Aaron Cadieux
Forum Replies Created
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In the case of this client, I doubt they will be “sitting in” for any kind of real editing sessions. They simply want to view rough cuts of things as they happen. But instead of having to build a file to send them each time, they’d rather watch the cut on the fly and make suggestions as they see possible issues. Some of their corrections might be minor, and may be fixable in almost real time. That way, I can just render the change and run the sequence again.
But I agree. Having someone sit there and watch me is a waste of time, and thankfully happens VERY rarely. When it does happen, the client is ALWAYS clueless. My favorite thing is when I import a hi-res still image into a timeline, and it shows up on the preview monitor all huge and abstract looking. The client always goes “oh my, that’s too big”. At that point, I usually hadn’t even had a chance to resize the image yet. It’s so annoying.
BTW. The Sling Box Solo will output both SD and HD. It’s a nifty little tool for certain situations.
Best,
Aaron
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Andrew,
Thanks so much. It’s nice to get a straight-forward response to a question.
Best,
Aaron
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Harry,
Leaving religion out of the equation (which is where it belongs), I think that many power-hungry event-venue over-seers automatically assume that a videographer outside of the “designated zone” will be a distraction, when in reality, the videographer is not a distraction. Usually, I have a locked-off wide shot in the balcony (if one is available), and my main camera’s tripod set up as to get the bride’s face during the vows. For the procession, I usually go handheld in a discreet location where I can get clean shots of the wedding party entering the church. As soon as the procession is over, I scurry over to where my main camera’s tripod is set up. From that point on, I do not move. In the particular instance referred to in my original post, I was not allowed to go handheld with my main camera to get an effective shot of the bridal procession coming down the aisle. This, in my opinion, was a classic example of an event-venue over-seer being unreasonable. After all, during the procession, the guests are looking down the aisle for the approaching bride, not turned around looking for the position of the videographer.
Has your technique of disregarding the “rules” of a power-hungry event-venue over-seer caused any real problems for you? Have you been “banned” at any venues? Your method takes guts, and I commend you on it. After all, the purpose of my original post was to see how other professionals handle power-hungry event-venue over-seers.
Best,
Aaron
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Hey Mark,
Next time, spare me the religious lecture, your holier-than-thou attitude, and your preconceived notions about how I conduct my business. I love how you capitalized the word “politely” in you post, as if to imply that I marched into the church screaming, swearing and wearing an “I love Satan” t-shirt. Had I been talking about videotaping sporting events and said “Nazi athletic directors”, I doubt you would have reacted the same way. Perhaps I should have picked a different term other than “Nazi”. But even if I had said “self-important priests”, or “jerk priests”, I’m sure that you still would have felt the need to launch into an online Catechism class. I was raised Catholic, so don’t lecture me on the workings of that organization, or any religious organization for that matter. When you get right down to it, my post had absolutely NOTHING to do with religion. I was simply looking for advice when it comes to dealing with a headstrong event-venue over-seer. And FYI, not all priests are Catholic. You just assumed I was talking about a Catholic priest. And yes, he is a Catholic priest, but you should be careful not to make assumptions in your Cow forum responses. And don’t tell me I was making an assumption about the priest, because, unlike you, I actually me him in person. Your response makes it sound like I named the priest and his parish specifically, or that I named the couple that I was shooting the wedding for. The guy is a priest, so I called him a priest. If the guy were a garbage man, I would have called him a garbage man. Just because someone is a priest, it doesn’t exclude him or her from criticism. If you don’t like what I had to say in my post, then don’t respond to it. Anyone who reads a post on Creative Cow could find something to be offended about. If I had said, “Final Cut Pro sucks”, it could have very easily been a Mac user launching into me of “offending” them. I tell it like it is, Mark, and if you have a problem with that, I don’t really know what to tell you.
For the record, I’ve done my fair share of weddings in churches of all religious denominations. And in my experience, Catholic priests are the most uptight when it comes to where a videographer can and cannot be.
As for your advice about how to deal with a situation like the one I described, it is truly appreciated.
-Aaron
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Mark,
Thanks for the advice. I will try some of this when I get back to the office on Monday. An over-contrasty base matte is a cool concept, which will help big time. The photoshop rotoscoping sounds interesting, but due to time contraints on this spot, I won’t have time to do it, but I’ll bookmark this post for later work.
As for your first line of criticism, when I get canned, and when I can’t get another job because of my Google history, I’ll have only myself to blame. All of the people on the Cow can then shoot me a unified “I told you so”.
Your advice and advanced expertise is greatly appreciated and admired.
Thanks again,
Aaron
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Michael,
Thanks for your input. I have since removed the shadow effect. I was trying everything I could think of to try and make the keys look more “realisic”, but obviously the shadows didn’t do the trick.
Your suggestion about converting the DV footage to another codec is interesting. But detail that’s lacking in the DV footage is still going to be lacking in another codec, correct? Wouldn’t it be like if you took your favorite old TV show on a poor-quality VHS tape and then transfered it to DVD? The show is now on a better format, but the show will still look as crappy as it did on the old VHS tape. It’s impossible to bring back detail that wasn’t there to begin with, no?
If I do convert to another codec, do you think I will see that much of a marked improvement?
I wish people had listened to me to begin with, and none of this would have been an issue. My boss overruled both me and the shooter. Out of the three of us, he is the least tech-savy, and knows nothing about different codecs and formats.
Anyway, thanks for your advice Michael.
-Aaron
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Don’t sell yourself short. Charge a full professional rate. You should be getting at least $200 – $400 dollars for a job like that depending on the quality of the work you’re producing. People are stupid, and usually are clueless as to what goes into this industry. If your client is too cheap to pay your rates, let them go find a student hack to produce work for them. People that haggle over rates are the same idiots who post in the “jobs” section of Craigslist and say “no compensation, but you’ll get credit in the film and you’ll have something for your reel”. Those people should all be shot off to the moon in a one-way rocketship.
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Mark,
Unfortunately, we’re shooting this on good ‘ole MiniDV, which I know sucks for chromakeying.
-Aaron
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Michael,
No hard feelings. I just found it odd for someone to start a post with “Where have you been?”.
Best,
Aaron
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Sorry Michael. I only come out from living under my rock once in a while to ask stupid questions on the cow. Also, though a “powerzoom” may be below your standards, some of us find it useful for run-and-gun situations.
I’ll make sure to to come out from my hiding spot more often to check on the status of the Panasonic camera.