Check out these 10 workflow hacks to make your video life a little easier

We all run into issues during the course of our shoots, whether they be for photos or video. We pick up little tricks here and there to help us with our future workflow going forward. Caleb Pike is no exception, and in this video, he tells us his top ten “hacks” to help make his life a little easier when shooting video.

Some of the things we learn during the course of our work are because we messed up. Perhaps we accidentally formatted a card we hadn’t copied yet or maybe we forgot to pack cards completely. Sometimes we learn little things that just help to make things more efficient so that we’re wasting less time. Caleb’s list is pretty varied and covers both of these things.

• Label your power supplies with a silver sharpie (or a label maker, if you’re fancy)
• V-Mount straps to attach power bricks to lights
• Use the read-only tab on your SD cards when you pull them out the camera
• Buy enough cards that you have a bunch of spares and don’t need to format on set
• Fried Chicken Life Wins! – you’ll understand when you watch it
• Keep your friends close and your microphones closer
• Use a backup audio recorder
• Have a video emergency kit ready to go at a moment’s notice (just in case you lose or forget something)
• Leave the big lights at home if you don’t need them (but still take your modifiers)
• Bongo Ties and bungee cords

For me, I’d also say to get colour-coded caps for your camera batteries – and this goes for stills or video. If you’re using internal batteries in your camera, you’re likely to have a bunch of spares, and I ended up 3D printing some of my own in red and green.

When a battery comes off the charger, it gets a green cap and goes into the bag. When a battery is pulled out of a camera, it gets a red cap and goes in the bag. This way, when I open up the bag, I can immediately see which ones are charged and which ones are dead without having to test them all inside a camera until I get one that has a charge. And when I get home, I know exactly which ones need to go onto the charger. And if you can’t 3D print, use Sharpies.

What workflow tip would you add to the list?