The Dark Side

Gonzo_Entertainment

Gonzo_Entertainment

So I did my first event shoot a couple weeks ago (a Hair Stylist conference), I have my first music video shoot this weekend, and we just started pre-production on our first cable TV commercial gig.

Some thoughts...

Event work sucks big time. I hated it (at least it wasn't a wedding). Even more convinced about how little desire I have to do any kind of doc work, BUT. We made $500 for maybe 3 hours of shooting and 8 hours of editing and that was the "friend" rate.

I think I'll enjoy music videos. The fact a lot of them are not narrative, kind of random image based is fun. I have another one, a hip hop video in a few weeks.

The commercial I am very excited about. Really pretty easy stuff. I did the shot list today in about 20 minutes. It was like, oh yeah, this thing is only 30 freaking seconds long.

All proceeds going into gear upgrades and feature film seed money fund. I hope we can continue to get gigs. Turning out high quality work will HOPEFULLY help.
 
I understand your reluctance to do commercial work (the artistic equivalent of working in fast food, but ain't no shame) but why doc work? I plan on making primarily narrative stuff but I also find the idea of making a documentary stimulating. All that research and capturing and editing... I have the feeling I'd end up like Woody Allen's character in Crimes and Misdemeanors, though.

Music videos seem very practical from a learning perspective since they place such a large emphasis on editing, and you can never get enough editing experience.

Grin and bear it. Good luck, hopefully your warchest will begin to overflow.
 
Haha... the "dark" side. Welcome to my world. ;) Commercial, corporate, industrial and doc work has been my bread and sometimes butter for the past 15 years or so. It can be creative and rewarding, but in the end it's all about delivering what the client is paying for and quite often that can prove the most difficult part - holding their hand(s) throughout the process. Once in a while they just don't "get it."

Music videos? I suppose they are what you make of them. I'm enjoying the genre. Great way to throw dialog and recording audio out the window and focus on cool visuals, content and imagery.

Good luck with more paid gigs! If you're socking the profits away for future films, all the better.
 
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