John Grote, jr.
Forum Replies Created
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Tracy, I agree with you 100%, with a but of course, and that but is that the new blood have an idea of what it takes to be a professional.
As a professional, I have a lot to offer as a teacher, mentor and in some instances a boss, but for the love of god, just because these newbies graduated college 6 months ago, doesn’t make them Steven Spielberg. There is a process to becoming a professional. Some of the things I learned weren’t even about editing, it was a lot about client interaction. How to talk to a client, how to treat a client and most of all, know that the are the ones paying the bill. This means that no matter how awesome an idea or effect you may have, if they don’t like it they don’t like it. Deal with it, don’t pout, don’t tell the client that their idea is stupid (even though, it may be the dumbest thing you have ever heard) be professional and offer suggestions and give input when asked.
Hell, I went through the career ladder and I learned a lot from the people who where professionals before me, and when my day came to take the next step and I did. But, and I do mean but, I earned it!!!
There is a hell of a lot of great new, young talent out there that I want to succeed, they are the future of our industry and we should nurture them. In return they need to take it one step at a time and learn as much as they can from the people around them.
And in the end, there will always be hacks, and bless them, because the are a big reason I charge what I charge to come in and clean up their mess.
J. Grote, Jr.
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Paul,
It’s not you, its the fact that every Tom, Dick and Sally has bought a piece of gear or taken a couple of AVID/FCP classes and pretend to be something that they’re not. Another part to the story is a lot of clients are hiring these people and its not til after the fact when they realize that they got what they paid for, which is crap.
We as an industry have let this happen, not all of us, but a huge majority allowed this to happen. It’s great that gear has become more affordable, but it has also diluted the talent pool and also the structure in which a lot of us had come up through. There are not a lot of assistant editor positions available anymore because of non-linear. You also see a lot of places popping up offering AVID or Final Cut or Photoshop seminars, for a couple of days. People take them get a certificate and then go to some of these clients and try to pass themselves of as and editor or a graphic artist. There in lies the problem.
Cheers,
John
J. Grote, Jr.
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I know you have had your question answered, but next time could you be a little more specific in what program you are using and what you would need the alpha channel for.
Cheers,
John
J. Grote, Jr.
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Mark,
I wish I had your boss for a couple of sessions that I had like that. And remember the pre-read days too.
Cheers,
John
J. Grote, Jr.
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Bruno,
Forgive me, but what would you be doing as a freelancer? Do you realize how many knowledgeable freelancers are out there? No offense, but this is becoming a growing problem in the industry and has been for a while, people who aren’t that experienced going out and falling on there face and making the rest of us who do know what we are doing look bad.
Do you not see a majority of the postings that ask for those two applications, besides either AVID or Final Cut Pro experience?
Stay at the place where you are and hone your skills, learn Photoshop and After Effects. What what and how the other editors in your shop work and interact with clients.
Cheers,
John
J. Grote, Jr.
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Matt,
I’ll take experience any day. I have climbed the ladder to become an editor, from dubber, to assistant editor, to junior editor, to editor and finally to senior editor. I have had the opportunity to learn from some of the best in the DC area and the things that I have learned have been invaluable. Not only how to edit, but client skills as well.
To be honest with you, no one has asked me if I have a degree. I have had a couple of AVID courses along the way, but I could have taught the ones that I had taken. And as for taking courses, I think any education you can get is always invaluable, but don’t kid yourself by taking a boat load of classes and think that you are an editor. I have run into this way to many times when I have had to hire freelance editors. I get the “I’ve taken every AVID course there is”, great now that makes you an operator (button pusher) not an editor. I have had to leave my session, because these people had no clue when it came down to actually editing.
So my advice to you is to find a post house or a place that will let you intern or be an assistant editor and learn from the editors there. Try to sit in with a couple of different editor, so that you get a broad idea of how people work and how the work with their clients as well.
Good luck to you.
Cheers,
John
J. Grote, Jr.
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My question to you is, did they pay you for the shoot? As long as they paid for the shoot, they own those tapes. Now if for some reason, they owe you money for a file conversion or something else, then you have some collateral. If not, other than charging a fee to ship the tapes back to them, what do you expect or think you are due? Did you have contract stating that the tapes are owned by you and there would be a fee to release them?
The way I see it if you are paid by someone/company for a shoot, those tapes/footage a property of the client, unless other wise stated. This goes for work tapes, submasters and masters that have been created in the edit suite. You need to charge for these at the time of service and not months after the edit.
Cheers,
John
J. Grote, Jr.
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Hey Grups,
Could you give us a little background information about yourself ? So that we can give you a recommend a way to approach learning AVID.
Thanx,
John
J. Grote, Jr.
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Hey Roy,
All you have to do is going into the setting on the computer that you have copied them to and delete the MCstate and you should be good to go.
As an aside, I do that on my thumb drive settings, so I don’t forget to do it when I copy them over.
btveditor
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Good day,
You’ll need to go into the command pallete and map the add edit icon to your keyboard.