Is this crazy? DVX100 national PARTNERSHIP.
 

I'm working on a couple of small projects that require faceless, minimum talent, and I need them in a different setting then what I have available. As I've pondered this quandary of budget and resources I thought of a crazy idea.

I'm positive that people will respond to this with reasons why it may not work, but I'm hoping some of you will want to be a part of this "partnership".

I live in St. Louis, Missouri... at my disposal I have: 1) The Gateway Arch 2) City, suburbs, and buildings of St. Louis 3) Forests of oaks and maples with cliffs and rivers.

Unfortunately many of my ideas are outside of the scope of this and there are times when I'd like to imply that my actors are in another part of the country which I can't get them to.

Do you sometimes have this same problem? Have you ever wanted some shots for your production that aren't possible in your area?

The logistics of this are tough, but if we had a bunch of guys who know how to use their DVX100's then we could offer each other the service of providing (minimal effort) footage that would be valuable to each other. Kind of like a co-op version of a stock footage library.

Let's say you live in AZ and I'd like a pan of two people facing the desert... and maybe you want a shot of a detective entering a 10' high storm drain... I have some unusual locations available to me and you have the desert I need.

All this would depend on trust and reliability. Do you think we'd be up for it as a community of DVX100 users? Or is this idea rediculous?

Hey Matt, I've thought about this before as well, and I think it's a great idea. Having footage of actual locations would certainly increase the inherent production value of any film, and provide for a more realistic story (that beach in Hawaii looks a lot like a lake??).

Personally, I'm up for contributing to this partnership. Of course there will be problems as you've mentioned, but if we were to outline those now, along with any expectations, then I don't see why this couldn't work.

Probably the biggest challenge is scheduling between the members. If the shot is especially demanding, then adequate notice should be given for example.

Other than that, everything else can be arranged between the partners when those shots are needed. We should agree to the same settings between the cameras for example, to maintain consistency between the different shots, and perhaps extend this level of standardization to other areas of productiona as required.

Right now I don't have much time to offer but I'll know soon enough. I live in Honolulu, HI.

Christopher! Thank the Lord you replied! I really just think I need a few well-placed guys or gals who are reliable.

As I posted, I don't think it would be fair to ask somebody for anything REALLY demanding, but within reason I think this would be a total win/win deal for everybody involved... It's better then stock footage and it will MATCH... so you were ahead of my next point about why I posted this HERE... In the DVX100 forum.

YOU are a perfect prospect for this sort of thing, as far as a mutual deal. HI is about as different as it gets from MO. You have my honest to goodness email right from this forum and PLEASE feel free to use it!

I have a DVX complete with a pretty good sound package, lighting, and even a high-end tripod... I'm even currently working on a dolly... basically I won't let you down if you need me! I've even got B+W filters for my DVX... simply put, I'm a perfectionist.

Will that make me hard to deal with? NO... I'll just offer MY best for YOUR best. Since we're dealing with more or less equal gear I don't think this would be hard to make work.

As I previously stated this would be a matter of trust, and of course you and I would be surrendering ownership of the footage. If you want to copy it and send the copy and still use the tape, fine! But YOU or I have full rights to use it as stock footage in a production and enter it in a festival or sell a video or whatever. Sound fair?

I have some local "friends" who cling to every inch of tape they blow on total garbage as if it's priceless. I'm not like that... I can crank out perfect clips 24/7 and do you think I'm saving them all? Of course not! So what's the difference?

Also I think this would be a great way to increase your/my value to each other and the DVX community. If we had a few well-placed resources around the country this could prove to be a really valuable (and fun) friendship/partnership.

I'll supply the first tape if you need anything... I don't have a need yet... but I'll get the ball rolling for anybody like yourself who wants to participate.

I have a suggestion:

Exchange footage for a tape. Lets say you want footage of say Miami, you would send 2 tapes (MQ). One to send back with the footage and the other as a thank you.

I'm up for anything Humby... when you look at the cost of stock footage and factor in that it will most likely not match at all... i.e. make your whole project look cheezy... then any conditions are a bargain.

