Freelance Cameraman: Melbourne University’s Physics Department

At Dream Engine, we supply international media agencies and video production companies with professional, reliable freelance cameramen. Last month, we were hired by a US-based company to film interviews and cutaways throughout the University of Melbourne’s Physics Department.

The Brief

“We’re a production company based in the USA who need to hire a freelance cameraman in Melbourne, Australia, to film at the University of Melbourne. We have scheduled one day of filming for eight interviews plus cutaways, so our cameraman needs to be able to move quickly! We won’t be flying out for this shoot, so your cameraman needs to work with the University to draw up a schedule and ensure that the shoot runs smoothly.”

Bringing more than just a camera to your production

We have supplied freelance cameramen in Australia to clients world-wide for over fifteen years. Over this time, we’ve built a solid understanding of what our clients value the most when it comes to hiring a freelance cameraman. They need:

• Reliability, so that they know our cameraman will be on-site when and where they need to be;
• Professionalism, so that our clients are comfortable with our cameramen interacting with their clients; and
• The ability to shoot great-looking video. It may seem strange that this is our third dot-point – but in our minds, being reliable and professional is just as important as the footage itself!

Because our client was based in the US, they needed more than just a cameraman who’d turn up and hit “record”. Our approach helps us to bring more than just a camera to your production; it helps to make our freelance cameramen part of your team.

Being a part of your team

We focus on building trust with our clients – so that they can feel at ease with us working with their clients to ensure that the shoot runs smoothly. We also pride ourselves on our communication, and we make sure that we are easily accessible for our clients to contact via email and phone. They’re never left out of the loop!

In the case of the University of Melbourne shoot, our client engaged us to:

• Liaise directly with the University of Melbourne to set up the day’s shooting schedule. This meant meeting the interview subjects, and working with the University’s team to best structure the filming day, so that we could capture the right footage at the right time.
• To scout locations on their Melbourne campus. By setting up a site visit with the Physics Department, we were able to get a feel for the location and work out exactly where to stage our interviews, in locations that reflected the expertise of the interviewees. One set-up saw us shooting in a classroom, so the Melbourne Uni team organised a group of students to be present in the background. We scheduled other interviews in laboratories (surrounded by equipment), in their learning centres (with computer screens in the background), and in front of a massive wall-painted mural of the Large Hadron Collider – which our interviewee referred to multiple times in his interview.
• To offer feedback to the interviewees on how to best appear on-camera. This was important as we were the sole point of contact on the day for the interviewees, so our freelance cameraman was also playing the role of director!

All of this work in the pre-production phase is about ensuring that the shoot runs like clockwork, that we’re equipped with the gear that we need, and that we can deliver you the best results. It’s also what separates us from other video production teams, who can often gloss-over this important step in the process!

The Results

Thanks to the hard work of our freelance cameraman, the University of Melbourne shoot ran smoothly and efficiently. The clients were thrilled with the footage, and impressed that we were able to capture exactly what we needed during the one day of filming – a benefit of our time spent in pre-production! Then, we delivered the footage straight to the US via courier, so that they could begin cutting straight away.

Are you an international media agency who needs to hire a freelance cameraman in Australia? Perhaps you need to hire a local video production team in Melbourne? Contact me today, or leave a comment in the box below, and we can discuss all the needs of your upcoming shoot.