FX6: The Sony ILME-FX6V Owners Club

I was specifically saying 'for me' but none of the one man band jobs I have done come close to the feeling of accomplishment about working as part of a good team on something larger, especially if it is a long form projects like 3 months on a feature doc just as DOP.

But that was what I meant earlier about everyone doing different things being divided by a common camera.

I genuinely get much more pleasure out of trying to bring a Director's vision to life to help tell a story, pinging ideas and being made to justify choices to each other, than doing it all myself.
 
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alaskacameradude said:
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..’
Click to expand...

How many TV stations could there possibly be in Alaska? lol, j/k

Yeah, sounds like an usual situation with a group of talented individuals, but I'm guessing the editing was extremely simple in a very small market.
 
You can make anywhere from a decent to a phenomenal living in video production. You just won't have the instant and near-guaranteed cash spigot of a dentist who just got his degree.

I spent several years living hand to mouth before landing a high-volume client who gave me stability. Several years later, I landed another one who has given me a measure of comfort and, god willing, a retirement fund.

Personally, I prefer to work on creative and visually-challenging or experimental work. But when I became a dad, I became a whore.

I've been more interested in simply taking the highest-paying work that doesn't require travel so I can be home in time to get no sleep and change diapers. And I don't really care if the job is DP, videographer, editor or teacher. I'll always enjoy working in video in any regard more than I would working in any other field, even if I'm not working on arthouse features like I dreamed about.
 
ahalpert said:
You just won't have the instant and near-guaranteed cash spigot of a dentist who just got his degree.
Click to expand...

True, but we still have the better career! Back in the 90's a number of my clients were companies in the dental industry and I produced over 100 hours of training videos for one of the most respected dental educators in the world. And one thing I learned is that most dentists absoutely hate their jobs and the suicide rate is very high. So while we might be whores to our corporate clients, it's still better than being a dentist even if they MIGHT make more money out of the gate.
 
Nah, don't feel guilty. Be happy that you followed your real interest and made a successful career of it. I'll bet almost zero dentists got into the profession because they get real pleasure from sticking their fingers into someone's mouth and looking at the horrors down there. No, they got into it for the money. Who is the real whore then? You may not be super enthusiastic about everything you have to work on (nobody is) but at least we get to do something we really love most of the time -- and make a good living. That's a win-win.
 
Sorry to be a downer but since I started this job a long time ago I have lost several colleagues to suicide. Many have quit the industry altogether citing stress or maltreatment and a whole heap of them have drinking problems and/or stress related health conditions - myself included. The highs of this job can be very high but it is also a very, very cruel mistress at times. You have to look after yourself because nobody else will give a s*%t when it comes down to it.

It's really not for everyone.
 
I think the worse part about it all is how content is expected to be created.

With the bar set extremely high for attractive visuals and editing, people don't have a great understanding of the time and skill and effort.

They probably never did, but you didn't see as much complex work as you see today.

Now it's just like... Can you take a look at this Amazon commercial. Can we do that, but maybe also add a Transformers in there?
 
NorBro said:
How many TV stations could there possibly be in Alaska? lol, j/k

Yeah, sounds like an usual situation with a group of talented individuals, but I'm guessing the editing was extremely simple in a very small market.
Click to expand...

Ha, you’d probably be surprised. It has
changed a little bit but I’d guess there are still
at least close to 20. One of them actually has
won NPPA (National Press Photographers Association)
station of the year a few times, including
when I was working there. That station
not surprisingly was the best one to work
for as they paid the best, literally sent us
all over the world to cover stories and purchased
high end gear for us to use. Every videographer
had a station SUV to use as well you could bring
it home and use it on your days off.

Yeah, the editing was normally fairly basic.
You did get to work on a ‘feature’ every month
and some other special stuff where you got to
do more advanced editing, but the basic point was
there is a ‘target group’ of videographers currently
working who are used to doing all shooting,
lighting, audio, and editing to put together a
entire project from end to end. I think this
is sort of the same route Philip Bloom took.
And a lot of these people leave TV stations
after a few years in search of better money
and do exactly what Doug has suggested .
It seemed some people here thought ‘one man
production company’ was rare. And if you live and
work in the top 1% of the industry I’m sure it is.
On the other hand, I got a good job
during the pandemic precisely because
I could do so many things. The TV series
I shot for could not fly a crew into my town
because of all the local Covid rules so I
was literally the only person on set along with
one PA running around getting stuff for me.
Yeah I literally had to do everything, including
camera op, lighting, sound, and DIT etc
on this show. I did NOT edit as there was a post
department but all the variety of things I learned
as a one man band helped me a lot. If you read it
you will see the star of the show says he would
normally have a crew of 25...A little
story about the series here:

https://glueottawa.com/2021/02/02/j...uOVZUd2Ey4RPqFl53hduOp1SfpgzAl-D2fZA-EX_xUfko
 
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Sometimes I want to work on one of those Alaskan fishing vessels out in the elements for 6 months to test my mental fortitude.
 
Headline: "Local TV Photog Makes it Big".
Congratulations on the success of your transition into other areas of production. Local TV is a great training ground and teaches you things that people in film school will never understand. And it's not just all about how to run the hardware.

