Marketing the EX3

[Craig Seeman]

Good marketing is about meeting needs and/or solving problems.

I’ve found that diverse marketing helps. Yes some will look for kit, those that are kit savvy. It’s not bad to have a kit web page for such folks

I think it’s a good idea to show off what the kit does. This can show how the kit “meets the need” better than a laundry list of features.

Show video:
Great low light shooting the 1/2″ chips afford
Depth of Field control the 1/2 chips afford
Slow mo footage at 720p24/60
Time lapse footage

Explain advantages of the workflow:
No need for compatible “deck” when you hand them files.
faster than real time file ingest saves time/money in post production
Client can have master copies on portable hard drive or even SDHC card (and you can have same generation quality protection masters)

The above doesn’t require a “kit list” so much as creative flexibility and cost advantage. This is in addition to showing off a demo good reel.

[Noah Kadner]

For real- the EX3 is a great camera but it’s also an incredibly common camera- everyone has one. So I’d emphasize less the capabilities and specs of a camera that everyone has and more your special services, clients, abilities etc. Otherwise you’re just being an ad for Sony and they’re doing fine.

Noah

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[Tim Kolb]

[Joe Tyler] “Of course you do the job well and finish on time, That is called being a professional. So is staying on task.”

This is not as common as you appear to believe it is… Timelines are probably the biggest problem with production projects.

If you are hired by producers who have a project and are hiring a shooter…list your kit.

If you are doing production projects for a client and are handling (yourself or contracting) the bulk of a project…show your images.

The lines are becoming so blurred as to what camera is of what quality level…I’m not really an advocate of judging the skills of someone whose gear list only demonstrates their ability to write a check.

Your reel shows that you have the ability to create images…and that’s what you’re paid for.

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

[Jay Gladwell]

Excellent advice, Noah!

[Ed Kukla]

This will depend on your client. I’ve seen some clients ask for HD and found out they wanted HDV at very low budget.
My biggest roadblock has been clients that want tape for archiving. They refuse to accept card based recording. This is especially true with History & Discovery networks. I’ve been forced to use F900 or HDX900 at much greater cost to the client because of the network requirement to archive all materials on tape. SOME production companies will archive to tape after the shoot but most do not want to mess with all that. A one hour show can have 30 hours of material. That is a lot of work to transfer all that material to tape after the fact. Someday the networks will get up to speed with a good archival solution; but until then, tape is still king.

[Bruce Rawlings]

We archive EX material to HDCAM as the total failsafe on top of 2 copies of all BPAV folders on separate hard drives.