geordi Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 Got this in my inbox, the names have been removed to protect the clueless: Hello, Jim! Here's a new job opportunity from --An Email Chain--. Author: --Clueless Producer-- Job Post Title: Audio with gear Project Dates and Length: One day this week, 48 hours after the email was sent out. Location: NYC Description: Hi. I'm looking for an audio person with gear for an infomercial shoot tomorrow. This person will be shooting on a boat while filming someone water skiing. Will need a boom. Please let me know if you're interested. Please send me rates. Thanks! --Can-you-swing-the-boom-tonight-- Okaaaayyyy... Every time I have been on a boat, ESPECIALLY one designed for water skiing... The noise has been deafening. Wind, water spray, the roaring engine... You can't hear yourself think, and have to shout at the person next to you to attempt a conversation. Trying to get any usable audio would be an exercise in sadness. I didn't respond to this (b/c I was booked anyway) but what in the world does this person expect the result to sound like? More importantly - would anyone here have even attempted talking them down from this, or just let them have the useless noise at the possible risk of their gear getting SOAKED by the spray? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afewmoreyears Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 Skier or person on boat... here's both... If the skier is to be recorded: Well, I would think if was a pro water skier, could launch from a dock, (easy for them), were wearing a waterproof pack (I would bag it anyhow) and a Countryman B6 mic, properly placed, with a wind screen, spoke up (maybe a bunch) I bet in fact you could pull a mix.... Remember, the skier is 30-50 ft or so behind the boat, and if you hear some boat, so what... it's kinda the situation... as always, you do what you can, the best you can... we are slaves to the positions were put in... use your brains and your gear to get what you need to... we after all are puzzle solvers... this puzzle does not seem too bad... If they demand the boom, let it rip, say your piece and let the chips fly... but the skier needs to be like 10 ft. from the boat or forget the boom.... for obvious reasons... If the person to be recorded was the one on the boat: Mic them, and boom them. If they want it like that with a boom, provide it... I would run another track of the lav. requested or not... I would however make sure they understand the dangers present gear wise and make SURE it is ON RECORD they will use insurance or directly pay for damaged gear... If the pay was in order, I might grab the bag rig and attack..... Hey, if I can record pretty decent dialog on a dry lake bed while the wind was freeking howling, or a surfer while surfing...why not a water skier... people on boats I have done a hundred times... you'll be surprised what you CAN get... Remember, they DON'T always know what and how to do it, that's our job.... they will suggest a thousand things and are seldom correct.... you see the puzzle, you solve the puzzle and dazzle them with what you provide them in the end.... THAT is the true beauty of our job, and a great deal of the satisfaction, at least for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPSharman Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 I agree. If the money is right and you're confident the show is properly insured for the gear and for you, then why not. As a professional, you can be confident you will do the job as well as anyone else. At the very worst, you'll have recorded a good track for them to match ADR to later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted August 6, 2012 Report Share Posted August 6, 2012 (edited) something different: I am a Los Angeles based filmmaker (www.amandasodhi.com). I am working on my next short film with Amber Sandhu (CCed on this email). We are filming in Granada Hills on Saturday, August 11th and are looking for a sound mixer who has their own boom mic and gear. Our film is being made on a near-zero budget funded exclusively through our IndieGoGo campaign and donations from friends and family--Thus, we only have $100 allocated for our sound mixer. Please let me know if you would be interested in collaborating. In addition to $100 we will also provide IMDB credit, a DVD copy of the film, lunch/dinner on the set, film festival exposure and inclusion in PR outreach. Best, Amanda Dear Amanda: what camera are you shooting on ?? you can't even rent the sound equipment alone for this project at this price range, let alone a mixer and boom op " film festival exposure and inclusion in PR outreach. " Will my name be above the title ?? Edited August 7, 2012 by studiomprd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 I think Amanda hit everybody in the LA 411 directory! I gave her a similar email response last weekend. To me, there's not much difference between $100 and Free. I'm not going to work for either, and each is insulting, especially from a perfect stranger (not that these people are perfect by any means). My standard email boilerplate gives them the numbers for UCLA, USC, Columbia College, and the AFI, and I tell them to contact those schools and see if a student will work at these rates with borrowed gear. And then I tell them to please keep me in mind should their budget situation change. As opposed to the Cee Lo Green response: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBlimp Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 I got a call from a producer last week, told me I was recommended to her and they were doing this super movie, funded by two major culture TV channels, they would shoot on two Alexas, etc. They needed a local guy w/o gear as sound utility, as sound mixer and boom op were already flewn in, yadda yadda. I said, sure - I charge so and so much. To which she replied "but we just need a sound utility"... (as if that would imply utility work should be for free). To which I kindly replied I'm too busy to work for free, but I took the time to set her up with a student who agreed to do it. Maybe I should charge commission fee in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Waldron Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 Mark! LOL.. that's funny! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmahaAudio Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 As opposed to the Cee Lo Green response: You'd never see Cee Lo doing an unedited version of that song on US television, even late night. But on the BBC... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 I have seen Cee Lo perform "Forget You" on live TV and taped variety shows. Almost 69,000,000 views for that original YouTube video! It was nominated for Grammys for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and won for Best Urban/Alternative, plus Time magazine named it the #1 song of 2010. That song often goes through my head when I have money conversations with producers, but I try not to start singing out loud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfisk Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 If you accepted that rate, would it make you....crazy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Gilbert Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 I've recorded water skiers a few times, and folks on boats plenty of times, not the easiest days work, but not unmanageable, and with the right precautions and insurance no reason not to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hockwork Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 If the amount is rightish and you're cocksure the evince is decently human for the equipment and for you, then why not. As a professional, you can be positive you give do the job as rise as anyone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundslikejustin Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 If the amount is rightish and you're cocksure the evince is decently human for the equipment and for you, then why not. As a professional, you can be positive you give do the job as rise as anyone else. I'm not sure what you meant to say here. To 'evince' is to 'demonstrate clearly' or 'manifest'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris McCallum Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 I just read another of Hockwork's threads and was not entirely convinced I understood a word of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundslikejustin Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 I just read another of Hockwork's threads and was not entirely convinced I understood a word of it! ...pretty much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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