[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Both Mark and Nick are correct.

However, do not set aside profiling. Depending on what close you turn up in and the shade of your sun-glasses, you will be stopped. Sometimes it works to dress for the occasion and look prepared with all documentation easily at hand, including confirmation from client/location for the shoot 🙂

My 5c

All the Best
Mads

@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Bill,

Yes, you are right – I’ll snap out of my day dream 🙂

Although, as an interesting side comment: I see the BBC as being a competitor, rather than that of an employer/client. They have entered the race to offer their creative production services to the outside world, whilst making a large number of News staff redundant. The FCP announcement is not a surprise, although I would have thought that Adobe CC would be a better bet for the foreseeable future – unless you are looking for an app that can work on the presenters/field-journalists iPad and do auto-editing…

All the Best
Mads

@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Bill,

Good stuff, thank you.

For now I’ve opted for the next course in my university degree whilst updating my skills through Classroom in a book series. Although that won’t give me any certification, it does update my skills from Adobe CS1 to CC 🙂

However, I will keep looking for that method of certification that will bring video production in line with other businesses (businesses that are actually businesses and are making money).

One thought is what we in the UK call the CPD certifications (Continuing Professional Development) which are used by professions such as accountants, lawyers etc. But there doesn’t seem to be a formal structure for the media industries.

Please do correct me if I’m wrong. Also, doesn’t change the fact that most people in production is getting work based on personal connections, word of mouth, CV and show-reel – which for the foreseeable future will make everything else redundant, or will it?

All the Best
Mads

@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Stan,

My opinion:

That is a perverse. However, “The YouTube Copyright Team” is not necessarily their legal team. Hence why this is by far not a shut case on their behalf. In any case, your email may very well have been written by a night-worker in a “call-center” somewhere very cheap and remotely, who is dealing with 1000’s of requests everyday. Even though they have tried to fob you off with suggesting that you sort this out with someone else, they are as the main distributor of you pirated content very wrong in that assertion.

Mark’s comments are very valid – how much money and much scorched earth do you want in order to achieve your goal?

Keeping in mind that YouTube is no longer the most watched video site in the US, and that it may not even be the place where most content are enjoyed, you may want to consider moving all of your videos altogether?

Before doing that, you could write a passionate plea to YouTube’s boss, which can be found here: https://ceoemail.com/s.php?id=78435 copying https://ceoemail.com/s.php?id=9931, quoting “Don’t be evil”.
And use the line within the mail “to save legal costs”.
You should also copy in Google’s main legal department – all of these guys are on a much higher pay-grade than the YouTube copyright team. But do keep the email as short as possible and be clear with what your grievances are.

It will also firm up the minds at YouTube as to whether they in your case have made the right decision. Keep pointing out that the other user have given no consideration to your copyright and have offered no credits, and that this is why you want it to be removed.

You may look around for a no-win-no-fee firm that would like to take on your case – but this kind of action will wear your nerves thin, and can last for years, in which time you are not doing what you love doing.

Setting aside the moral issue: If you have a larger number hits on your videos, than the person doing the copyright infringement, then Google should take better care of you.

If YouTube does not respect your Copyright then you must consider moving your videos to another host, there are plenty out there such as Vimeo and Facebook. But as I said above, the YouTube person writing to you, is likely to have a mountain of requests and therefor haven’t taken the time to understand yours.

You should also consider the previous suggestion of adding a monetary value to the clips by putting them on a stock website for other producers to purchase. Most sites will allow you to decide the price, so if it is high enough, you won’t sell many…

All the Best
Mads

@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Owain,

Listen to Mark and Nick’s advice – very good.

However, I would suggest caution in regards to using LinkedIn for a direct approach to anyone that you are not familiar with. After all it is a Business Social Media Network, which core idea is (was?) that of introductions and referrals from known people (word of mouth).

LinkedIn is a great tool for researching who to contact, but you may find that you initially are better off picking up the yellow pages and the phone to any and all local companies of a certain size to find out whether they use video and who commissions them.

