Way too much crap

one light.

I may want a 5k into a 12.12 or 10 lights or whatever.. but opping solo (in the security/elevator/no parking world) I take one light because that is what I can carry, no more.

By taking one light I know that I can at least illuminate my subjects face even if the job is in a black cave.

(my light is a Dedo DLH4, daylight, Vlock, runs in a field on a train, or anywhere with no reliance on the location, fully spotted can almost ping a head in backlit sun)

I also take a 1/4CTO and a full CTO so that light will have a chance of matching the ambient and some diff to diffuse it, Ive binned the soft-box!
 
Josh Bass said:
Fair enough. I guess its buying an extra batt for the 5d (only have 1), and bringing the mixer to use with the little tascam (doenst have xlrs so would need series of adapters to plug right in, plus noise/preamp issues). so much for slimming down.
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I don't do a whole lot of one man band shoots these days, but you'd laugh at the amount of gear needed if you saw the normal shoots I do for a Fox animated show. We shoot all green screen interviews, usually four or six in a day. I shoot them with two C300 MKIIs, I take care of audio, grip and lighting as well as manning the two cameras. My Rock and Roller cart is loaded with about 450 pounds of gear and I move it all out of my truck myself, ride an elevator up four floors, bring it into a conference room and set it up. I only allow the client to expect this one done by myself because I have been shooting the same interviews, in the same building, same room for almost a decade. I have it down to a science, it takes me almost exactly two hours to set it up, 45 minutes to break it down. I have had a PA help me with the set up and it actually takes longer because I have to explain and train the PA on where everything comes from, where it goes, how all of the gear is unpacked and works. The client doesn't pay me double my normal day rate for it but I get about a 60% increase because they know I am doing the work of two or three people. I kind of keep doing it this way, shooting it by myself as a personal challenge, just to keep me sharp. I know Eric C. has done two and three camera shoots by himself. I don't bring anything on the shoot I don't use or need and it is hundreds of pounds in total. It's multiple Divas, green screen, Four LED panels. two Arri 300s for hair lights, multiple cameras, usually one talent but sometimes two. So bringing a crapload of gear is all relative.
 
That's admirable, but I'll just say the weight load as it was for me last time was unmanageable by myself. Couldnt say what the weight load was--my answer is "too much for me." Maybe its cause I'm 5'3 and 130 lbs, but I dont intend to take a load like that solo again.

I dont need to do Sam's minimalist thing either cause parking etc. usually not an issue like that. If it was then of course I'd take the least amount necessary.

re: budgets...absolutely with some clients you cannot convince them to spring for another guy. If they have $400 that isnt going to change. You have to live with it or pass on the gig.
 
To return to the original question, I tend to look at it this way:

You can't possibly be prepared for every eventuality. Your idea of what's a reasonable thing to be prepared for will differ from other people's, which is largely a product of our individual experiences. Make a logical assessment of the necessity of everything, an assessment you can defend if questioned, and if there is any question, state your reasons straightforwardly.

This is what you will end up doing at some point, regardless of what you do or don't have, regardless of the type or budget level of the production. You can't carry everything, even if you own everything.

P
 
Phil Rhodes said:
To return to the original question, I tend to look at it this way:

...You can't carry everything, even if you own everything.

P
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Definitely. We own a 3 ton G&L package. Back in the day we were going to buy a small grip truck but for various business reasons, never did. I have a crew cab 3/4 ton diesel truck but it's a short bed so I can only carry about a third of it. Now, most of the time, I am carrying as much as will fit into a Corolla ;-) My garage looks like a grip truck, I have become astute with the 45 quart plastic containers and the Home Depot racking. Now I just need P-Touch label all of the totes so I can actually find stuff. I may sell most of it off by the end of the year because we just don't do as many multi-camera, narrative shows anymore, we used to do some pretty large scale stuff but with the economic roll backs in production, few of our clients can afford to do that sort of stuff anymore.

It's all scale though and it depends on what you shoot.
 
amen. for me, one cam one man band stuff, dont often need lighting (or would have traded my tungsten in for LEDs years ago. gemini jr isnt as heavy or expensive as i thought (venue i was at recently had one and I hefted it just to see if I could) and rolls like a dream but doesnt extend as far or fold up as well as an r&r. and the shelf is pretty pricey.
 
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Josh Bass said:
amen. for me, one cam one man band stuff, dont often need lighting (or would have traded my tungsten in for LEDs years ago. gemini jr isnt as heavy or expensive as i thought (venue i was at recently had one and I hefted it just to see if I could) and rolls like a dream but doesnt extend as far or fold up as well as an r&r. and the shelf is pretty pricey.
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I have four of the Rock and Rollers, one of the best pieces of production gear I have ever bought. So useful. I have two small ones that will fit into overhead, a medium one and a large one with the pneumatic tires in the back and bigger, add-on treaded,easy roll wheels in the front. I did a shoot at a house a few years ago where I had to drag a fully loaded large cart through a front yard wlakway that was gravel with stepping stones. The front wheels I had bogged down in the gravel and part of the gear fell off. So I added the new casters for the front, they are still manageable size and the cart still folds fine but now I could drag a 500lb load through deep gravel. SOmethings in this business, you don't solve the issue until you encounter it and it beats you once or twice. I cannot praise Rock and Rollers enough, so useful. The small ones can handle 250-300lbs and the bigger ones, up to 500lbs. Couldn't do my job without them.
 
puredrifting said:
I have four of the Rock and Rollers, one of the best pieces of production gear I have ever bought. So useful. I have two small ones that will fit into overhead, a medium one and a large one with the pneumatic tires in the back and bigger, add-on treaded,easy roll wheels in the front. I did a shoot at a house a few years ago where I had to drag a fully loaded large cart through a front yard wlakway that was gravel with stepping stones. The front wheels I had bogged down in the gravel and part of the gear fell off. So I added the new casters for the front, they are still manageable size and the cart still folds fine but now I could drag a 500lb load through deep gravel. SOmethings in this business, you don't solve the issue until you encounter it and it beats you once or twice. I cannot praise Rock and Rollers enough, so useful. The small ones can handle 250-300lbs and the bigger ones, up to 500lbs. Couldn't do my job without them.
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Hah yes you can definitely "drag" the fully loaded RnR through gravel. If I don't have the top shelf attached the vertical part gives in, which isn't a problem if it's loaded with lots of stuff but still not as durable as I'd like.

Josh, why don't you leave all of the "backup" stuff in your vehicle? Take what's necessary with you. This is the best of both worlds.

You're getting punished for taking equipment they won't notice - lights, cameras, cables that aren't used.
 
Perhaps that's a good idea. . .leave the "just in case" stuff in the vehicle, but again (think I mentioned this earlier), sometimes that can be a 20 minute round trip to get the ____ that you find out you need (tall building, escort, parking garage etc.). I also still say until you get really outlandish, you just never know exactly what you're going to need. That extra light isn't an extra light when one of your regulars goes down, same for cables, stands, etc.

I think the RnRs USED TO be well-made, at some point the company got sold and the newer ones (newer being since the 90s) are not so high quality. I have the R12 and it rolls pretty roughly with even a moderate amount of weight, suffers from occasional "caster flutter" (look it up) , and now the handles are bowing outward. This is my 2nd R12 in a few years. The other one had so many issues that I thought I'd just start over. I was all hot to get a Magliner for a little while but those come with their own issues (size, portability/weight).
 
You can't have it both ways. Using your logic of taking everything, you're still very underwhelmed as far as being covered in any situation. Only tungsten lights? Ironically, it's the low budget corporate shoot that could highly benefit from some daylight HMIs, which it seems are out of the question in this case.

My point is you're in no man's land. You should be nimble with your RnR cart - this will impress your client more than having many backups that never get used. Anyway if a replacement is a 20 minute round trip, that's still much better than a X hours? trip had you not had it at all. You've set your own parameters, which is the RnR cart. Load it up until it's just under being too heavy to move then leave the rest in your vehicle.
 
Josh Bass said:
Seems like in those cases you'd almost want to white balance to the background since that's the thing you can't change the color of or at least not easily, and force your lights to match (or not, if you like the background colors "unbalanced" in a certain instance.
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I sometimes have to shoot in hospitals or medical clinics which are almost always lit with recessed fluorescent lights that you may not be able to change or turn off. So I look for places where the fluorescents have the same color balance ( I pack a Sekonic color meter in my kit ) and then use this fluorescent light as the background ambient fill with my key lights color-matched. By adjusting the brightness of my key lights I can control how dramatic the lighting appears.
 
