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skypuppy

what is tandem video worth?

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Please post what your dz pays for TI and for videographer. Just wondering what other dz's do. At my dz, using the centre's equipment, the Tandem instructor gets $32 Cdn (without packing), and the videographers get the same.
If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

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TI -> 30euro incuding packing
Video -> 35euro.

Videoman jumps with privat rig and equipment. That's why.

Some days the videoguys make more jumps(per person), other days the TI.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Using your droque to gain stability is a bad habit,
Especially when you are jumping a sport rig

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Depends on the DZ I'm at.

At one DZ, the TI gets $25, plus $10 for packing and $2 for each pound the student weighs over 200, while the video guy gets $20 and uses the DZ's dubbing equipment and media. I think the video guys at this dz should make more.

At another DZ the TI gets $40 plus $10 for packing and $1 for each pound the student weighs over 185, and I think the video guy gets $20 and doesn't have to dub. Not having to dub is a nice reduction in workload, but I'd still say the vidiots are a bit underpaid. Another $5 or a packjob would probably be fair.

Overall, I think the TI should earn a little more but not a lot. The camera guy has to invest in his equipment, the TI has to spend money getting a rating. The camera guy has to take wear and tear on his equipment, the TI has to take wear and tear on his body. The camera guy is responsible for delivering a quality souvenir, the TI is responsible for a tandem student's safety. Plus, doing 10 tandems in a day is just plain more work than doing 10 video jumps in a day.

Also, the law of supply & demand comes into play at some point. These days every novice freeflyer and his homey has a camera on the side of his head and thinks he can fly tandem video. Guys willing to hang under a drogue all day aren't quite so common (though almost). Given that a DZ is going to pay whatever they have to in order to get the work done, most of the time, I suspect this will come out in the TI's favor. That may vary based on the vidiot's ability to sell stills and whether he owns his own dubbing equipment.

Blues,
Dave
"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

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Overall, I think the TI should earn a little more but not a lot. The camera guy has to invest in his equipment, the TI has to spend money getting a rating. The camera guy has to take wear and tear on his equipment, the TI has to take wear and tear on his body. The camera guy is responsible for delivering a quality souvenir, the TI is responsible for a tandem student's safety. Plus, doing 10 tandems in a day is just plain more work than doing 10 video jumps in a day.



In the process of becoming a video person, I have to say, a lot of money goes into practicing camera skills to where you have the ability to go out with a tandem and produce a video worth what DZs are charging.

I do not disagree with you that overall the tandem stuff is more wear and tear on your body and overall more physical but I can't say jumping video and stills is that great for your neck either.

I think a TM and Video guy for the jump alone, (no packing the tandem / dubbing tape) should be paid similarly (+/- $10), if the TM is using DZ gear and the Video guy is using his own.

When you add editing / packing / whatever I think it starts to get hard to compare.
~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

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I like doing the tandem and the video both myself. Handcam is a wonderful thing and it is helping me to get paid close to what I think that I should be paid per tandem jump. I know that most dzs aren't doing hadcam yet, but the more dzo's that realize the profit potential there is in them, the more they will be done.
Aaron
“God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

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Agreed!

CAN$30 for instructing tandem or PFF.
$45 for video
$75 for taking Handy-Mount video during a tandem
$6 for packing a videographer's personal rig
$10 for packing a tandem.

$75 per tandem means that we are FINALLY getting paid what we are worth.
All those years of doing tandems for $15, $20, $25, etc. was slave labor!

At Pitt Meadows, all videographers get paid $45 for a completed video dubbed on the DZ's editing suite. An editor earns $5 for dubbing some one else's raw footage onto VHS or DVD.

Since outside videographers have to supply and maintain all their own equipment, I could never see the profit in it and shied away from doing outside video.

It was not until I learned how to sew my own Handy-Mounts that I started to see a profit.


Tandems at Pitt Meadows are all done with school gear.

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Aaron,

what you think your worth($1000) versus what you actually are worth($1.00) are two different things.:P

TI-$30-40 depending on TI experience
Video- Between $30-35
TI and video slots paid by DZ
TI does not have to pack but gets paid if they do
Video packs or pays for pack
Sport rig pack- $5
Tandem pack- $10
TI uses DZ gear
Video uses own gear but DZ editing stuff

"If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive."
Josh Whipple 7/15/70-2/10/05

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Having done both for a while I think that the video guy deserves more. Here we use equipment supplied to us when doing a tandem whilst the video guy uses everything supplied by themselves as well as having to pack.

Tandem Masters - $37

Handcam - $30
(Freefall footage mostly with the occasional ground and landing footage work......we take it in turns and the video is all added together at the end ;)

Outside Video+Stills - $47

BSBD! -Mark.



"A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

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Having done both for a while I think that the video guy deserves more. Here we use equipment supplied to us when doing a tandem whilst the video guy uses everything supplied by themselves as well as having to pack.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Agreed!
Outside videographers deserve to be paid about twice as much as Handy-Mounters because they have to purchase/maintain more than twice as much gear: harness, main, reserve, Cypres, fancy jumpsuit, expensive helmet, etc.

