 said:
Chapter 1: quit video production and do something else.
Click to expand...

When I was young and foolish, I was offered a place on a (very highly-rated) photography degree course. Despite photography being my obsession, I turned it down. I did this mainly because I was young and foolish. Part of it though, was that one person with experience said to me "You can't make any money as a photographer". When I heard this I imagined that, as a photographer, I would be living with my parents for the rest of my life. Or just eventually giving up and getting an unrelated job. That made a kind of sense to me - 'Surely everyone wants to be a photographer! Of course they don't pay you!'.

Looking back now, I suspect there was a calibration problem. Perhaps what he meant was "If you work really hard and have a bit of luck you still probably won't achieve a comfortable middle-class lifestyle". I say calibration problem because 19-year-old me didn't care at all about a decent or even reasonable middle-class lifestyle. Nothing like that was even on my radar. I had no interest in leather sofas or even foreign holidays but I really, really wanted to be a photographer.

There's no moral to this story - be careful what you say to young people (ok, there is). Doing fine in video production now. And no complaints about the money!
 
i’ve signed in, i’ve voted, but dvx will not allow me to support the post by Andy with my vote. think about that
 
Ben Scott said:
The thing about being a one-man band is that (for me) it's nowhere near as rewarding as working on a proper production and I adore working on productions where the Director is just Directing and giving it 100%, the DOP and Sound etc are doing the same and so on and so on. .
Click to expand...

I don't agree that running a small production company is not as rewarding, but I do agree it is a nice change of pace to work on bigger productions with fellow professionals who are very good at what they do. nd, of course, it can be just be plain fun to work on some of those big productions. That's why I choose to keep a foot in both sides of production. I'll do a network live shot here and there, work on a multi-cam interview for big news magazine show, take a multi-week assignment for a major sporting event or reality show, shoot someone else's documentary project, etc. None of that stuff pays as well but it keeps you on your toes and can be very educational if you pay attention to what everyone else is doing on the production and learn from them. I'm sort of a jack of all trades who likes to wear many hats, so it is great to get the chance to look over the shoulder of people who are very narrowly focused on whatever role they are playing in the production. But I certainly do not want to be a small cog in a big machine everyday doing basically the same thing over and over again or working for those wages on a regular basis.
 
James0b57 said:
Chapter 1: quit video production and do something else.
Click to expand...

Absoultely.
I've met a lot of young Roger Deakins wannabes who thought the road to success was learning to lay dolly track and move 12K lights around a set and that eventually they'd get their big break. Or they'll buy the latest cool camera and get business cards printed that say "Cinematographer" on them. Now a lot of those folks are selling phones at a kiosk in the mall, working until 3:00am on some cheap indy film nobody will ever see, or living in their parent's basement. Build a career first, get a financial base, and then follow your passion. #1 Rule: You have to earn a living before anything else.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top