Video Insights Blog
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February 15, 2023:
What to know when hiring a video camera crew
Video producers, TV networks, production companies and corporate media departments often have a need to hire a video crew to acquire footage, either locally, or very often in locations outside their home base. There’s a lot to consider, especially if you’ve not done it before. For the purposes of this discussion, a “crew” refers to at least two people (camera and audio/grip), but you may only need a camera person.
The key things to look for when hiring a camera crew are samples of work that display their skills, and the more the better. This should be both in the form of a “reel’, which is basically a montage of quick shots showing variety, as well as samples of finished work that the crew’s footage appears in. A list of clients is also important to provide credibility, but also get a sense of what type of work the crew typically does. Finally, a nice looking web site with behind the scenes pictures can give a sense of what their shoots and equipment setups look like.
If you find a crew that passes the first tests, the next step is a quick interview to get a feel for their professionalism, their rates, and their ability to handle your project, which could mean doing it without you on location with them. Crews are usually led by the DP (Director of Photography), also simply known as the cameraman or woman. He/she will offer suggestions about how they’d approach the shoot, what gear they will use, and how long it should take.
GEAR
These days, the specific camera a crew uses is not as important as it used to be when different tape formats were in use. Today video is recorded as a computer file, and while there are different types of files, all modern editing systems can handle just about all of them. This leaves the camera brand (and “look”) as the differentiating factor, but even that isn’t important to match with your local workflow. While you may be used to working with Sony equipment, a crew shooting with Canon equipment will be able to provide very similar results, and vice versa. This is especially true if shooting with a LOG profile that provides great flexibility in the edit to fine tune the footage to match a particular look or style.
RATES
You may find video crew rates vary wildly. A 2 person crew charging $800/day are usually early career and mostly inexperienced operators with a low-priced camera package and very minimal lighting setups. There’s a higher chance of major mistakes happening. Crews charging $2500/day can do that because other clients are paying them that amount. They will have very experienced, skilled crew members, and likely have high quality cameras and a large variety of equipment that can handle any situation. Their samples will show very high quality interviews and b-roll and lots of it.
DELIVERY
Don’t expect a video crew can just “email you the footage”. Video shoots can yield dozens of gigabytes of footage, or even hundreds of gigabytes, especially if shooting 4k. If you’re on site with them, bring a hard drive or USB flash drive for them to transfer the footage to. This way you’ll walk away with footage but they still have the original copy until you can get the footage loaded back home and then make a backup copy of your own. If you aren’t on site with the crew, expect that they will need to ship a drive to you with a copy of the footage. In some cases, they may be able to upload it , but because this requires a fast connection beyond what’s needed for typical home internet, and because it may take a long time even with that upgraded connection, a crew may not be able or willing to disrupt their internet for the hours needed to upload it, especially for no extra fee.
PAYMENT
Expect that a crew you’ve never worked with will want to be paid at the end of the shoot, before they hand over footage. This can get complicated if you’re not on site and can’t see what happened. As a client, you may be thinking “What if they don’t send me footage or there’s a major problem with it?” This is where the vetting comes into play, making sure they are professional. A crew may be thinking “What if I give them the footage and I don’t get paid?”. They are also vetting you and deciding if you’re from a well-known big company, or just a freelance producer working from home, and their terms will reflect that. Sometimes a 50/50 arrangement shows good faith on the producer’s behalf, sending 50% up front before the shoot, promising to pay the balance within 30 days after.
At btv Productions, we’ve been doing shoots for local and out of town companies for over two decades. If you have a shoot in the Rochester, Buffalo or Syracuse area, we can handle nearly any production need, and have a long list of clients and wide variety of samples to help you feel good about our level of service. We’ll be very responsive and clear about what we will do, and try to add value when we can. As an award winning DP/cameraman, I’m also a producer/director/editor, and can be another set of eyes and ears on your shoot, offering suggestions if warranted. In short, we know what you need and we will deliver it. We can’t wait to talk with you about it! Call us at 877-50-VIDEO today!
**Dave Bartlett is a 30+ year video veteran, an award winning director and DP, licensed drone pilot, and owner of btv Productions.