Brendan Coots
Forum Replies Created
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Here’s a very general approach to figuring up your rates:
1 – You should charge as much as you can and still get a good level of business in the door. I do not personally subscribe to the notion that you should attempt to “bro down” your clients and keep rates rock bottom based on what “seems” fair. They will not respect you more just because you have rock bottom rates. In fact, they will walk all over you every time.
2 – I disagree that you should consider how your client might feel if they knew your markup. Unless your client is an expert in studio operations, and therefore understands your operating costs, It’s a bit irrelevant what they would think. If they feel your product is worth what you are charging, nothing else matters.
3 – The quality you offer will limit how much you can charge vs. your competitors. Try to find out the rates they charge, do some comparisons, and judge accordingly.
4 – carefully figure up your actual costs including the “hidden” ones. For example, for your editing rate you need to account for things such as the depreciation on your editing station, electricity costs of running the machine, costs of stock media if you’re using any, etc. Leave no stone unturned when looking for these types of associated costs so that you aren’t losing money to these things every month and wondering where the money is going.
5 – Consider your general overhead. If your studio has $3,000 per month in overhead expenses such as rent, bills and marketing, you need to spread that cost across your billable hours.
6 – Consider your profit. More importantly, consider that you will not be able to purchase new equipment, advertise, expand your facility etc. without a healthy profit margin. No one can tell you what a good margin is, it purely depends on your needs and what your clients are willing to pay.
7 – Last but definitely not least, CONSIDER YOUR TAXES. As a sole prop/partner, you will be paying self employment taxes, as well as paying the state and federal taxes on every penny earned by your studio. You should definitely build these taxes into your rate or you are asking for some real financial trouble.
According to a report I recently read, the average production markup in the ad agency world is 2.5 to 4 times cost. If you pay an editor $50/hr., $150-$250/hr. rate is considered normal. I would advise against using formulas like this except for rough comparison purposes. Your rates should be based on real world numbers so that, if your costs rise, you know exactly how much you will need to raise your rates.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Export a still from FCP (I believe it’s under edit>make still or something) and import that into AE. Place it over your footage and toggle it on and off to compare the still vs. the footage. If there is a noticeable difference in quality, the issue is something to do with the way you’re interpreting the footage in AE or something along those lines. Remember that HD is upper field first.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Blackmagic 10-bit would work nicely, as would Sheer Codec. Try to stay in 10-bit, which will prevent loss throughout the various stages.
As was mentioned, you should definitely look into Automatic Duck AE Import. It allows you to pull your entire FCP edit into After Effects, reconstructing all your edits, fades etc. and references the original source media like FCP so you don’t have to render out.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Your “friend” is either a cheap bastard or doesn’t know what he’s doing in the slightest. You shouldn’t sweat his reaction, since he clearly stated that any reasonable fee would have blown his mind.
The only thing I would add is that it’s a very good idea to have all financials worked out PRIOR to showing up for any shoot, even if it is for a friend…
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
The issue of pay rates is tricky. It doesn’t make sense to say “what is the pay rate in X city” because it almost always depends on your skill set and experience. Like Bob says, if you are a great artist with other skills, can manage a group of artists etc. your rate will go way up. If you are fresh out of school, you will need to take what you can get. Experience and skill determine everything.
Up here in San Francisco, $50/hr. seems to be the prevailing average for a good artist who is self directed and can get the job done right. The range overall seems to be somewhere between $40/hr – $80/hr.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
The Mac vs. PC debate is almost as pointless as it is ageless. People have their personal preferences, and certain factors are more important to some people than others. It is pretty much up to the user to decide which works better for them.
That said, there simply is no debate about which platform is more secure and protected from viruses. For my studio, there is no debate about which platform is easier to network and administrate. There is also no debate about which platform provides the most value, since a Mac can run both OSX and Windows, and every application in between. And finally, for me there is no debate AT ALL regarding which company I would rather send my hard-earned dollars to, Apple vs. Microsoft. All other things being equal (which they aren’t) I would choose macs just on general principal.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Bear in mind that this comparison is based on Apple hardware, even though it is running under Boot Camp. The Dell XPS that comes closest to matching the Mac Pro system specs is around the same price (only a few hundred dollars less) and, as we all know, Dells are nowhere near as reliable or well built. As such, you’d really need to go with a manufacturer like Boxx to match the quality AND specs of the Mac Pro, and you’re looking at paying about a grand more than the Pro.
Either way, I have moved to the Macs for more reasons than a few isolated benchmarks. They are, in my experience, more reliable, easier to use, less prone to viruses and corruption, and generally less frustrating to network/other IT issues. The ability to run OSX and Windows on the same box is a huge plus, as is the ability to use them as full blown FCP edit rigs AND 3D/motion graphics workstations. Versatility is key in my studio.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
The artifacts you’re seeing are not from interlacing, but are the result of poor color sampling inherent in all DV footage. That blockiness is actually the color information in your video clip. When you key footage out, the edges of your matte tend to reveal this poor sampling whereas you might not ever notice it with standard footage.
The best thing to do is the chroma blur trick Darby mentioned.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
I would NOT do this. G4s are 5-10 years old now, and that is not a good thing. Even for basic video, I would avoid this route.
A few points to consider on your purchase:
1. Macs are great. I am a lifelong PC user, but recently converted my studio’s machines to all Mac Pros after doing direct comparisons for several years. While some PC fans may disagree, I think you are wise to move to the Mac-side
2. The mid-line Mac Pros (2.6Ghz) are cheap, faster than hell, and open up a lot of options. Quad-cores come standard, and they use the Core 2 Duo which is a much more efficient and advanced chip than the G4s/G5s have. Either way, I wouldn’t get anything less than a G5 tower (no iMac)
3. As was mentioned, don’t buy any options from Apple, they are painfully overpriced. There are many after-market dealers that have much better deals. We get all of our RAM and hard drives from Other World Computing (www.macsales.com), which has great prices and very solid products. Their house-brand ram (OWC Brand) is Apple approved, cheap and very reliable.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
I agree, the Belief “tutorial” is a very easy, comprehensive way of doing this effect:
Click the “How To Make A Crowd” link.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com