Andre Anthonio
Forum Replies Created
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This is an older thread but the topic is still relevant to which I would like to add a few points . I’ve been recording football games for almost 10 years, independently. That is, the League allows me to film the games. But, they’re not paying me. Instead, my relationships/clients are the parents and coaches. Selling game DVDs and making highlight videos.
Business was good in the earlier years. It’s all about offering a good product and building relationships. But then, a competitor has stepped in recently and starting filming the games, too. He got his foot in the door by one or two coaches who were able to secure him at a lower rate than my own. I didn’t mind at first because my clients were secure and also the quality of my video is much better. Specifically, I shoot on a study tripod with a Canon XHA1S. But then, the competitor, with only a small handheld camera (on a mini tripod), starting (and still is) uploading the full games (whistle to whistle edits of the play) to YouTube and for FREE. This killed my business at every level. Even though the quality was/is not the same, parents were/are less willing to buy game DVDs from me if their kid can see the game on YouTube for free. I sent the Competitor a message asking him to deliver his product via DVD or a closed system, but he continues to upload to YouTube. He, in fact, has killed the market. Bad for me, and him too…
I wanted the League to step-in but it has its reasons for not picking winners and losers. And, it’s probably better like this for me/us because some Leagues in my area won’t even allow you to film a game from a professional camera. For example, they won’t allow you to enter the stadium which is another very good conversation: Specifically, how does the law view and/or change the extent to which we have the right to film a game? Is the game we film a “public” or “private” event. In my case, the League is put on by Kiwanis, probably more public. The other AYF League, is probably more private. The point is, can independent freelancer’s like me go and film any sporting event and try to make business someway, or upload the event to a public forum like YouTube? Or, do you need “the express written consent from the League” like the NFL?
In my opinion, not being a lawyer, I believe the League is the legal author of the content that you/we film. I mean, you/we can say we are the owners of the video because we produce the content but we are limited to some extent, I think, to claim Copyright infringement over our video products. If someone with more experience can chime on this it would be greatly appreciated.
Anyway, the overall situation and, more specifically, the situation of me losing business has really caused my a lot of emotional trauma. Now, though, I’m fighting back and feeling a little better. Specifically, I’m now also uploading the videos to YouTube for free. But the video is heavily watermarked with my own logo and also the League’s. But, the logos are not so obtrusive, meaning that they don’t get in the way of the principal viewing areas because, in part, we are filming without a lot of zoom, so that the coaches can see all the players on the field. In addition, I’m still offering game DVDs (without watermarks) because some parents, and even coaches, prefer to view/study their games on DVDs. You don’t need an Internet connection. And, on top of these two options, I’m also offering the games (no watermarks as well) on HUDL for my advanced clients who know the benefits of HUDL.
Regarding HUDL, it’s a great tool. But, it’s purpose is not to ally with people like us. They don’t care about us. HUDL only cares about the video. How they get it and from whom is irrelevant. What’s more, when they have it, they own it! And yes, HUDL account users can download our video. What’s worse, the HUDL logo goes on it. So, you can either watermark it before it’s uploaded, which your Clients may not appreciate. Or, you can let it go clean. Either way, you have to be willing to lose control. And, remember that every version of your video requires another render and another upload. And, only one video can go up at a time. So, if your like me, uploading 6-10 games per week, it can be quite a task, and especially to get the video up and out FAST. For us, we’re at the stadium for 10 hours on Saturday. By Sunday, we have the early games up on HUDL and YouTube. By Monday afternoon, all the games are up. But, it’s really grueling and the payday in the end doesn’t make it easily worth it.
In my case, I do it because I do it. Which is another way of saying I need it. Something coming in is better than nothing. I think videographers like us have to be humble too because it’s very tough entering a market when your relationships with the League organizers is not the best.
More about HUDL, I’ve been able to make it work for me (so far) because I have all of the coaches of the League coaches in one account AND I control the emails and passwords. So it shows as a team account, but really all of my coaches of different teams are the same account. What’s more, as part of my service, I assign the email addresses AND passwords that the coaches have to use to access the video. I do it through my website since I have unlimited email hosting. This way I can bring paying clients in and non-payers out. More important, I can see who and when is making highlight DVDs through HUDL and “I think” I may be able to see who is also downloading the video. This because the messages from HUDL are coming to me. Not the users. Because they’re may damn emails!
And so, the bottom line, I am still surviving. Not making a ton but my reputation is important too. BUT, it comes at the expense of more work. More uploads. More edits. It’s tough. But, I think I can win in the end because I don’t think my competitor is going to be willing to continue week after week to maintain the few clients has that are probably or will likely be struggling to pay him over the long term (thanks to good ‘ol me).
Hope this is helpful. I’m more than available to discuss further and without conflict since I’m in an international market outside the US. No competition worries.
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This has has happened to me as well and many times and also when nearingbthe end of a project involving many hours of editing. It happens when you accidentally double click an area on the timeline. You can go to the track itself and right click. Then select the option that says expand track. See if that helps. Honestly, though, for me, the best fix has been to close and reopen the project and without saving. If you saved already, you can move or copy the events on that track to a new track, then delete the old track and the undesired expanded track. Sorry I don’t have a better answer. I am just an editor and I don’t always understand or know how to explain these situations. Still I am seeking a permanent fix for myself. I feel your pain.
