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Martin Kittappa

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Everything posted by Martin Kittappa

  1. Sound guy compensation: Flat rate of 2 thousand for shoot, all travel and prep days included in the 2thousand. Here's the deal. Please only reply if you agree with terms!!! We're pulling out of LA on Oct 24th, next Friday, in a 15 passenger van with all key crew members on board. We're driving to Missouri, Benton to be exact. We start principal photography on Oct. 29th, and shoots through Nov. 11th. I need a sound guy with his own equipment. We are shooting on two gh4's. This is a low budget Horror film in the vein of Annabelle, the conjuring, and paranormal activity. You will ride out with our production team. Meals and accommodations will be provided. The pay for the shoot is a flat fee of 2,000.00 (2thousand) this rate is not negotiable, all the key crew members are being paid same rate. Again, PLEASE only reply if you are good with the terms. The film already has distribution and will have a premiere in Feb. 2015 in LA.
  2. This will be the actual working conditions of the RV gig- Free Meth to get you through the shoot
  3. Thanks for this Mike- a very important piece of information. Maybe this should be posted somewhere more prominent on the forum rather than be buried deep in the 'From CL thread. We all have the responsibility to be aware of things that are not safe or right on set, especially when minors are concerned. In an ideal world ADs or UPMs need to be checking the credentials of any studio teacher that arrives on set for the first time. Due to the nature of our jobs we as sound mixers do get up close and personal to actors of all ages, and although it's not our responsibility to be checking the teachers ID's ourselves, if we have the slightest doubt in our minds about someone then we must do our due diligence and inform someone higher up the chain. I'm sure that any real studio teacher would not be phased in having their credentials checked in the interests of child safety. This should also serve as reminder to us that when mic'ing kids we should always insist that a parent or studio teacher is present. I had one instance when an under pressure AD told me to take an eight year old girl into a quiet room and mic her. Obviously I refused until either the parent or studio teacher was present as witness. It only takes that one kid who for any number of reasons takes a dislike to us to raise a false accusation that will end a career or worse.
  4. Trying to compete with rental houses in some cases has become an impossibility. Recent scenario for a reality show: Line Producer: "So we have rented all our camera gear from VER, and they are going to offer us $1000/ week for the sound package, (788T with CL8, Boom mic pole and Rycote, 7 Wireless SMQV mic kits, 2 Lectrosonic SRB stereo camera hops, Smart slate, 2 sync boxes, 8 IFBs), If you can give us a better rental than that then we'll go with your package, if not then you can use the package we can get from VER." How are we supposed to compete with that?
  5. Was it the subject matter or the day rate that scared off the last crew? Reality/documentary Since the beginning of time witches have existed some prosecuted and hunted. Today we captivate real action and stories unexplainable shocking events while we film world known witch Monica the Gipsy. Her expertise in her religion exceeds anything anyone can ever fathom. Interviewed on many television markets. www.monicalagitana.com. I need a crew that is mentally and emotionally prepared for the experience your to encounter. My last camera guy and boom operator were too freighted. These are real occurrences. Crew needed Producers/production assistant Boom operator with mixer, mic, recorder Camera operator with 4k or 1080p Schedule Will film this month, begins Fri-Sunday. 12 cases 12 episodes. Pilot season. Again you must be prepared to handle the unreal! do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers
  6. If you use the Lav bullet, then don't do what I just did and forget to put it in your check on. I put my Leatherman, screw drivers etc in my check in, but I just forgot that the lav bullet was in a little pouch on my mix bag with my expendables. Because of this, I recently had the unpleasant experience where TSA in the interests of security, made me take apart my entire rig so that they could scan them all the components individually. I asked that they just take the rig as whole to the swab machine, but no dice. They insisted that all wireless receivers and transmitters, my comtek transmitter, everything had to be unconnected and scanned individually. resulting in grumpy people in the security line behind me, and a half hour rebuild of the ENG rig at the airport. Not only that I spent ten minutes having to explain to the supervisor that the lav bullet is only a weight to help with mic chords. At least they decided not to confiscate it. I don't know wether that day that particular TSA agent was just being difficult or wether the lav bullet kicked him into security overdrive, but lesson learned for future travels
