3 half days and a pickup.

[cameragod]

So at 5am in the morning and I’m off to shoot a pickup for a 4-day shoot that is missing just the one shot. Not getting paid for it but I figure its worth the good will. The radio tells me it’s the coldest week this year and I feel like saying “no sh!t.”
I stand shivering by the camera nail the shot and the phone rings. Am I available for a half day this morning? You bet.
I drop of the DVCam camera kit, pick up an SP, and head out to get the producer. The sound guy lives next to the location so that’s sweet. It’s a festival, loud, hot and free food. The phone goes again, could I do a half day this afternoon for 20/20? You bet.
We finish up some IV’s I drop the producer off and trade the SP camera up to an SX and head out to a memorial service. I get the location text to me but its wrong, as I am the only one around in the cemetery. The phone goes am I available tonight to shoot a band? Yeah, sure, whatever. There they are clustered together at the bottom of the hill I drive franticly, but respectfully, down to the group.
I’m in time, the dead girls mother thanks me for coming and the service is very moving, my viewfinder fogs for some reason and I can’t seem to see properly. I back of for an arty wide shot and the phone vibrates like an angry bee. Am I able to shoot some fireworks? Maybe? Could you call back latter and confirm times?
Race back to send the tape and get yet another camera SX again. No call from the fireworks people but to be honest I’m not bothered.
The band location is a scummy pub with too little lighting and a sound desk from hell.
I kick a subtle light of the poo coloured ceiling and now I can actually see the band. Actually the bounced light is quite nice, must dig out that brown gel again… not as good a purple obviously.
I go to set a mic up by sound desk. I try unscrewing the mic holder off a desk stand to put on the light stand but it seams to be on tight. I twist harder and break it. Oh good. The kit belongs to the station head of cameras.
I do a quick gaffer tape fix.
Band is good, give me a free CD, cool.
Head back to office 11pm fix mic stand better than new.
So one day, 3 x 60% of my day rate.
Thought I’d pop onto b-roll before heading home and ask why is it some say they don’t do half days again?

 

[Lensmith]

I'm impressed!

Much better than my day, sitting on my butt at a Western Hemisphere OAS meeting about corruption, doing sitdown interviews with half a dozen different diplomats...then being screamed at by some woman for getting a cup of coffee and stale bun to eat when I should have known "these are only for the delegates!!"

My only upside, besides the paycheck, was having the Nicaraguan consul come over and personally apologize for the rude behavior of his underling and offer to take me and several other members of the press out to lunch as a way to make up for her ugly behavior.

Still...it's not as good as a THREE paycheck day.

You're my idol Cameragod!

Must be nice to have a stockpile of cameras to choose from.

 

[Hiding Under Here]

I have done the triple-dip twice in my life.

Here's how it worked once. I can't remember the other time.

The Sunday that Princess Diana died I was set to go to Montreal for a week for CBS. That afternoon as I was pulling out of my garage I heard my office phone ringing. I shut off the truck and went inside to answer it. It was the CBS producer. The shoot was cancelled because the correspondents's father-in-law had died.

We got paid for hours and gear for two days.

That night princess Diana died. The next day I got a called to shoot a news piece for NBC around Boston. So now I'm being paid twice.

In the afternoon, 20/20 called (there's the connection CG) and asked if I was available all week. I said "yes" and as soon as the NBC gig was done, I went home and packed for England to cover the funeral. We flew out that night and I got three full days for one day even though I shot only a little news story.

The paycheck trifecta...a thing of the past around here.

Take care down under.

 

[imported_blank]

Originally posted by cameragod:
I drop of the DVCam camera kit, pick up an SP

I drop the producer off and trade the SP camera up to an SX

Race back to send the tape and get yet another camera SX again

YA BABY!!!!
You're the MAN CG.

Each time you drop off a camera - you pick up a notch betah format!

I was waiting for this part

I drop of the SX and grab an IMX....

You ARE the MAN cameragod - makin' all the money while playin' with all kinds of different flavours of video formats....

Nothin' feels betah then test drivin diferent beavers eh?

 

[cameragod]

Of course it works the other way to. Sometimes you hand back a SX for a Dvcam, like the shoot I have on Monday. Also not all cameras are equal. The Monday Dvcam is a beautiful kit set up nicely and has a wide lens that cost more than the camera while one of the SX cameras I use is very shabby, a nasty lens and is a constant fight to get a decent picture.
I am totally at the clients mercy when it comes to format, I haven’t had a Digital Beta gig all year, guess that’s why I have such high hopes for Xdcam one format for all my clients? Yes please.
Looking in the diary so far this year I have had 14 3x half-days in one day and 3 4x half-days in one day. Not to mention all the full days with a half-day tacked on. They may not be for everyone but for me half-days work.
Oh and it turns out the fireworks are on tonight, not last night so here we go again.

 

[Run&Gun]

When it works out like that, awesome, but it seems like half days like that are few and FAR between here. I can only think of one half day recently where I could have done more when we were done. It was basically a pickup of someone that wasn't available for us to get the previous day. They only needed ten minutes of b-roll of her. We were in about 9-ish out by 9:30am. Actually had the rest of my day still intact(which is sometimes better than having another shoot).

[ July 11, 2004, 01:28 PM: Message edited by: Run&Gun ]