Malcolm Matusky
Forum Replies Created
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I have both!
Folding three leg stool is the most used for interviews, just the right height for me to look up into the VF and not get sore for the hour or so I’m shooting. Kneepads, and heavy gloves as well.Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com -
A quote is similar to an estimate, it’s an approximation of cost to a client for work performed. Usually you do not know all the specifics of the job and if the client want’s a more accurate valuation they will prepare a “bid” and it will have a description in great detail of the proposed job. Changes during the course of a job may affect cost, it is your discretion to charge more or not, this is usually where arguments occur with clients, this is the area your need to be clear with in your agreements.
If you quote a job, you do not have to do it, when you bid you generally do. Bidding is a much more formal (legal) process and is standard for large jobs.
For small jobs the contracting process is less formal, and problems can occur when you see the job differently than the client. As the job progresses, make sure to keep a “paper trail” of all communications with client, verbal changes are not OK, especially when you need more money to do more work, shooting or editing or complex graphics, etc.
Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com -
I just purchased a cobracrane fotocrane; for very light cameras! I’m using it with a DSLR, the fotocrane only has a 4′ extention from the tripod head, but for interior work it is enough for me. The tilt mechanism uses the fluid head on your tripod, rather smooth, collapses to a small size for travel, decent build quality, great price!
They make longer ones, and dual arm models for heavy cameras, all use a tripod and fluid head to tilt the camera, if they are as nice as my small model they are a good buy.
Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com -
I have a drive dock as well, but do back up to 2 drives at a time, ###A&B, Having only a single drive with your data is risky. Since drive prices have gone down… why not get 2?
For client projects, they pay for the drives anyway, part of the bid is archiving, and one drive for them if they request it, though not a “bare” drive, but a usb stand alone.
Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com -
I shoot double system and use VP9, my workflow has been to synch with Plural Eyes and save the file as a “synchmaster” veg. Then nest the synchmaster into another veg called edit master. I do this so I can create “clips” in the trimmer to break up my synched file and make sure the audio does not revert to the poor quality camera audio. I had problems with this in the past and simply nesting the synched file created a permanent “lock” with the new audio tracks.
Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com -
A $25.00 lav, pinned to the chest of the subject, sounds “better” than a $1000.00 shotgun mic 10~15′ back on the camera!
Placement is everything.
MJM
Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com -
The Zoom H4 series has a function to “bounce” tracks, you do not need a “Y” splitter to inject mono audio on both tracks.
Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com -
“Their work is dated”
It may be that the clients are “dated.” When you make films for clients, not yourself, you have to subject your ideas of what makes a great or appropriate film, to those of the client. Push on every project to get them “up to date” but they are paying the bills…so they do have the last word as to what they will accept.
You cannot make corporate videos/training/promotions the same way you would make skate board videos, reality tv or other types of programming. Watch what others are doing in your area and learn what sells, each market is different to some extent and you have to respect that. The clients vanity causes me the most grief, they don’t look like movie stars, and never will, yet they all want to look 10x better than they do. I finished one medical film and the head of the clinic refused to use the film because she looked “too fat.” When you are 5′ tall and weigh over 250 lbs, that’s’ what you look like! She was not selling weight loss services, and she was personable on camera, too bad the entire production was destroyed because of vanity. If you think getting started is hard, having a production derailed by vanity is hard to take, even after 25 years in business for me.
Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com -
The 5DIII will be around soon, but the big difference is the sensor size, not the output resolution. As neither of these output “clean” HDMI that can be recorded onto a higher quality device, the real decision is how you are going to use the camera and if you can keep it in focus! BTW I operate alone, so a smaller sensor is beneficial, I use the OKI usb focus controller, works well.
Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com -
I bought the 7d soon after it came out, I still do not regret the decision. I like the camera and use it mostly for HD video shooting. As compared to the af100, that is a totally different camera and price point. I bought the DSLR because I wanted a DSLR, not a video camera. Now that there are adapters to use canon lenses on “video” cameras I still think my decision was right for me.
As I shoot documentary/industrial work, the 5D seemed way to hard to keep in focus at any given f-stop. the 1.6 crop sensor is a good compromise, yet still much larger than a 1/3″ chip, about the same size as 35mm film aperture, so I’m OK with the sensor size. If you want an AF100, It’s $6K with a lens adapter (Berger)so you can use canon lenses. That may be a future purchase for me, but for the moment I have been satisfied with the 7D and though of getting a HMC-150 to complement it, but still have not bought it as I am able to work within the cameras limitations.
Having started in 16mm film production, working with a 10~12 minute limit is fine with me. I don’t shoot endless interviews, I am able to easily start and stop the camera between questions while keeping the audio recorder going. I don’t shoot meetings or events that need to be seamlessly recorded, nor do I do multi-camera shoots, I make “films” with an HD video camera, not television, so for me the camera works great. If your needs are for event or “live” programming you would be better off choosing another camera, but as a replacement for a “film” style camera it has worked well.Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com