It wouldn't take more then one exchange to figure out who is reliable and who isn't... and anyway why not get some dust off your cam to impress your online buddies?

I think it would be cool to shoot somebody's idea and send it to them... it's like a good will gift. As I previously stated, this would only be practical for reasonable shots that are easy for the person who lives there.

Let me restate I'll be HAPPY to send tapes first! I'd love to have a connection in Miami and have one in HI...

If you send me footage that looks nice and helps my project I'll send you FOUR tapes... and I'll still give you a heart-felt thanks!

Nobody could pay me $25 to go and shoot a few scenes, but if I knew they'd repay the favor then it's valuable to both of us... free tapes would be nothing to a returned favor... but I'll do this on any reliable DVX owner's terms.

I should be good for scenic stuff around northern colorado and southern wyoming. Just got my DVX100A yesterday so I be doing a bunch of this while I try my new tool. I have yet to get a matte box and filters and will also be getting a 1.6 tele-converter lens.

We are going to do some nigh/morning shots over at vedauwoo this coming week to see how we can handle cold and restless indian spirits. Should be fun.

I bought this camera for business purposes, but my hobby is outdoor videography. I be producing 24p DVD's in a few months.

Sounds like a good idea, especially if enough DVX100 people around this little globe have good feelings about it.

I'm pretty sure my email is on this board, I check after I post and make sure.

Good idea Matt.

-Rodger

That's FOUR counting me... so do any of you want any video?

If you guys are up for it then we can each generate a tape of simple stock footage of our respective areas. I'd love to watch an hour of whatever you think is beautiful, interesting, or important in your local area! Then I'll file it in my tape case and have a great resource at my disposal.

As I keep saying, I will be HAPPY to offer YOU a tape FIRST.

So if any of you just want some stock footage of the St. Louis area just let me know and I'll email you and then within a week or two I'll have a tape on it's way to you... maybe even THIS week. Then YOU can send me a tape of your best stock footage.

The beauty of this is that you can still keep the stock footage you shot and use it in your own projects later. This will be an excuse for you to impress a fellow DVX user WHO WILL TRULY APPRECIATE YOUR WORK because we're all shooting with the same camera!

This shouldn't be difficult footage that's edited. I'm talking about straight cuts with simple cam setups and audio according to your judgement and abilities. With my tape you'll get super good audio in addition to the footage... you can later split that and use the sound on a project, etc.

What I have in mind is :30 to :03:00 shots of WHATEVER YOU THINK IS GOOD VIDEO LOCALLY...

For me I'm thinking several angles of the Arch and Arch grounds, some shots of downtown St. Louis... St. Louis Zoo... various shots of the Missouri Botanical Gardens... various shots and angles of some of my favorite parks and hiking areas... wildlife in natural environment... bald eagles around Winfield Lock and Dam... white cliffs and riverroads of Illinois... etc, etc...

To make it practical you just need to follow the standard practice of wide, medium, close... every setup. We'll consider good pans, good zooms, and good audio a bonus BUT NOT EXPECTED. If you don't have a good tripod or good audio then keep your shots simple.

I also don't think anybody should expect a 100% perfect run of footage. I usually do at least two takes to get perfection and then edit for the best shot... If we do a whole tape of perfection then I want a whole tape of perfection in return... otherwise we can do it "raw" and edit for the obviously superior take.

Unless I'm missing something I think this would be an easy to make tape that will be valuable to each of us, even of our OWN cities, and then we can send a copy out to each other. Do you currently have a cache of local footage you can access if you need it? I don't unless I start diving through a mess of tapes and pick and choose bits. This will give me a good stock tape just for my own local use so I have every reason to make it good even for myself.

Am I overselling this idea? Do any of you have anything in particular you want from the St. Louis MO... Illinois area? Would you be interested in an hour of footage of my choosing in exchange for an hour of footage of YOUR choosing?

Hi,
What this sounds like is a film commission....not for a state, but for the entire world. Imagine crisp, clean and colorful footage...all from DVX100 users.

