Mitch Deoudes
Well-known member
So an indie producer buddy of mine asked me the other day, "What's the best way to find a Red guru with a camera package to rent?" My response was along the lines of - "Uhh... go dig through the reduser.net forums, I guess." Which struck me as particularly unsatisfactory.
Thing is - a forum isn't the optimal format for crewing, really. You post your "need a Red" message, and hope the people who are actively reading are the type you're looking for (i.e. not clueless and desperate). On the other side, a camera owner posts his "red services available" message, and it quickly sinks to the bottom under the other posts.
So over the weekend, I knocked up a prototype site that would allow owner/operators to register their kit & services (DP / DIT / whatever), and for producers to search this database, based on location, services, accessories, lenses, etc. How do you folks feel about this sort of thing? Some points:
1) My camera's not coming for a couple of months, and I'm not even sure how much renting I'll want to do at that point. This project was born strictly to fill a perceived need in the community, and not for commercial gain... basically, I'm volunteering this, so try not to flame too hard.
2) Eventually, I'd like to add a "feedback" system to let producers give kudos to folks who do a good job, thereby floating the cream to the top.
3) Obviously, Spielberg won't be using the thing. I understand that top-dollar productions will still go with rental houses & well-known crew. But I feel that, with 3000-5000 cameras on their way, there's going to be a paradigm shift coming for the rest of the industry.
4) If people are generally in favor of the thing, I'm open to any suggestions as far as feature requests.
I'd like to get 6-10 beta testers to play with the site in the next week or so. Preferably folks who already have their cameras. Post your interest to this thread, along with feature suggestions, if any.
Thing is - a forum isn't the optimal format for crewing, really. You post your "need a Red" message, and hope the people who are actively reading are the type you're looking for (i.e. not clueless and desperate). On the other side, a camera owner posts his "red services available" message, and it quickly sinks to the bottom under the other posts.
So over the weekend, I knocked up a prototype site that would allow owner/operators to register their kit & services (DP / DIT / whatever), and for producers to search this database, based on location, services, accessories, lenses, etc. How do you folks feel about this sort of thing? Some points:
1) My camera's not coming for a couple of months, and I'm not even sure how much renting I'll want to do at that point. This project was born strictly to fill a perceived need in the community, and not for commercial gain... basically, I'm volunteering this, so try not to flame too hard.
2) Eventually, I'd like to add a "feedback" system to let producers give kudos to folks who do a good job, thereby floating the cream to the top.
3) Obviously, Spielberg won't be using the thing. I understand that top-dollar productions will still go with rental houses & well-known crew. But I feel that, with 3000-5000 cameras on their way, there's going to be a paradigm shift coming for the rest of the industry.
4) If people are generally in favor of the thing, I'm open to any suggestions as far as feature requests.
I'd like to get 6-10 beta testers to play with the site in the next week or so. Preferably folks who already have their cameras. Post your interest to this thread, along with feature suggestions, if any.
