[Mark Suszko]

Then they send you the link to a copy of “Avatar”. and say: “Do that. For no extra cost.”

[Mark Suszko]

If it’s heat-related there are free apps to take manual control of the mac’s cooling.

[Mark Suszko]

Am I doing it wrong? I make a new library for every new job that comes in, and keep all related media and projects together with it. It just seemed more intuitive to me that way, but I’m willing to be schooled.

[Mark Suszko]

VR is a big shot in the arm for old roller-coaster rides, which now suddenly can become virtual space dogfights, Indiana Jones mine car chases, a Fantastic Voyage thru the circularity system… all on the same day, different experience each ride.

[Mark Suszko]

Can you take the ppt into keynote and re-save it?

[Mark Suszko]

Why not add the DSK at each of the cameras?

https://www.markertek.com/product/burst-hdlg/burst-electronics-hdlg-hd-sd-sdi-color-logo-generator

[Mark Suszko]

I can’t help with the problem, but I’d like to ask how folks use the Library. Every time I start a new video project, I create a new Library, and I keep the projects and events together in it, as well as the footage. I began doing it this way when I heard there was no limit on how many libraries you can have in FCPX. So far, it has helped be to avoid the kind of issues Ken is experiencing, but, am I doing it “wrong”?

[Mark Suszko]

You should bill hourly or by day rate…. but if the client wants a flat price, it’s not hard to convert the hourly into a “package price”. The trick is in doing an accurate enough estimate that you don’t under-charge or over-charge, and that comes with experience plus getting as much intel on the project up-front as possible. Post time can vary wildly, depending on how much added work you’ll need to do, say, repairing bad audio, or adding-in graphics, and creating and mixing music.

Relative costs and time shift between production and post-production; for example, if you can live-switch a multicam feed of an event, you’re basically done at the end of the event, except for cleaning up any little mistakes and adding in some titles, maybe color-correcting, and bam, you’re burning DVD’s or BluRays or sending out FTP’s. But, to get there ,that means the shoot’s more expensive, because you’ve got multiple camera operators, a diector, and the switcher to rent. But you shaved maybe six hours of post production over having to ingest, log, and line up a multicam edit. So the estimate on hours is dependent on variables like those, and others.

The safest path I think is to make your best estimate, based on time x rate, then add in a few percentage point’s worth of contingency fees.

[Mark Suszko]

Sounds low. What you’ll want to do is script out and storyboard the scenes in exquisite detail, including their overall timing, and any key audio dialogue. Then take that to an animator and show them your budget and see what they can out together for the money you have. But I think 3 grand is probably unrealistic for more than one fight sequence.

Do you *need* real, and “original” mocap? Or can you work from pre-captured sequences, purchased and applied to your model. Turbosquid used to be a good place to shop for such things, I don’t know if they still are.

I think you might need to double what you have to get to the level of quality and detail you need. It sounds like a lot.

But, what I tell people trying to make a decision on such a figure is, I ask them what the end goal is: how big a sales profit they expect to make on the project. Then I ask them what percentage of that payday are they are willing to INVEST in the sales materials that lead to getting to that Payday? One percent? Three? Or zero, and you’re just gonna count on your winning smile and talent for blarney?

Raise more money. While you’re doing it, shop around for a an animator who’s willing to work cheaper because they need a portfolio piece.

[Mark Suszko]

“it’s better than good – It’s finished”.

Now, DGMW, this is 180 degrees from my personal POV. But a lot of what I see in the news biz is like that. It used to be that time was the major driver in how you acquired and presented stories. While that remains a factor, the overriding factor now is cost and ROI.

You see it in cable news a lot, where they always prefer a satellite studio shot of somebody in a chair talking, to going out with a crew and developing a story on location.

I see it in local news coverage where the cameraman “covers” an event by showing up before it happens, grabbing 3 minutes of interview with one of the principals, spraying the first three minutes of the event for wide shots and cut-aways, with just his shotgun for wild audio, (even though there is a mult feeding quality sound from the podium or whatever) and bailing to go to his next assignment. Whatever happened or was said after the first three minutes, you’ll never know. That night you’ll get a minute thirty composed of b-roll with voice-over and one, fifteen-second quote pulled from that three minutes of interview. That’s “news” coverage now. Feel informed?

What grinds my gears even harder is video for the web with crap audio, no camera framing and no editing, and no lighting, …. not because they couldn’t afford it, but because the decision-maker thinks the lack of artifice ( a word they don’t actually know) adds “authenticity” and the appeal of innocence. Please. And they justify it by saying: “it’s just for You Tube”. “Just” … as if twenty-five and a half million subscribers is nothing, because you don’t watch this on a TV with an antenna?

I’m out of time, gotta go yell at clouds and get a new onion to tie on my belt.