Produce a short high energy online video to promote the new Saucony ISO running shoe. Feature quick cuts & graphic call outs on the shoe features.
Saucony Australia
Produced entire video (Produce, direct, shoot, edit & deliver)
Making sure you stay productive as a videographer is paramount to keeping motivation and hunger up for the next gig.
The nature of running a small business or being a freelancer in the media industry naturally means that work will tend to ebb and flow. One minute you don’t have enough minutes in the day to finish that edit, plan the next shoot or make sure all those batteries are charged.
Then, before you know it, there can be times where you have a quiet spell and you’re wondering ‘what do i do now’? Well, hopefully these 5 tips will help to make sure you stay productive as a videographer so then when things do get crazy again, you’re ready for it!
Not updating our showreel as much as we should, we are all guilty of it! When things get busy, updating the showreel is often cast back to the bottom of the priorities list and before you know it, it’s been 6 months, a year or maybe more since one of your most important advertising vehicles is out of date and in need of some love.
When you have a few days off, gathering some of the best footage from recent production shoots together and adding them to your showreel can not only remind you of what you’ve actually been doing recently but help freshen up your reel and keep things interesting. If you have even more free time, editing together some specific genre based showreels can be a great way to showcase any specialities you might have as a videographer. For example, you can create a drone showreel, a slow motion, time-lapse, architecture, sport or corporate video production specific showreel. Then when you get that video enquiry for that amazing landscape drone job around your area, you can fire off a specific reel that will go a long way in assuring the client you know what you’re doing.
I can see all the introverts reading this one and hitting the scroll button to the next tip, but networking in real life should not be ignored – it’s easily one of the most beneficial ways to land new work.
Always have a few business cards on you, you never know who you are going to meet! Some of my most valuable clients i have met in the most random of places or circumstances. Maybe your local camera equipment hire house is having a networking evening to showcase a new piece of kit for example, i have found this a great place to meet fellow industry people and collaboration opportunities.
Another way to keep busy when you’re quiet is to send a friendly email to your past clients or enquiries. I recommend having a fairly legitimate reason for getting in touch. For example, you could let them know you have a new showreel to check out, a new piece of equipment or package deal etc. Make it brief with a call to action.
Not the most interesting thing to do on a Monday morning i know! But keeping in touch of where you are at with your finances and business as a whole can create a fantastic sense of clarity both on paper and in your head day to day which results in less stress levels and a good sense of where you are at.
Giving your video production or freelance crew business an audit can involve a number of different tasks depending on your specific position. If you’re just starting out this could mean setting up some accounting software or researching if your current rates reflect your experience and equipment you are including.
If you are more established, setting up income and spending categories so at the end of each year you know what you’re spending too much on & whats earning you the most money can help give you a clear idea of what you could be working on. One important financial part of freelance life i never look forward to is reconciliation of spending account for GST purposes, I need to lodge my GST in Australia every 3 months so whenever i have a spare day i keep on top of my reconciliation so i don’t have a giant list of receipts to go through when GST is due.
For more in-depth tips on freelance accounting see my article 7 accounting tips I wish I knew when I turned freelance
In my opinion, being a freelance videographer, getting paid to make videos is an amazing way to make a living.
Seeing clients genuinely happy on set is a great feeling. But every now and then, nothing beats working on your own project, with no-one to answer to, no client or producer brief to follow. Just coming up with an idea for a short film, a documentary or experimental video and getting lost in the process of script writing, scene selection and planning is a great way to stretch your creativity and skills.
It’s an opportunity to try something new, something you have be wanting to learn and master that you’ve been too nervous to try on a paid job. Having a week or so with no client work is a great opportunity to get out there and see what you can create!
A few years ago, i was doing a lot of sport related video content, i always wanted to shoot a promo video in a dark gym with only one key light but the style never quite suited the brand i was shooting for at the time. This was a perfect excuse for a passion project to a) see what a dark gym / one key light would look like and b) to make any mistakes so that when the time came for a paid job with this style, i had an idea of what to look out for. My test / passion project video “Ring Masters” is below
They say a change is as good as a holiday, if you’ve been burning the midnight oil lately with work and late night editing, having a complete break from all things work and video production can be a great idea.