I have not had another shoot since I posted this that I need the light kit for but I still keep this thread in my thoughts and prayers, like an ailing relative, and vow that next time I will do what we talked about herein.
 
no worries; this is a good thread to keep alive as we all struggle with how much gear to take on shoots.

I'm looking for a bag to carry my lighting kit. There are so many "what if" scenarios so it's imperative to look at the location beforehand; otherwise you end up wanting taking so much gear just to cover yourself.

Getting too old to carry it all :(
 
I feel. But I think that the others are right. . .if the job isn't well budgeted enough to hire a grip/assistant then they can only reasonably expect one person to handle so much.
 
The first thing I learned about this business is that in addition to being a OMB video producer I was also a human pack mule. It is just part of the process. When I give an estimate for a project, I include setup and breakdown as line items. I don't charge rental on individual items per se, I include all my gear in my day rate. But I do have line items for setup and breakdown of audio, lighting, crane and the like. I use this approach so that the customer has a better understanding of what's involved with their production but I don't nickel and dime them on rentals for a bunch of misc stuff. If you hire a mechanic to work on your car, and they charge you extra for the use of their tools of the trade, it wouldn't taste very good. But you would always expect to pay labor for the hookup of a scope for example or a flat rate for the diagnostic. I just make my day rate high enough that some portion of that goes back into gear, gear maintenance, and depreciation. If I don't use very much gear, fine. If I need everything, it is already built into my day rate.

As far as customers that don't budget enough money, I have often had to educate customers on how complicated their dream project might cost; that they might want to consider a well done, but more simple option. They see a national TV ad for a car company and think, "hey that looks good, we could do that for our business". Of course they don't realize that that 30 second spot might have easily cost 100k. In the end, if a customer has unrealistic expectations, or won't let me make a living for the services I provide, then I politely decline with the caveat that if they need me in the future, I'd be happy to help them. I have had customers who called again and said that old Fred who did there last project is out of business. And I give them a sly grin that says: Hmm, guess old Fred didn't charge enough to stay in business.
 
As far as I know, at least in Houston, most people charge individually for certain pieces of gear or packages. To me it makes more sense 'cause if I bring this, I charge for it, if not, I don't, client saves money.
 
Josh Bass said:
As far as I know, at least in Houston, most people charge individually for certain pieces of gear or packages. To me it makes more sense 'cause if I bring this, I charge for it, if not, I don't, client saves money.
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I know I buck the industry trend on the gear rental issue, but it works for me. AFWIW, if I did rent additional gear, I certainly would charge for that rental. Mostly though, I try to stay within my own kit, which is at times I admit, limiting. About rentals to the customer for extra gear: The gear you purchased and hope to rent, costs the same money whether you rent it or not. So ya, you gave your customer a better deal, but you are still paying for the gear and you are offering an opportunity to the client since you own it. If you can do enough rental business to make it work, that's great. I choose to amortize the cost of all my gear across all my projects instead of by rental charges. My crane doesn't move very much, so the rental cost on that would be really expensive and it might be used even less. As is, I can offer it up for just the labor to set it up, since the crane itself is included already in my day-rate. Easy.

So what happens on a project which you quote without extra gear; you don't think you'll need it and your customer was happy to get a cheap day rate, sans much more than a basic kit. An hour in, you do need something "extra" for which you would ordinarily charge rental for. Do you go back to the customer and say "oh by the way, I'll now be charging you for some extras which weren't in the original quote". Customer thinks, "this jerk is clipping me extra for a rental after we made a deal. I wonder what's next". This makes you look like a fool for not planning better and or crooked for upcharging.

Using my method, unless it is something big, like the crane I left home, I just walk over to my bag or van and get it. No negotiating more money or anything. The customer just thinks, "this guy is ready for whatever, he just handled a little problem with no problem". This builds confidence in the customer and delivers value the customer can feel. Some customers like cheap, others want professional service. The ones who want nothing but cheap, will keep wanting cheap and usually don't turn out to be very good customers. In my 30+ years in self-employment (though not all of that in video), taking the high road on great service has always worked for me. And if you don't charge enough by always driving your prices lower (even though you bought a lot of gear), your future will be as a non-professional video producer.

Both business models can be effective. It depends how you want to pay for your gear and what image you intend to purvey to your client.
 
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