If you’re nice, you’ll soon find that most front-of-house staff will be happy to help you. Once you’ve got a name, then you can reach out either on email or by LinkedIn – just make sure that you have something tangible to show, and demonstrate that you have researched the company that you want to provide services for.

All the Best
Mads

@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Tom,

It really depends on where you are based and whether you need this work done remotely?

How many videos are there?
How many different languages are you dealing with?
Are there a mix of nat-sot and music, or is it speak only?
Does it involve people speaking on screen or off screen?
Does the Voice Over need a professional artist, or does the client have people who speaks the target language?

Some countries are happy with subtitles, might be worth considering.

These are just the starter questions. Once you have those answered you can determine whether to do it “in-house” using remote speakers (many have a home studio) or whether to go to a professional audio facility.

All the Best
Mads

@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Stan,

Clearly someone wants to ride on the back of your success. As a minimum, they should have had the courtesy to ask you whether they could use the clip. Since you filmed it, the copyright is yours to have.

Two things that I would initially look out for in a counter argument against the “fair use” claim:
1) Did the other side give you a suitable credit for the clip used – i.e. on screen or in end roller. If not, then it is in my opinion a straight forward theft and have nothing to do with “fair use”.
2) Are you and/or the other side earning an income from your YouTube channel? If so, there are a potential loss of earnings to take into account.

You are clearly concerned about the third party use of your clips and there are clearly a market where people want to watch those kinds of movies. For future protection you may want to consider offering your clips for non-exclusive sale through a stock library such as Pond5, shutterstock etc. This will give you an added layer of protection + a legal framework for which other organizations can access your footage, for a price, and use it accordingly. And you can prove loss of earnings, which will make any future claim more viable.

My 10p & like Bob, I am not a lawyer either.

All the Best
Mads

@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Mark,

I second Todd too on the Herman Miller chair.

Sitting on a 11 year old (chair) whilst writing this – still as good as new. Originally 3 was purchased for the editors in the old company. One broke within the 5 year warranty and it was fixed without any hassle.

Alternatively, get a motor on your table so you can stand up and work…

🙂

All the Best
Mads

@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Ryan,

Thank you for the quick response.

I’ve got a new HP ZBook Pro with Intel i7 4th generation processor, 750GB 7200RPM internal drive, 16GB memory, additional 32GB of SSD Virtual Memory. Only ever been used with CC 2014 – NO legacy installs, apart from those programs that have not had new version releases by Adobe.

Because the renders works straight from PPro I am not going to mess around with re-installing any of the software before the project is finished. Although it would surprise me if the solution requires a re-install?

All the Best
Mads

@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Sebastiaan,

The more they, the more difficult they’ll be to serve – that is your professional colleagues, soon come clients that I’m speaking about.

Forgot point 6: Never ever finance your purchases through leases and/or bank loans. If you can afford it, buy the kit, if not – do not do it!!!

I am lucky as I have one of the best hire companies who I rent kit from on average 5-10 times a year. As they are 100% trustworthy I pay them upfront, and they give me competitive rates. So I’ve got nothing major to complain about.

However, they are not a small outfit, so there are always 1-3 vans around to deliver or pick-up kit, including at a specific time at location, which is a great help. In an emergency they can also respond rather quickly if there is a problem that needs sorting.

Annoyance problems (but NOT common) is a broken head-phone or a loose tripod plate – the kind that you don’t notice until it comes to operating the kit. Also used to not be able to get a job only insurance – that I’ve since covered with a blanket annual insurance.

Biggest help is that they are happy not to erase any cards until I’ve loaded the footage. If anything, if I haven’t already given the all clear, they will call and let me know that there are still footage on the cards.

Although I’m advising against it, do be bold and go for it if you feel that the business is there for you.

Maybe run a “proof of concept” trial first with a few select clients and colleagues and see how that works out for you.

All the Best
Mads

@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk