How many of you are a one man show.
 

With four guys, lots of cameras, and a full time editor, I think you could be very effective as a videographer. My question is how many of you are doing weddings solo and how do you like it?

Thanks
Evan

Look up Joel Peregrine. He works alone. Always has. Uses something like five or six cameras.

Solo for me 9 out of 10 weddings. 3 cams. It sucks but few clients will pay for a 2nd person.

And I don't know of too many videographer's that make it in this biz full time by themselves either. (I'm a part-timer).

Ditto here....
Weddings wear me down pretty fast, and i'm also a part timer...
Currently, i've got too much equipment to lug around to make it a long term endeavour..

I'll eventually need to lighten up, or get an assistant until reception...

Solo-ish
 

I've shot 10 or so mostly solo. One I had to hire Travis because I just needed more cameras and I didn't want stationary cams. I use my wife for help, but (and this is not knocking her at all, God bless her for wanting to help me out) most of the time she is good for standing behind the camera and keeping it pointed at what it should record..... but it takes a special kind of mind to remember all the things that go into operating a camera correctly (like remembering to push record...... or to check the focus..... or to remember to track the bride walking down the isle by looking in the viewfinder and not watching her directly with your eyes).

Some people have what it takes to keep the head in the game. I can do it.... but I have had problems on more than one camera, so on the occasions when I shoot with two, I plan the second to be wide angles and emergency cut aways (unless it is operated by Travis, who rocks by the way).

I'm at the point where I need to train a second op to be able to go beyond the "stand behind the camera" level, and finding that right combination of skills is tough.

If I had to do solo multi-cams much longer, I would need a better smoother process, and identical gear to eliminate complications. The business of renting XL1/XL1s from an ad agency, while allowing me to expand my coverage beyond my current gear budget, will eventually had added up to an entire second unit & rigging, so at some point I'll bite the bullet and get another camera.

How DID that shoot go anyways? I wasn't sure if you'd gotten to the footage yet.


As for me, I don't shoot solo, I use an assistant. However, because I can't hire someone full time I constantly have to find new people to cover wedding dates, and because I don't have the same person filming every wedding with me, the level of improvement I see in my assistants over time is not very much. So, although I use an assistant for every wedding, I probably only use their footage for maybe 5-15% of the final project (mostly ceremony cuts). I kind of feel like I'm shooting solo, lol.

Solo here but I do a hire a high school student to carry my bags around, set up equipment break it down ad so forth. Once in a while he runs my safety cam when I need it because I know I'll be moving around. He started in March and I pay him $10 a hr. He is pumped making that just carrying bags around, getting phone numbers, and being paid to dance at the reception. (o_0)

Monday

I do a lot of solo weddings. Recently, paying US$8 an hour for a guy who just help me carry stuff and operate the second cam. Not a videographer but an assistant.

$8/hr, $10/hr.... I need to rethink my pay scale...

I never shoot alone mainly for my own sanity. It just helps me relax to know someone is watching the back camera & having someone lug my gear to the car gives me just a little more time to get the shot or two I would have missed otherwise.

I'm lucky enough that my wife has a video degree & I have 2 friends to choose from who I'll call in to help when she's not available who are also trained video people. $200 for someone who isn't going to mess up seems reasonable to me. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find someone who can do as they're instructed, point the camera in the right direction and keep it framed and focused properly. You wouldn't think it'd be that hard...

Maybe I should switch to high school labor... how well does a high schooler do in a professional environment? No really, I'm serious, I'd imagine kids these days would be well versed in cameras and such, and if you could find the right one, it could be some good, inexpensive labor that should get better with time.

I would say that about 1/2 of my events are solo with remote cameras for the rest of the footage.

Jon - how do you like the Grizzly system? Do you operate it while also operating your camera? I'd think this could take a little getting use to. That system always intrigued me though...

$8 an hour for someone in school is not a bad deal. Of course you can't expect a whole lot from the person. hey, that's free food and chances to meet guys or girls in those parties :)

Hey Ethan,


How you been? It would be a different pay amount if I had a adult working with me. I can't find any help here in Baltimore for a second cameraman less than $300 that's good. Even at $300 they suck >=( really bad. I got tired of dealing with that and high school students (the average ones are the best to get) typically make $6-$8 on any other job some make more but most not. So I went that route and boy it makes life a whole lot easier. Just like Taky said you pay them to carry equipment, monitor it, and set it up, and to eat and get phone numbers and party. They see it as a dream job, we see it as a blessing (^_^). I would totally recommend a High School student not a second cameraman but as one who can help during the day if you shoot solo.

And if you found one who's really interested into videography, you can start training the assistant to be a videographer slowly but still paying $8 an hour :)

I work by myself... gonna be difficult to do so now that I've add a stabilizer and Letus Mini to my arsenal.