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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

So I have my RED cameras. What next?

Samir Patel

Samir Patel

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Hi guys. So I have my RED cameras. What do I do next? Just looking for suggestions from the community.

A little background on me:
I have been out of the industry for over 8 years due to a career change. (I got into Real Estate). I am ready to get back into video production/cinematography full scale. However being in my market - Miami, I was turned off 8 years ago by the amount of cheap clients around (I have a running joke when we used to sell television commercial space so many clients thought production was included!!) So my question is where would you start if you were in my position? My last professional camera was a Canon XL1s (over 8 years ago). So now that I am equipped with a Scarlet and Battle tested R1MX what would you suggest I do to get started but also not whore myself out?

Should I:
Just shoot random content with all of my lenses to test them out and all camera settings? and create some spec commercials before I go pitch my services to potential clients?
Should I offer to be a second camera on a few shoots free of charge?
Should I just work on shooting my own feature and submit to a film festival?
Something else?

I would say that if I was going to work on the side free of charge the project would have to be something spectacular. Any suggestions on how to efficiently get back into the business?
 
Hey Bob. I'm in Real Estate here in the US and it has been a real drag. It has it's ups and downs but filmmaking has always been a passion of mine so I decided to invest some of my recent profits from Real Estate back into something creative and maybe go back into the creative field full time. I figured learning these tools would have taken me quite a bit of time which would have made renting not feasible. After all in the US we currently have the ability to write off equipment purchases in full during the tax year so it was as good as time as any to get back into this full time. To start I expected my production company would do all the video work for my real estate company but beyond that is where I need assistance in getting additional projects.
 
Filmmaking is all passion. Corporate videos is where the money is at. Put together some videos for businesses you know for your reel. You need to pitch ideas to clients and samples of those ideas are critical. Good luck Samir!

Samir Patel said:
Hey Bob. I'm in Real Estate here in the US and it has been a real drag. It has it's ups and downs but filmmaking has always been a passion of mine so I decided to invest some of my recent profits from Real Estate back into something creative and maybe go back into the creative field full time. I figured learning these tools would have taken me quite a bit of time which would have made renting not feasible. After all in the US we currently have the ability to write off equipment purchases in full during the tax year so it was as good as time as any to get back into this full time. To start I expected my production company would do all the video work for my real estate company but beyond that is where I need assistance in getting additional projects.
Click to expand...
 
From your original post, it sounds as if you are not 100% certain what type of work you want to do. Based on that, I'd say take on as many projects as you can. And if you can't find any, invent one or two. There are also many, many production contests which give some structure to your ideas. Maybe sign up for a few of those. The whole time you can be building a reel of projects which you can use to build clients after you make some stuff.

Forget about testing right now. Go out and have some fun with your gear. There is a world of adventure in your own backyard.
 
Samir Patel said:
Hi guys. So I have my RED cameras. What do I do next? Just looking for suggestions from the community.

A little background on me:
I have been out of the industry for over 8 years due to a career change. (I got into Real Estate). I am ready to get back into video production/cinematography full scale. However being in my market - Miami, I was turned off 8 years ago by the amount of cheap clients around (I have a running joke when we used to sell television commercial space so many clients thought production was included!!) So my question is where would you start if you were in my position? My last professional camera was a Canon XL1s (over 8 years ago). So now that I am equipped with a Scarlet and Battle tested R1MX what would you suggest I do to get started but also not whore myself out?

Should I:
Just shoot random content with all of my lenses to test them out and all camera settings? and create some spec commercials before I go pitch my services to potential clients?
Should I offer to be a second camera on a few shoots free of charge?
Should I just work on shooting my own feature and submit to a film festival?
Something else?

I would say that if I was going to work on the side free of charge the project would have to be something spectacular. Any suggestions on how to efficiently get back into the business?
Click to expand...



Yeah, I'm thinking of doing the same thing with a CAT scan machine.

Should I:
Just just place random people or family members in it to test the settings? and create some scans before I go pitch my services to potential clients?
Should I offer to let patients get scanned free of charge?
Should I just work on playing with all the buttons and see what happens?
Something else?
 
BRANDON JAMESON said:
Yeah, I'm thinking of doing the same thing with a CAT scan machine.

Should I:
Just just place random people or family members in it to test the settings? and create some scans before I go pitch my services to potential clients?
Should I offer to let patients get scanned free of charge?
Should I just work on playing with all the buttons and see what happens?
Something else?
Click to expand...

hahah.

