Low Res copy of B-Roll for client

[Ned Miller]

Question: Did you, or was it in the agreement, that you get the editing part of the project? If so, then I would accommodate them somehow. After all, them choosing takes and providing numbers will make your life easier, the editing quicker and fewer revisions. Absorb the time or bury it in the invoice somewhere. I have various software that can make low rez MP4s with very little effort and processing power. You would want to make it so low rez that they could not do something unethical, such as do their own post.

I have often run into the client problems where I am hired to “just shoot”, and then they expect to be able to view the footage, but can’t. I then have a peeved client. It’s as if they think we shoot in formats they can view. Sometimes we can, sometimes we can’t. Many clients want to watch all the b-roll. they’re curious and/or want to chooses specific takes.

So in sum, if you aren’t doing the editing, then you’d be in your rights to charge for making viewable files. It’s stick if they haven’t paid you for the shooting portion yet.

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

[Ken Cooper]

Thanks so much Ned.

I was payed for shooting and I am editing also for them. I kinda of felt like you do, that I just need bite the bullet and get them the low res footage and not charge them for it. Thanks again

Best regards,

Ken Cooper

[Greg Ball]

Hi Ken,

For me, taking 3 days of footage from 2 cameras and converting it all for a client is time consuming. For that much footage I would charge the client. Yes if it was just

Usually for my clients I offer them low res 640 X 360 footage with time codes. This allows them to pick the shots that the like and give me edit direction at the same time. My clients appreciate that, and I’ve never had a client not want to do this.

Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com

[Rich Rubasch]

We do the same. We create sequences of Broll usually categorized by where we were shooting….exteriors, shipping, assembly line etc. Our encode settings are 320 x 180 one pass 600kbps and mono audio at 32k sample and 80kbps. We add a timecode window to everything that is fairly large so easy to read. They are tiny files and encode relatively fast…Don’t take too long to upload and can never be used in an actual project.

And we bill ’em, but it is usually about 1/2 hour of prepping the sequences and maybe an hour or so encoding so usually comes in under $300 to get them ready depending on total length.

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com

[Ken Cooper]

Hey Guys,

Thanks so much. We did the timecode and low res for all the interviews we did in those 3 days at no cost for sure. But I was having trouble being a good business owner and doing all that b-roll and include it. But they are a good client and they pay on time…so I just need to keep them happy with-in reason. Thanks so much for all the great advice.

Best regards,

Ken Cooper

[Mark Suszko]

Isn’t this something that can be largely automated as a batch job in Compressor? So, billing time for setting up the batch overnight, and the occasional check-ups during the run should be minimal. The thing to watch out for is if your machines are tied up running this process in daytime and thus unavailable for other paying jobs. If you’re having to make other clients wat or send them elsewhere, then this guy should be paying more.

[Bill Davis]

For me, this is something FCP X has COMPLETELY changed my attitude towards.

If I came back from a 3 day shoot with, say, 12 hours of gross B-Roll, I’d expect to get all the crap REJECTED and out of view in a day (if not on the plane ride home.)

I’d probably be left with 1-3 hours of USABLE shots if I was lucky.

In my practice there’s NO cost to the client for any of that because the Reject stage is something I do anyway.

Then aggregating those onto a storyline magnetically would maybe take 10 minutes.
Setting up a TC burn in for a window dub would take another 2 minutes.

I look at it as a client communication tool. I put a shop logo and sometimes, if I’m REALLY fancy, I tag each shot with a big letter and number ID to make it super easy to communicate with the clients. “Lets swap shot C-10 for E-38…” is WAY easier than exchanging lists of time code numbers. Removing friction for clients and enhancing communications is what we’re supposed to be good at after all!

That might take an hour or two to run, since I have an Automator action set up to place the graphics, and all I have to do is step through and increment the shot numbers.

They get enhanced communications tools. I don’t send out ANY clear shots, at ANY resolution. And we have a super way to communicate from that point on.

The whole shebang in X is nearly all automated and takes minimal labor. I consider it a regular part of customers service and prep. So I can’t imagine charging extra for it. But after all this time, my rates are robust enough that I long ago stopped thinking in terms of incremental charges for “extras.” The project fee should WAY MORE than cover that.

My 2 cents, YMMV.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.