[Bill Davis]

Have to agree with a lot of this.

Nobody should ever forget the incredible great good that Unions did (and can continue to do in some cases) particularly with regards to basic issues like child labor – unsafe working conditions – and basic fairness. Unions have saved countless lives and have increased standards of living for many, many working people.

But they also have a well-documented history of growing into bureaucracies that can be as inefficient, venal, and even criminal as what they originally were set up to fight. Heck, Teamsters originally drove teams of horses – a necessary, and, yep, dirty and dangerous business. At some point, the union management understood that horse (or truck) driving skills weren’t really very relevant to the job at hand. – especially when the union dues accounts grew to the level where money management and manipulation expertise was a LOT more important than the affinity skills of the membership. So rich, fat, soulless corporations spawned rich, fat, soulless unions. Not all, surely. But certainly some.

In my estimation, their biggest problem is like all large human organizations, they’re slow to adapt and change. And unfortunately, the industries they once regulated so effectively are increasingly less relevant. Like it or not, those dangerous, union jobs of yore are largely moving off-shore. Today’s market forces change so rapidly that ideas like setting rates by negotiation and codified contracts simply can’t keep up with the current pace of change in human dynamics.

Heck, today a contract for work is as likely to be a couple of emails exchanged after a Craig’s list posting – so the effectiveness of constantly adding a third party to the contracting mix seems kinda out of date. Plus rates are much more efficiently set by posting a survey post HERE – instead of looking it up on some schedule of union rates.

So much change. So little time to deal with it. Sigh.

[Bill Davis]

Oh for gods sake, Sam.

You know that in the modern era the way to solve all problems is to buy cooler equipment. (full sarcasm mode on)

You keep talking like this and you’ll start people thinking that the equipment is subservient to the brains of the people using it – and that decent equipment in the hands of experienced users produces better results than “cool” equipment in the hands of the clueless.

And if that kind of radical talk persists, our “short attention span” economy will surely suffer!

[Bill Davis]

Definitions are in order:

Mono – one mic – one audio stream. Simple, forgiving, universal.

Mono split to two tracks – fine IF everything stays perfectly in sync.
(God forbid one of your mono tracks slips out of phase with respect to the other If so, the quality of ALL your audio on playback will be TERRIBLE based on phase cancellation. This happened to me on the initial public showing of a friends resume feature film. He mixed it -wrong. The result was HORRIBLE. And of course eveyone kept glancing at ME wondering why the sound was so awful.

Stereo. – two distinct audio streams. This can be the result of capturing the signals of two separate micropohones (or one stereo mic) – or from someone taking mono and/or stereo signals and panning them into the stereo output perspective. This can be lovely, horrible, or a constantly changing mixture of the two. Done properly it yeilds a sense of spaciousness and depth that mono recordings just don’t have. Done improperly, you can suffer phase problems that come and go rather than stay consistent.

Note that only MONO recordings, played back in MONO are naturally immune to phase problems.

That’s why I deliver 99% of my work as Mono unless otherwise instructed.

I’ll happily sacrifice a bit of spacious sounding wide screen effect for the knowledge that none of the center voice content is going to get screwed up because somebody in the mastering suite or at the playback venue didn’t know enough to keep the right/left house wiring in phase.

My 2 cents – YMMV.

[Bill Davis]

I have a 12×12 foam GS that gets folded between uses.

Yes, it wrinkles a bit, but with proper lighting it NEVER has presented me a problem keying.

I consider “proper” green screen lighting to be at least two matched 4 tube fluorescent sources (standard tubes at either 3200 or 5600k) rigged at the sides or top and bottom. Kino Flo Divas are idea. Or Cool-lights 4 bank fixtures if you want to save money. I’ve used both and both make for Excellent keys. Long tube fluorescents like full sized Kino-flos are even more forgiving – but the 4′ models work fine with slightly more careful setup and aiming.

With that kind of lighting setup, minor wrinkles AND all seam issues disappear.

If you try to use point sources, – and particularly if you can’t get them at the proper angle to the fabric (short studio syndrome) then the seams might present a problem.

In green screen work – lighting is always more than half the battle.

Good luck.

[Bill Davis]

At this point, all your experience is with open face tungsten lighting.

While exploring fluorescent or LED will help move you toward more modern approaches, none of those will match the color temperature of what you’re already using.

