How Cinematographers Spend Their Gear Budget

INTRODUCTION

Cinematographers are hired partly for their artistic capabilities, and partly for their technical and management skills. It’s fun to talk about creating beautiful images, but what’s less discussed is the logistical and financial processes that go unseen by audiences. 

So, in this video let me invite you behind the scenes and guide you through how exactly DPs select, rent gear, and allocate the camera budget based on my own experience as a working cinematographer.  

EQUIPMENT RENTAL

The gear that you see on film sets is more often than not rented out for each production, rather than purchased, by whatever production company is organising the shoot. 

This gear will need to be sourced for rental from a gear owner, who is typically either a rental house, such as Arri Media, Panavision, or a smaller, locally owned rental business, or is rented directly through a crew member who owns gear, such as the focus puller, the gaffer, or even the DP.  

GEAR LIST

The decision as to what technical gear is required for each shoot is decided upon by the cinematographer. It’s their job to liaise with the line producer, production manager, or responsible person working for the production company, and often with the rental company too, to come up with a list of equipment that will be used to shoot the production based on the budget.

In order for this financial negotiation to take place, the first step is for the DP to create a list of all the technical equipment they will require, which is called a ‘gear list’.

This list will be broken down into three sections based on the three technical departments which are run by the DP: a camera gear list, a lighting gear list and a grips gear list.

The equipment for camera will be run and managed by the 1st AC or focus puller, and is mainly made up of the camera itself, the lenses and all the necessary accessories needed for running the camera package, such as the follow focus.

The lighting gear list, which is managed by the gaffer and their team, will include all the lamps, textiles, and, in the British system, the stands needed to set up and rig these lights. However, in the US system, any stands and rigging gear will usually fall under grips.

Any gear needed to move or position the camera, such as a dolly, slider, crane or apple boxes, will fall into the grips gear list and will be managed by the key grip.

This list of gear will be written down by the DP, usually in the form of a spreadsheet or document, and sent on to the production team.

As I’ve mentioned many times in my Cinematography Style series, the exact gear that is selected will be determined by a number of factors, most notably: what kind of shots need to be executed, the look that the filmmakers want to create, the budget that they have to hire gear, and how many crew will be on set.

This crew consideration is especially important. If it’s a documentary shoot where you’re working by yourself then you’ll need gear that is easy to set up and use as a solo operator. 

Or if it’s a low budget feature with one gaffer and one spark, then you can’t rent a million lights as they’ll take too long to set up.

The challenge of assembling a gear list is to select only the gear that you know you’ll be able to realistically use without carrying a lot of dead weight around, while at the same time having enough equipment to be able to adapt to most shot requests that the director may make.

WRITING A GEAR LIST

Everyone works differently, but my usual process is as follows. After meeting with the director, reading the script, or taking in their visual treatment, I’ll assemble a rough gear list which estimates the gear package. 

Often this selection will be based on similar past gear lists I’ve made before. For long form projects I may also go into a rental house and do camera, lens and filter tests to find a look I’m happy with.

As pre-production commences, a recce will be organised. This where the director, DP and the HODs, will visit the locations which will be used. At this stage, new ideas for shots may emerge, and you’ll be able to see more clearly the spaces that you will need to light and the camera moves you’ll need to do.

The gaffer and key grip who attend this recce, will then also be able to provide gear recommendations for the kinds of technical setups you are imagining. 

Additional equipment may be added to the rough gear list at this stage, for example getting blackout to shoot certain spaces day for night, or adding items like a ladderpod if the directors decide they need a high perspective shot.

Some cinematographers' lists may be more prescriptive and detailed than others. For example, many DP’s lighting gear lists may just note the lamps and textiles that they want to use, then leave the addition of the accessories, such as the stands, power generation, distribution packages, sandbags and other details about rigging, or selection of the brand of the lamp, for the gaffer to determine and organise. 