Take a mini ‘staycation’ if you can’t leave your town due to other commitments, work on a project around the house or pick up a new sport or hobby for a few days or a week. Having a mental break can result in coming back to freelance life a week later feeling refreshed and ready to stay productive as a videographer & maybe get stuck into a few of the ideas i’ve raised above! If you have the funds and capability, go on a short break away and enjoy the finer things in life!
If you’re like me, when you started out, your equipment took up a few shelves in the wardrobe, then it migrated to 1/2 of the wardrobe, then all of the spare room and before i knew it, i had gear everywhere all over the house! Selling old gear that you no longer use takes a bit of a push as you may always have that little voice in your head saying ‘what if i’ll need it again one day’. While this may be true you have to ask yourself if it’s financially viable.
If you have a piece of equipment worth $1,500 that you use twice a year, are you better to sell it for $1500 & hire it twice a year from a rental house for $90 per hire? With technology advancing so rapidly it may be financially better to sell rarely used or old production gear sooner rather than later while you still can.
Selling that old vision switcher or old workhorse camera can free up some much needed storage space in the office or house as well! Some places to sell old gear include:
Paul and his team of trusted video crew are available for day rate hire or project rate hire in Adelaide at local rate, Australia wide or Global at very competitive rates.
Camera kits can be built for custom jobs. See full kit list here
Get in touch for availability and rates
The Sony FS7 has quickly penetrated the TV & video production industry over the past few years and for good reasons too! It’s an incredibly versatile camera that produces crisp 4k images which a lot of bells and whistles.
This camera 4k image produces stunning images along with 180p Full HD 150fps slow motion. These are captured through a super 35mm sensor which enables film and photography lenses to be used, which, in turn produces that shallow depth of field look (with the background blurry and the subject in crisp focus).
The sensor is capable of capturing 14 stops of dynamic range which allows for more detail in the image to be captured when there are a lot of highlights and shadows in the picture (bright white clouds and dark shadows in the foreground for example).
If you have time and budget to grade the footage, i can shoot the video in a flat cinema profile such as S-log2 or S-log3 which allows for even more dynamic range. If you would like the picture coming out of the camera to be colourful and ready for broadcast or upload to youtube, i can ‘bake-in’ the colours as i record the video which still produces amazing pictures.
I have written a detailed article on what’s it’s like on set using the Sony FS7.
I am available to hire as a camera man as a package with the Sony FS7 for half day, full day, weekly or on a project basis, get in touch for rates and to discuss your needs.
OTHER CAMERA TYPES & BRANDS ARE AVAILABLE!
My experience includes operating Canon, Panasonic, DSLR, Broadcast & Alexa cameras, not just Sony FS7 cameras. I have over 14 years experience operating video technology in a wide range of genres
I have a kit list full of varying video production tools such as drones, gimbals, DSLR photography cameras, lights, wireless microphones and lens’, you can see my full kit list here
Based in Adelaide, i am available for hire on a day rate or project rate basis. My skill set ranges from directing, camera & edit.
For more information, feel free to get in touch
If you are a professional / video agency / TV production company looking to rent a Sony FS7 in Adelaide, this camera is available on a day rate, weekend or weekly basis. See here for prices and more information
Paul and his team of trusted video crew are available for day rate hire or project rate hire in Adelaide at local rate, Australia wide or Global at very competitive rates.
Camera kits can be built for custom jobs. See full kit list here
Get in touch for availability and rates
When it comes to providing a director or client with a live feed out of the camera i have always rented from my local hire house, either with a wired, umbilical cord esque SDI or HDMI cable connected from the camera to the monitor or via a higher end (and expensive) wireless directors monitor transmitter & receiver system.
Having a live feed with minimal delay coming from the camera adds an enormous amount of value to a shoot in my opinion, it allows for greater collaboration, a more relaxed set with more people being able to see whats going on, it allows for a closer director – d.o.p relationship and in the end, less possible problems in the edit suite with more eyes on the image being captured, the less chance of mistakes.
A few months ago i had a number of TVC freelance d.o.p gigs in Adelaide that required a monitor for my director. I also landed a series gig directing Australia by Design so i thought it was time to bite the bullet and find a wireless directors monitor system for myself when directing as well as for clients and directors when i’m shooting.
I decided that for the time being, i was going to lean on the more budget friendly side instead of shelling out $3-$4k (AUD) for a high end purpose made transmitter & receiver system such as the Teradek.
The reason for this was a mix of the cost and being the Christmas period, i had a few quiet weeks with work so i had the time to research and build a DIY system. It’s important to note that, if you have the budget to buy a purpose built solution then go for it, the reliability, build and range of signal are why you pay the money and will be hard to match on a DIY system .
When setting out to build the unit, there were a few key features i wanted to achieve:
After a bit of googling and youtube searching i found the Nyrius transmitter / receiver which basically plugs into the HDMI out port on your camera and transmits a HD picture to a receiver up to 100ft away. The receiver then plugs into your monitors HDMI-IN and just like that, you have a wireless HD live picture all from USB 5v power. Simple in theory!
I decided that this would be the solution i’d try out. I had a look on amazon and saw the Nyrius for sale for $150 USD, i’d seen it advertised on the Nyrius homepage for $249 so i thought it looked like a bargain and excitedly pressed the order button. It wasn’t until a few days later after receiving the ‘your order has shipped’ email that i noticed that i had accidentally bought the entry level model which only transmits up to 30ft… Grrrr! My bad.
This wasn’t going to be a strong enough signal, especially after putting it into a cage surrounded by aluminium. A few days later i saw someone was selling the Pro (100ft) version on Facebook marketplace for $300 AUD so i bought that with the intention of returning the 30ft version once it arrived.
“There are multiple ways of building this type of rig, the important part is to research enough so you can build a system that suits you and how you plan to use the kit. Once i decided whats important to me, it made the initial research easier.”
There are many many options out there when it comes to monitors and each brand and model has it’s pro’s and con’s. For me, wanting a bright, outdoor viewable screen, i found a guy selling a second hand SmallHD 702 Bright field monitor which was perfect! I’d rented one for a job just a month before so i knew i liked them.
The monitor displays a sharp 1920 x 1080 picture, has SDI and HDMI in & out which was a bonus for me as i do plan on using the monitor as an on camera screen from time to time using SDI. The monitor also boasts a very decent 1000nits brightness level. I got in touch and purchased.
The cage was a fairly easy purchase coming from a recommendation from a mate of mine, the super cheap Neewer Directors Monitor Cage is a no frills, basic & fairly modular option, it’s a tad on the heavy side but will do fine for my needs.
In my existing camera kit, i use 3 types of batteries:
I was planning on selling my Sony FS700 so initially i thought i’d make the most of the L series by using them on this wireless directors monitor build. The problem with this is they are the large ones and will stick out the back of the monitor potentially not allowing space to fit the video signal receiver inside the cage. After summing up the pro’s and con’s i decided to go with using v-lock due to:
The Nyrius pro unit i bought second hand arrived in the mail the same day as the monitor so i opened it up to test it out straight away, plugging the transmitter into the HDMI out on the FS7 & the receiver into the HDMI in on the SmallHD. I powered the Nyrius Tx & Rx using various USB power points in had in the office, i turned on the unit to find…. Nothing! No image, just a black screen.
What followed was 3 hours of testing every scenario i could think off, i tested 3 different cameras, i tested using an old Nano flash from yesteryear, i changed HDMI cables, changed USB power sources thinking it could be something to do with Amperage yet still nothing. Eventually i called the guy who sold it to me to explain and luckily he was a decent person and offered full refund. So, i was back to square one! I had no choice but to wait until the Nyrius prime (30ft) range model arrived off Amazon, return that and then purchase a new Pro (100ft) version off Amazon.
When the ‘pro’ version arrived, i had all the wireless directors monitor parts i needed, the monitor, the cage, the tx & rx and all the cables and adaptors i needed so it was time to start the build.
I had a slim v-lock backing plate that i wasn’t really using anymore connected to an old westside AV fs700 rig i bought around 8 years ago. I decided to cut off the end and screw this onto the back of the cage which after a bit of messing around with screws fit quite well. The v-lock backing plate had two power outputs
Going back on my goal to power everything on the unit from one battery for as long as possible, i realised i could power the SmallHD monitor with a D-tap to Sony L series dummy battery, this would also free my actual L-series batteries up to use elsewhere on set.
To power the 5v 2A Nyrius receiver i found this D-tap to split female USB cable. This has 1 x 2A source and 1 x 1A source. Having this spare USB port on board while out on location has been great to charge my phone or the backup power bank i use to power the transmitter.
