[Bob Cole]

[Franklin McMahon] “I think the higher paying gigs would be more marketing the custom creation of music to clients. It would provide more value and produce higher returns then trying to compete in the sea of $3 audio clips so prominent on the web.”

Great suggestion. I agree with Franklin. You could offer original music, guaranteed not to be already on someone else’s spot/show.

And, if totally-original is not in the client’s budget, you could offer to customize readily-available music which you harvest from the Internet. (A lot of folks just don’t have the time/talent to find and evaluate stuff on the Internet.)

I don’t ordinarily advocate giving stuff away, but if there is a local public radio show, you might want to author an original signature tune for them, in exchange for a daily credit at the end of the show. I know a music/recording studio which gets lots of free advertising this way, and has achieved the position in this market that you probably want: they’re the go-to people for scoring shows.

Good luck Mick.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[David See] “Again, I will have to wait for their requested changes before I can make judgement. “Some changes” might meant two, it might mean 30″

NO! You believe that you have already given away a day of your time. The time to draw the line is NOW. You should charge extra for ANY change. Think of it as “Client Education.” They simply don’t understand about rendering, etc., unless you tell them. And they won’t CARE about rendering, until you tell them what it costs them. Costs THEM, not you.

They – don’t – care – about – you. That’s YOUR job.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Amusing story: I got a call from a non-profit, asking for a proposal. The woman on the line seemed a little off-hand, so I asked how many firms they were soliciting, and she said, “Three, we have to.” I asked whether they already had a particular firm in mind to get the contract, and she said, “Yes,” and explained that they’d worked with them before, and how great they were….

She seemed amazed that I declined to bid.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[David See] “Whose fault is this? The client because they didn’t really provide enough information on the production in the first place, or ours because we didn’t ask enough questions?”

Yours. If the initial job was a shoot, you should have drawn the line before the editing began. Once you get on a slippery slope, it’s hard to stop sliding.

(It’s not the client’s fault – HIS client is his own company. The client gets to be a hero inside the company, because he found a
great, inexpensive supplier, and every time he grinds you a little more, that’s just another sign that he’s doing his job. He isn’t loyal to his vendors, as your predecessor found out.)

Solution? If you’re too desperate, and feel as if you need to hold onto this client at any cost, there is none. But the only way you’ll be treated with respect is to show self-respect. I just fell into a similar situation, and as soon as I got the picture, I called the client and said, “Whoa! This is more than we discussed. We need to talk about this.” That worked.

Good luck. And the point about your reputation within the company is key: you have to be polite, but you have to be firm, or you’ll either lose the whole account, or the whole account won’t be worth having.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Thanks all. Ty, looks like I’ll be looking for someone to wire up some of those Neutrik connectors. If you say they’re tricky, I don’t want to try.

I haven’t had any recurrence of this problem for several months. So I’m inclined to believe that it was a combination of a particular teleprompter rig on one shoot along with my very close-to-camera Kino Flo that created this weird buzz.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

True. It was filmed in Technicolor (by Robert Surtees). But it isn’t just that the colors are Wizard-of-Oz bright; I almost suspect that a fog filter was used, because they bleed out in a very soft and pleasing way.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

ever fix it? There’s a story in the NY Times today about home networking.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Jordan Wolf] “And, just because it needs to be said: NEVER, EVER lift the AC ground on any of your gear (if it even plugs in). Use the 3-2 prong adapters for troubleshoot and find out where the grounding issue is. From there, use Pin-1 Lifts to deal with the issue.”

Thanks, Jordan.

Just to confirm that I’m understanding this: you say to use the 3-2 prong electrical adaptors to troubleshoot and locate the grounding issue.

So you’re saying that you CAN temporarily lift the AC ground on your gear, right?

And then, a Pin-1 lift is the XLR pin 1, right? Which is what the Proco IT-1 and others accomplish.

did I get this right?

B

[Bob Cole]

This seems to be a minority view but someone has to say it: Don’t try chromakeying, at least not on your own.

Your company hasn’t budgeted enough money to do the job properly, and it sounds as though you may not have done this before. There are many potential problems with this technique, a steep learning curve in both production and post-production, and lots of little things to buy. Either hire professional help or persuade your boss that there are other solutions.

For example, use the talent’s voice over actual shots of whatever it is you’re trying to illustrate, rather than superimposing the video of the talent over the image. Or, if you want the talent to be on-screen while something else is also on-screen, shoot your talent off to the side, leaving space to put the background video in a little “window.” Many NLE’s can handle that quite easily.

Good luck.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Dennis Size] “The spandex fabric Bob recommended from Rosebrand may be your best bet however”

Thanks Dennis!

I just entered a request for a custom quote for the spandex fabric from Rosebrand, and would appreciate one more bit of advice.

The eefx people recommend grommets every two feet for the foam-backed fabric. I’d think the thinner spandex would need grommets every 12″ or 18″ — does that sound right to you?

Thanks again!

Bob C