[Mark Suszko]

I would amplify what Charlie said, to add that you can use a suitable cutaway shot between the camera changes to cover the transition and re-orient the audience, then the jarring and disorientation that comes from crossing the line is minimized.

In the case of the vows, a wide shot of the altar, or a cutaway to the parents in the front row reacting or the bridesmaid reacting in closeup could work.

Generally, the vows are so short, I see no reason to break from the shot. Usually, I would just roll on the angle that best favors the bride. That’s an even bigger rule than crossing the line:

DO NOT MESS UP THE BRIDE’S VOW SHOT!!!;-)

Everything else is secondary to that, in my experience. Even when the groom is talking, most folks want to seee the facial reactions of the bride then too, and usually her side is paying for everything, so that’s what we do. If I really wanted the groom to get a good shot too, I would cut away to a CU of the officiant, then the reverse angle of the groom. Then back to your wider cover shot from the audience area for “I now pronounce you…”. If you can stand in the aisle and get the 2- or 3-shot in one take, that’s safest, IMO, but uncommon.

[Mark Suszko]

Dave, rats are rats, in Ghana or anywhere else. 😉 There are a few things you can try, like having the client put money in an escrow account, pay the job in thirds, one third up front, one third on rough cut, one third on completion…

but a wise person once told me: “with the right people, a contract is not needed, and with the wrong people, one is never enough.” You can write up a contract any way you want, but it doesn’t matter if they won’t play along. These folks want something for nothing.

If they insist that the work be done before you get paid, give the a copy of the finished work… with your logo and time code window splashed across the middle third of the picture. That’s good enough to prove the work was done, but not useable by itself, and you tell them you can hand over a clean master copy and their raw tapes when the check clears the bank. Any business that cannot deal like this is not an honest business. Plumbers, carpenters, electricians do not ask for less than that.

[Mark Suszko]

Ace, there are guys here with much more experience than me, but 2 common themes I’ve read over and over, here and on other forums, is the guy that lowballs his prices for a repeat customer finds it incredibly hard to raise them later, and if you start out as the cheapest guy in your market, you get type cast as only being good for that kind of work. You never get considered for the high end work, even though you have demonstrated exactly the fiscal discipline and good planning skills that would make the most of that additional money.

It’s not fair, but it’s the reality. In a business that’s all about perception, once people have pigeonholed you, it’s very hard to get considered for “better” stuff. This is one reason out of town “consultants” so often get hired, though they actually know no more than you do, sometimes less. The mere fact they are from out of town is the key, like in the bible story: “the prophet is without honor in his own country”.

My advice is to be sure to dabble in as many formats and types of programming as possible, demonstrate variety and flexibility. Do different things, even stuff you don’t particularly like. Humans are creatures of habit, and if something new and exciting comes up, you want clients to think “oh, Ace can handle this, he can handle ANYTHING…” Not ; ” Why would you call Ace? He only does Wedding stuff, get that guy that only does big budget music videos…”

They don’t “get” that in either case, you’re a story teller, that you can use the same fundamental techniques to tell a sports story as a wedding or a drama.

What if you are stuck in this typecasting hole already? You may have to fund your own high-end, high-profile work to show people you have the skills and talent they didn’t believe you had.

Or move to another town and call yourself a consultant:-)

[Mark Suszko]

With so many unknowns, you need the flexibility of charging an hourly rate, and not a fixed price. With a fixed price quote you will either lowball and miss out some profit, making it harder to charge more later, or you will run into a snag and wind up working very hard to make deadline, but dividing the fixed price into the hours, you’ll be making minimum wage, if that. Either way you lose.

Resist the temptation to commoditize creative endeavors like they were widgets on an assembly line. You are an artisan, not a line assembly worker. It takes as long as it takes, and it costs what it costs. I’m not asking you to act pretentious. It’s being realistic and professional. Even a prosaic business video has many creative challenges within it if it’s to be successful. They are paying you to do this because you have the skills and judgement to deliver the product they want, and they have to trust that judgement. To give the customer a comfort level, you can set out general limits, but that’s all.

So much of this depends on just how prepared the project is when it comes to you, and if every issue has been signed off and approved in advance. I’ve had these things go exceptionally well, and I’ve seen them turn to horror shows starring myself as the victim. If you have a treatment, a real script, real logged tape that’s shot correctly, lists of correctly spelled names, title,s and other edit-ready graphic elements, etc etc. and it’s all approved, you can cruise along pretty fast. If it’s scribbles on a cocktail napkin, a shoebox of unlabeled mixed-format tape with messed up sound, wrong color balance, shakey shots of bad presenters and 32 10-line powerpoint screens in 3-point green seriffed type over neon blue…. it’s going to take some time, bro. Especially if a meddling middle manager keeps asking for changes or additions. Would you really want to be locked into a fixed rate to handle a mess like THAT?