The D-tap connector luckily fit perfectly into the V-lock plate with less than a 1mm space between the plastic D-tap connector and the back of the cage itself… A happy coincidence!
This was a challenge! I tried a number of ways to do this but eventually settled on using one allen screw that i fitted onto the middle of the back of the cage on the inside. i screwed it in half way and then ‘snap hooked’ it into the base of the nyrius. This seemed to half hold it in place. I then fed a few cable ties through the ventilation gaps at the base of the receiver and fixed them to the cage. This worked great and the unit is now held tight to the cage. Few things to note:
The cable management was pretty simple, hide as much as i can inside the cage and cable tie them up so they aren’t loose and won’t get snagged on anything. The length of the USB cable coming from the D-tap to the receiver and spare 1A female USB is a little longer than what i need but it was the shortest i could find.
Setting up the transmitter was a lot easier and fairly simple. I had an old Rycote cold shoe extender in the cupboard doing very little so i put it to use. To rig this up to a camera op’s setup all i need is a spare cold shoe, it takes 30 seconds to attach. I am powering the unit via 1x 5,000mah power bank which lasts about 4-5 hours of shooting. I have a much smaller backup battery that i’ve had to use occasionally in the afternoon on a full day shoot.
The little package is held together via a very amateur set of colourful elastic bands. I will find a more aesthetically pleasing solution in the next few weeks!
One usb cable from the battery to the transmitter and then a HDMI cable for the feed out of the camera into the transmitter and thats pretty much it!
Pros:
Overall i’m pretty happy with how this has worked out. It’s been amazing on set as a producer / director to get a live feed from the camera op and collaborate in real time about what visual look we are going with.
I have been working outside during the Australian summer in January and have been able to see the screen without too much trouble, it’s very bright! The v-lock battery solution has been a good gamble, 2 weeks ago we flew to Perth, Western Australia for a 4 day shoot and i only had to take two v-lock batteries. 1 battery is powering the monitor and receiver for around 5-6 hours. I also charged my phone during lunch on one day via the spare USB output! It was useful and very satisfying!!
It’s worth noting that i have also been receiving an audio signal through the 3.5mm output on the small HD 702 monitor.
The unit itself is quite portable, i travel a lot on planes to locations and i’ve actually just been removing the battery and monitor to fit the wireless directors monitor into a carry on bag very comfortably.
The delay in video display is very minimal and am really impressed with this, it’s maybe 2-3 frames at most and does not distract me in anyway when conducting interviews / pieces to camera etc.
Cons
The signal! The signal can drop out occasionally even when i’m only 5m away from the camera op. This has not been a deal breaker though and usually comes back on if i step closer. There have been times when i’m 10-15m away and it’s been fine. Especially when the weather has been really good but i’m not sure if this has anything to do with it!
It’s also a tad heavy, i found an old DSLR camera strap from my A77 in the cupboard which i attached to the rig with cable ties, i wear the unit now over one shoulder like a satchel and it’s really comfortable for long periods.
The screw holding in the monitor can become loose after a days filming. I need to work out a better solution here.
How far do i want to go with this? I know there is an antenna hack i could look into to try and extend the signal of the video transmission. To be honest, for my needs, i haven’t needed to be further than a few meters away from the camera op / director. But this could be a nice upgrade in future.
I could look into a bluetooth audio option using the usb power port available on the cage.
For now though i am very happy with this solution.
Using as much of my existing equipment as possible in creating this piece of equipment has definitely reduced the cost, in particular not having to buy batteries and using my existing v-lock battery plate.
All up including the SmallHD 702 bright monitor, the Nyrius transmitter & receiver, the cage and various cables, the total came in a $1424 AUD.
A large part of this cost is made up of the monitor which was important to me as i want to make multiple uses out of it. You could significantly bring the budget cost down for this build by replacing the smallHD with a liliput or an Atomos Shinobi monitor. E.g the cost with a liliput monitor would come in at a total cost for the unit at around the $850 mark.
If you have any questions with this project, feel free to leave a comment below, i will reply asap.
Paul and his team of trusted video crew are available for day rate hire or project rate hire in Adelaide at local rate, Australia wide or Global at very competitive rates.
