Instant Messaging Devices

[cjlowe]

Originally Posted by kbob

there are times when your line of sight is blocked in the direction they want you to pan, for instance, or if you're on a mobile cam, you might want to tell them when you need to reposition for a much better angle you can see...or just to say you didn't understand what the last request meant...

Sure... but in those situations, if I get told "can you get a shot of x", I just line up the shot quickly to show the director it isn't workable, and I'll hear "guess not, never mind". If I need/want to move, I'll just wait til the tally light goes out and I hear another shot called, then set up the next shot. There's always the yes/no nod/shake of the camera, too.

I've just been on a shoot with a director who, if you dared key your mic during the shoot, would tear your limbs off... believe me, you get used to having no TX on your comms. In fact, my camera's CCU cable came loose during the shoot and we resolved it with one-way comms.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by cjlowe

I've just been on a shoot with a director who, if you dared key your mic during the shoot, would tear your limbs off... believe me, you get used to having no TX on your comms.

He is not joking either

When I was on cam I took over from another guy at literally a moments notice, anyway the tilt locking pin on the head was broken, anyway, when he wants it tilted up i had to literally tilt the camera on it's tripod to get the shot and hold it.

This guy means business

[cjlowe]

Originally Posted by Lucas

i had to literally tilt the camera on it's tripod to get the shot and hold it.

This guy means business

You had it easy. 10 minutes in to an hour-long shoot, grouchy says "#3, take that camera off the tripod and shoulder it, we can't see over the crowd". I was the camera that they kept cutting back to for wider shots, and the multicore was slightly too short, so I had to stoop slightly to get the camera to sit on my shoulder properly, holding the shot steady the whole time.

It was a pretty rough 40 minutes, then some random girl in the crowd decided to sit on my riser, and landed on my CCU lead, jerking the cable. The camera rebooted and the engineer lost CCU control. I was somewhat relieved - at least I could put the darn camera down.

Lucas, where's that thread about EasterFest?

[Lucas]

The thread will be here when i can find my Phone sync cable so i can get pics...

[WW2]

Give me a full duplex headset everytime and nobody will get hurt
There are enough phones ringing during service, despite the slides reminding us to turn them off.

Grace, Wes

[WORDpictures]

Originally Posted by cjlowe

. . .why would you ever need to transmit while on a camera?

Once while running live camera myself, a director turned communication over to me to talk the other cam operators through re-adjusting their "really-messed-up" exposures on the fly! A rock concert was getting underway - and I was the only one who knew how to fix it. With 2-way "verbal" communication, no one got grouchy. But texting in video world... there could be lots of opportunity for grouchy there.

[cyburdine]

so back to IM systems... (i too could fill the thread with old war stories, but we digress)

Alot has been said in this thread, and I think you'd be best coming down on the side of do what the pros do. Use a comm system (headset/beltpack), don't add more things to distract people. Camera-work is an art and since 99% of churches are using "warm bodies" to fill this role... the last thing they need is something else to distract them from looking for shots and focusing on the production.

Still looking for an IM solution?
Something cool to check out though if you are so inclined to add internal IM to the church is Openfire IM server by Ignite Realtime. Free opensource IM server that has all sorts of other capabilities. This enables companies/churches to keep their IM's private since they own the server. It will also allow you to connect to all the common gateways, gtalk, Y!, msn, AIM, etc.

hope this helps
-cyburdine

[buggyboy]

I feel a little better about reviving this zombie thread since I don't have to revive it from all the way back.

I myself have often wished for a simple wireless text communication device. I have, like others, often gotten texts mid-service about audio etc. I wouldn't be using the IM like device to communicate with comops, but mostly with stage crew...lead musicians, singers, etc. to get late updates to program changes like "skip the next song and go to the award ceremony" and the like. This communication happens most often during the sermon, or a prayer time, so silence is important. Some stage people are near mics all the time, while others sit on the front pew or are in other mic-less places.

I'm considering building a gizmo for my use, and I'm curious if anyone else is in my situation.

The common internet IM and cell text solutions are both less than ideal. the IM requires a data plan (yeah,yeah, 21 century and all) and a church internet access point (or private network) and the text can be slow, or cause interference, and is generally a pain to type.

So, given this is not intended for camops, anyone else have a use for a text communicator?