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Waiver for technology shortcomings?
I was wondering, is it customary for small event videographers to give the customer some kind of waiver for certain technology shortcomings in formats that are not the most professional and/or expensive? For example, I shot some HDV today just for practice and when I captured it and played it back, there as about half a second lost, which I believe is like the drop-out of HDV, because of the large amount of B frames as opposed to regular DV in which all are I frames. Now imagine I’m shooting a wedding or some kid’s graduation and one of these drops happens in a crucial moment. Obviously the customer is not going to be happy about it. Or the same thing but applied to other shortcomings, for example the length of the tape itself if it’s an event longer than 63 minutes without an intermission to exchange tapes, or in the case of AVCHD, the SDHC card can get full, or the battery can go dry even if you have the largest one for your camcorder.
So I’m wondering, for event videographers that most likely don’t have a continuous source of power and recording, is it a normal thing to explain these technology shortcomings to the customers and have them sign a waiver?
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48 Replies
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[Sebastian Alvarez] ” For example, I shot some HDV today just for practice and when I captured it and played it back, there as about half a second lost, which I believe is like the drop-out of HDV, because of the large amount of B frames as opposed to regular DV in which all are I frames”
I’ve never seen anything like that here and we have edited entire documentaries all shot on HDV and transcoded to DVCPro HD during ingest. I’ve never noticed any sort of dropout, even during 20 to 30 minute interviews.
[Sebastian Alvarez] ” is it a normal thing to explain these technology shortcomings to the customers and have them sign a waiver?”
I have never heard of anything like this. I believe this is why most wedding videographers work in pairs so there is a cross-roll. That’s how I’ve always handled live events. We either have two cameras or multiple tape decks so there is always a cross-roll tape somewhere.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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[walter biscardi] “I have never heard of anything like this. I believe this is why most wedding videographers work in pairs so there is a cross-roll. That’s how I’ve always handled live events. We either have two cameras or multiple tape decks so there is always a cross-roll tape somewhere.”
Right, but that’s a matter of budget for the groom and the bride. Hiring a two people team to video a wedding will obviously be more expensive than hiring one guy. And besides the drop outs there’s the other stuff, like the length of the tape, SDHC card and/or battery. My question is more directed towards the beginner level event videographer who has the basic elements, but not much more. I, for example, could buy a portable hard drive that goes well with my Sony video camera, the HVR-DR60, which as of now is $1400, slightly less than what I just spent on my camera. But it’s going to be a long time before I can afford something like that.
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[Sebastian Alvarez] “So I’m wondering, for event videographers that most likely don’t have a continuous source of power and recording, is it a normal thing to explain these technology shortcomings to the customers and have them sign a waiver?”
No. That would make any sane customer run for the hills. As a professional, it’s up to you to _overcome_ those shortcomings before offering your services.
And, no, you can’t write off lost business due to your waiver.
Here’s what you do – bid on jobs that you can confidently execute with your given level of skill and equipment. In time, that list will grow. Don’t bite off more than you can chew – in business, your reputation is your livelihood.
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[Bill Dewald] “And, no, you can’t write off lost business due to your waiver.”
Not sure what you mean, or maybe I didn’t express myself correctly as to the purpose of the waiver. Let’s say that you had really bad luck one day at an event and technology failed you. A tape that had a manufacturing problem and made you lose several seconds of footage. An SDHC card that had been working great but suddenly went berserk and recorded green pixels all over the picture. You explain this to the customer, but they are obviously enraged because the fact is that you were supposed to video record his daughter’s graduation speech and ten seconds or even more of it are lost forever. Even though it’s not strictly your fault, the customer makes it your fault and then sues you because he hired you to videotape an event and you didn’t deliver the most important part. Sure, later a jury can believe your testimony and rule in your favor, but by then you’ve been though a nightmare and you’re in debt with a lawyer.
Sounds drastic, but everything can happen.
[Bill Dewald] “Here’s what you do – bid on jobs that you can confidently execute with your given level of skill and equipment. In time, that list will grow. Don’t bite off more than you can chew – in business, your reputation is your livelihood.”
That’s a good rule to work by, but it’s not what I was asking. You bid on jobs that you can confidently etc etc, as long as the equipment behaves as it should and doesn’t fail. My point is, what happens when the worst happens and you have to face an irate customer. Wouldn’t it be safer to briefly explain these things to the customer beforehand and be covered in case the worse happens?
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I saw my first HDV dropout today. I will go back to that spot on the tape and see if the video is there or not – it appears as a red flash in Premiere.
Stuff happens, but you can’t lose sleep over the possibility of something maybe happening. This is why Aflac sells cancer insurance – the risk is there but usually it is small – but some people are risk averse. We have had a few projects over the years in which there was a camera malfunction – not much you can do except be honest and hope it was not a once in a lifetime event. For once in a lifetime events (weddings, building demolition etc – use two cameras – even if the safety shot is a lesser format – the bride wants to see the ring exchange and the vows, and would rather see it in Hi8 than not at all.). The one wedding I have shot for money this is what I did – DVCAM on a tripod moving around a lot to avoid the always moving stills shooter – Hi8 on a locked down tripod with a reverse shot – this covered my moves and provided a backup of both audio and video.
Any live event should be shot with two cameras.
Mike Cohen
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I understand what you’re saying now. I’ve always operated under this premise – “I don’t get the shot, you don’t pay”. If it’s a small gaffe that you can work around, that’s one thing, but if ýou miss the money shot, you’ll have to eat it.
This is why event videographers go gray prematurely.
It’s very wise to be thinking about these contingencies before going our and looking for gigs. But seeing a “techncial failure waiver” would give me pause as a client.
But I’m not an events guy. Let’s see what they have to say about this subject…
Cheers – Bill
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Sebastian writes –
“Let’s say that you had really bad luck one day at an event and technology failed you.”
REPLY –
Sebastian, is this a joke, or WHAT ? I was hired in May 2008 by Nickelodeon Television to build a shared storage system. Problems developed with the system, and it stopped working. It was not my fault. At this moment, it didn’t matter if my wife got sick, my dog got hit by a car, my family was kidnapped by terrorists, and my roof caved in at my home. All that mattered is that THE JOB HAD TO WORK – no matter what, no matter who died, no matter who gets hurt, insulted, or inconvenienced – THE JOB HAD TO WORK. Believe me, I was SICK TO MY STOMACH, and I was scared, but I GOT IT TO WORK (thanks to great tech support from several companies).There is NO EXCUSE for YOU screwing up a job (or me, or Walter Biscardi, or any other PROFESSIONAL on this list). You CANNOT make a mistake – everything you do MUST be done the right way. EVERYTHING is your fault, and you must plan for it, you must prepare for it. All that matters is that the job comes out perfectly. And you charge for this professionalism.
There is no question that I will screw up in the future (and you will have equipment failures in the future) – its going to happen. Let me assure you, one day soon – YOU will have a disk drive fail with all of your valuable media on it. YOU WILL LOSE YOUR WEDDING FOOTAGE, and when this happens, its YOUR FAULT. You must have backup. Does this cost money – you bet it does. Can you afford it – I don’t know – you have to have the budget to be able to do this. You cannot say “hey, the drive might fail, and you have to sign a waver that you won’t sue me if the disk drive fails after the wedding”. Its YOUR FAULT (and it’s my fault, and everyone on this lists fault who is a professional).
You might say “but if I have to budget in for a backup disk drive (or camera or battery), my budget will be too high, and I will lose out to my competition”.
Welcome to business.
Bob Zelin
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If the camera malfunctions for a moment, you use a clip from your spare. If that won’t work, you refund your fee.
The only clause I’ve seen related to that issue would be an “acts of God” clause, but that wouldn’t cover things that you should be prepared for, like potential technical glitches.
-TJA -
I’m pretty much on track with everyone else.
Anytime you cross the line from amateur to paid, you become a professional. Nobody pays anyone to ‘try’ to do something (well…maybe politicians and professional sports players…), they pay someone to ‘do it.’
I had a job some years ago…some production, lots of dubs…short timeline. My dub vendor had a staff member that decided my client’s label design wasn’t to spec and that they’d correct it themselves…but they set it aside for a week. By the time my status check uncovered the problem, there was no hope of making the timeline. The vendor felt bad and gave me a 75% discount on about 5 grand worth of dubs, but the entire project’s usefulness to the client was incredibly diminished if not gone entirely…I ponied up about $15,000 in discounts and refunds (about half the project price, and I was extremely fortunate the client was THAT understanding as I could have been sued for the whole bill if they’d decided that was what they wanted).
Was it painful?…oh yeah it was. However that client paid me to deliver…and I didn’t. Like the tape dropout, was it my fault? I suppose I could say ‘no’, but it was my vendor, part of a project that I packaged and sold to the client. the buck stops here.
As Bob said, welcome to the business.
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions, -
[Sebastian Alvarez] ” Let’s say that you had really bad luck one day at an event and technology failed you. A tape that had a manufacturing problem and made you lose several seconds of footage. An SDHC card that had been working great but suddenly went berserk and recorded green pixels all over the picture. You explain this to the customer, but they are obviously enraged because the fact is that you were supposed to video record his daughter’s graduation speech and ten seconds or even more of it are lost forever”
That’s all your problem. You don’t get paid if your technology fails. Plain and simple. It’s your responsibility to have properly working, professional equipment if you want to be paid as a professional. If it screws up, that’s your fault, not the manufacturer. You’re the one getting paid to do the job.
Just like in Post here at our shop. We have three full edit systems because we’re delivering to very hard deadlines. Technology breaks all the time, but with three edit systems we have redundancy. We also run all our storage in RAID 5 so if a hard drive fails, we can keep working.
As Bill writes, if a shooter ever presented a “technology waiver” I would never hire them.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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