Camera kits can be built for custom jobs. See full kit list here
Get in touch for availability and rates
I really enjoy working in a green screen studio, give me a dark studio and a bunch of lights and i’ll i will lose myself for a while setting up a scene. When i was asked to DP a commercial for Krispy Kreme here in Adelaide where a customer is transported to floating through a Simpsonsesque doughnut world i jumped at the opportunity!
The shoot consisted of two locations, one at the restaurant & one in the studio. I’m very happy with how it turned out and enjoyed the challenge (as well as the 20 odd doughnuts i ate during the shoot!)
I am based in Adelaide and available for hire on a day rate or project rate basis. My skill set ranges from directing, camera & edit.
For more information, feel free to get in touch
Paul and his team of trusted video crew are available for day rate hire or project rate hire in Adelaide at local rate, Australia wide or Global at very competitive rates.
Camera kits can be built for custom jobs. See full kit list here
Get in touch for availability and rates
https://www.facebook.com/BondiRescueLifeguards/videos/10155288895657956/
Produce a series of short videos to help share the great work done by the Emergency Services Health.
PPR Adelaide
Produced entire video (Produce, direct, shoot, edit & deliver)
For the past few months i have been working on a project which i am very proud of! I have always had a great appreciation for well designed houses and living spaces so being offered the opportunity to travel across Asia and Australia filming some of the most jaw dropping residences was an opportunity i didn’t want to miss.
I was involved in filming houses in Singapore and Thailand as well as DP’ing the links and various show segments in Sydney, Australia.
The show is going to air throughout March on channel 7 in Australia.
See here for more details
I was engaged as a freelance director of photography to fly over from Adelaide to Singapore & Thailand. I also filmed the links to the show in Sydney. It was a challenging shoot but extremely rewarding.
Filming high-end architecture gave me room to push my boundaries when it came to shot composition and scene structure. I have always been a fan of right angles and sometimes letting the subject do the talking over fancy camera movement. Most of the time, my job is to try & allow the audience to forget they are watching a screen and be at the location they are watching. I approached this idea by filming a lot more locked off ‘flat-lay’ shots than normal to allow the scenes to breathe and let the amazing houses do the talking.
For an in-depth review of the technical equipment used to film this show, see my Sony FS7 camera review here
I am based in Adelaide and available for hire on a day rate or project rate basis. My skill set ranges from directing, camera & edit.
For more information, feel free to get in touch
Paul and his team of trusted video crew are available for day rate hire or project rate hire in Adelaide at local rate, Australia wide or Global at very competitive rates.
Camera kits can be built for custom jobs. See full kit list here
Get in touch for availability and rates
This Sony FS7 review is intended to provide my initial thoughts on what it’s like to shoot out on location in a fast paced production environment. It is a not a scientific test.
When i get my hands on a new camera for paid work i always like to have at least a few weeks in advance to have a play around with it in the real world or at least do a quick simple shoot in order to get a feel for it and how it works.
Unfortunately, with this Sony FS7, i received delivery of the camera 5 days before setting off on an 8 day shoot in Singapore & Thailand to DOP on series 1 of “Habitus House of the Year” for MWC / Channel 7 here in Australia. Along with a new microphone setup (Sony dual channel UWD), it was safe to say i didn’t know the equipment as well as i liked to before boarding the plane.
I paid a visit to one of my Adelaide based DP mates, Dave Gregan who does some work at a camera hire house. He gave me a quick run down on the settings and his normal operating setup which proved to be extremely helpful once the first frame started to roll, more on that later.
Over the past few years, the Sony FS700 has been my workhorse camera paired with an Odyssey 7Q when 4k / Pro-res etc was required.
Apart from creating beautiful pictures, this setup was an absolute nightmare when I wasn’t shooting structured, tripod setups and doing a bit more movement / off the shoulder work. The rig weighed quite a bit and was just not very enjoyable to use for extended periods of time.
The moment i started using the Sony FS7, i knew i was going to like the form factor and knew that i wouldn’t need to build a huge rig with loads of add-ons to make this camera work the way i like – minimal, light with not much fuss.
The camera felt comfortable on my shoulder when doing a bit of run and gun around Bangkok City, I do suffer from a bit of elbow & shoulder pain sometimes on heavy setups but on this shoot – i was not uncomfortable at all – this made me very happy!
Overall verdict on the form factor is great, i’m very happy with how it feels, the weight and how comfortable it feels on the shoulder.