  7. The way some ACs treat my slate I really can't see that antennae lasting very long.
  8. Oh how I miss the days when I could just turn in a DAT tape, a paper report and just go home. Now at wrap its now a case of generating a sound report onto a flash drive, making a run to the DIT to make sure he starts on my audio card before he begins transferring the camera card. If I don't make it in time then it's a half hour wait until he's finished the video card before he can spend two minutes on the audio card. Even when I get home I now feel obligated to back up the days work on my home G-raid before I can crack open that end of day cold beer. Those were the days! Seriously I'm in the SD world- I've had a CF card go bad on one occasion and I'm glad that I had the hard drive too, so yes the idea that the maxx only has one card is certainly a small concern- can't have too much redundancy in a system, but would that put me off using the Maxx- probably not. I more likely to choose a recorder based on functionality and workflow than wether it has more than one recording medium.
  9. Hi Allison, Like you I do love the challenges and craziness of documentary and travel. Partly because projects in developing countries are often more meaningful, but mostly if I'm honest I just love the pressure of having to solve problems on the fly and having great stories of weirdness to tell. Anyway, to your question: I have worked as local in other areas before at a time when work was quiet where I lived, and when I did, I resented the fact that producer, director DP, AC were all flown in from wherever, getting all their expenses and per diems paid, whereas I had to find my own accommodation. All meals outside of shooting had to come out of pocket too. It really sucked. The out of town crew often being put up in a nice four star hotel, whereas I'm trying to save money by staying at the Comfort inn. Not only that, it really does eat into your rate. Yes I ran the calculations in my head- hotel for each night, travel costs, rental car and worked out that on longer projects it may be worth it financially, but anything less than four or five days and a huge percentage of your rate is gone. Of course it was my choice to work as a local, so I don't really have the right to complain, but one can't help the way one feels at the time. I'm finding that productions are traveling sound less and less these days. Four years ago I was shooting all over the world, but now the bean counters in production offices are under pressure to save money by hiring locals. Crews hate it- especially on docu shoots as us sound mixers tend to double up as camera assistant, help set lights, help in corralling gear through airports etc. DPs like having someone who knows all the nuances of the production. I've lost count of the times when camera guys have said to me that they wish that the production had travelled me as well- that local sound guy they hired just didn't click. I'm not saying that I'm better than the local guy they hired, but changing the crews around every location makes for a more disjointed work flow. I guess I'm a little bitter about it right now as I recently got cut from a shoot in Hong Kong due to the budget. I was soft booked to fly out next month and then this week I get that call- 'We don't have the budget to fly you so we going to hire a local, sorry about that'. The upside is that being in LA , there is more work coming from out of town productions looking to hire locals here. Recently I've worked locally for East coast shows, Koreans, Canadians, Japanese and British shows that didn't want to fly in a sound mixer. Staff me up (used to be called reality staff.com) has really gone down hill lately. Since it changed, I'm noticing that the Craig's list types are beginning to post tuna sub jobs... And some of the places that productions are looking to hire a mixer to work 'As a local' are unbelievable. I looked at the map of some of the dueling banjo towns they want to shoot in and wonder how in the world they are going to find a local mixer there.
  10. I'm going to bump this up one more time, because I have spoken with contract services about the W9, 1099s personal and business check situation and here is the skinny: If there no recognized payroll company for a job that you have worked on then Contract Services will require a letter from the production company on their official letter headed paper. The letter must contain: The applicants Name, Address, telephone and social security number. The number of workdays and exact dates worked. Name of the production on which the work was performed The applicants credit / title / job classification What medium the project was filmed on (Film / Video / Digital) What locations the work was carried out in The $ rate which the applicant was paid. The letter must be accompanied by check stubs or payroll records. and the job capacity must be marked on this. Contract Services may accept or reject the days at their discretion and may also ask for further proof of work, such as Call sheets, Deal Memos, Copies of W2 or 1099, Copies of start paperwork etc. So it seems that you do not necessarily need to be paid via a media payroll company, but you really do have to exhaustively prove the days worked if employed as private contractor and not as an employee. Submitting all the requested information does not guarantee that the days will be accepted. Hope that helps. Producers don't often have time to provide all that information and so I have been sending companies a Word document with all the information for the jobs I do. All they have to do is sign and date the letter and print it on their own letterhead. In practice some of these are being accepted and some not. In my experience anything that goes straight to the web will most likely be rejected outright, even if it is a high quality production. Commercials are hit and miss too. In fact nothing is 100% guaranteed to count unless it comes from one of the recognized payroll companies, but at least it seems that they are willing to consider whatever is submitted.
