One guy does it all eh?
 

I was talking to a network employed audio mixer the other day. He was telling me that "1 stop shopping" is a model that the networks are pushing to cut costs. Using 1 person to script, shoot, edit and output projects.
Quote: "There are a lot of film school graduates every semester looking for a chance to break in to the industry". This is cause for concern by professionals who have become experts in their particular field, be it camera, editing etc...
The success of this model depends on the size of the project of course. For short, web release intended work, seems theirs no stopping the testing of this model.
any opinions out there?

We've been hearing about this forever. Back at NAB '98 or '99 the buzzword was Convergence.

There are times when a "one man (or woman) band" can do a passable or even exemplary job of visual storytelling (I work alone most of the time) but when I need to REALLY kick it up, I bring in talented individuals who excel at what they do. Can one person do it? Sure, a lot of the time. Would it be better if there was collaboration? In a lot of cases, yes. Is it worth the "extra" cost of having multiple crew members? You decide: are you PAYING for it or JUDGING the excellence of the content.

A lot of broadcast material (I'm think specifically of news related stuff here) has fallen SO far in terms of overall quality since I've REALLY started watching. It's possible more stories are now being told as a result. Fair trade? Your call.

thx for the perspective. I can only imagine that the push is even stronger now due to the availability of NLE systems and advanced pro-sumer cameras. (computer power)

One man can build an entire house all by himself. Does that mean the building trade is going to go out of business?

Possible does not mean probable. Sure, as stated, plenty of small projects can be done all-in-one, and there's no doubt that people are having to double up or tripple up on their skill sets in order to hustle work. But as Shaun says, it all depends on what the final outlet is intended for.

I've done plenty of one-man doc and ENG shoots - lighting, shooting, audio,interviewing - all by myself. Some of the work I'm proud of. Some of it I'd rather bury... and those are the shoots where if I only had 'another set of hands/eyes/ears' I could have done a better job.

"Jack of all trades, Master of None" isn't necessarily a derogatory description - but I think if you've mastered one trade, you KNOW when to call in the master of another.

yes,
I agree with all. Thx for the input

i think that most of time, the people who want the "one-man-band" project wants also the "one-day-job".
so cutting on crew as side effect that things can take longer (and/or quality goes down).
if the only concept behind this kind of job is spending less money, you will not go far on long term.

yes, well, we're dealing with corporate mentality. They think nothing of spending 75k remodeling the new chiefs office, or remodeling the lobby, which could be the yearly salary for a crew member. At the same time, employees are expected to do twice the work with half the resources. Don't like it? Quit.
They have the money, it's all about how it's spent. The decisions are made by non-tech exec's who are the bosses of the technical departments. We spend an awful lot of time thinking about how to get through to these idiots. Most of which have never done anything outside of using a calculator. My rant is over. You can probably tell I work at a large corporation.