In my opinion, the viewfinder felt about 1 inch too long, i had the viewfinder extended forward on the rod as far as it would go and still needed to tilt my had back a tad in order to position my eye correctly down the viewfinder. These types of Sony loupe’s have been around for 6-7 years now and it would have been nice if Sony released an updated version that would allow me to adjust the length without needing to pull the whole thing apart.
It’s great to have a dedicated peaking button on the viewfinder, in enables me to check focus quickly by pressing the focus zoom button on the handgrip with me right hand and toggle peaking on an off if i wish with my left hand. It makes checking critical focus super quick and reliable.
The only extras i have purchased for the camera is the shape arm extender which allows me to extend and ‘collapse’ the arm without the need for any tools. The extender is well build and solid. There were however, two occasions during the 8 day shoot when the handle ‘slipped’ out of its grip without me releasing it on purpose. At this stage i’m not 100% sure if this is a fault by myself or a slight weak point in the extended arm.
“The moment i started using the Sony FS7, i knew i was going to like the form factor and knew that i wouldn’t need to build a huge rig with loads of add-ons to make this camera work the way i like – minimal, light with not much fuss.”
For the shoot days which were quite long with the camera being on and recording for up to 6 hours a day the batteries held up well. I took 2 of the large Sony BPU-60 batteries and 1 of the smaller BPU-30 ones.
In reflection, i ideally would have taken an extra small one to get me through without needing to stress about the possibility of running out of batteries. It didn’t happen but there were 2 or 3 days when i was down to my last battery for the last scenes of the day and it’s not a position i like to be in.
I should mention that i was running the microphone receiver off the camera battery (i loved the fact i wasn’t burning through AA batteries, both for my pocket and for the planet). The receiver was taking in two wireless feeds so i can imagine it was quite hungry for power from the battery. On longer days i was running the receiver off AA’s to lengthen the battery life.
I was also using mainly prime lens’ which were not taking any battery power for servo zooms etc.
Nothing much to say about the media, I took 384Gb worth of cards and there was only one day i used more than one 128Gb card (shooting in HD XAVC-I 25p)
As with the nature of filming series on architecture, we filmed indoors in a lot in magnificent houses with huge windows, skylights, pool lights, basements, and garden canopies.
We decided it was best to shoot the series in Sony’s s-log3 gamma curve for the added dynamic range to help soften the difference between inside and outside while capturing these houses.
The first thing i learned was when shooting in CINE EI S-LOG3, was that i couldn’t do a colour balance when arriving in a new scene / light setup.
I was restricted to 3 pre defined settings on the camera (3200, 4700 & 5600k) initially i was a tad worried about this but having since seen the images in post, very little harsh colour correction was needed. They were a little warm for my liking when on 5600k but i could just pull the temperature down slightly in Premiere.
I enabled a LUT in the viewfinder and basically kept a keen eye on my waveform monitor while using the HI/LOW key that Dave had setup on one of the custom buttons to monitor hi-lights and low-lights. I thought this feature was great! It really enabled me to quickly see how much i was capturing in the extreme lighting ends of the picture and to make sure i wasn’t clipping.
I missed the ability to be able to assign a custom button to quickly turn the LUT in the viewfinder on & off (As far as i know this cannot be done? Maybe i have missed this as i’m still new to this camera, please comment below if it’s possible to do this). My work around to check the s-log picture being recorded to the media was to turn on S&Q motion which disables the LUT before pressing record just to check.
PLEASE NOTE: If you try to do this, make sure your S&Q frame rate is the same as the frame rate that you’re shooting in, i got caught with this once and ended up over exposing the shot because when i checked the slog picture the shutter speed was increased due to the slow motion frame rate so the log picture i saw was dark so i adjusted my aperture to compensate.
When i exited out of the Log view (S&Q motion) the shutter speed went back to 50 for the 25p setting and i didn’t quite notice that the LUT was showing slightly clipping highlights. Learnt my lesson there!
If anyone has a better way to quickly check the s-log picture being recorded while a LUT is enabled on the monitor please let me know in the comments.
The controls and buttons on the camera seem like second nature to me having used Sony camera’s for the past 13 years, things seemed natural and it’s a well designed camera for usability.
Below are a few raw screen grabs from the camera before grading and after i have done a bit of playing around in Premiere. The S-LOG certainly has given us a lot more freedom in the range of light gathered before the picture breaks down.