Others may like to be very specific about exactly what gear they want, down to what brand of ND filter they require, or the exact make of an on-board monitor they want to use. 

After the recce, DPs will want to start finalising their gear list, and send this through to production who will begin the financial calculations and negotiations. 

DISCOUNTS

The rule of thumb when it comes to gear rental where I’m from is that each item of gear comes with a set daily rental cost - however, this day rate is rarely the final amount which is paid by the production company.

Gear rental is usually quite negotiable. Quotes will usually display the full cost item of each piece of gear, then apply a discount percentage to reduce the amount.

I can’t speak to other regions but where I work, I’d say an average discount rate for short form or commercial gear rental is about 40%, whereas long form or feature discounts are usually higher at around 60%.

Although depending on the length and scale of the job, these discounts may vary. 

Most rented items will have their own, individual rental rate, even down to clamps or c-stands, but some items will come as a kit, such as a camera package, which may include things like recording media, a cage, and a dovetail plate.

Some rental companies also only offer lenses to be rented as part of a full kit and prohibit breaking up the lenses into individual focus lengths.

For long form jobs that operate in terms of the number of shoot weeks, as opposed to shoot days, discounts are sometimes applied in terms of how many days per week will be billed for.

A standard deal would be to bill for the gear for 4 day weeks. In other words, for each week of shooting, each item will only be invoiced for 4 shoot days, even if the production is shooting 6 days per week.

PACKAGE DEAL

Another approach to sourcing gear is for the producers to try and get what’s called a ‘package deal’.

In this case, the producer will approach a gear rental company with the list that has been supplied by the DP, and provide them with the line item for gear on their budget: so, the camera, grips, and lighting gear that they have budgeted for.

Basically, they will offer to pay their full gear budget to the rental company, ask for the listed gear in exchange, in the hope that the rental company will provide the necessary discount to arrive at their budget.

If the discount is too heavy, this may involve discussions with the DP about losing or replacing some of the items of gear, until a deal is found for both sides.

RENTAL HOUSES VS CREW RENTAL

If the gear is rented from crew members instead of a rental company, the crew will be asked by production to provide said gear at the same discounted, matched rate that the rental house would’ve rented the gear at.

BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS

On top of this, there are some other financial considerations to take into account when renting gear. One, is that insurance will need to be paid. This is so that if the equipment is damaged or stolen during the shoot, then insurance can be paid out to cover what may otherwise be a very expensive cost to replace the item.

Sometimes, gear rental companies will even kindly offer gear for free for passion projects without much of a budget. In these cases the only thing they will require is that the insurance fee for the gear is paid.

It’s also important to consider the downstream implications of your camera selection. It’s easy to want to shoot on an Alexa 35, but will your DIT be able to handle the speed of data transfers that this requires? How long will it take to transcode this footage? Is the production able to afford the hard drive space to store the media? 

If working with a lower budget in post it’s important to think about this before shooting on a camera that will be impractical or unfeasible.     

GEAR AVAILABILITY

Another factor when sourcing gear is its availability. Not all rental houses will have every piece of gear under the sun. For example, Arri Media won’t be able to provide Panavision lenses, which are solely rented out by Panavision and not sold.

A solution to this is to of course source gear from multiple vendors, however often, producers will try to rent the entire gear package from a single rental company - as bigger discounts are possible when rental houses are approached with a full budget, rather than part of one. 

CONSUMABLES

Consumables are another line item in the budget relating to gear. These are perishable items which are needed on the set by technical crew: such as gaffer tape, dust off, or croc clips. 

For long form jobs, each department will be given a budget for consumables, and sometimes, on short form jobs, crew members, such as the 2nd AC, will purchase their own consumables kit and rent it out to production for a daily rate.

CONCLUSION

Having a relationship with rental companies is an important part of being a cinematographer. It’s a reciprocal bond, where if you’re able to bring them work for some of the bigger jobs, they will likely be more inclined to grant discounts or give out free gear when your next passion project comes around.