Frank Otto
Forum Replies Created
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Welcome to the COW.
Start your process here…read the archives of some of the forums that interest you, and check out the COW’s many tutorials and papers. Check out the Tutorial, Feature and Archive links.
Also on this site you’ll find links to other sites that can further your knowledge on specific technology and techniques. Links on the COW to advertisers can link you to instruction manuals, user documents and the like on the manufacturer’s websites.
And when you have a question that isn’t readily answered, you can always ask in one of the forums.
I honestly don’t think you can find a better resource than this one.
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Check out industrial parts suppliers…I’ve listed two to look at:
Macrea’s Blue Book page of suppliers:
https://www.macraesbluebook.com/search/product_company_list.cfm?Prod_Code=8594250
And the all time fav of most companies for industrial supplies (the link is to the wheels/casters page – search the page for more):
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Debe, what a great post!
This is the kind of nuts and bolts answer that so many new to freelancers need. Most of us have been at it for so long that we tend to just say “you’ll need more money,” “don’t forget to pay yourself,” etc. This one sets a guideline that’s easilly followed and easilly modified for individual use.
Ron…is this a keeper or what?
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No…
P.R. firms are not ad agencies…they don’t think like agencies and they don’t spend on production – if they can get it free they’d do that. They’ll spend a fortune on print and swag and dinners but nada on video – most P.R. people seem to think that they can use corporate handouts and file footage.
I had a query from outta state a few years ago that wanted a P.R. shoot of a sign they’d manufactured – about ten shots at three different times of the day. The price I set was 1,200 – they called back and said they’d get a “local” news crew to shoot it for 125. Ultimately, they used the news guy – he shot on a used tape and did it hand held.
They called three days later for the address to send the check and shot sheet.
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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Markertek…used them for years…google them for addy
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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You have choices. Are you trying to do “scale” – the hugeness (or smallness) of the cave. Light what the story call for. If you need the huge cave shot you can use multiple battery powered lights to wash wall elements. If you are trying to convey tight and confined areas, use lumalite sticks planted just under a ledge. With new LED technology the beam and throw of those type of lamps is remarkable and a full lighing set up can be done with a knapsack full of LED flashlights, AA bateries and gaff tape.
Lanternlight, matchlight, candlelight – each gives a different look and texture…use “miners’ lamps” or “caver’s lamps” to key faces or objects…a head mounted lamp, placed on the ground or on a rock could wash a two shot…or become a backlight if placed properly.
Or you could go the Motel Six route, shoot the whole thing in black and use a voiceover explaining that it’s dark in a cave…
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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Hey Steve! From just up the road in Vegas, welcome to the forum!
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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[Mark Suszko] “Something else I’d like to work on is a science fiction radio drama podcast; low expenses, high production values and good writing and performances. Eventually, maybe I’d lay computer animations over the audio and send them out again.”
This is exactly the thought I had in mind when the options on a few of my scripts ended and the rights reverted. My biggest problem right now is not the skill sets needed – I’ve done the “theater of the mind” gig for radio and re-purposing the ‘casts as “anime” is also doable. I just don’t have the time to devote to it plus costs vs. R.O.I. at this time.
The second and largest hurdle for me is the business plan. Is ‘cast penetration deep enough yet to make an advertising model? How does it pay its way? Netcasting is still shaky – do eyeballs make purchases or are they just “looking?” And at 10cents a click or 29 bucks a quarter can you make back your nut, especially if it’s your whole nut and not just CODB? That’s what really keeps me from doing my own netcast.
It seems like a brave new world right now, with endless possibilities at cut rate prices. So it would seem.
I really think that ship is about to sail. You might catch it if you get to the dock a.s.a.p. and have your boarding pass and content ready. Right now, its a game that still can be played by anyone with the spare or dedicated time and at least short pockets. But as sure as “video killed the radio star” the media/telecom congloms are embracing the new technology and its profit-rich environment.
As always, the adult industy blazed the trail. The buisness model used by adult sites, offering a mix of speeds, quality and delivery for a mix of subscriptions and fees is raking in the dollars with mimimum capital outlay. This has caught the attention of the mainstream, especially the folks at Disney. If the puryeyors of pleasure can do it, so can the purveryors of news, sports, infortainment and spectacle. And at volume rates.