I tried to expose most of the images about 1 stop over to allow us to crush down slightly in the grade to remove the small about of noise generated by the native 2000ISO
As the saying goes, audio is 50% of the picture. There is nothing like having a dedicated sound recordist on projects like these. But as we all know with some budgets, it’s not always possible.
Since 2013 i have been using a pair of sennheiser G3 wireless lapel microphone packs. They have served me very well and have rarely let me down. Recently, I have noticed that the range was going on them and i was getting a lot of static spikes in the audio.
After speaking to the techs at sennheiser support it was deduced that the antenna’s on the transmitters were on the way out. They need repairing but i didn’t have time so i decided to buy a pair of Sony’s wireless transmitters and a dual channel receiver.
After shooting with them for 8 days i have to say i’m very impressed with them. The range was fantastic and usability was simple and straightforward. I could do a quick scan once arriving at a new location in about 20 seconds and the ability to run the receiver off the camera batteries will save me around $200 a year in AA batteries*.
The first time i used the microphones was in fairly central Singapore on day 1 and i did have trouble finding a free channel and was getting a bit of static. My immediate thought was “these are terrible, what a waste of $2k and i want my money back!” But i later realised it was most probably a result of so many radio frequencies being used in the tiny country that is Singapore.
In Thailand and in Australia i haven’t had a single blip. Overall very happy with these and will probably fix the sennheiser’s and then sell them in the near future.
All in all my initial thoughts on the Sony FS7 is thats it’s a well designed TV production / online content camera that is perfectly usable straight out of the box.
I would recommend getting the shape arm or similar, it just makes using the camera a lot easier on the go, it also enables me to quickly fold the arm backwards on itself to fit into the camera bag without needing to pull it apart – thats a big plus for me!
It produced beautiful looking pictures even in HD. If this show gets picked up for a second series i will most likely shoot in 4k which i’m sure will look amazing coupled with the locations and the amazing houses.
* The reason i use AA’s instead of rechargeable ones is i already have 4 cameras and numerous other batteries for portable lights etc that i need to charge nightly after a shoot day, i don’t want to think about charging AA batteries every night as well.
Paul and his team of trusted video crew are available for day rate hire or project rate hire in Adelaide at local rate, Australia wide or Global at very competitive rates.
Camera kits can be built for custom jobs. See full kit list here
Get in touch for availability and rates
I have to admit, accounting is not my strongpoint! I was one of those people who paid zero respect to being organised on the accounting side of the business when i quite my full time job and jumped into freelance life 8 years ago.
Over this time, i have gone from a chaotic mess of having faded receipts laying around the office, spending hours at tax time trying to find everything for my poor accountant & using Microsoft word invoices to knowing exactly where i am with my expenses & income, being able to compare with the previous year and spending an average of just 30 minutes per quarter doing my GST Bas statement.
This is not a definitive list, some might work for you and some might not but if I was starting over again as a freelancer, these are the things i would do from the start, so let’s go, these are the 7 accounting tips I wish I knew when i turned freelance.
Bit of an obvious one to start but the sooner you do this the better, most banks (in Australia) will add on an additional account to your personal account free of charge or for around $15 a year which isn’t too bad. I have set up my internet and mobile banking to be in the same place so i can see where i am personally and where the business is financially side by side.
Set your default invoice bank details to go into this account. You can also start using this account to purchase anything you need for your freelance business.
Doing this keeps things cleaner. Use your personal account for personal things and business account for business transactions.
Some people may be against this one as credit cards do cost money per year but, when used correctly can bring some nice rewards.
For any purchase i make for my business i will generally use my credit card. Two years ago i picked an airline in Australia that i was going to stick with for frequent flyer reasons, i also signed up to their credit card for the additional points benefits. Why was this worth it? Well it’s fairly common for me to purchase flights or pay for hotels for travel work and then bill it back to the client in the invoice, as i’m getting the money back when the invoice gets paid, it’s essentially free points.
Make sure you keep an eye on the interest rate terms and conditions though if you get a business credit card, never spend more than you can afford!
This is a definite in my mind. When i first went freelance i was using excel and word to do my invoices and keep track of my expenses – what a headache! I hated it and avoided it as much as possible. I signed up to Freeagent about 5 years ago and am still using it. It’s designed specifically for freelancers which means i’m paying for lightweight accounting software and not overpaying for in depth features i’m not likely to use.