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Just a want to thank the good folks who offered solutions to this thread, and to also update my situtation. In this case, I believe the problem of Sony Vegas not offering a “search for missing file” option when opening a project with missing/unlinked media (at least in this instance) was directly attributable to the fact that I was opening an old project file from a virgin machine. In other words, I had never opened a file previously on this computer and the installation of Sony Vegas was also fresh. On top of that, I also had just completed centralizing my data on a new NAS server. So, everything was new and working together for the first time. Now that I’ve opened a closed a few projects, Sony Vegas is behaving like it should in that it now offers the “search for missing file option” and I’m able to send Vegas to look for the files on the data server and it works! It takes a little longer since more than 15 TBs of data are on the server but it does work and it comes back and prompts me that other files are also in the same location, which is what is/was needed. In the end, I didn’t need to look in the directories or other prescribed options but I more than appreciate the illumination that was offered. Thanks again.
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That’s just it, when I point Vegas to find a file in a specific location, it doesn’t come back and tell me that there are also other files of the project in the same folder to also import/relink to which I can say “yes to all”. Instead, I am getting a prompt for each damn file that is offline even though there are many, many files in the same folder, etc. Some of my projects have tons of audio sound effects not to mention photos and/or video clips. And so, I’m going to put myself in an insane asylum if I have to relink earlier projects one by one. Thanks for the response.
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PROBLEM:
When I open a previously saved Sony Vegas project in which the project files are not in the same location as when previously saved, I want to see or have a “search for missing files” option upon opening the project so that I can relink the missing files more quickly, which Sony Vegas is unfortunately not giving me anymore for some reason.
QUESTION:
What can be done so that I get this option when I open a Vegas Project?
Why is Sony Vegas not giving me the “search” for missing files option? Instead it only gives me: 1) Select new location for missing file, 2) Ignore and 3) Leave them offline, etc.
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Mystery solved, folks! After more than 24 hours of no sleep at all, seriously stuck being in the mud, I finally figured out (with God first) what was causing causing my Sony Vegas 12 to behave in the inconsistent, unstable manner that I previously described: corrupted imported media that made it’s way to the timeline and once there couldn’t be deleted. In my case, I was recording a sports event with an FS Pro hard drive and the battery of the device was going out. The camera operator could actually see the batter about to die. Finally, it went out and from that point forward we knew that we would have to capture the tape from that point since we record on both cassette and hard drive. BUT what I didn’t know, is that the files that the hard drive produced prior to complete hard drive failure were corrupted. In other words, there were a total of three video clips recorded prior to when the battery completely died, that were corrupted. What made things so bad is that I couldn’t tell based on sight. I mean, they looked like a duck, quacked like a duck and walked like a duck, but they were none of such. Specifically, the corrupted files would play on the timeline, show audio levels, and you could move them. BUT I wasn’t able to delete them OR change the property settings and in some cases Sony Vegas would just stall and/or eventually crash. Is was mind boggling!!! This is why when I rendered the project, the render would get stuck at 86% (about 2 hours into the render). It took me a while to figure out that that was the point about where the hard drive went out and my brain just finally figured it out. In the end, I had to remove the three corrupted files from the source disc so that SV wouldn’t have them to bring them into the project. From there, I replaced the corrupted files with the same video that was recorded and captured from tape. It was like a medical surgery for me having not experienced this before. After all that, Vegas was immediately behaving as usual. So my advice is that to also include the quality of your imported media data before considering hard drive, memory, updates, etc. as your culprit. In my case, it was just bad media. Thanks for all the good responses folks.
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Weird. Weird. Wierd. Another 3 hour render, and at 86% the preview video stops moving (it freezes) yet the remaining render time showing still continues to count down. When the remaining time reaches zero, the progress indicator still shows 86%. At At that point I have to force quit. I’m left in the end with a partial render but it doesn’t contain my important chapter markers. BTW, I reinstalled Vegas and I get into the same trouble. The video on the timeline is MOV from a Canon Mark II and the other is MT2 from a Canon XHA1. I’ve mixed this media before a million times and am doing nothing different. So now I’m going to try and render the last 16% or the project file to see what happens, then I can try to put the two partial renders together in another project file and redo my chapter markers there? I have no other option. Haven’t slept in 24 hours. Excuse me if I’m not so clear.
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Super thanks, Steve. Unfortunately restoring to an early point does not seem to be an option because my system’s restore was/is turned off. Will a reinstall of Vegas help? I’m really stuck in the mud on this one. Making matters worse I have two PCs and they both now are behaving in the exact same manner. I thought I was out of the woods when I opened the same project on the next computer. It seemed to behave normal and sent the project to render, but when I came back 3 hours later, the remaining time to finish the render was zero but yet only 86 percent of my project had actually been rendered. I got a partial render. Keep in mind that I process sports games video on a weekly basis, several games, and have been following these same steps for years. Never have I been confronted with such a dilemma. Comes at a very bad time too, the Championship youth football games where just Saturday night in my area and I have a lot of good folks waiting on these DVDs!
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Thank you for your comment! Can you offer any more info on the webinar? I’d like to follow your steps there. Also, is there another shortcut key to turn the expanded mode on or off since I don’t have a numeric key pad? Maybe I can install a virtual keyboard for this, I’m thinking? I would love to have a toggle switch because I active the expanded mode accidentally on a regular basis and when I double click to go back, Vegas goes into hyperspace with the hour glass showing and eventually crashes. So, now, I’m just having to save my work frequently and reopening the program when this happens, since this seems to be my best option so far.
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I stumbled across a way to get rid of the split video track by un-expanding (deselecting) the expanded clip. I don’t know how it got expanded in my case but it did. You have to select the track (not the track or clip on the timeline) but the track itself all the way to the left, then deselect “expanded” under the window options.