[Mark Suszko]

No question you can do this in AE and most people probably do. I have done stuff like this in Apple Motion, which I find more intuitive and simpler to use than AE, and what can help someone who is inexperienced at this is, in either platform, MotionVFX.com offers a number of very handy plug-ins and pre-built templates that make the cutesy, bouncy, squeezy, stacking effects all pre-done for you, pretty much drag and drop. The labels and graphics too. They also offer clip media element packages, people, cars, houses, etc. so your first step of building up all those items and characters and “props” in Photoshop is eliminated or made much less tedious.

[Mark Suszko]

20 g’s plus expenses. It’s irrelevant.

You’re going to get numbers of all kinds asking a question like this. They don’t matter. What matters is how YOU generate YOUR day rate and hourly rates. There’s extensive info here in this forum on how to do that, if you dig a little.

[Mark Suszko]

Larry Jordan isn’t gone, he just moved to Thalo. Along with all his back catalog of training materials, etc.

[Mark Suszko]

Was it maybe THESE guys that did it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdBQK8_PjpM

[Mark Suszko]

There is an inexpensive ring-shaped adapter that lets you mount the “trashcan” on it’s side, in a standard equipment rack, if you’re so inclined.

[Mark Suszko]

There’s a number of reasons not to. For one, rates change all the time, so if you print up a lot with the old info, they’re wasted.

But you know this by now: every job is a custom job, even if you have most elements of it repeat from client to client, every wedding has it’s own subtle differences. That’s why it should be billed hourly, even if you end up adding up the hourlies and presenting a “final” figure. But you can’t do that with any reliability until you quiz the prospective client on the details of their particular wedding and find out their expectations.

Second, if you come up with a package price, people will grab the rate card and run off to show it to other competitors, trying to bargain someone down like this, with the idea that this is a commodity business. Those guys own different gear than you, they shoot differently, everything about them is subtly different, and their rates are also going to differ, sometimes to your benefit, but usually not. The haggler client that just wants a package commodity price and won’t spend the time to talk to you and give you a sense of the project, is going to end up being one of those you regret signing on with, as they keep trying to gain extra services for a set price.

I suggest as a conversation opener, you talk instead about their wedding date and locations and that lets you chat about the venue and other things while you’re looking it up in your availability calendar. The locations for the wedding and the reception will also give you a subtle hint on their general budget; low-end, mid-level, or Royale extravaganza.

[Mark Suszko]

I think most charge a day rate and base the total on the projected number of pre-production, shoot days, and post-production supervision days. Rates for a Director can start at $500 a day and go up into the thousands. Much depends on the specifics of the project.

[Mark Suszko]

Panasonic offers PTZ remote cameras that can be programmed or live- steered remotely thru a switcher interface.

[Mark Suszko]

Can you beat it by hiring him thru a temp agency? Then he can handle the equipment, unlike someone on “consultant” status.

[Mark Suszko]

You’ll get better results using the “bow” or “scroll saw” style of hot wire, than the long, thin one that looks like a very skinny soldering iron… those are very, very delicate. While they will work for something like trimming the foam in an instrument case, you have to be careful and patient in the speed and amount of force you apply on it as they bend and break easily. They’re made for styling the very light “floral” foams. The large knife with the blue handle is the same as the one from harbor Freight, which is a high-heat item used for cutting linoleum tiles. On regular foams it tends to just melt everything before you can make a serious cut.

I do a lot of foam cutting in my model airplane hobby, is where my experience comes from. I reserve an old pencil iron for making holes in foam, then I use a bow style to complete inside cutting in a scroll-saw style.

Nichrome wire is the best choice, but you can get results using steel fishing leader or even steel guitar string. An old model train transformer/speed controller rheostat regulates the power. You can make the “bow” out of anything non-conductive. The key is to keep the wire in tension once it’s hot: a sagging wire makes sloppy cuts, so add a tensioning spring to the rig somewhere to keep the wire tight, or make the bow itself impose the tension.