[Craig Seeman]

Walter, I think what’s missing is the type of project and how you’re billing the client. In my experience the Customer is NOT always right. I’ve spent the better part of 20 years working from boutique to very large production/post production houses as an editor/senior editor. Every single one of those houses went under . . . in many cases it was because they throught the Customer was always right.

If you’re billing hourly or daily and provided the client an estimate then certainly if you can do the changes, no problem, they’re paying for it. I’ve worked for some companies that made the mistake of bidding some jobs flat fee! One week jobs became six too often or the last day or two of a project meant 24/48 hour day burning out the personal needed for tomorrow’s job.

Some examples:
Edit to the approved script with scratch voice over only to find on they changed the entire script and all the graphics had to be redone to a new “final” script with new scratch track. You do everything the client needs. The final VO comes it and it apparently is yet another script apparently changed while the VO was being done. The deadline is(was) today but it’ll take until tomorrow if the entire teams kills themselves through the night. Oh and the entire post team is supposed to start work on another project tomorrow since you thought the project would be done today.

Client has a deadline as part of the project and contract and agrees to the number of shoot and edit days. Since the job isn’t every day the contract calls for 48 hour notice of the days needed to edit. Suddenly the project MUST be done a week earlier and you’ve already booked part of the time with two other clients who have short jobs with tight deadlines because the first client did not contact you.

A HUGE client often books 1/3 to 1/2 the facility every day. Many of the post sessions often require more gear and personal as they make changes throughout each job. Each time it’s taking away resources for other jobs. The Huge client is also falling behind months in their payments. They’re paying and it’s big bucks but they are slow and getting slower. Mean time the facility is taking on fewer jobs because of the equipment and personal that keeps getting tied to this client’s jobs.

If the client is paying enough that they “own” the facility (or a piece of it) for the time of the job then yes your team stand ready because they’re being paid to wait as well as work then sure that urgent change is part of the deal for a client like that.

Like any service industry, behind each client being served is another waiting in line (or already being served in another room). If the client you’re surving is tying you in knots (and not paying for the extra work) and those behind them start walking away, your business is doomed.

Service is always at a price and you’ve got to set that price. If serving one client because they need everything changed last minute impacts your other clients, you MUST draw a line.

IMHO The client agrees to a schedule and a budget. That includes some time for changes. You can do your best to accomodate them if things change but you need to be able to service your other clients too.

[Craig Seeman]

Given what you’re finding I’d thought I’d add detail to my story. Important to note that my area is divided between two cable companies.

One company INSISTED BetaSP and the OTHER told me about DGFastchannel. I spoke to DGFastchannel and confirmed the info told to me by the one that acknowldged it as a delivery solution. I said it was odd that other didn’t accept it as a delivery method. DGFastchannel told me they BOTH accepted it.

The short story is that you might simply ask DGFastchannel themselves. They know exactly who accepts their delivery.

[Craig Seeman]

.[Steve Wargo] “Our cable company says “BetaSP Only” so before suggesting the above, it might be wise to have him check with whoever will be broadcasting the piece.”

Both my local cable companies told me BetaSP too. After a local dub house delivered 3 bad BetaSP dubs to both cable companies, I asked both companies, “is there another way?” They both said DGFastchannel. They had no idea a local spot producer would have the ability to use them. They were getting spots from DGFastchannel from their big regional advertisers. I looked into the price and found it was no more expensive than using any overnight shipper. Only one didn’t have to dub to tape and neither go to a shipping office, wait for a pickup, hand deliver a tape to the local cable office. In short, it saved both money and time.

Simply ask the cable company. They might be saying BetaSP simply because they have no idea you have access to DGFastchannel (or some of their smaller competitors).

BTW DGFastchannel will tell you who accepts their method of delivery even if the cable company is reluctant to say.

[Steve Wargo] “The local channel that brags about being all HD cannot take an HDCAM tape while all of their news room is HDCAM.”

News room and advertising have little to do with each-other at many cable station. We have one that shoots all DVCPro but advertising insisted on BetaSP . . . until my prodding which resulted in finding out they accept DGFastchannel MPEG2 Program Streams.

[Craig Seeman]

So many answers and numbers but ultimately it’s what does it take for it to be profitable for you and meet your potential client’s needs. What gear do you have?

The low budget version.
Shoot on 1/3″ 3 chip chip camera with tripod. Maybe a good small stabilizer. Don’t use an assistant. Don’t try to record any audio on location unless you and the client are ok with someone wearing a wireless lav.

Edit includes shots, a selection of stock music from your music library. Somebody from the dealership stops in to do the voice over. Create your basic graphics in Photoshop, After Effects, Motion. Don’t be afraid to use stock backgrounds or presets. You can probably edit the whole thing in one eight hour day. Do make sure everything is broadcast legal.

Deliver spot by creating MPEG2 Program Stream and use DGFastchannel. You won’t need to go out to DigiBeta or BetaSP that way.

If the client really is low budget you can do the above for about $1500 ($750 an 8 hour day). Believe it or not some clients may be ok with the above. If you act as the ad agency you can also get 15% for the media buy.

This is your one man band version of the job. Your objective is to make a profit you’re comfortable with. Be honest with the client though about the corners you’re cutting.

[Craig Seeman]

You might be able to find a USED Sony PD100 for about $1000. It has XLR inputs and native 16:9 chips but they’re small . . . poor low light performance so you’d need a camera light for weddings.

[Craig Seeman]

A lot depends on the aesthetic demands of the project. I’ve edited 3 camera shoots of 45 minute sets for bands in one 8 hour day. On the other hand, I’ve worked on equally long dance pieces that can take over a week. It depends on whether the budget calls for quick and dirty or PBS Dance in America quality.

I’d certainly charge an hourly or day (defined number of hours) for this kind of work unless you’ve worked with the client before an know exactly how their aesthetic process works. I’d flatly refuse to do flat fee for this. I hope you didn’t.

I’d probably watch one piece straight through a couple of times with both cameras visible. Then I might do a cut using the NLEs multicam feature as if it were “live switched.” I’d then go back and fine tune the timing and add cuts elsewhere as needed. You may find that you want to change cuts to dissolves. Sometimes a nice superimposed image might work. That depends on the client’s aesthetic (as well as yours). You can’t cut dance linearly (from start to end) without first getting a feel for the entire performance.

[Craig Seeman]

I’d consider having a camera with XLR jacks over minis important even with mediocre audio. There’s just far to many issues with mini jacks and such cameras often make it difficult to split the audio, take a line feed (which you can do on Sony cameras with XLRs), disable AGC on one (or both) channels.

One might have a close look at the Sony XDCAM EX but we’ll have to see the early reviews after IBC. It might be a different price point.

[Craig Seeman]

See this Apple KB
https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93234

[Craig Seeman]

Only thing I see resembling a tutorial
https://www.dvd-guides.com/content/view/157/59/
If you’ve read the Version Tracker comments or the ones under this tutorial, you’re not the only one who’s frustrated.

If this is for a client, I’d charge them for the research! Someone handed you something in which only the codec developers has tools to work with it and their tools don’t seem well supported or documented.

[Craig Seeman]

And you might want to check this out on Version Tracker. I find the Feedback/Comments reports entertaining and informative.

https://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/23606