Looking for bridge high enough to jump off of…

[Ned Miller]

Oh, I meant the bridge metaphor figuratively. A couple of beers will do the trick.

I am moving towards rekindling all my non-fiction TV clients since that end of the biz is more impervious to this cheapness movement. The History Channel and such at least has standards. I am very busy now, compared to the slowness of Jan & Feb, the problem is “busy” now doesn’t mean neccessarily mean profitable, like the “old” days.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
http://www.bizvideo.com

[Mark Suszko]

“Busy” now doesn’t mean necessarily mean profitable, like the “old” days. “

THAT is a True Business Fact that many people don’t understand, Mads. “Busy” with Flip cameras doesn’t even pay for, well, a Flip cam itself.

I feel upbeat about this. After the initial buzz and ill-advised uses, eventually those flips will spend most of their time in desk drawers and purses only to come out for office party videos and kid’s school projects. This is what people do; they overdose themselves on what’s new, then they get bored and move on to the next gimmick, and what’s left are people who can apply skill to the tool after the casual users have given up on it. Look at the history of the inexpensive Russian Lomo cameras; cheap cameras with bad optics, and today, they are pricey collector items for artists that use the Lomo’s weakness to give their pictures a unique quality.

The Flip is kind of like the $30 First Act half-size kid’s guitars sold in walmarts and Target stores. At the price, it’s a disposable impulse buy and an easy entry. Most will dabble with the thing a while practicing all of two chords until they can’t tune it, and abandon it after a month or when they get their first finger blister. A smaller number will eventually go to a music shop for replacement strings, try out a $150 or more expensive guitar, and walk out of the store with that. A smaller number still will go buy a 68 Tele with custom pickups. They are all making music, sure. There’s room for all of them.
But I’m not going t buy an album from most of them.

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

“Solid sales techniques and deep relationships are the only way to combat this”.

I agree with Nick’s approach of better marketing and selling the “quality” that they themselves cannot provide. Here is my case study.

We recently did a project for 3 major hospitals and they wanted a powerpoint meets boring very simple/cheap/easy project.

We sold them a “crazy idea” that included FX work and a lot of resources that they had to provide to make it work. In the end we have received nothing but praise from them. They for one will not be going to the flip camera anytime soon.

Here is the link:
https://vimeo.com/9605948

Points of interest (opening and 07:15)

PS: The opening was shot with a HVX200. I gave the cameras to the 2 actresses with no instructions in how to use it so we could get the amateur feeling. The final shot is actually a HPX3700 colro matched to the HVX200.

Any other broll or scenes were shot with a HPX2700/HPX3000 on a Steadicam Ultra 2.

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com

[Mark Grossardt]

It seems to me that there’s a great opportunity here. Video used to be something only big companies could afford to do, but now everyone can jump on the video bandwagon. Once video has become a part of the way these other companies do business, some are eventually going to want it done better. Keep your relationships with these companies, encourage them to use video where ever they can, and gently remind them that you’ll be there when they’re ready to do it better.

The crude analogy: Think of the Flip as the gateway drug. Encourage them to get hooked on video, and then make yourself available when they start craving the “hard” stuff.

[Rob Grauert]

has anyone ever thought to compare emergence of cameras like the Flip to the emergence of all the cheap, high quality digital still cameras?

There is still a lot of work in the photography industry, despite all the cheap cameras. I don’t think the Flip camera will really hurt many professionals in the video industry either.

…just my two cents.

Robert J. Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com

[Timothy J. allen]

Exactly, Rob.
We use everything from Varicams to Flip Mino HDs. The wisdom comes from knowing which tool to use when to get what you want or need.

Have we ever used the Flip cam when in retrospect, I’d rather have gone with something more high-end? Of course. Have we ever used the Varicam when upon reflection, we should have gone lower-end? Absolutely.

There’s a tendency to want to use the “new hammer” just because it’s new. You learn as you go and hopefully get better about choosing the right tool for the right job.

This summer, when our interns come in and we want them to grab some “man on the street” type clips to augment a quick website article are they going to get to use the Varicam, lights and our full-time Videographers to guide them on their technique? Let’s not get expectations too high. I have a Flip cam in my desk drawer waiting for that job.

By the way, that’s not because they are students. The purpose of the finished video – it’s content and the intended “feel” – plays a huge role in the tools we choose to get there.

[Mike Cohen]

It is amazing how many posts there have been so far in 2010 about feeling threatened by cheap HD cameras. Hundreds of posts probably.

I think Tim summed it all up:

[Timothy J. Allen] “The wisdom comes from knowing which tool to use when to get what you want or need.”