  11. Here is an excellent blog comment that really speaks sense to the situation http://wehaveembarked.com/were-just-making-movies/
  12. And herein is the problem. The job we do utilizes the same skill set whether you fill out a w9 and file a 1099 at tax time as an independent contractor, or wether you go through payroll with a w4 and file a W2. A day mixing as an independent is a day's work just as a day mixing on a payroll is. The same issues will need to be solved and similar equipment is used. It really shouldn't matter how the payroll is structured as the experience is the same and all days should count, but I do understand that CS has a burden of proof obligation and the way work is documented in the indie world does leave too many doors open for abuse. Not only that though, some of the commercials that I have worked on hire through their own payroll that is not one of the recognized entertainment payroll companies. Yes, I still fill out a w4 and all the other documents. I am on file as an employee and not an independent contractor, but I still have issues getting Contract Services to accept those days as well as they don't have the same way of documenting the work done. As I said in an earlier post it really is just a case of submitting everything, some days will count, some won't and eventually that magic number of 100 days will be reached.
  13. Maybe according to Contract Services they don't see it as proved employment, but 12 hours + on set sure feels like I'm being employed by someone to me... and the IRS certainly doesn't take the same view come tax season.
  14. Dealing with Contract services can be a little like dealing with the DMV- except that the people in CS are at least nicer to talk to. I have hundreds of days work, yet CS at this time only recognizes 43 of them, despite me taking a huge folder of letters and paperwork to their office. Their take is that a letter or personal / company check could have been written by a friend saying you had worked when in fact you didn't. In the case of check stubs, for all they know you could have been cleaning their windows and asked them write 'sound' the check. Most of my work has been independent productions that haven't used a payroll company so It is very frustrating to not be able to prove my hours to CS in the way that they want them proved, but slowly my days are ticking up. It's just a case of hanging in and periodically submitting everything in the hope that some of the days will be counted. It does seem like they are getting stricter with their requirements these days. I have spoken to older mixers who got their days just by submitting call sheets, letters, and check stubs but in my experience this is no longer acceptable. I even had a payroll company queried because the production company only put 'Sound' in the job classification and not Sound Mixer. Contract services called me up to say that they couldn't count those days as they didn't know what sound job I actually did. That was an easy fix though- a quick email CC'ing everyone Contract Services, the production company and the payroll company sorted that out. Lesson learned- check that whoever files any start paperwork logs your job classification accurately.
  15. To set the record straight- The only reason that I said 'On a recent feature', was that the project I was talking about was in fact a feature that I had worked on recently, had it been a commercial or a TV show I would have said 'On a recent commercial' or 'TV show', and if it was two years ago I would have said something like 'A while ago on a ...... (whatever type of project it was)'. Sorry but I'm just a little confused as to why this is an issue? I certainly don't attach any extra professional significance to any project whatever type of production it is.
  16. These are pretty obvious, but somehow I keep seeing this kind of thing happen.... Ask permission before setting anything down on someones cart/ table / space. More than once after running out for a quick pickup or car shot, i come back to my cart to set down my ENG rig and had to move someones stuff that they had just decided to leave there. (Once it was even a producers paperwork file!). If I catch them I usually politely tell them that if happens again and it's something I don't want then I'll just throw it away and if it's something cool and expensive like an iPad (Yes someone did leave one on my cart once) I'll consider it as a gift to me. Also ask before using something that not owned by you- On a recent feature I came back from crafty and caught a noobie art P.A. helping himself to yards of camera tape from my sound cart. I was cordial and politely explained that that kind of behavior is not cool.