I'm up for it. I live in Texas and am willing to get what ya need. Spanish missions, beaches, mesquite, ranches...all within a 30mile radius from me: Sample photos

I'm looking forward to shooting more this year, and completing several shorts. What's great about this partnership is that it will allow us to obtain footage from anywhere in the world where you can find a participating member.

Stock footage is okay but eventually I'd like to get more specific shots, and in this way, whenever you involve another partner, they in turn could be considered secondary units to your production. Watch the credits and sometimes you'll see something like:

Texas Unit (or something like that)

Director Nick Medrano
Sound Nick Medrano

Missouri Unit

Director Matt Gettemeier

And so on

I guess it depends on the level of involvement the footage requires, but now that this thread has been posted, and that some of you have expressed your willingness to participate, sometime in the year I may ask:

Matt, I'd like a shot of a man standing in front of his office window, his back turned to the audience, with the city of St. Louis stretching out before him. It is late day, and his gray business suit is somewhat darkened in the fading light. In the distance, the St. Louis Arch stands before him, almost as if the prominent landmark is mirroring his brooding stance.

What angle? Give me several. How close? Try a few that interests you. How is he standing? Is his hands close up against the glass? Is he standing firm? How is the light? Try a number and let's see. Of course, for consistency, we'd have to communicate about some things like hair color, height of the man, etc, but you know what I mean.

Here's another plausible situation:

Hey everyone, I'm doing an end of the world scenario, so could you get a few shots of random people - your friends, or whoever - to act like they're listening to radio broadcasts, huddled together in darkened living rooms, etc? I'm gonna edit in the sound for the radio but everything else I'm open: someone wiping the sweat off their brow in Colorado, a woman crying with her family in St. Louis, etc.

That's my idea of how this partnership would prove invaluable, not to mention, quite fun. I'd love to be able to cut something like that with something I'm shooting here.

Some things about expectations: we may need it now, we may need this partnership later. The main thing is now that we've posted, we keep in touch to see if we need anything. And that everyone has the right to decline. We understand, just know that if you post here you could get a request!

Right now I'm working on obtaining a better sound package centered around a solid state device like the upcoming Sound Devices 722 or Fostex FR-2 recorder. Also working on some stories. But with this partnership in place, it would be great to get footage of other places in the world without having to fake it.

Ok, I've reread this whole post and I'm getting some ideas... kind of in the spirit of the Lady X series we could have a little signature on the tape we've sent... an identifying scene or clip to both give a credit/cameo to the shooter as well as give the recipient something to use.

Opening scene of a beautiful beach in Hawaii... surf, bikinis, palm trees... cell phone (or pay phone) rings (real or in post)... Christopher calmly answers it...

"Yeah... this is Chris... yeah... what do you need?"

Turns and faces the ocean... and looks at watch...

"Ok, I'll need twenty-four hours... maybe less... consider it done."

We'll add this same clip to each of the first tapes, unless you guys want something else... then we can each have an appearance and a friend in a toy project for our own entertainment... alla Lady X... then we can exchange our own interpretation of a short that involves a national plan of... ?... whatever you want it to be. YOU will be the character that made all the calls to US... In my interpretation I'll have called YOU... same footage of the other locations.

Now if I also have footage of a busy road in HI as well as in-car footage going down that road... or better still a chase car to film several angles of that car... then we have something. Also you can film yourself AGAIN inside the car with dialog and also usable lengths of silent driving... just so the recipient can interpret his own story...

All this could be a small facet of the stock footage tape I mentioned earlier...

I also like the resource of having real ability for our mutual benefit... before I got side-tracked, my original intent of this thread was for the exact purpose Christopher just said...

Interesting idea--I like Christopher's interpretation. Canned footage looks...well...canned. I'm working on a script that (ideally) needs some locations that look like Mexico, but I'm in DC. It would be great to have a second unit that could just do some very light shooting.

Anyway, count me in if you need shots of the Capitol, White House, Supreme Court, monuments, etc.


Barry
Washington, D.C Second Unit