[Greg Ball]

I love the line “an employee mistakenly believed they had permission to use the music.” How many times have we all been asked by a boss or client to use music or video that obviously violates copyright laws?

I’m sure the company relied on the employee’s knowledge…LOL!! I wonder how much they’re blaming the employee.

[Greg Ball]

Thanks so much Joseph.

[Greg Ball]

Hi Joseph,

Thanks. That looks good. Was Camtasia easy to learn? How long did it take you to produce this? Did you charge normal editing rates? Or did you charge a different production rate?

Lastly, what output size did you provide the client? What format?

[Greg Ball]

Thanks Mark. And thanks for the feedback on the revised home page.

[Greg Ball]

Thanks Mark…Yep redundancy…LOL….

This is a bank, so they need to explain how to open a new account on line. They have a PPT of each page, but I think for video purposes, it would be better to show the words being typed and the mouse clicks.

My camera op says he can shoot the actual screen with his C300 camera by changing the frame rate in my camera and on the screen to match. Would this work?

[Greg Ball]

Thanks to both Marks. I appreciate your thoughts. Since I have detailed contracts for every job, I’m wondering what kind of statements I can include for future jobs. Mark S. yes I have a project shot in January and I gave them the rough cuts, so we can create scripts based on the shots. I’m still waiting.

Last year I had a client that took a year for approval.

I’m afraid charging them an additional $300 will not be enough motivation. Mark R, how can I use “overages” with a corporate client? What exactly are overages, and how would you explain that to a client?

I personally was thinking that I could say Client has 30 days to respond to the first draft of the video, or they must pay for the project in full. But I wonder how something like this will go over.

[Greg Ball]

Nope Richard… FWIW We settled on -5% 🙂 Happy to do it for a new client and good project.

[Greg Ball]

Thanks Mark. I agree. Yes I told them that I’d be happy to give them the raw footage, but not any Project Files, Graphics files, music or SFX or raw voice narration.

Richard, thanks for your advice, but I whole heartedly disagree. They seem like good clients based on my 25 years of experience. It’s just a matter of educating them.

We always require a substantial deposit up front that covers all of our costs, and the final payment is always due before they receive the final video.

[Greg Ball]

This client seems like a good client (they are very organized) and we need the project, so I don’t want to alienate them. The only way to cut costs is by removing some items from the project, such as a 20 foot jib, operator and assist.

Budgets are so tight these days that we do not add 15% contigencies to projects. Any further advice on how to word the meals issue?

[Greg Ball]

Thanks Walter. When we’re shooting at our client’s building or plant, we always give them the option of what’s most comfortable for meals, such as sending out for food, since we often do not know what’s nearby. Also it takes less time and expense to “order in” than have our crew travel out and order a meal.

Usually we get back to the shoot as soon as we’re done eating, and everything goes smoothly.

When we’re traveling we add a per diem. It’s too late to hide that in the budget now. So how would you respond in this case?