The other week I had a long week of travel, shooting videos for Kiva Systems. Kiva makes robots and software used in order fulfillment distribution centers. I have been working with them for about two and half years now; they were one of my first clients when I went freelance and also one of the only jobs to come through Craigslist. (I have done about a dozen videos for them now, so it just goes to show to keep your eyes open for all possible job leads.) This particular job was to do two case study videos on two of their clients, DJO Medical Devices and Diapers.com. Our plan included shoots in three cities (Indianapolis, San Diego and Reno) over three days with seven flights over the full five days. That’s a lot of flights and a lot of connections and a lot of opportunities for things to not show up.
I have written previously about packing for travel, and fortunately for this job, too, I could pack pretty light. We were shooting a lot of b-roll with available light in the warehouses, and a few interviews, mostly on the warehouse floor. I brought only 2 lights and a bounce card, which helped keep things more portable. All told I had three bags to check (tripod, Kata case (with lights, cables, stands, etc), and a small bag with my clothes). Unfortunately the airlines have a ridiculous pricing scheme for checked bags. The first bag is $20, second is $30, and third is $125! Ridiculous! The client who I was traveling with only had one checked bag so we saved a bit by having him check my third bag. But still, in this or similar industries, the costs for checking gear can sometimes surpass the ticket cost.
Our first shoot in Indy for DJO went off well. I have done three of these case study videos for Kiva already so I am pretty comfortable now with all their lingo and the kind of footage we need so it makes it much easier. We got to the airport for our flights to San Diego with plenty of time but our flight was already an hour delayed. We had a short layover in Detroit before our second flight and I was already concerned that we might miss it. Long story short, we were pulled from our flight because we WOULD miss the connection and found ourselves on a different airline with moments to spare. So we got to San Diego that night, finally. But no bags. All I had was my camera (which I ALWAYS carry on) and some mics, batteries, etc. No tripod. No lights. No clothes. At this point it was about midnight and we had an early shoot at the DJO headquarters doing a couple interviews. So, while en route to DJO the next morning we made a quick stop at Target to buy a cheapo tripod. Something that could at least hold the camera (barely) for an interview. And I decided to wing it for lighting, and we hoped to get lucky with a well lit space, or we could shoot outside or something. As it turned out we got very lucky and DJO had their own photo department for shooting their product shots and the guy there had a small video lighting kit of some Dedolights. And a nice Bogen tripod. Total score. That made things MUCH better. Seeing as this was the second time I have had bags not show up for a shoot (and both times happened to be for Kiva) I am trying to figure out a kit that I can carry on with a small light and tripod with the camera but not sure I can do it if it’s just me.
That’s my rant on traveling.
The rest of the shoots went well and our other flights went off without a hitch. I got to see Reno for the first time and got to play a little blackjack, so that worked out. Kiva has been a fun company to work with. They make an innovative product which is highly photogenic and dynamic so I always enjoy shooting their bots. They also like to do some fun videos in addition to their product or client case study videos. We shot this one a couple years ago for them to send to their clients around the holidays. Earlier this year we made this video to show the basic idea that led to the creation of Kiva Systems. Enjoy!
Tags: director of photography, EX-1, freelance, Kiva, travel