*As a note I did this shoot for the mother of the lead who is also my supervisor*

As some of you may know. I shot a school play in my town yesterday. Everything went ok. However, I did run into some problems. First off, before I even left the house, my tripod busted. The quick release like snaped (it was a cheap 20 dollar wal-mart tripod) so I didnt have enough time to buy one so I me and my partner had to shoot the whole play handheld (oh my arms) The shots came out ok but not great buy any means. Luckily my partner has a real steady hand so I can cut back to him when my shots get erratic. Also I took an iRiver and plugged in into the house. We asked and the operator said it was ok. Well the first part of the show went without a hitch and then intermission. I checked on the iRiver and it was UNPLUGGED!!! The operator said he was having some glitches in the system and he didnt know if my device was causing it but he determined it wasnt so I can plug it back in. (*sigh*) Luckily I have a RODE videomic and I was able to get real close to the stage so the sound came out pretty good from that. I wanna go back and reshoot a few scenes but the director of the show comes out and says that what we are doing is ILLEGAL and we are not to tell anyone. I asked if I could come back Sat night and he said "Definately no...I will kick anyone out with a camcorder" Ok....then. But I'm pretty sure I can get a good product out of this. I told my supervisor I would do it for free since this is my first real shoot. She was insistant that I was to be paid for my work. I'm not too sure what to charge. I know it wont be much.

I'll post some demo shots when I get some stuff capped.

You bring up some good points. If it can break just before your shoot it will. I would have taken the tripod anyway and rested my camera on it. It would have been a lot better than hand held. It's a bad situation that you are shooting and the director doesn't want you there. I have never had that. It is usually the director who has hired me. After you get your product finished and nicely packaged I would go to the director with an explaination and a freebee. I might contact them first and ask if you could give them a dvd and could you include their name in the credits. Take a stab at turning this into a win win for you and the director. Mostly these people are afraid that someone will steal thier choreography or make money (like you) off of their hard work. Most hate that. Also realize the just before a show is a very stressful time for a director at any level. If you have their blessing it's cool if not I could see it being a real problem. I don't know what you are going to do with the final product. If you are planning to market it to the entire cast you better have the directors blessing, indeed that would not be legal at least here in CA.

Mike

Mike