Brendan Coots
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We use VPN for offsite file access, but not much more than that. I know it has a lot more potential than we are exploiting but there’s so many other priorities! I can see it being a pretty major component of future business models though.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Ah, good point on the resale factor, that would actually be viewed even worse in court than just using the music illegally because, at that point, they can prove damages and willful infringement.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Ignore this at your peril. Seriously, you CAN NOT just download songs from iTunes and use them in a commercial production of any kind, internal OR external. The owner of the copyright can (and will) sue you and the production company for loads of money if they ever find out. Even if they don’t sue you, they will absolutely demand compensation that is probably 20X the total value of the job. It can be a career ender.
Sounds like maybe it’s too late, you better just hope that it’s a small internal project that never sees the light of day.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
The first step is to gently let go of the notion that things will “turn out exactly how you pictured them in your head.” When doing commercial, for-pay work, you are lucky if things even remotely turn out the way you expected or were even capable of, because your client will ALWAYS stick their big braying jackass of a head into the equation and make sure that you are unable to deliver a successful product.
Hah! Okay seriously, that was the precursor to my “tough love” speech to follow. I wrote out a big long post about all the things you could do after school to break into the industry, but I realized something far more important needs to be said, and I’m just going to say it without any sugar coating. The editing field is ridiculously over-saturated these days. I literally get 30 editing resumes for every 1 graphics or 3d person. It seems that editing is the entry point into post now, so you will be up against a LOT of competition. If you want to be an editor, you will need to address certain issues NOW (while in school), and spend the remainder of your schooling honing these skills. I watch dozens of editing reels a week and I rarely see anything crafty or standout. It’s just a bunch of edits, usually very lazy edits, with the assumption being that their job is to “cut footage.” Wrong!
The truth is, anyone can edit 2 shots together. I’m going to generalize here and say that studios are typically looking for someone who:
– can cut fast for long periods of time
– can make good creative decisions on the fly, on their own
– knows the software/tools inside and out
– knows the common gotchas of working with all the various SD/HD flavors and codecs the studio uses
– understands pacing/timing
– can do up their own titles or basic graphics in a pinch
– understands the entire workflow, including receiving graphics from the animators, audio issues, output etc.You would be wise to focus on these types of issues, because almost none of the “new” editors that come my way can do much more than slowly hack footage together. I could literally hire my nephew to do that, what do YOU offer beyond that? Come to the table prepared to edit like a professional and you have already won the battle of “what to do when you graduate.”
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
The problem with case studies is that, unlike coffee shops or other straight forward operations that share very similar results, this industry is pretty unique in terms of what leads to success. One company finds internet marketing to be a waste of time, while another gets loads of work from online channels. One company succeeds because of huge investments in equipment while another fails because of such investments. One company enjoys 50% profit margins while another gets closer to 5%, and in some cases the company with the 5% margin is more successful overall. Some people define “paying the bills” as successful while others think anything less than $5M in annual revenue is a waste of time. When you add in other variables such as target market, region, customer service, area of expertise, pricing etc. it’s almost impossible to successfully apply case studies to your own situation.
In my opinion, you can learn from the mistakes/experiences of others when it comes to specific topics (should I buy my own cameras vs. rent) but looking at business models or case studies might not be very helpful (or wise). The studio that saw no action from online marketing might not have been doing it properly. The company with the 50% profit margin may be scaring away long-term customers and ultimately fail within 3 years. In the end, the saying “results may vary” applies heavily here.
Your question is ultimately something like “how do I run a successful production studio?” The answer is not to look at the overall models of others, but to look at key pieces of information and formulate your own picture. In your local area, how many other studios are there, that offer the product you want to offer? What do they charge? Are they successful? Are they micro-studios or large agencies? What are your SWOTs? Are you going to need to steal customers or is there a large, local customer base? Based on your research, what advantage can you leverage to break into the local market and/or beat the competition? In essence, it’s business 101 that applies to ANY business out there. Answer the fundamental business questions, then build a business plan around those answers.
Once you have a solid plan, follow it religiously or you will be like a ship without a rudder. It’s nearly impossible to improve your operations if you can’t reliably look back and identify what failed and why. A plan is nothing if not a series of benchmarks against which to compare actual results. When you deviate from the plan, you rob yourself of the ability to compare actual results to the plan and modify as necessary. Did the plan fail because it was a bad plan, or because you didn’t follow it to the letter? You will never know, so it’s best to build a plan you can trust, based on research and informed projections, and stick to it without fail. At the end of each month/quarter/year, compare actual results to those projected by your plan and, if needed, adjust the plan’s assumptions that failed to hold true. After a period of time (possibly a few years) you will have worked the bugs out of your plan and will have a very reliable method of projecting future growth and income. It is at this point that you can put together a larger, more ambitious plan and really grow the business. Trying to do so before you’ve worked these bugs out is a bit like slamming on the gas in a car with bald tires – you’ll probably just sit there burning rubber but going nowhere fast.
One final point – sometimes the “business plan” you build is a one-line plan that simply says “Don’t do it.” You absolutely have to be willing to go where the numbers and research point you, and sometimes you find that there is simply no money to be made, either because of local conditions, lack of access to capital, inability to realistically compete etc. In these cases, you can either make major adjustments to the plan to make it “work” or go back to working for someone else, comfortable in the knowledge that you just saved yourself years of frustration and many thousands of wasted dollars.
Good Luck
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
No one should take this to mean that it’s okay to delete or otherwise ignore the meta tags on their web pages, though. Google has 70% market share in searches, not 100%. The remaining 30% absolutely respect keyword and other meta tags.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Ding! Ding! Exactly what I was going to say.
I started my studio with no senior level experience, had only been a Creative Director. Five years later if I had it all to do over again, I would probably seek a producer or similar position first. You can do it without this, but prepare for some very bitter lessons along the way.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
It’s not free ($179 for single licenses, $120 for 2+), but you may want to look into the Sheer Codec. This is a proven codec used on The Simpsons and other high profile projects.
If you want to avoid buying codecs, you may want to consider using image sequences such as TGA or even TIFF, although I’m not sure how well Color handles LZW or other lossless image schemes.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
I’m sure you’re right about the NFL, and as I said I’m no lawyer. No one should EVER listen to legal advice from those of us who aren’t lawyers.
But my stance is that the NFL isn’t likely to pursue a dealership for flashing team colors and saying “go New England.” A court of law would expect the NFL to show harm, and/or that consumers could reasonably be confused that this was an endorsement or affiliation. Saying “go New England” doesn’t directly invoke any of the NFL’s trademarks and therefore, in my opinion, they would have absolutely no grounds for a C&D or lawsuit.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
A pro only plans effects that they can completely pull off based on the resources available to them. My advice would be to avoid any and all effects that have the potential to look hokey because you lack the resources to really make them shine.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com