[John Grote, jr.]

I agree with you somewhat, but the reason myself and the post house makes money is because we are a professionals. But at what point do you go from being helpful to teaching clients what you know so that your services are not needed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not that insecure, but truth be told, I have been in the business for a long time and I have aquired this knowledge that a few compaines take advantage of. If a client wants to be a post house that is fine, but in the end they are responsable for doing it correctly, not ours.

One other thing, sometimes when you do extend that hand, the clients arrogance gets in the way and you get the good ole response of “I/we know what we’re doing”. Which I love, because if you did, we wouldn’t be having the same conversation over and over.

btveditor

[John Grote, jr.]

Good day,

Pacing is a feeling, is a scene too long or too short? What type of emotion are you trying to convey? Slow and methodical or heart pounding excitement? Are you trying to hold the viewer’s attention, so he gets the message?

It comes with experience and Charile did a great job in his explination.

John

[John Grote, jr.]

Good day,

I recommend using a san serif font such as Helvetica Condensed or some form of Helvetica. I used this font for a lot of the sub-titling in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.

John

[John Grote, jr.]

Good day Nestor,

I don’t see a problem showing the work that your editors’ have created as long as you know that you can do that same type of work at your post house. I think many people fail to realize it isn’t the machines that are creative it’s the editors, graphic artists and sound engineers who are creative. These people are your post house and their reels let the clients know what they are getting.

My reel has things from a couple differnt places, but it is my work and that is what counts, because what you see from me is what you get.

John

[John Grote, jr.]

I agree with Shane, there are more AVID editors cutting with FCP then exFCP editors.

I have been editing on an AVID since 1993 and I was so excited when FCP arrived and now I think version 5 does a good job competing with AVID, upto the Media Composer. It’s not quite the level of a Symphony or a DS, but it has some great upside with a very minimal investment.

John

[John Grote, jr.]

Good day KT,

The best way to break into the editorial side is by becoming an Assistant Editor or E2. I have been an editor since ’92 and from ’87 – ’92, I was a dubber and an E2. What the E2 position gave me, was a chance to observe other editors and their styles. Not only their creative styles, but how they interface with the clients, producers and other staff that they would have to work with on any given projects. This was very useful when it came time for me to jump into the editor’s chair and fly solo.

Since you have been in the production side, I am sure that you know about bars and tone, how to read a Vector or Waveform scope, how to type up a slate, or when to use drop or non-drop timecode. I bring these up because a lot of people that want to be in this business or be an editor, have no clue to what these things are or what they do. It is somewhat unfortunate that linear editing has/is going away. I am a linear editor as well as a non-linear editor and I am were I am today because I had a couple of years as an E2. Also, I had some great teachers along the way that would allow me to program the switcher or create dve moves while they were editing, or in some cases let me edit part of the program.

As a final note and I have give this advice to other people that are in this business and editors that haven’t learned or mastered a non-linear system, ie AVID or FCP for that matter, is to find a client that is willing to let you learn/get some stick time on their project, either paid or for free in need be. I was lucky enough to transition to non-linear when it was in infancy, so my clients didn’t have a problem if the session took longer, because the were already comfortable with my skills as an editor. Now days there aren’t many places that are willing to let you cut your teeth with little experience.

John

[John Grote, jr.]

Drive space is always a premium and it always will be no matter how much you have. I would make sure that the project is backed up and then I would delete all media. It is not your responsibility to be the clients storage facility, unless you are charging them for storage. Look at it this way, if your client wants the project again, they’ll have to pay you what is owed and then I would charge them for the reload as well. Time is money.

John

[John Grote, jr.]

I have mapped my FCP keyboard as close as I could to what I have setup on my AVID. If you have not already have found out, is that AVID & FCP do things a little differently, so I mapped the FCP keyboard as best I could. Both keyboards match as far as my function keys go. I’m not sure you will find a keyboard layout file. I printed my AVID keyboard so that I could do the mapping

[John Grote, jr.]

I myself have an 8 hour day rate that ranges from $450 to $600 depending on the project or client. Then there is OT after 8 hours. Please make sure you discuss this up front. You don’t want to be at the end of a project and just assume that you’ll get a certain rate. Business is business and you as freelancer is to do the best job possible, but also to get paid what you are worth. So if you agree to a rate up front, there is no hard feelings on the backend.

I would also like to point out that you as a freelancer are a hired gun, so be prepared. As Mike G. said ask lots of questions so you will know the drill. Know how to run the machine. I don’t mean sit in front of it and push buttons. Know how to map your settings, because some houses or facilities will not let you bring in your settings on disk. When I was in Washington, DC and as the Post Manager of a small house that had to hire an occasional freelancer, I did not have the time to be explaining basic AVID concepts or tips to a freelance person. Yes, there maybe facility questions and that is fine, but know the machine you are working on. As an aside to this I freelance at ABC News in Washington and I know my machine, I know the work arounds and I am helpful to a point. But my knowledge is worth money, so I won’t divuldge all that I know. Just food for thought.

John

[John Grote, jr.]

I’ve have an idea, but I have not tried it yet, see if you can open the file in Quicktime Pro and then convert the file to an AIFF file. Or try on the ipod or mac sites, they may have a way to do this as well.