Premium Member Matthew W. Phillips Posted June 21, 2014 Premium Member Share Posted June 21, 2014 I was looking up DPs in Sacramento and I ran across this dude. Not trying to call anyone out as this guy is just an example of the many wannabees going around calling themselves "Cinematographer" and expecting people to pay for this. This guys rate is $265/day according to his page. I know there has been talk on this forum about Producers paying people proper. But don't you think there needs to be some quality control if you expect to get paid? I'll let you make up your own mind. http://vimeo.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Bill DiPietra Posted June 21, 2014 Premium Member Share Posted June 21, 2014 Considering virtually all of his work consists of student projects, that is a rather ridiculous rate. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted June 21, 2014 Premium Member Share Posted June 21, 2014 I've seen worse. But people working on stuff at that level tend not to get paid at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg MacPherson Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 In his blurb he doesn't call himself a cinematographer, rather a "professional freelance filmmaker and editor" and "Writer / Director / Editor".... I didn't look at his clips, perhaps he has Cinematographer credits for those..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted June 22, 2014 Premium Member Share Posted June 22, 2014 $265 is low for a commercial PA rate. DP commercial rates around my area vary from $700/day to $2000/day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Matthew W. Phillips Posted June 22, 2014 Author Premium Member Share Posted June 22, 2014 $265 is low for a commercial PA rate. DP commercial rates around my area vary from $700/day to $2000/day. Fair enough...but just curious...would you pay $265/day for him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted June 22, 2014 Premium Member Share Posted June 22, 2014 SInce I don't personally pay DP's, I can't answer that. But I wouldn't necessarily hire him to help me shoot something. That's not because I don't like his work. There are a number of factors that go into things like that. I actually think some of his stuff looks pretty nice. I think the first half of the reel was better than the second. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Bill DiPietra Posted June 22, 2014 Premium Member Share Posted June 22, 2014 He definitely has potential and seems like the type of filmmaker who will improve with time & experience. But there is no way I would pay him $265/day based solely on the work I saw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bass Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 (edited) Am I missing something? Some of his work looks better than some of mine, and I make more than that. Quite a bit more if I provide gear. Granted, I'm not really a "DP/cinematographer" except when clients decided to call it that, more like corporate video/ENG/documentary/etc. videographer. Is that the difference? Do "real" DPs have to fighter harder to make the same money as we do for less work? That seems backwards. $265 is really low in my world. Edited June 22, 2014 by Josh Bass 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Satsuki Murashige Posted June 23, 2014 Premium Member Share Posted June 23, 2014 Geez, the going commercial rate for a 1st AC in my neck of the woods is 650/10. Considering that DPs generally make at least twice what the keys make, 265/flat seems crazy low to me. Don't know how you could expect to make a living on those kinds of rates... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Dom Jaeger Posted June 23, 2014 Premium Member Share Posted June 23, 2014 For freelance work $265 for a 10 hour day is cheap. He doesn't claim to be a "cinematographer" as far as I can see, more of a filmmaking jack-of-all-trades and even mentions being open to negotiated rates for low budget jobs. His reel seems OK for someone just starting out. As others have pointed out, you'd be paying a lot more for a commercial DP. If you don't like his reel Matthew, don't hire him. It's pretty simple. There's no need to put someone up on display just so you can whine about what you perceive to be expensive, especially if you haven't even talked to them to negotiate rates. He actually sounds quite reasonable, whereas to be honest you're coming across as entitled and petty. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 I actually think it looks okay Matthew. In fact it's better than a lot of the showreels that people post on here, often accompanied by a message to let everyone know how fantastic they are. I think what you might be not liking is not so much the cinematography, which okay is basic but kinda works, but the fact that a lot of it has a very nasty video look to it. I know that you like film based stuff Matthew but a lot of the trends in cinematography have shifted away from that look and more to stuff that has this harsher, supposedly "sharper" look that this video has. So it could just be that this isn't a look that you like. Freya 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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