[Kai Cheong]

An alternative suggestion popped into my mind: Would you consider encoding your movie into a high quality H.264 .MOV instead? It will cut down on the file size quite dramatically and if you spend some time tweaking the presets in Compressor, you can probably get a very good H.264.

Not sure whether your HDV footage is interlaced or progressive, but if it’s the former, you could also get a better playback from your PC if you make if progressive in Compressor.

Just a thought.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.7

8-Core Intel Mac Pro 2.26GHz | 8GB RAM | FCP 6.0.2 | Mac OS X 10.5.6 | 3.0TB CalDigit VR | 2 x 24″ Dell S2409W

[Kai Cheong]

I think it’s a good time to establish a good working & communication relationship with your director at this point. Afterall, as an editor, communicating & negotiating with your director in the spirit of cooperation is also a very valuable skill.

Since you mentioned he’s quite new to the process, perhaps you could walk him through the various stages of cuts he should be expecting as part of a docu workflow. Possibly explain to him why a workflow is important. Sometimes, for someone unfamiliar with the process, they might not understand why you can’t just tweak everything nicely for the first cut.

Usually we have to do this sort of ‘workflow education’ with clients & they’re generally open to our expertise. Since this chap is a director-to-be, i think it’ll help him a lot to know of the post stages.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.7

8-Core Intel Mac Pro 2.26GHz | 8GB RAM | FCP 6.0.2 | Mac OS X 10.5.6 | 3.0TB CalDigit VR | 2 x 24″ Dell S2409W

[Kai Cheong]

Hi Matt, thanks for the heads up on the Google local listing. Just made one for ourselves – never knew there’s such a free service!

Learning something new every day at the Cow ;]

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.7

8-Core Intel Mac Pro 2.26GHz | 8GB RAM | FCP 6.0.2 | Mac OS X 10.5.6 | 3.0TB CalDigit VR | 2 x 24″ Dell S2409W

[Kai Cheong]

Chipping in with my 2 cents here since I’m quite the Net/Facebook/Blog/Twitter/Google geek and was responsible for getting our company stuff online.

For a company which still doesn’t really have a website [we did buy a domain]… I think we’re doing pretty OK with our blog. But we do understand the value of having a ‘proper’ web presence, so we’re currently [finally!] working with a web designer to get things going. Unfortunately, even though I started with web design/HTML waaaay before I touched video, my web designing skills are still stuck in the ’90s web era.

In fact, our blog has helped propel us to the top few pages of the Google listing because the Google bot constantly crawls our blog and finds lots of new material. All this without spending any money on AdWords. The other neat thing is, Google crawls every new post and keywords from different posts can get mish-mashed together to get interesting results.

We also have our YouTube channel which we use to upload excerpts of recent works. We also embed these videos in our blog. I think among local production houses, our presence on YouTube is quite decent since we do make an effort to tag with relevant keywords and do short write-ups.

Though there’s a need to check back on our YouTube channel once in a while, since we do not disable comments [that feels a little archaic and ‘cold’]. There have been some really immature comments to some of our more controversial documentary videos – and I had to remove some which were potentially libelous. But other than that, it’s not been too tricky.

As Matt has mentioned, your current site utilizes quite a fair bit of image maps. If it’s possible, it would help to convert your site to something more text-based because then will the bots be able to crawl and index your site in more detail.

We also have a Flickr account where I upload production stills [nothing fancy, just stuff taken with my iPhone on set and tagged with our watermark]. I also upload the more prominent works onto Facebook and tag my cast and crew… this is more for fun and to keep in touch, than trying to fish for business.

Since I’m active on Twitter, I’ve also opened an account for the company… but haven’t found what direction to take company tweeting yet. Since that’s still new grounds for me [even though I have more than 4,700 personal tweets to my name!].

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.7

8-Core Intel Mac Pro 2.26GHz | 8GB RAM | FCP 6.0.2 | Mac OS X 10.5.6 | 3.0TB CalDigit VR | 2 x 24″ Dell S2409W

[Kai Cheong]

Got us [well, since I’m using it, me!] an early X’mas present: Magic Bullet Suite during their secret sale [40% off!].

Don’t have the time to unwrap/unzip my present until way after X’mas… but with the projects we’ve lined up from now till mid-2010, I’m very sure I’ll be neck deep in colorful sweetness all the way through.

Similar lessons and aspirations as Mike: smoother client management, stronger asset management [esp. with 5 concurrent projects that we’ll be running from Jan ’10] and growing the business. We’re starting with expanding our team, having secured new clients and extending relationships with old ones.

2009 was a year of pushing forward and 2010 is gonna be an exciting one.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.7

8-Core Intel Mac Pro 2.26GHz | 8GB RAM | FCP 6.0.2 | Mac OS X 10.5.6 | 3.0TB CalDigit VR | 2 x 24″ Dell S2409W

[Kai Cheong]

Not directly relevant to your business, but my tip is: be friendly, fair, kind & respectful to your freelancers and fellow creative professionals you run into (eg. Photographers, designers, actors). These are the people who could and would refer business to you, too.

And remember to return the favor/pay it forward when you have the opportunity.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.7

8-Core Intel Mac Pro 2.26GHz | 8GB RAM | FCP 6.0.2 | Mac OS X 10.5.6 | 3.0TB CalDigit VR | 2 x 24″ Dell S2409W

[Kai Cheong]

Riding the wave… but still waiting for some REAL excitement to take place: kai.cheong@googlewave.com

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.7

8-Core Intel Mac Pro 2.26GHz | 8GB RAM | FCP 6.0.2 | Mac OS X 10.5.6 | 3.0TB CalDigit VR | 2 x 24″ Dell S2409W

[Kai Cheong]

We find that we usually get referred business from happy clients who recommend us to other businesses or friends who are ‘looking to do a video’. More so then having our website & company ‘advertised’ as part of any video we do.

Though if the client is willing (I’d say since he’s the one paying for the video), It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have you company name/logo somewhere in the end product. But I think it’s not as important to hassle over the exact credit.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.7

8-Core Intel Mac Pro 2.26GHz | 8GB RAM | FCP 6.0.2 | Mac OS X 10.5.6 | 3.0TB CalDigit VR | 2 x 24″ Dell S2409W

[Kai Cheong]

Hi Carolyn,

Chanced upon this video tutorial which might be helpful in giving you an idea of the process:

https://www.fcptips.com/final-cut-pro/fcp-to-dvd-studio-pro-video_b9f82d1fe.html

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.7

8-Core Intel Mac Pro 2.26GHz | 8GB RAM | FCP 6.0.2 | Mac OS X 10.5.6 | 3.0TB CalDigit VR | 2 x 24″ Dell S2409W

[Kai Cheong]

Hi Carolyn,

For DVD-authoring, you should look into using Compressor and DVD Studio Pro, which comes with your Final Cut Studio package. There are presets in Compressor to suit various lengths, including up to 180mins.

For your 7-min slideshow, you can do so in DVD Studio Pro. Depending on your stylistic needs, you might need to do some work in Photoshop to create some templates and backgrounds.

Btw, you can do a ‘test render’ of your movie before committing to the entire rendering. Just limit a small section in Compressor before rendering it out.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.7

8-Core Intel Mac Pro 2.26GHz | 8GB RAM | FCP 6.0.2 | Mac OS X 10.5.6 | 3.0TB CalDigit VR | 2 x 24″ Dell S2409W