Indeed, this wisdom is what people pay us for, not just our tools.

We are content experts, problem solvers and media professionals offering a service, not just a warm body with a camera.

Value selling is reminding customers that when they hire us, they are getting the whole package, and our past experiences, to help them accomplish their goals.

Mike Cohen

[Ned Miller]

Original Poster Ned here, hopefully last post, but it came up AGAIN today:

Just got back from filming the Secretary of Labor for an old time DC client who does mainly govt agency outsource videos, big budget govt PR documentaries and live events for cabinet level honchos. He’s been around the block and I have worked with him for about eight years when he needs midwest shooting.

He complained to me, without me prodding, that clients are calling him up and asking him to incorporate, or make something from scratch, with footage they took with their Flip cameras. At least he gets the editing!

So, all these posts about value, up selling, the work will come back when they realize it’s crap, it’s just a trend, etc. are ignoring the present fact that these are bona fide shoot days that are now gone, poof! G-O-N-E. Shoot days that just a short while ago would have gone to us pros because they couldn’t figure out their little $3000 DV cameras. Perhaps if there are no kids in-house that know iMovie we’ll get the post, but my original point weeks ago when I first mentioned “DP is replaced by a Flip”, is that it’s hard to measure lost work unless they happen to mention it. Have you asked your clients?

Unlike all that has come before, which had lots of buttons, switches, needed to be white balanced, etc. the one button Flip invites shooting even by chimpanzees. In Point, Out Point, Compress + Upload. Just a short while ago that was an intimidating process for most of them and they called in the Pros from Dover, even if it was video destined for social media or intranet sites. Perhaps your client base is impervious and you don’t need to worry about lost work that has gone in-house, but I can tell you I have been seeing it among many different organizations (Mayo Clinic, etc) that do not need to penny pinch. If you have or can latch onto a client that appreciates quality and your creative input, and pays decently and on time, you should appreciate how rare they are becoming and how lucky you are. I have been doing this a long, long time and this market is quite different. We are in a business where prices and revenues are actually coming down, and not just from the recession. Remember just a little while ago how much we all made on VHS and DVD orders? The Flip allowing clients to “think” they can DIY is part of the same steamroller.

Naturally when a recession hits they bring video in-house, I’ve seen it twice before since 1976, but now the Flip has made it “enjoyable” for them to do their own crappy looking videos that they are, unfortunately, tickled pink with. It’s not “low end”, if they have no capability to DIY they would have budgeted for pros to produce, and those video budgets could have gotten to mid-range. When corporations create budgets for their next fiscal year, and let’s say Marketing, or PR, or HR, whatever, needs a line item for video, well I think video is becoming a commodity to them, that is what I am seeing. Forget the Flip for a moment, it’s just a symptom, the underlying problem is that video is becoming a commodity to them and the Flip allows them to exercise that theory. It’s no longer the arcane alchemy art/voodoo of ex-hippies and artists, it is something they think (I said “they”) anybody can now do, since after all, “they” are proving to themselves anyone can do it.

Look at Chicago’s Craigslist under creative gigs for instance: advertising agencies with more money than God are listing for young Final Cut wizards for $10 per hour, if not as a free intern. You don’t think those graphic savvy kids can pimp up Flip footage? A few posts ago a prod co owner said he sends out his interns with Flips, are the Varicams as busy as before when you back out the recession?

There’s still quality work out there for us pros, like me filming a cabinet member today, problem is there’s just thinner slices of the pie, and the pie has gotten smaller. That’s why I’m not going to market to corporate as much and going back to non-fiction TV.

And today when I woke up I didn’t think the subject of a Flip stealing work from pros would come up until my DC client mentioned it. That’s it, my last thread on this, if you don’t see this downhill trend God Bless You!

Ned

[Milton Hockman]

now that you’ve laid it out more clearly I understand why you are so upset about the flip camera. (not knowing your day rate) its easily taking 300-500 out of your pocket a day from shoots “you” used to get hired for.

I’m not a videographer so I don’t know how it is out there for you all. But as a designer and editor I’ve learned that Video doesn’t feed my plate every day. So, I took it upon myself to learn website design and print design. Now I offer 3 services: Web, Print, and Video. Allowing me to create full campaigns or a la cart items for clients.

Is there anything like that as a just a videographer that will allow you to have more sources of revenue and not just these corporate clients using flip cameras?

Maybe you can expand your shooting by offering editing too?

I just don’t know too many videographer only’s out there. But that may just be me and my network.

Freelancer Designer Virginia – StephenHockman.com
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