Equipment For Features

Thanks for the input. What constitutes a "feature"? Well, I am in the
state of Michigan which has put a tax incentive package together for
films with a budget of $50,000 and up. Most of the films that have
been in production this summer have had budgets around $2.5 million
and have been dramas and shot in the traditional single camera style
in 35mm.

Currently, my gear includes:
Fostex PD-6
Cooper CS-104
Sennheiser 416
Boom/Blimp
(2) 401 Lectrosonics Wireless systems
(4) 190 Lectrosonics Wireless systems
Countryman B6 lavs
Tram TR-50 Lavs

My main concern is, I don't want to get in over my head if I decide to
accept one of these jobs.

On Aug 9, 4:30 pm, seanqu....TakeThisOut@hotmail.com wrote:
> I currently am working in a market that historically had corporate and
> industrial videos as it's bread and butter. Therefore my audio package
> is based on that client base. Some recent developments have attracted
> feature work to the area. I would like to market myself to these
> incoming features, but I want to make sure my package can cover the
> needs of the films, most of which are a budget of 1.5 million or less.
> Does anyone have any suggestions of things I would like to have in
> addition to the basics, mixer, recorder, etc.?
>
> Thanks,
> Sean
 >> Stay informed about: Equipment For Features 

On Aug 10, 12:38 pm, seanqu....TakeThisOut@hotmail.com wrote:
> Thanks for the input. What constitutes a "feature"? Well, I am in the
> state of Michigan which has put a tax incentive package together for
> films with a budget of $50,000 and up. Most of the films that have
> been in production this summer have had budgets around $2.5 million
> and have been dramas and shot in the traditional single camera style
> in 35mm.
>
> Currently, my gear includes:
> Fostex PD-6
> Cooper CS-104
> Sennheiser 416
> Boom/Blimp
> (2) 401 Lectrosonics Wireless systems
> (4) 190 Lectrosonics Wireless systems
> Countryman B6 lavs
> Tram TR-50 Lavs
>
> My main concern is, I don't want to get in over my head if I decide to
> accept one of these jobs.
>
> On Aug 9, 4:30 pm, seanqu....TakeThisOut@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>
>
> > I currently am working in a market that historically had corporate and
> > industrial videos as it's bread and butter. Therefore my audio package
> > is based on that client base. Some recent developments have attracted
> > feature work to the area. I would like to market myself to these
> > incoming features, but I want to make sure my package can cover the
> > needs of the films, most of which are a budget of 1.5 million or less.
> > Does anyone have any suggestions of things I would like to have in
> > addition to the basics, mixer, recorder, etc.?
>
> > Thanks,
> > Sean- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I would add a Sennheiser MKH 40 or 50 to the list. Virtually bullet
proof and great sounding mics plus lots less $$$ than a Schoeps. You
should think about a newer recorder with time code in case DAT is not
acceptable for post. The SD 702T is about as good as it gets in a 2
track tc recorder.


Eric
 >> Stay informed about: Equipment For Features 

On Aug 10, 8:29 pm, smittys... RemoveThis @gmail.com wrote:
> On Aug 10, 12:38 pm, seanqu... RemoveThis @hotmail.com wrote:
>
>
>
> > Thanks for the input. What constitutes a "feature"? Well, I am in the
> > state of Michigan which has put a tax incentive package together for
> > films with a budget of $50,000 and up. Most of the films that have
> > been in production this summer have had budgets around $2.5 million
> > and have been dramas and shot in the traditional single camera style
> > in 35mm.
>
> > Currently, my gear includes:
> > Fostex PD-6
> > Cooper CS-104
> > Sennheiser 416
> > Boom/Blimp
> > (2) 401 Lectrosonics Wireless systems
> > (4) 190 Lectrosonics Wireless systems
> > Countryman B6 lavs
> > Tram TR-50 Lavs
>
> > My main concern is, I don't want to get in over my head if I decide to
> > accept one of these jobs.
>
> > On Aug 9, 4:30 pm, seanqu... RemoveThis @hotmail.com wrote:
>
> > > I currently am working in a market that historically had corporate and
> > > industrial videos as it's bread and butter. Therefore my audio package
> > > is based on that client base. Some recent developments have attracted
> > > feature work to the area. I would like to market myself to these
> > > incoming features, but I want to make sure my package can cover the
> > > needs of the films, most of which are a budget of 1.5 million or less..
> > > Does anyone have any suggestions of things I would like to have in
> > > addition to the basics, mixer, recorder, etc.?
>
> > > Thanks,
> > > Sean- Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -
>
> I would add a Sennheiser MKH 40 or 50 to the list. Virtually bullet
> proof and great sounding mics plus lots less $$$ than a Schoeps. You
> should think about a newer recorder with time code in case DAT is not
> acceptable for post. The SD 702T is about as good as it gets in a 2
> track tc recorder.
>
> Eric

He said he has a Fostex PD-6, which has built in time code. Find out
beforehand what they will want for audio. If they are shooting on HD,
you will probably want to send them a rough mix (or just the boom
channel) to the camera. Your PD-6 has that 10-pin out for just that,
and they can get the isolated tracks when they really want to get into
the post audio work. I strongly suggest backing up your files one way
or another. Personally i back up my PD-6 discs to a laptop before i
hand them over. The chaos of film sets means lost discs..... even
weeks after the projects wraps shooting.

I totally agree with the Comteks. Some sort of wireless monitoring is
going to be expected at those budgets. At least figure out who rents
them.
Same goes for a smart slate. If you don't buy one, be explicit to the
people hiring you that you don't have one, and they can often get it
included with the camera package. That's not the kind of thing you
want to sort out on day one. I know some mixers that don't buy slates
because they feel like it's over $1000 that somebody else is
responsible for (dropping? breaking?). That's up to you.
A good hypercardioid will make your life easier for indoor shoots,
considering you already have the 416 in case you need it. That's
something you could use on all your audio work, not just features.
You didn't say how big your boom pole is, but for films it can be
important to have something longer than most industrials will require.
Once you have an 18 foot boom, you will find yourself using it a lot.

Overall you have most of the kit, and quality gear at that. Paperwork
is also a must. Post may never look at it, but if they need it, it's
hard to create later. Not sure if you do these now, but something
like: http://www.gothamsound.com/docs/sndreppd6.pdf

The nice thing about the PD-6 is that you can put it on a cart and
have a seat for most work, but the same recorder can go into a
portabrace for something like car scenes. I spent almost a week in the
back of an SUV with my PD-6 and a dog bed. I didn't use the boom for
that, but planted a Sanken CUB-01 and put wireless mics on the actors.
The comteks gave the director, scriptie etc a way to hear dialog from
a truck that was towing the SUV (or a follow car).
Oh, it can't hurt to have some sort of little flat panel display on
your cart. It's a nice way to tell you boom op when they are in frame
and just know what's going on. There are some threads about what
brands people like, but something like a 7" Delvcam works well.

-johnpaul
 >> Stay informed about: Equipment For Features