My first solo
I ran my first solo event today. While I would not say that it was a disaster, I would say that it was less than smooth. Having worked this particular job before, I was mostly familiar with the equipment. It never occurred to me that I might have a hard time finding the equipment and their components on the cart.
After setting up most of the camera fine, I had a hard time finding the wireless mic that goes with the receiver that is attached to the camera. I must have spent 10 frantic min looking for it. Once found and set up, I realized that the receiver wasn't normalized to the camera. Why had I not thought it was? I’d never looked for it before, never taken note. It wasn’t until I was putting the equipment away at the end that I found the cable.
Back to set-up... There I was with most of the crowd full and the class moments from beginning. I haven't white balanced or focused yet and I still need to take the tapes out of the wrapping. I realize that the trip pod was different than the one I was used to and I didn't know how the panning resistance worked. The entire shoot was shaky with jerky pans and had a subject frequently going out of frame. After beginning the recording I noticed that the menu didn't tell me how much tape I had left. I just had to wait until it was almost up and try to switch it with out being too disruptive.
Then near the end as I am dreading what I’m going to have to tell Dave Crampton about why the footage is so crappy, my cell phone rings. All in all... it wasn’t fun.
After setting up most of the camera fine, I had a hard time finding the wireless mic that goes with the receiver that is attached to the camera. I must have spent 10 frantic min looking for it. Once found and set up, I realized that the receiver wasn't normalized to the camera. Why had I not thought it was? I’d never looked for it before, never taken note. It wasn’t until I was putting the equipment away at the end that I found the cable.
Back to set-up... There I was with most of the crowd full and the class moments from beginning. I haven't white balanced or focused yet and I still need to take the tapes out of the wrapping. I realize that the trip pod was different than the one I was used to and I didn't know how the panning resistance worked. The entire shoot was shaky with jerky pans and had a subject frequently going out of frame. After beginning the recording I noticed that the menu didn't tell me how much tape I had left. I just had to wait until it was almost up and try to switch it with out being too disruptive.
Then near the end as I am dreading what I’m going to have to tell Dave Crampton about why the footage is so crappy, my cell phone rings. All in all... it wasn’t fun.
Comments
I know how scary it can be to do your first video job by yourself. Sometimes it seems so easy until you get there and you are like, "oh crap". My first big photo shoot that I did for a company gathering at a golf club I couldn't find the rewind for the 35mm camera to switch out negatives so I had to do it by hand in a bathroom which wasn't dark enough and it fogged all the film. Yikes!
The next time is always easier.
Posted by: Stephanie | May 8, 2007 11:22 AM