Suggest and stick to a minimum hourly rate, you can make estimates on how long each step *should* take, but make it clear there is going to be a certain margin either way. Offer a rebate afterwards if it goes exceptionally smoothly and you feel guilty for charging too much. Have the gig structured in thirds: one third up front, second on completion of the rough cut, third on final approval, I find this helps put everyone at ease, and you get paid only for the progress you make, which is fair.

Some editors charge lesser rates to just digitize… I suppose if you don’t need to really sit thru it all during that time to really grasp what you have and log it all, that makes sense. (I would insist on looking at everything if it were me.) OTOH, a system and operator that’s tied up logging can’t be making money editing someone ELSE’s program, so I would think regular rate for “mere” digitizing is also fair.

Finally, if anybody you deal with uses any variation of the phrase:
“cut us a break on this one, and we’ll give you a lot more business down the road”
Leave immediately, check your wallet on the way out, and never go back. You will thank me.

[Mark Suszko]

I have to agree, if you’re not already wired up with the cable company, breaking into this is very difficult to do and make a profit. No question you could make a better spot, but that’s never been the issue, it’s about the access to the airtime and the cost of that access. Clients often don’t even care as much about quality as they say they do: they’ll be happy to run the “free” spots that look bad, as long as they get enough frequency and can point to results (increased sales, “buzz”, or traffic or whatever). The cable company counts on this.

But I have another idea or two for you, along similar lines.

Number one, infomercial, a 30-minute chunk of time YOU buy, then you turn around and offer the client a fully produced extravaganza, and the video slaves at the cable co’s production office are now working for YOU, with you directing and writing. Might be part live, part taped. I would go for all taped, better profit margin and fewer screw-ups. We had a hardware store chain here in town that would run these horrible live half-hours on saturday mornings, using the otherwise idle local affiliate’s production truck on location. The owners would alternate pre taped spots with informational segments on home improvement topics, or lawn and garden stuff, contest giveaways, and the occasional bad attempt at a comedy skit. I told the guy producing it I thought it was horrible.

He said yes, it was, but he was laughing all the way to the bank: the clients loved being the “stars” of their own “show”, and the price break on the otherwise dead time was so good, it only took selling a barbecue or a couple lawnmowers to put it in the black, plus it was driving a lot of traffic to come in on the weekends to see the madness and “get on television”.

Typically, you see this kind of programming on local cable shopping channels, often fake talk shows with car dealerships, real estate developers, home remodeling guys or snake oil salesmen, but you might try expanding the horizon to look at some places that have natural settings and activities that can be used to host a decent video… like arts and crafts stores/galleries, a spa, the hardware store, the local Tv and appliance guy, a music shop (instant TV battle of the local bands?, heck, the bands might pay YOU to put them on!)… anybody that’s still a small business, not part of any big chains. What about getting a tire store or oil change place to sponsor a pinewood derby race at the store, and you make out like it’s a big NASCAR real deal, parody stuff, but a legit race with a prize and all… kids, have your folks drive you and your racer down and win your mom or dad an oil change or whatever. Make a 30-minute drama-doc out of it, seasoned with spots for the hosting shop, you’ll play it early Saturday or Sunday morning maybe, when the time is dirt cheap… Offer free DVD’s of it with any oil change or something. It’s hokey, yes, but it is going to work because it ties into people in the viewing area and involves them, plus it’s practially “free” to produce, and the stakes are small.

Idea number two, is forget broadcast altogether, and make something awesome for looping in-house play at the client’s location. Using the hardware or lawn and garden store idea, you do a 3-minute mini-epic re-creation of a famous genre film, using the store owners or maybe local theater talent, but with a lawn mower theme. I’m picturing a re-creation of the engine-starting scene from “Flight of The Phoenix”, only it’s about trying to start the rebuilt mower… leads to a pitch on bringing in your mower for a tune up and blade sharpening…

…or the Bobby Duval scene, talking to the car (mower) in “Days of Thunder”…segue to two guys “racing” their push mowers along the property line… (you need this to be a “guy” film you’re parodying)… you produce a new chapter or episode every week, with the “premiere screening” advertised to be every saturday noon, bring the kids, have a hot dog and a soda, see our movie, and check out our sale items…..you’ve made a visit to the store into an EVENT!!!
You would have to be careful not to violate copyright laws, but I’ve seen local car dealers make much worse stuff than this idea. Nowadays, you can even pay to get such a mini-movie shown before the feature at local multiplexes, using a video projector. Just imagine! Anyhow, that’s my pitch on what to do when the cable company has a “lock” on the local spot production…do something they can’t or won’t or couldn’t even imagine, and charge accordingly. If you make money on the ideas, I just want credit for thinking of it.;-)

[Mark Suszko]

Tripod, light kit, monitor?

[Mark Suszko]

I’m dissapointed, thought the thread was about that big anarchist freakshow rave party they throw in the desert every year…:-)

[Mark Suszko]

There are remotes under your fingers, on the rim, for zoom, focus, and exposure.

Bet you don’t miss the smell of Decatur in the morning;-)

[Mark Suszko]

“Pretty is as pretty does” – ask any A-10 pilot;-)

[Mark Suszko]

Michael Wiese productions has some good books on his web site.