Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2008 17:42:08 -0400
From: "Hobey Ford" <hobeyone-AT-gmail.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] War story


I hate that and understand the frustration.  The videographer who wants to
be part of the show.  Photographers can be just as bad.  But I almost always
agree to any videoing and photography but ask them not to jump into the show
with me.  Often I will allow a vidoegrapher to shoot a little back stage.
They have been positive experiences on the whole and I have gotten amazing
footage and shots for the portfolio and positive press buzz..  It is the guy
who shows up unannounced and just jumps in there who get in the way and
irritate the audience and myself.  On the whole I don't complain and take it
in stride along with the parent who allows their child to be aweful or the
load in from hell or the nazi school secretary who refuses to let me in to
the space till the last second even though its in the contract.  I smile and
take their money and hope they have me back.  It just not worth being
negative if you can help it, as work is hard enough to find.  There are
places that I won't return to though, but I like to have the option.  I
don't judge anyone who gets sore and lets them know it, I have just found
for myself that they usually take it wrong so why bother trying to educate
them and then not get invited back.  I have made a deal with myself not to
take things personally either way because one day its roses and the next day
its #%*!#-AT-!  Its work and more fun than most peoples' work and I want to
like it.

On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 2:41 PM, The Independent Eye
<eye-AT-independenteye.org>wrote:

> >Have you
> >ever had a videographer shoot over your shoulder while you are doing
> >your show? I mean come right up on the stage, in the middle of the
> >show, to get shots?
>
> Ah yes.  In this case a news crew from a local tv station when we
> were touring a very intense, harrowing short play about family
> dysfunction & child abuse.  Crew came in mid-show, walked all over
> the stage, and as soon as we started into an immediate discussion
> with the audience - an integral part of the show - poked at me to ask
> for an interview (no thank you, you sonofabitch).  I decided
> mid-performance to continue without interruption, for the sake of the
> sponsor (a social agency) to have news footage.  But it was an
> ulcerating experience.
>
> The only solution, when video is at all an issue, is to have a
> rock-solid understanding with everyone involved and some means of
> enforcement.  A good videographer *sometimes* is aware of the
> strictures of a live performance, but above all they're wanting to do
> their job, and the better they are, the more likely they are to see
> that one fabulous shot they have to stand on your shoulders to get.
> We hired a videographer to do multiple performance shootings of a
> recent show, and every night I had to go through the same long
> dialogue about how it wasn't possible for her to walk back and forth
> between stage and audience.  She was from a different world.
>
> Cheers-
> Conrad
> _______________________________________________
> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
>
_______________________________________________
List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
Archives: http://www.driftline.org