Re: tired of getting bad footage

The lack of cutaways is bad, and you have every right to complain about it.

But getting close-ups by moving the camera closer is the DEFINITION of a "close-up". And this is how the Big Boys tend to do it.

Tightening your shot with the zoom is actually a cheat, we all do it from time to time, but the more "cinematic" way to go about that shot is to treat your lens not like a zoom, but a variable Prime lens. Meaning, set the lens to one agle, then if you want the next shot tighter, you move the camera IN. The difference between a camera moving in and a fixed camera zooming in is sometimes subtle, but has everything to do with changing the perspectives and proportions in the shot.

Have you considered making a printed shot sheet that gets passed to the camera ops? A laundry list of shots you need?