Looking for a camera operator in Hangzhou?

This is the perfect case study of a typical returning happy customer.
After asking us last week to shoot his shanghai office, he asked for more, but in Hangzhou (China, Zhejiang Province ) this time. Do you have a camera operator in Hangzhou was the filming request.

Video Interview setup during lunch time to avoid production background noise

As Hangzhou is few hours away from Shanghai by high speed train, we went there under a light snow day to complete successfully this project. This way, we help keeping the filming day as efficient as possible and cost-effective.
With our basic 2 person crew kit; including sound pack, 4K video camera, light panels and even a gimbal, we where able to gather plenty of great footage to ship later on back to their office overseas.
The day was split as usual between factory b-roll of their product line and an interview, following strict shooting guideline from the production house.

Our Sony FS7 4K camera at the Hangzhou facility

Why hire a film crew directly in China?

For such project, it was great for the UK based production house to go local.

By working with local film crews in the country or region you are shooting in,it put yourself in a win-win situation, more a double win actually!

Firstly; you reduce or eliminate travel expenses considerably, and save on having to bring in your camera equipment. This can often imply customs fees, not to mention the hefty extra baggage charges at check-in, both ways. And this is if all goes well as strict regulation about film crew in China should let you think twice before packing your gear.

Secondly, and most importantly: Local crew = local knowledge.  You will be working with people who know the local terrain, language, and customs. This kind of local knowledge is the single most effective way of reducing potential problems, because your Shanghai based team will know how to avoid Shanghai-specific risks. China have been on top of propaganda for years, but what you may think about this country will be quite different when you enter a factory door or just order a taxi. So when you are looking for camera a operator in Hangzhou, just drop us an e-mail!

On this day, being able to communicate with workers, order transportation on our own, was a great project asset.

And it’s look like they were interested on our crew filming!

Getting great footage is the goal of our camera operator in Hangzhou. Safety and experience are the things you also need to consider.

Shooting factories and industrial process since 2003 in China has been our daily job. Make no mistakes when choosing a crew based on pricing only. This is China, the country where there is always someone cheaper then you. But will he be better? or far worst?

I also would  like to thanks the local factory support. They were all fantastic this day to understand what we wanted. Our crew clearly manage to film beyond our expectation.

So, for you next video or photography assignment in Hangzhou, feel free to contact us and save a lot time and hassle.