[Craig Seeman]

Casablanca is a proprietary turnkey edit system. I suspect the user base is small and might be wedding videographers who fear having to use a standard computer and all its software complexities.

[Craig Seeman]

What ghetto3jon is saying is that Casablanca automatically trims the heads and tails the amount needed for the dissolve.

I use to use EditDV/Cinestream and it would freeze frame the tail of a shot for a dissolve if the handle wasn’t there/long enough.

Personally I’d be bothered by an auto trim. I can’t see much use for it since it may trim something important caught in those last few frames. My guess is one might only use such a feature if one shot in such a fashion that you’d use shots as is in sequence with dissolves with not much happening at the head and tail of each shot. I honestly can’t see much call for that.

The freeze frame feature of EditDV had some use where the shot went too close to the end and yet was critical to the story. Of course one can add freezes manually but given how many keystrokes, that auto freeze was useful in “doc” work where the camera person stopped record too quickly.

In FCP one can certainly trim in/out and then select all the video and drop on the “insert with dissolve” “pop up” on the right side.

[Craig Seeman]

3 weeks and nobody responded to you. Don’t even know you’re checking this thread. Think about why nobody responded. I can venture a guess.

It’s hard to figure out pricing from region to region. In the USA prices can differ greatly from region to region due to market size and demand. Costs of doing business can differ greatly from urban to suburban to rural even within a region. It’s even harder for people to figure pricing in a given country and, like the USA, may vary from region to region in that country or across boarders which is not uncommon in Europe.

Another factor is target market. Which businesses are you targeting? Budgets of a multinational vs the budget of a local business. One can have a broad target though. I do have a suggestion for you on this issue.

Your work is very nice BUT your web page may have problems depending on your target. Your pages and text links are too small in my opinion. Older people in management/decision making positions may have a hard time navigating you site to see the demos. If your target is young, “hip” businesses that may not be issue. If you plan to reach people high up some business chains who are 50, 60 plus, your site may strain their eyes.

[Craig Seeman]

SoundTrackPro on the Mac side can do this. I believe Adobe Audition can do this on the Windows side. Both are around $300 or so and can be bought for less if you have an upgrade path.

[Craig Seeman]

Doesn’t solve your current issue but if you’re working on a Mac why not consider using Flip4Mac (or Popwire)? The time and issue savings may more than offset the cost. Flip4Mac can be used inside of Cleaner, Squeeze, Compressor, all of which give you access to additional processing filters.

[Craig Seeman]

Hi Derek,

I’ve used Compressor 2 with both Real and Flip4Mac without issue. I haven’t tried DVCProHD 24p though. I remember having some issues with Real and Tiger and will get a fail using QuicktimePro but I’ve done it in Compressor 2 though. Flip4Mac should work fine though. If you head over to Flip4Mac support
https://www.flip4mac.com/fusetalk/forum/
and post the issue there I can have a look at your file and see “waz up.”

[Craig Seeman]

One thing to be aware of is the client who does pay by check on the delivery of the job but the check bounces and the client doesn’t make good.

[Craig Seeman]

Somehow I don’t think a “friendly reminder” from 3 or 4 people about how tough the business is, will have much impact even psychologically (let alone financially). Does pondscum have a conscience? If someone believes they may actually lose business and reputation amounting to more than the the debt, the might respond.

Here’s what I’d imagine:
A Voluntary Association called something like Media Business Ethics and Practices. Set up a web site in which people can list the name and circumstance of the debt and possible proof (jpg of invoice – bounced check, etc.) along with phone number(s), email addresses, address of business and/or individual (people doing this often change the name of their businesses and use PO boxes).

People could then send an email (letter etc) with a simple statement.
“Your business/ you have been listed on the Media Business Ethics and Practices website as owing payment to one of our members. As a member of MBEP I will not do business with you. Others have been informed of your unpayed debt. Such information has been made publicly available (via website). People/businesses searching for you services on the web may find and have access to this information when doing searches for your business. Word of mouth in the industry may inform others. By paying the debt, your information will be removed from the MBEP site. If you feel you have been incorectly listed you may respond but must have documentation substantiating reason for non payment”

Yes it could be a “can of worms” given libel/slander laws but I suspect these clients won’t often pursue that avenue given that’s another initial cost to them. Even if they issue a cease and desisit regarding their name, they’ve been “troubled” enough by their reputation to be forced to respond.

My hunch is often PondScum may respond with the excuse, “I didn’t like the job done” but unless they can proved payment was based on final approval via a contract, that may be insufficient response back for posting.

In other words I envision an accessible BBB site for the media business.

I’m just not sure that a few individuals telling how tough the industry is, would mean anything to pondscum unless such pondscum were listed (and could be found by search engines).

Those wishing to post an incident of “bad debt” might pay a small fee per post or an annual membership to cover costs. Anyone would be able to search the site.

BTW if you’ve ever searched for products by “pricegrabber” (I think BizRate too) or other equivalent sites they allow for “user experience” posts and the ability to rate such business in different catagories so there may be various ways to set up such a site to allow us to post bad debts with addition of allowing those to send messages to such businesses.

[Craig Seeman]

[Ron Lindeboom] “But there is a LOT of latitude when dealing with political figures. They place themselves in the public eye and do so willingly. It’s why those totally unflattering pictures of politicians, celebrities, etc., abound and proliferate. It’s the photographer/videographer/publisher, etc., that holds the copyright — the celebrity almost never does.”

This is key. Many people may say the opposition candidate won’t/can’t sue. Often they are not the entity holding the copyright. Imagine the photographer or newspaper holding the copyright of the photo suing. It may be fuzzy in the case of a campaign poster though. The campaign may own it and the poster may be in a public place BUT their right to distribute might not mean you have the right to reuse such image.

In the case of the 2000 Nader/Mastercard spot by Bill Hillsman Northwoods Advertising, Mastercard sued (and lost) because the spot emulated the style. It was filled with clips of Bush and Gore that looked like they were taken from TV coverage.

You’ll see other surprising examples though in his spots. In his Wellstone “Under Attack” ad he has scenes from 1950s SciFi movies that I’m sure aren’t in the public domain and I can only imagine some wouldn’t have granted the rights for any money. In “That Darn Arne” he uses a photo of the opposition candidate.

[Ron Lindeboom] “Each case is unique and you may wish to consult an attorney for those cases where you are unsure.”

And as one can see from the above examples there may be no general guide. One mimics the style of a specific corporate spot, another uses scenes from copyrighted movies, still another uses a photo of the oppositiion candidate. I wonder if anyone at the COW has done these kinds of political spots and what did they do to “cover” themselves.

BTW, it’s worth looking at his spots in general for his interesting approach.

https://www.northwoodsadv.com/our_work/portfolio/tv_reel.html

[Craig Seeman]

I second David’s suggestion. I know it’s a “can of worms” but I think these sorts of “clients” need to be contacted by others to let them know that others are aware of their business practices. I know some will bring up libel/slander issues but I also don’t think we should be scared into silence when we have proof a client has paid. There does need to be very careful practices in handling this though. The COW may NOT be the place to do this though.

It might be best if someone set up a board some place else as a sort of BBB specific to small media businesses. I have much more to say on these situations but I’m not sure this is a burden Ron & Kathy should have to take the risk on (and there is risk).

I do think we need to collectively have a discussion on how we as a group should handle these situations through a network we create. Such a network needs to be fare to those named (sometimes there are disputes) but certainly when it becomes clear to such “deadbeat” individuals/businesses that they are damaging their own reputation they may clearify the dispute or settle the debt or, over time, find that word has spread.