New forum suggestion: one-person crews

[Chris Harding]

If it helps any, a recent survey on the Wedding Forum showed that the overall majority of us wedding videographers tend to shoot solo and only now and gain use an assistant so most topics in the wedding forum are already from one person crews.

However there could be considerable benefit for other shooters especially indie shooters who often will, as already said, film and act in their own movie!!!

Chris

[Chris Duczynski]

In Sydney, TV stations are now sending out a number of SPC's (single Person crews) to cover basic media releases. Audio is usually just line out from a desk.
I did see a funny scenario from a well-known sports channel that sent out a SPC to work with a presenter, and who decided to also use a reflector. So, locked off the shot, checked the levels, ran around to the side and bounced in the light. Run back, cut and check shot. Do again for safety....very funny.

[Don Parrish]

I think a virtual member map might be useful. A member could insert a diiferent color symbol (say a star for legal businesses a dot for others) where they are located on a zoomable map. mouse over the star and get the public information / gear / experience etc on that person or entity. Blue symbol cinema, gold TV, red journalism, white still. Big project, just a thought from the many times people are looking for help and would promote DV members and their businesses.

[Eugene J. Kulak]

OK, given the unique nature of the topic it might not be a bad idea.

[Jack D. Hubbard]

This is a great idea. There are things you do as one-person crew that specific to one man bands.

[Jeffrey Butler]

I solo most things. But I can cull information from a post that just has "information" in. I thought it sounded great at first, but what if we try to just ask a question in a "normal" thread and simply tag it "One Person Crew Rules In Effect"...or something like that.

SPC: See Title above

Bet that works for now, though if there were an SPC forum I'd use it...

.02

[Jase Tanner]

As far as I know there isn't such a forum anywhere else. If I'm wrong, I'd love to know where to find it. I think its a fantastic idea with great potential.

I appreciate what some have said about the possibility of duplicate posts but as far as I'm concerned, the benefit of having such posts in one place would outweigh this. Some clearly posted ground rules on using the forum would probably help with that and yes, the moderators would still probably need to keep a close eye, at least to begin with.

As someone on some dvinfo forum said, "its about learning the art of acceptable compromise". No one likes to admit there is any kind of compromise in their work but then there's reality, especially in uncontrolled shooting environments.

One of the bigger things I deal with in shooting both documentary and live events is anticipating what I'll need without lugging around too much gear (and often having them in places where they might get a little help in walking away). When shooting situations are frequently so different, its very easy to bring too much, too little or just the right amount but not quite the right stuff. No crystal balls out there I'm sure, but we all pick up little things along the way that the next person would never think of.

[Philip Fass]

Jase, I really appreciate your last paragraph, especially since I've gotten to an age where "lugging" is one of the biggest challenges. Another thing I try to do is get the best things for my needs, even if they cost a bit more, because they often seem to do some of the work for me, and prevent excessive worry.

[Steve Bowman]

perhaps a smiley that indicates "one man band"
graphics people get to it !

[John Stakes]

I have to echo the one or two members that spoke on "duplicate" information in threads. I can't quite put my finger on it, probably because I'm sitting at work, but I don't see a great benefit. It is a good idea, but I think tagging the post as SPC or something like mentioned above would be just as effective. Or even if there was a sticky about One Person Shooting that answered basic questions like "how much gear to bring" and "am I responsible for audio if I'm the video guy?" I understand that some info is specific to the single person crews, but I think so much more is the same. The goal is always to be prepared and to effectively get the job done.

Currently, I'm solo on 80% - 85% of my gigs.

JS

[Matija Petrovic]

i think it's great idea

[Andreas Schmidt]

I think it would be very interesting. I am doing Indie Docs as a one person crew.

[Dylan Tobias]

Everything I usually ever do is only me so I support very strongly having this kind of "one man show" forum area.

I see it going to be more and more necessary in the future as well.

[Ted Ramasola]

This suggestion for a thread/forum on one-person crews is a good idea.

[Simon Wood]

Originally Posted by Jase Tanner

As far as I know there isn't such a forum anywhere else. If I'm wrong, I'd love to know where to find it. I think its a fantastic idea with great potential.

I appreciate what some have said about the possibility of duplicate posts but as far as I'm concerned, the benefit of having such posts in one place would outweigh this.

So true.

I reckon DVINFO would benefit by having a forum for one person crews. As mentioned above it would be the only one on the internet, so this should draw new users into the network here; which can only be a good thing.