Keep in mind that most TIs jump school gear .. only having to supply their own helmet, jumpsuit and alti.

Tandem Masters - $37

Handcam - $30
(Freefall footage mostly with the occasional ground and landing footage work......we take it in turns and the video is all added together at the end ;)

Outside Video+Stills - $47

BSBD! -Mark.

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Here at RAPA we get paid the following.

Tandem Instructor - nothing
Cameraman - nothing

If a non staff member does eithere they get 1 free jump ticket (E18).

I do both, using my own parachute, camera kit and editing suite for Tandem DVD's.

My Tandem Rating was paid for by the centre though.

Buzz
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

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I like what Flybert71 said " what you think you are worth ($1,000) and what you are actually worth ($1.00). We've had this discusion before and I've said it before and I'll say it again. The handycam is a cheap cheesy product that is more about profit than actually giving the customer what they are paying for. You might as well give them a home video with the date and time still displayed in one corner and the numbers running in the other because, that's what it looks like. A home video instead of a video production. As professionals we should strife to be such. To many times do I see Snap Shot Artist instead of Professional Photographers. Home videos instead of video productions. Beleive me I do it all AFF, Tandems and Freefall Camera Flyer and I can tell you right now there is no harder job than being a good Professional Freefall Camera Flyer and the hardest of them all is to be a good Freefall Photogragher. Really good Camera Flyers are hard to find. They supply all of their own equipment including editing equipment, film, batteries, tapes, DVD's, ect. ect. ect. and should be paid more. On a busy day they are working their asses off just to keep up. I'm sure it has a lot to do with where you are at and which DZ you work for but, at Skydive The Rockies. Tandems-$30.00 plus $15.00 for packing if you want to pack and $45.00 for video/stills you supply all of your own equipment.

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Here at RAPA we get paid the following.

Tandem Instructor - nothing
Cameraman - nothing

If a non staff member does eithere they get 1 free jump ticket (E18).

I do both, using my own parachute, camera kit and editing suite for Tandem DVD's.

My Tandem Rating was paid for by the centre though.

Buzz



I assume you have a special TM rating. Only valid at the DZ that payed for it??:)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Using your droque to gain stability is a bad habit,
Especially when you are jumping a sport rig

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Here in Missouri I believe our Tandem Masters get paid $35. If they pack the tandem that's another $10. 230# is our max, period.

As a video guy I make $30 having to edit myself on DZ owned equip. Additional $25 for stills. I'm responsible for packing my own rig and owning my own equip. Although, if I'm getting slammed, the DZO has packed my rig on MANY occassions just to keep me in the air. I love that guy! hahahahaha

Anyway, I find it to be pretty fair. I have no complaints.

Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher
D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I
Videographer/Photographer

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Yes it is.

I have a BPA rating as RAPA is a BPA DZ, the only one in mainland Europe. I am sure I could convert to DFV (German association) but I am not sure that a BPA rating is valid at any other DZ in Germany.

Buzz
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

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I have been a camera man for 8 years now and have gone to the top of the game. I have recently earned my AFF & Tandem Rating & I'm sorry to say but before you do it don't think you know anything about it. The instructors that I videoed must have been so patient with me for my first videos ( although I did over a hundred camera jumps unpaid before I ever went out with a tandem) un heard of now adays. You starting out video guys that say oh my neck hurts or don't go so fast, take some jumps and learn how to fly. Nver blame your stuff on the Tandem master.[email]
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You starting out video guys that say oh my neck hurts or don't go so fast, take some jumps and learn how to fly. Nver blame your stuff on the Tandem master.



That's my favorite. When the video guy complains about a fast fall rate. Hey, I'm wearing the baggiest suit I can find, I'm getting the drogue out quick, and I'm getting the students arms out quick. That's about all I can do. If you need to jump with a 20-lb vest and no jumpsuit to get your video do that. If you need to freefly to stay with us (and are capable of doing so safely) do that. But don't come whining to me because you didn't like the fact that I had to take a fat bastard. How do you think *I* liked it?!?

Blues,
Dave
"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

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That's my favorite. When the video guy complains about a fast fall rate.



Well put, my brother. I have a lot of respect for GOOD cameramen. Andy West, Dave Martin, Dave Hoyt, Mike Bess, Rob Lowe, The Fuller brothers, Rich and Glen...and many more. But ANYBODY with a thousand bucks can be a camera guy. It really irritates that vein in the back of my neck when a video guy tells me to pick up or slow down the fall rate, or face into the sun, or give a better nod and count. It's the cameraman's job to get the shot. The tandem instructor has his hands full as it is.

Skill and experience being equal. A tandem instructor is worth more money than a cameraman. If for the responsability alone.
"It's only arrogance if you can't back it up"

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It really irritates that vein in the back of my neck when a video guy tells me to pick up or slow down the fall rate, or face into the sun, or give a better nod and count. It's the cameraman's job to get the shot. The tandem instructor has his hands full as it is.

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I agree that fall rate is something the camera guy should deal with, but I have no problem turning them into the sun or giving a good exit count. I think it takes a little bit of teamwork to give the customer a good video.

I get $30 for tandems and $30 for video.
Stills get you another $20.

I do both and it seems fair to me.

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