Thanks Meryem. I guess the only thing that turns me off is music videos. That is something I definitely do not want to get into. I shot a few of those before I got out of the business. I guess ideally I would like to stick with Automotive, Fashion, Corporate Videos and Commercials then maybe my own feature film in the future. But in the past I had problems in my particular market in getting local clients to pay for premium quality. I guess it would be best to do free work for friends but I doubt even friends that own businesses would pay for production quality. There are definitely options available today that were not available when I left the business. I mean back 8 years ago I was thinking of starting a local television network. Now you can do that in 5 minutes by uploading your content to youtube (at very little risk).
 
Bob's on the money corporates could be good way of easing back into it......... myself corporates drives me banana's.

Anyway the important thing is start something happening....anything. Respect for the career change. Good luck.
 
One way to approach it would be to identify some markets you have interest in like you did in previous post. Look through your portfolio. How does everything in there stack up against what you are seeing now (8 years later). If most of it is no longer portfolio worthy, then you may need to do some spec work, perhaps with some clients who are understanding of what you are looking to do and might be happy with getting a spec video out of the deal. Once you have enough content to build a strong portfolio, time to hustle. Work the networking part of it, get involved with anything and everything that has to do with your target markets. Have plenty of business cards, an iPad with your portfolio, and even USB thumb drives that has some video content. Everywhere you go, everyone you meet will become a potential client. Establish you are a person with the skills and personality to get them what they need. A strong portfolio and a god business aura will allow you to attract some solid clients and hopefully avoid the shady clients.

Short of miracles happening, this approach is a lot of work but the payoff can be very good.
 
Samir Patel said:
hahah.

Thanks Meryem. I guess the only thing that turns me off is music videos. That is something I definitely do not want to get into. I shot a few of those before I got out of the business. I guess ideally I would like to stick with Automotive, Fashion, Corporate Videos and Commercials then maybe my own feature film in the future. But in the past I had problems in my particular market in getting local clients to pay for premium quality. I guess it would be best to do free work for friends but I doubt even friends that own businesses would pay for production quality. There are definitely options available today that were not available when I left the business. I mean back 8 years ago I was thinking of starting a local television network. Now you can do that in 5 minutes by uploading your content to youtube (at very little risk).
Click to expand...

If you had problems to get "clients to pay for premium" 8 years back... Not to piss on your dream, but things was quite different 8 years back, as nowadays the syndrome of clients that do not want to pay for premium has spread, it's not only locally, and the virus is far more aggressive. :torsten_violent-smi

So keeping your real estate business running might be a good way to finance a film business.
 
Corporate market should be heating up ... so next thing is really understanding how to get the audio. I'd say about 90% of the time in the corporate market someone has a mixer (normally only 2 or 4 channel), and that feeds into the camera. I personally like dual record, but I've just noticed most people on corporate just record into the camera for quick editing and turn around. So make sure you have the video/audio workflow bomber, i'd say is the next step (along with scrounging a lighting kit).
 
Thanks Mike, Steve, Björn and Patrick.
I definitely won't leave the Real Estate business entirely, just will cut back my hours. I definitely need to get better at Audio. In the past I always was responsible for everything from script, to shoot, to edit, to post. That was something that burned me out. But I guess if the projects were interesting enough I wouldn't mind doing all of that to get a good product out the door.

Björn you are right. I expect more businesses are still pretty cheap when it comes to creative work but I guess I just have to deal with that. After all I have dealt with far worse in the Real Estate business. I definitely know how to tell someone "No! I am not the real estate agent you are looking for"
 
I'm on watchful waiting for the cancer surgery I had last year...I'd be happy to help you out with your CAT scan reel...LOL

My doctors charge me like over 2 grand to do a scan with them, whats your day rate lmfao?

BRANDON JAMESON said:
Yeah, I'm thinking of doing the same thing with a CAT scan machine.

Should I:
Just just place random people or family members in it to test the settings? and create some scans before I go pitch my services to potential clients?
Should I offer to let patients get scanned free of charge?
Should I just work on playing with all the buttons and see what happens?
Something else?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Samir,

You might consider combining your real estate and video production experience
to create real estate videos for your clients or other agents.

There's a reduser named Brett Clements who is quite successful creating these real estate videos
in Australia. You might check his work.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/member.php?34617-Brett-Clements


Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA
 
Brian Timmons said:
Samir,

You might consider combining your real estate and video production experience
to create real estate videos for your clients or other agents.

There's a reduser named Brett Clements who is quite successful creating these real estate videos
in Australia. You might check his work.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/member.php?34617-Brett-Clements


Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link Brian. I thought of doing real estate videos but didn't want to end up doing videos for other agents. However, I guess if I bring in some new luxury listings I would just do some high-end videos to attract possible developers as clients.
 
Miami,, Go shoot some of the Night Life...Tourist Spots, Rent a Boat and Film Star Island.. Invite me down there man, Ill Help you shoot a Nice new Reel....
 
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