Being able to quickly see where i’m at financially is great (and even a tad addictive!) I can see what bills I have outstanding, what invoices are outstanding, quotes sent vs approved and how much revenue vs profit I have at that moment is so convenient!
There are tons of different options out there these days including free memberships like wave so it doesn’t need to cost you any money. I’m happy to pay $20 a month for my subscription as the amount of time it saves me makes it well worth it.
If you are looking to sign up to Free agent, you can get a 10% discount on your membership here (or use this code if the link doesn’t work: 457pu5r2)
Most accounting platforms allow you to sync all transactions that occur in your bank account and/or credit card to the accounting software.
Transactions usually sync about 24-48 later. What this does is forces you to keep tabs on all outgoing and incoming transactions within your business. I try to set aside 1-2 hours per fortnight to go through the transactions and explain them within the software. Make sure you keep your receipts from any shop front type transactions (such as meals or taxi fares etc) until you reconcile within the software.
When reconciling transactions, i take a photo of the receipts with my phone and airdrop them to my desktop to attach them to the transaction, that way if you lose the receipt or they fade you have a digital copy stored in the cloud.
There are services that automate this but i still prefer to make myself a coffee on a quiet morning and doing my reconciling manually.
Another benefit to syncing your bank account is in the overview page of your accounting software, you can see a semi live (about 24-48 delay as explained above) display of your account bank balances without needing to log onto internet banking.
Setting up expense and income categories from day one helps you obtain a birds eye view on how your are earning your income and what you are spending the businesses money on by generating profit and loss statements.
When i quote for a new project, I attach each item to an income category. For example: If I quoted for:
There would be 4 income categories assigned here (In house Production, Freelance crew (sound), Equipment – production & In house post production)
What this does is provide me a revenue breakdown at the end of each year.
The same reasoning applies to expense categories, for example, i can see that from July 2018 – November 2018 i spent $71.41 on AA batteries for the equipment – that’s about $150 per year so it’s a good idea for me to buy in bulk and save a few dollars or look into rechargeable solutions.
The main categories I tend to use are:
Depending on your industry and needs, you can set up as many or as little categories as you like.
Good to know: try and find an accounting software that has a mobile app, i frequently take photos of my receipts on the go and attach them to the job in the app. When i send the invoice, the expense is automatically added!
For any bills or expenses that are recurring that you won’t be paying via your business account, it’s a good idea to set them up in your accounting software. These will be added to your expenses every time you specify (daily, weekly, monthly etc).
The reason i do this is to save time and also to stop me from forgetting to add them. For example, I use a home office at least one day per week so i have set up a weekly expense for the cost of use of my home office. Once i set it up, it deducts this amount in the background without me having to worry about it. When it comes to tax time at the end of the year, it’s all there ready.
In the spirit of maximising your time, spend a few hours creating a quote & invoicing templates. You should be able to easily add your income categories when creating your quotes and invoices (remember what we talked about in step 5!)
You can even setup automatic invoicing if you have landed a retainer contract or have an agreement to invoice the same amount weekly.
Email reminder templates can save you a lot of time in the long run. In my accounting software i have set up the following based on 30 day invoicing terms:
Day 1
Send invoice on day one using an email template that displays the invoice reference, amount due, invoice date & the due date.
Day 23
An automatic email template is sent with a friendly reminder that payment is due in 7 days.
Day 29
An automatic email template is sent with a friendly reminder that payment is due tomorrow. The email contains the same information as the original email.
Thank you email
This is sent to confirm payment had been received. This is triggered when the received amount is ticked off in the software from the automatic bank feed we were talking about in step 4.
So thats it! There are a ton of things you can do to make your workflow save you time in the long run. Everyone will have different way of working and some of these will work better for certain types of industries. I work as a video producer which means i travel a lot and am frequently paying for unexpected things while out and about.
Using a cloud based accounting software means i can even take a photo of receipts on the go and they will be listen on the invoice automatically when the time comes to send the invoice, perfect!
If you have any more tips or shortcuts, add them in the comments, I always like to learn more!
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Director of Photography / lighting cameraman on the channel 10 series “Ash’s Foodie Adventure” We spent 4 days filming in around around the tiny country of Monaco
MWC Media / Channel 10
Paul was director of photography / lead camera man on this program.
