I have no idea where to put this, so here it is
While discussing whether it was better to store images as Tiffs or jpegs, David and I got off topic from the original post and started a conversation on shoot volumes, which brought us to the question what do I shoot that requires so many frames per shoot. Even though this has very little to do with serious compact cameras, some though it might be interesting to read
Well I shoot entertainment advertising, editorial and publicity campaigns for movies and television, The average show gallery (term for the photo shoot) has a cast of somewhere between 5 to 12 people, usually the whole year’s art work needs, has to be shot in one day, with new shows sometime we get two days, the shopping list from marketing, studio, and networks can be quite large. First thing we do is to watch the project to get a feel for what will be needed, then we meet with the prospective agency/marketing team and publicity team, brainstorm out some ideas, discuss what the marketing needs and ideas are. Next we bring in a set designer to discuss what we need to build and find out whether it can be done or if the ideas fit our budget. Speaking of budgets these shoots costs, hair, make-up, wardrobe, set design and build, studio rental, equipment rental and assistants run anywhere between $35,000 all the way up to $165,000. From there we have a shot list that usually is 2 or 3 Publicity single setups per actor, 2 to 8 ad single setups per actor (depends on role), 3 to 6 group shots, plus plate shots of the set and props; each setup averages between 100 to 250 frames.
Each setup has to be built, dressed and pre-lit before we start shooting which is done the day before, the actors usually have limited time so they are just walked to each ready to go setup with limited down time between, after the shoot I edit, check the process profile and organize the setups, a hard drive goes to lab which process out the files make multiple sets of tiffs and jpegs, they are then sent to the agency, studio and or network. I store my images as raw files on multiple 4tb external hard drives. When it comes to the marketing stuff my participation is done at this point but with the publicity images we consult over the build concepts and execution, retouching and selection.
During the busier times of the year I am shooting 3 or 4 of these a week or we are on the road traveling to one on location. All in all the whole process can be very stressful but also extremely rewarding.
Most everything I shoot is with medium format digital back cameras, they are anywhere from 33mp to 60mp and push out raw files of 75mb to 100mb, which then process out at somewhere between 96mb to 170mb. Maybe 10% of the time we shoot with a full frame Canon DSLR and have on occasion used the files I shot with a 4/3 or P&S for background files. Once in a while we bring out the 8X10 or some other medium format film camera just to be different.
Please ask anything you want. Also the web site' images are a little dated, it is something I need to address next year
Here are a few examples; most were done in one day, some live, some in parts; the Lost shot was done in many parts shot over 5 days, the set one day in a studio, the actors over 3 days on location, one day background plates
View attachment 46156
oscar shoots over the years
View attachment 46157
View attachment 46158
View attachment 46159
some ad shoots
View attachment 46160
View attachment 46161
View attachment 46162
While discussing whether it was better to store images as Tiffs or jpegs, David and I got off topic from the original post and started a conversation on shoot volumes, which brought us to the question what do I shoot that requires so many frames per shoot. Even though this has very little to do with serious compact cameras, some though it might be interesting to read
Well I shoot entertainment advertising, editorial and publicity campaigns for movies and television, The average show gallery (term for the photo shoot) has a cast of somewhere between 5 to 12 people, usually the whole year’s art work needs, has to be shot in one day, with new shows sometime we get two days, the shopping list from marketing, studio, and networks can be quite large. First thing we do is to watch the project to get a feel for what will be needed, then we meet with the prospective agency/marketing team and publicity team, brainstorm out some ideas, discuss what the marketing needs and ideas are. Next we bring in a set designer to discuss what we need to build and find out whether it can be done or if the ideas fit our budget. Speaking of budgets these shoots costs, hair, make-up, wardrobe, set design and build, studio rental, equipment rental and assistants run anywhere between $35,000 all the way up to $165,000. From there we have a shot list that usually is 2 or 3 Publicity single setups per actor, 2 to 8 ad single setups per actor (depends on role), 3 to 6 group shots, plus plate shots of the set and props; each setup averages between 100 to 250 frames.
Each setup has to be built, dressed and pre-lit before we start shooting which is done the day before, the actors usually have limited time so they are just walked to each ready to go setup with limited down time between, after the shoot I edit, check the process profile and organize the setups, a hard drive goes to lab which process out the files make multiple sets of tiffs and jpegs, they are then sent to the agency, studio and or network. I store my images as raw files on multiple 4tb external hard drives. When it comes to the marketing stuff my participation is done at this point but with the publicity images we consult over the build concepts and execution, retouching and selection.
During the busier times of the year I am shooting 3 or 4 of these a week or we are on the road traveling to one on location. All in all the whole process can be very stressful but also extremely rewarding.
Most everything I shoot is with medium format digital back cameras, they are anywhere from 33mp to 60mp and push out raw files of 75mb to 100mb, which then process out at somewhere between 96mb to 170mb. Maybe 10% of the time we shoot with a full frame Canon DSLR and have on occasion used the files I shot with a 4/3 or P&S for background files. Once in a while we bring out the 8X10 or some other medium format film camera just to be different.
Please ask anything you want. Also the web site' images are a little dated, it is something I need to address next year
Here are a few examples; most were done in one day, some live, some in parts; the Lost shot was done in many parts shot over 5 days, the set one day in a studio, the actors over 3 days on location, one day background plates
View attachment 46156
oscar shoots over the years
View attachment 46157
View attachment 46158
View attachment 46159
some ad shoots
View attachment 46160
View attachment 46161
View attachment 46162