  17. "The director, Max Leonida is an award winning director from Italy making his big American feature debut, and the producers have worked on many features such as Spiderman, The Spirit, and MacGruber." Is he following in the footsteps of another Italian director Claudio Fragasso who also tried to make his great American feature debut? (If you don't know who Fragasso is, he was the director behind Troll 2- look it up for more info on that masterpiece).
  18. My card front and back- I put the QR code on the back so that it doesn't look weird on the main design on the front.
  19. At least this guy is doing it himself and not trying to get someone for pennies and tuna sub..... Sound guys: Anyone know best settings for an H4N Zoom & shotgun mic? (the valley) I have an H4N Zoom, and an Audio Technica condenser mic. I can never seem to get the levels I want out of this thing. I did as much research as I could and I watched a bunch of Youtube videos, but I shot something yesterday & the audio levels stunk. I guess my biggest question is the Mono Mix settings. Do you want that on or off? If it's off, it only comes in one ear/not in stereo. Is that how it will be after you put it into post though? I had it in Stereo mode yesterday, with Mono Mix "On." If anyone out there gets good levels or knows how to set for best results, send me an email if you have a minute. Because being a low budget filmmaker, I'm the writer, producer AND sound guy on set and I don't know what the fuck Im doing. My editor is ready to beat me. Thanks homies.
  20. It's only a matter of time before someone asks if its possible to send sound to this camera. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23926939
  21. I've never had a problem with packing Lithium NP1 batts in a pelican for checked luggage. It maybe because the baggage inspectors don't really know what they are, and they just look like another gizmo amongst an array of unfamiliar things. I usually cover the metal power connectors with paper tape as an extra precaution. TSA in the US 90% of the time want me to check my boom pole because they think I could use it to crack someone's skull, yet I often see heavy tripods and photographers monopods pass through carry on without question. I recently bought a Portabrace WPC-3OR case It's semi rigid and long enough to pack a complete ENG kit along with 12' Boom pole.
  22. This actually makes me happy to hear that Costco is doing what they can to treat their employees well. It actually makes me want to support their business by shopping there. However I think that some of the craft services folks need to be a little more selective as to what they buy form Costco. Boxes and and boxes of granola bars just doesn't cut it. Having watched Walmart the High cost of low price documentary and followed it up with research of my own, I have done all I can to avoid anything under the Walmart umbrella. I would rather pay a little more than contribute to the exploitation that Walmart does through the way it conducts its business. Incidentally, The Walton family that own Walmart are listed in the Forbes world's richest people list in positions 11, 14, 16 and 17 and whilst I don't begrudge anyone who has made their money honestly, I think that it's pretty sick that these people have got rich off the backs of exploiting their own employees and through deliberate exploitative practices in their supply chain.
  23. Maybe during surgery they inserted a timecode chip meant for the Epic into his brain
  24. Co incidentally I just joined lending club as an investor (lendingclub.com). I'm going to see how it goes and maybe soon if all goes wellI I'll also consider opening an investor account on Prosper as well. I've read mostly good things about these P2P lending sites and it seems that I can make a better ROI than in a standard bank account or even a CD. Personally I'm in place now where I wouldn't take out a loan to buy gear, as I'd rather just pay for it with money that I have and rest in the knowledge that it is paid for and all mine. If anyone's looking to fund their sound gear on the Lending Club site PM me with a link to your lending club loan ID and I'll consider funding a small part of your loan (I can specifically look out for your loan entry on the site). Obviously, as with all notes that I invest in, I'll be checking the details pertaining to how risky investing in your loan will be. If by looking at your profile I see that there are delinquencies and derogatory marks I would think twice. I'm not going to make any promises that I will fund a part of anyone's loan. I am looking to fund quality applicants on the site on a regular basis- so it seems like this might be a good way to support one another. You get to buy your gear and I get some of the loan interest that would have gone to a corporate bank. Of course with any investment opportunity we should all do our research properly and be sure to understand the risks and so as such I'm not going to endorse Lending Club or Prosper to anyone here either as an investor or as a loan applicant.
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