Things are changing. Good, Fast, Cheap-pick two is becoming Good, Fast, Cheap- pick three, or worse Cheap and Fast- no good. It hasn’t changed in the week since my earlier pick two post, but it has been slowly coming for awhile.
Jim and I have a package of production gear- camera, lights, sound, grip, monitors, backdrop, etc… that we take when we shoot interviews. This allows us to adapt to the location and get good looking images. That package, including us, costs some money. To do the smallest of interviews it takes us 4 hours from start to finish and that’s pretty fast. We have had a standing shooting day rate for years, but over the last few we have been asked about half day rates, quarter day rates and “It will only take you two hours, I promise,” rates.
We are in a position of having to compete with ourselves and our standards to get jobs. For us this is a no-win situation and a reason we prefer larger projects where we also conceive, write and edit the film. In addition we now have to compete with people who want to go straight to the internet- the You Tubing of America- and don’t care how it looks. On the radio the other day I heard someone say, “You Tube, like TV only smaller and fuzzier.”
I read Darwin. I know we must adapt or die, but I would prefer not to have to do it this week.
PeterH