Is everybody paying attention to the so called “Net Neutrality” hearings?” In scenarios being profferd by ISPs, Cablecasters, Congress and the FCC, better quality products will get charged a higher fee for both up and downloading of content. Other schemes will allow the service providers to create a tier system of fee driven quality or prioritization of delvery. Can you as a producer afford the channel and can your audience afford to download it? That is the future…as soon as the telco lobbyists out bid the cable lobbyists.
[Mark Suszko] “These days broadcast may not be the cutting edge anymore; seems all the cool, relevant, avant garde stuff is all happening online with video blogs and video podcast sites.”
Brodcasting may have heard its death knell when ABC-Disney announced they had tried “free netcasting” of primetime product and delared it was good (profitable). For terrestrial stations that means when the US hits 51% DSL penetration HIC(households with internet/connectivity, forecast to be sometime in 2008 or 09), the major broadcast networks will have as much, if not more access to the home, via satellite and broadband, then they do with over-the-air distribution. And “affiliate compensation,” “co-opted spots”, and “net generated-local revenue” will be gone – that cash used to power the new technology. And with that, many stations will go dark.
Cable that already isn’t in the mix with broadband will die so there goes that venue as a access oportunity. The telcos aren’t about to get caught up in the “providing local O” issues and the cable franchisees aren’t going to get stuck with it if the telcos don’t. The prevailing attitude will be, “You want access? Buy into a server farm with a backbone, build content and charge a fee to offset costs.”
[Mark Suszko] “While most of the stuff is really just old fashioned broadcasting on a newer platform, the advantages of pointcasting, asynchronous serving up of the shows on demand, and the interactivity with the audience are all making this into it’s own medium as it progresses.”
But it’s still production by experienced people, with compelling visuals and sometimes compelling stories that’s going to be profitable. Not Ms. Wayne’s fifth period advanced media class. I mean, as much as I like Ms W’s class and admire the spunk, the amature hour is just that and my attention drifts and the channel clicks.
I don’t want to see crapanimation on my big screen or the latest cinematic manefesto from LaFe, the 14 yr old hip-hop wannabe – I’m paying enough for a fast stream as it is.
As a consumer, I’m going to want at least the T.V experience if not the Theater experience. Consumers accept crap now, because it’s oh-so-new – but they’ll tire of amature/low cost-low quality content. Just look how many cinemas are still making bank showing 16mm in oleophonic sound since 70mm Dolby-THX, even with compelling stories. Or check IFC’s viewship numbers on households using cable. It’s a write off for the parent – something you nor I (not to mention Ms W. and LaFe) can afford.
Factor in the brave new concept of paying to view it. Sooner or later all content will be charged back to the consumer – by speed, fees or subscription – and it becomes an issue of getting what you pay for. Even as we speak, the GAO is investigating the costs of legislation and enforcement vs. revenues for a screen licensing scheme. Those fees will impact PC and e-appliance screens as well – content can be played out from anything. And yes, the CEA and EIA are screaming…but look at how little success they had against the RIAA.
The brave new world (plus fees, if any) will be the same as the old one; for $206.99 a month, basic, you’ll have access to 1,126,254 channels and nothing on. The bulk will be the Networks (remember them – they’re the content owners) providing content to the ISP’s, most likely in the same manner as they do with cable franchises today.
Out of the remaining 1,101,064 channels, 96,072 will be Spanish, 7,226 will be sports related including bat cams, hat cams, car cams, puck cams and crotch cams for 482 premieum niche sports related networks. 5,263 channels will be offering eBay auctions. 2,345 will be set aside for education, 762 channels for public access.
The rest will be porn.
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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I guess the operators of those devices would be called “Cellographers”?
Cheers,
Frank Otto
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Google ” cell phone film festival” It’s epidemic.
And it’s proving P.T. Barnum’s point – not just the “sucker born every minute” in reference to the public’s appetite for new and unusual, but “anything half in shadow will whet the appetite and cause the public’s curiousity in the exibition to increase ten-fold.” (Barnum in reference to the poor lighting and his refusal to up the “tech” budget/expence for more gaslight for the Congress of Wonders)
Cheers,
Frank Otto