So until you’re ready to change everything, I’d recommend that your next level of education should revolve around the effect of FRESNEL lenses on tungsten lights.

Fresnel lens technology is the ONLY scientifically solid way to change the qualitative nature of light thrown over distance.

I’d add a medium Arri, or Desisti fresnel to your kit. I’d start with a 650, and perhaps a 300 if you can afford both.

Then you can learn the difference between the qualitative looks of open face vs fresnel lights without any color temperature issues.

FWIW

[Bill Davis]

For what it’s worth…

In most strict corporate structures, the tier above the line workers is generally “Manager of…” The tier above that is “Director of…” and from there you ascend to Vice President of – followed by Senior Vice President of – followed by Pres and CEO.

So if your organization is smallish and loose, I’d push for Director of Video Services. The creative types will resonate with the “director” title. And if or when you move on, if it’s toward a larger organization, they’ll have a more difficult psycological time reducing your status from Director to Manager.

All of this largely depends on what you think will make you happy as a path through your career. Do you want to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond? Or do you seek the bigger pond.

Only you can answer that.

Good luck.

[Bill Davis]

Clearly, you’re in territory that goes beyond getting advice from folks on a discussion board.

You need to consult a professional who’s familiar with the laws governing your particular location and situation.

Any other advice (including mine) is worth exactly what you’re paying for it.

That said, it was drummed into me, many moons ago when starting my business, that if you choose ANY corporate form you have to be RELENTLESS in having regular, formal corporate meetings and keeping the minutes of same.

Because any and all of the protections in shielding personal assets from being used to settle corporate debts can be lost by any decent attorney who will “pierce the corporate veil” if you don’t maintain scrupulous corporate record keeping.

Something to talk to your professional about.

Good luck.

[Bill Davis]

Having about 2000 paid VOs under my belt I guess I can weigh in on this.

The piece of gear that Mark was referring to is a Telos Zephyr. For many years, that and an ISDN line were the keys to doing remote VO work.

Not so much anymore. Anyone with a laptop computer, a decent quality mic and pre-amp – and an understanding of recording technique can record a technically proficient VO virtually anywhere. I’ve done them in hotel rooms, hospital rooms, cars, and closets – and they’ve all aired and been paid for.

For client feed back, I’m as likely to use iChat today as a Zephyr – simply because fewer and fewer studios and clients seem to have them. YMMV.

The best advice you’ve gotten here is to PRACTICE. Your voice is muscles. Just like your legs. If you wanted to run competitively, you’d have to start training your legs and lungs. To do VOs, guess what? You have to train your muscles the same way. The muscles involved are primarily your diaphragm and lungs, plus the muscles that control the mechanics of tongue, jaw, and teeth.

So near daily reading (out loud!) to a VO talent is the equivalent of daily running practice to a road racer.

Once the muscles are conditioned, you still have to work on the intangibles like delivery, characterization, breath control, and intonation. You need to develop your talent. But you can only do that by doing the work.

As to equipment – any decent modern laptop will record audio without breaking a sweat. For a pre-amp, just buy a simple in-line Centronics Mix-Pre or equivalent. Buy some Sony MD-7506 headphones so you can hear yourself. As to a microphone, there are zillions. But for a starting talent I’d say go with a simple, clean large diaphragm dynamic mic like a Shure SM-7, Sennheiser MD-421U, or an Electrovoice RE-50. All of those have been used in gazillions of voiceovers.

Each of these are more for spoken word than singing. Mics that are great for singing, like the venerable Shure SM58 are pretty mediocre voice mics, although I’ve done spots on them as well.

The key is to understand that neither the mic nor any fancy electronics can actually make your voice better than it really is. Better mics just do a better job of recording the voice you have. So work on the voice and performance first, and worry about the perfect equipment somewhere down the line.

Good luck.

[Bill Davis]

– In other words, the level of detail of your billing is directly proportional to the number of things they get to argue with you about.-

Yet another Tim Wilson quote that deserves a place in bronze.

[Bill Davis]

Well, if you’re bound and determined…

At most of the trade shows some years back, the Microdolly Hollywood guys seemed to have a reasonable system. Used chrome rods on bungee cords kinda like camping tent staves as the “track” and a small dolly on specialized wheels.

Haven’t seen them advertised in a long time – and I have no personal experience with the system. But a web search might find them.

Good luck.