More Craig's List slave labor

Maurice said:
We are indie filmmakers you have to seek out those whose careers are at the same level as yours.
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I don't mean to pick on you Maurice but this is the mistake made by many indy film makers. Many people on Mandy or Craigslist are looking for people of their standard to do sound design and mixing. Very commonly, as with the quoted Craigslist ad, "someone with experience" and ProTools to work for free on a project intended for film festivals. Going for the film festivals means the film will be played back in a cinema and this is where the big problem lies. Let me quote Alcove and then explain why it's such a serious and common mistake.

Alcove Audio said:
... audio post production is the only post craft that requires - not needs but requires - specially built rooms and large amounts of real-time processing to accomplish its job properly. These requirements are expensive. My room is not Dolby or THX certified, it's not even 5.1; yet just sound isolation and treatment cost me over $20k, the speakers over $2k. A certified dubbing (mixing) facility can cost many hundreds of thousands; the speakers alone can cost more than my entire facility.
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Due to the fact that Dolby is the only sound format supported on 35mm film, all cinemas have Dolby decoder boxes. To create a 5.1 Dolby mix legally requires a Dolby approved dubbing theatre which is going to cost roughly $2k - $10k a day, plus the Dolby festival licence which is roughly another $10k. Most indy film makers consider a Dolby mix too expensive unless their film has a substantial budget. So, many film makers opt for stereo, not realising that although stereo has been the standard for music and TV for decades, it hasn't been a supported standard in cinema for nearly 40 years and therefore has it's own set of complications! Anyone who hasn't worked extensively in film sound mixing (including recent audio/music technology graduates and experienced music producers) is going to be completely ignorant of these complications, let alone have the experience and equipment to overcome them!

So working with people "whose careers are at the same level as yours" will result in a film which hopefully looks and sounds pretty good (or better) in the edit suite and studio but which is likely to be rejected by the festivals because the sound is not up to spec. Or worse, it is accepted and then sounds dreadful, with sound and music coming out of completely the wrong speakers at the wrong levels (even though it sounded great in stereo).

If anyone is aiming at the festivals (or any cinema distribution or TV broadcast), you really don't have much choice but to hire some well equipped, experienced audio post professionals and even then, you're still running a risk (albeit a reduced one). I'm not just saying this because of my audio post bias, it's been mentioned here before that the most common reason for festival rejection is problems with the sound and very often not for reasons which were obvious in the studio or edit suite!

G
 
I made a collage of BS craigslist adds. it's just the tip of the iceberg.

craig.png
 
Someone needs a hug. :mope:

But (s)he's right. ;)

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cwg/3098420510.html

Have you noticed that nobody asks for free car repair? Or someone to re-roof their house for free? Yet dozens of wanna be filmmakers want experienced professional crew people to work for free. That's fucked up.

And if you are a student...Get your fellow students to gaff, grip, shoot your stupid little student film. That's the point of film school. Especially you USC thesis directors. Take some of that 6 figure tuition and pay your fucking crew.
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Teachers are the highest paid people on indie sets. At least they won't bend much on compensation pay.
A friend of mine is a teacher. In California it's the law that you must have a teacher on set if children are working. He told me a story about a student film maker who got really angry and frustrated when he wouldn't work for her really low rate. He could tell that she had probably already been rejected by other teachers who wouldn't work for so little.
 
i agree with sonny on everything he just said.

MANY productions are made where no one gets paid... then if the project is successful, sometimes they get paid afterwards, or still not at all... either way, it's still a great thing to have on your resume, with your name in the credits
 
This one's just tongue in cheek the whole way:

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/crg/3113300553.html

I'm looking for a computer video slave and I'll only accept the best of the bestest.
Send me all your information and line up to get shit on.

Must pay attention to detail, be organized, properly socialized, and have notable personal contacts in industry.
Must have experience editing Webpages, Social networks, and high res photography.
Must have at least 5 years professional experience using, AVID, FCP, VEGAS, PremeirePro, ProTools, LOGIC, Resons, After Effects, Dream weaver, Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom, SMOKE, and Maya autodesk.
Must have experience with MS office, MS Money, Quickbooks, inDinero, Xero because you will be doing our accounting between editing video and answering our inbound phone calls, fetching lunch, and taking all the deadline heat for not producing professional segments fast enough.

Oh fuck it...If you are not a graduate arowspace engineer with a 3D AutoCAD demonstration, don't even bother applying.
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:lol:
 
Blade_Jones said:
Teachers are the highest paid people on indie sets. At least they won't bend much on compensation pay.
A friend of mine is a teacher. In California it's the law that you must have a teacher on set if children are working. He told me a story about a student film maker who got really angry and frustrated when he wouldn't work for her really low rate. He could tell that she had probably already been rejected by other teachers who wouldn't work for so little.
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*welfare worker

Some work for free, on USC shoots anyway.

Heard a story about a student film involving shots where a kid sits in a bath (filled with water) with fairy ligths (turned on) wrapped around his neck. The parents, who were on set had no issue with it.

The welfare worker did..
 
In the NYC area, most (although certainly not all) indie movies are shot in the summer, because we don't have the good year-round weather of LA.

A side benefit of that is not having to worry about a teacher as school is not in session.

On the other hand, everyone wants crew & equipment at the same time...
 
Someone got a little mad with the dude who advertises his $500 RED package on the OC CL. Reached his breaking point, when an even newer Black Magic dude started up too. :yes:

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cwg/3696040139.html

Douche+Red Scarlet/Zeiss ARRI Lenses Available (InlaND GOON)

if its not the douche bag claimin "DoP+Red Scarlet/Zeiss ARRI Lenses Available" now we have this guy that just got his glorified 7D -BlackMagic cinema camera-- because all pro cameras have a built in battery - and you plug them into your car lighter to charge them.... wow - saw your equipment list - did you get the Handle Mount too ... oh boy!!!! Maybe you can hook it up with DoP+Red Scarlet/Zeiss ARRI Guy and head out to San Berdoo and make some more videomovies with the chimps... their gonna be rap stars ... boy, then you can shoot 2 angles of sh#$%t.... Man is craigs list a hoot -- I'm thinking of a tv show where we go out and meet the witless protection program goons... see what these people do with the rest of their day when their not dreaming of working ona real show witha budget over a $1000.... Every thing I've ever seen on herer has a budget for Craft Services ... but no budget for the shoot... OK boys start the FLAGGING because we all know the truth hurts... but in the mean time keep working because you never know BLAIR WITCH PROJECT lightening could strike a second time.... yeah right...dont bet your DSLR REBEL kiddie cam....
as FAR as PAY is concerned - there is NO PAY EVER....because -sorry to say - as you were blinking , your neighbor just got his new CANON REBEL Mark 12 and he's now a DP/ Producer/Director and editor ( almost forgot I MOVIE) TOO..... welcome to the game
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lol he mad. :lol:

It does suck to sift through a zillion unpaid gigs when ya got the mortgage to pay, though. :)
 
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