Shooting Rain / Other Crews

[BoomDrive]

Is it me, or is shooting rain video probably the most useless assignment ever? Is the viewer truly interested in watching even a paltry amount of rain gather into puddles?

On an unrelated note: the other day, a shooter from another station shot a cutaway of a group of us shooting an interview subject. Does anyone else take this shot? If so, why?

My thoughts: I'm not exactly sure why you'd want to show your viewers that they can see your story on other stations.

[ July 31, 2004, 01:17 PM: Message edited by: BoomDrive ]

[AKinDC]

The only times I'll use a cutaway of other cameras is if a) there's nothing else to shoot, and I badly need it for editing purposes, or b) part of the story is the large amount of media coverage the story itself is getting. In general, I don't really like them though.
As for the rain video, let's face it, news viewers love anything that has to do with weather...so yes, those annoying weather shots that we all have to get do tend to be pretty important. This is never quite as obvious as when you're sent out to shoot video of it snowing...in Alaska.

[ July 31, 2004, 01:50 PM: Message edited by: AKinDC ]

[<the absolute worst thing.>]

is when there is a big media event and you get the assignment to "do a story on the media" at the event.

I hate that.

[Air_7]

Shooting weather as a freelancer is like taking candy from a baby...-Its great money and since the rain and snow will be differant tomorrow I better get back out there....

In LA I don't think for some reason they have time to shoot it so they buy it from us...A few of us have shot it right out front of there building......I do try to be more greative then just shooting puddles and search for more interesting stuff but we really don't get the cool storms that the east side of the country does though....You would laugh at what they call a storm !!!!

[Run&Gun]

Originally posted by BoomDrive:
Is it me, or is shooting rain video probably the most useless assignment ever? Is the viewer truly interested in watching even a paltry amount of rain gather into puddles?

If you're talking about the weather, i.e. rain, shouldn't you have weather related video to show, or are you like some people out there that don't read the scripts/don't care and just put in whatever shots you want to(VO: Last year this race was rained out...; COVER VIDEO: Sunny scenics of the race track)?

[ July 31, 2004, 09:18 PM: Message edited by: Run&Gun ]

[Lenslinger]

Ah, weather video - that immeasurable service TV stations provide for all those viewers held captive in window-less basements. What solace my static wide shot must be to all those folks quietly chewing their way out of their restraints. I can envision the thank-you notes they might send: letters and words ripped out of newspapers and magazines, haphazardly pasted to faded construction paper...

tHanKs fOr SHOwIng tHe gEEse AT tHE PArk. noW caLL thE POlice...

Actually, I don't mind shooting weather video - even when it's one of many stops on a whirwind tour of swing-by vosots. It gives me a chance to drive around alot, looking for the perfect enviromental vista to leisurely frame and endlessly tweak. But when the clock is ticking, and deadlines are fast approaching - the hunt for weather VO can turn into a frenzied race around town, a circuitous loop around favored haunts looking for new actors on familiar backdrops.

Okay, perhaps I'm over-dramatizing it. What's new? But there have been many times when I've felt like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2 - hurtling through streets at break-neck speed, scanning every side alley and backstreet for the imbedded image that will set off lights and sirens in my internal cyborg viewscreen.

Of course I'm not on the hunt for the one time-traveling ancestor who can save the planet. I'm looking for wind-surfing senior citizens , rush-hour hotties struggling across windy avenues, crackheads from the homeless shelter building snowmen. Perhaps I should slow down. But who has time to dawdle when you've got two tapes full of daily tripe wedged under the sun-visor and a cell-phone full of unanswered messages? Hear that idling engine? It's the sound of me missing slot.

I only wish I could benefit monetarily from the pursuit - but alas, I'm an indentured staffer. I do recall one shooter who excelled at turning precipitation into compensation. By the time the third unlikely snowflake fell, he'd have The Weather Channel on the horn - transforming his fifty seconds of lame snow into a couple of hundred bucks and a TWC ballcap or two. I never quite wrapped my brain around the legality of his endeavors, but it doesn't matter since he left the biz long ago to focus on shystering full-time. Last I heard he was pimping cell-phone service, and no doubt out-earning his photog days.

All I got are a couple of faded ballcaps.

[ August 01, 2004, 05:34 PM: Message edited by: Lenslinger ]

[TXPhotog]

My favorite is when they send me out to someplace that supposed to be getting a lot of rain and whaddya know, by the time I get there it's gone (good ol' Texas weather). So I call the desk and their response is, "Well drive around and find some." Sure I'll just pull up the local radar on my handy in-dash GPS system that also doubles as as a tv with all the cable channels.

[Chicago Dog]

Originally posted by Lenslinger:
Ah, weather video - that immeasurable service TV stations provide for all those viewers held captive in window-less basements. What solace my static wide shot must be to all those folks quietly chewing their way out of their restraints. I can envision the thank-you notes they might send: letters and words ripped out of newspapers and magazines, haphazardly pasted to faded construction paper...

tHanKs fOr SHOwIng tHe gEEse AT tHE PArk. noW caLL thE POlice... That -- is hilarious. Five bonus points to you for "telling it like it is." Sad, though, that I can actually see it happening.
:D

Also, I don't think I've met anyone else who uses "construction paper" in their creative practice of the english language. One of my personal favorite sayings: "Do you understand now, or should I get the Crayons and construction paper?"

[Eye of a Tiger]

I'm not a big fan of shooting weather video anymore but there are ways you can make it worth your while. Allow me to play the part of Martha Stewart.

So your single and bored...go to the beach where the ladies are laying out.

Your a sports fan but you have to work...shoot fans watching the game you wish you could see.

You're a newbie/rookie...practice and develop your creativity. It worked for me.

[SandRat]

I would like a full-time job shooting weather shots.

[Lost in Alaska]

Originally posted by AKinDC:
those annoying weather shots that we all have to get do tend to be pretty important. This is never quite as obvious as when you're sent out to shoot video of it snowing...in Alaska. AMEN!!!

[Brian Z]

Originally posted by Lost in Alaska:
quote: Originally posted by AKinDC:
those annoying weather shots that we all have to get do tend to be pretty important. This is never quite as obvious as when you're sent out to shoot video of it snowing...in Alaska. AMEN!!! It snows in Alaska? But I thought the sun is out for like 6 months at a time, how can there be snow?

:D

[Terry E. Toller]

Shooting other photogs at the State House is a standard cut-away. I have shot thousands of them over the years.