BTW, I won a $500 NPPA scholarship in 1983 for a short piece I put together and that seemed like million dollars back then for my budget. In my junior year in college I applied for a photog job at the Salt Lake City CBS affiliate. I hated school and wanted to get working. The news director asked me what I was going to do if he didn't hire me and I said I'd stay in school. He said "then go back to school finish because I'm not hiring you for that reason." He was right. It would have been a mistake at that point. I never did go into news (except network freelance) but I think I would have liked the grind of it for a few years.
 
NorBro said:
Sometimes I want to work on one of those Alaskan fishing vessels out in the elements for 6 months to test my mental fortitude.
Click to expand...

It would do that and more. I actually paid my way
through college (TV production degree) fishing. It’s
no joke. I have 2 friends who have died fishing.
One of my brother’s saved the deckhand he was working
with, when the other deckhand went overboard in
rough weather. Another brother got a longline
hook through his hand. I have had a boat literally
sink and had to jump on another one (hint, ALWAYS
fish with a buddy close in case one of your boats
gets in trouble.) It’s no joke and lots of people
think they’d ‘like to try it’ but unless you really know
what you are doing....you don’t want to try it.
It’s dangerous enough if you are experienced on
fishing boats. It’s a really bad idea if you aren’t.
I used to tell myself that I was doing it so that I’d
never have to do it again if I could just get my degree.
Because not only is it dangerous, it’s brutal work with
long hours. You may go weeks working 22 hours a day....
It was the only way I knew of to make enough money
in a summer to pay for school for a kid who grew up
in a tiny Alaskan town with no work experience as a
high school graduate (not many places to work in
villages of 100 in Alaska.) If Deadliest Catch comes
calling double or triple your normal day rate. And even
then think seriously if you really want to try it.
I personally don’t think I would do it and I spent
years as a deckhand.
 
Doug Jensen said:
Headline: "Local TV Photog Makes it Big".
Congratulations on the success of your transition into other areas of production. Local TV is a great training ground and teaches you things that people in film school will never understand. And it's not just all about how to run the hardware.
Click to expand...

For sure. How to deal with stress for starters. How to get something
‘done’ as opposed to perfect. Our news director once told us if we missed
slot that she would run two minutes of black with a title saying
‘These two minutes of black brought to you by.....’ and insert the name
of the videographer who missed slot.
 
alaskacameradude said:
For sure. How to deal with stress for starters. How to get something ‘done’ as opposed to perfect. Our news director once told us if we missed slot that she would run two minutes of black with a title saying
‘These two minutes of black brought to you by.....’ and insert the name of the videographer who missed slot.
Click to expand...

Great idea. It'd be cool if she actually really did it some time. I love the pressure of a live production and having to hit a deadline. No excuses and no retakes. I get a little of that andrenaline rush when I'm shooting rocket launches. Obviously I have no control whatsoever over the timing and there is no warm up so you either do it right or you don't.
 
Doug Jensen said:
Great idea. It'd be cool if she actually really did it some time. I love the pressure of a live production and having to hit a deadline. No excuses and no retakes. I get a little of that andrenaline rush when I'm shooting rocket launches. Obviously I have no control whatsoever over the timing and there is no warm up so you either do it right or you don't.
Click to expand...

Ha, I never missed slot. I did have to run a story
with totally blue video when I forgot to white balance
on one of my first stories. Yuck. I never did that again.
But you are right. The adrenaline rush of doing live
TV is why I did it for years and years despite the pay
being pretty crappy. It’s strangely addicting.
 
I enjoy high-pressure shooting but what I hate about event livestreams that I've done is that part of the pipeline is out of my control. If there's an internet lapse, whether you're streaming via wifi, ethernet, or hotspot, you're SOL. And of course, there could be a temporary issue with youtube or wherever it's showing.

I've never actually had it fail on me (of course, I've only done fewer than a dozen), but it's a s*%tty, helpless feeling to be at the mercy of the internet gods.

I'm much happier shooting unrepeatable events if it's just me with my spare batteries and backup body just needing to get myself in the right place ahead of the subject. All the thrill of the hunt, none of the anxiety of helplessness.

But if you're not an OMB livestreamer then someone else is probably sweating the connection.
 
I've been on so many livestreams that have either screwed up or just gone down. Usually bigger budget stuff too for the likes of Activision, Ubisoft or PlayStation. Sometimes it is just downright luck if they come off without a hitch.

Edit: the swear filter on here is atrocious.
 
Another newly discovered potential FX6 issue to be aware of is if filming in a Victorian basement where every single 'straight' wall, doorframe and ceiling is nothing of the sort and where you can't use the level the get a frame that looks true, that floppy LCD mount where it won't stay 100% locked into a straight position makes it doubly hard to gauge the fine margins.

So much so that I might get the CVP FX9 Loupe mod done.
 
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I find the little horizontal level indicator on the LCD screen not too bad. I did play with adding a simple spirit level bubble to the FX6 (both on the hot shoe and the back) at one point. Cheap, easy to apply and very visible. You get packs of them for next to nothing on e-bay in various sizes.
BL.jpg
 
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