[Mark Suszko]

This is like “Rashomon” I guess Bill: I see it like this: I don’t have business coming in, I have not paid you the raise I promised, and now I want you to do something you may not agree with politically, on your day off, for no pay. What’s next, making bricks with no straw?

He’s in a horrible spot here and needs to find an exit strategy.

[Mark Suszko]

“I will gladly pay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today” -Wimpy.

[Mark Suszko]

Bill the boss for anything not done while under compensated, salaried time.

This kind of situation is why we have unions and things like OSHA; if management always did the right and honest thing, we wouldn’t need them. (And that’s enough politics right there, so I’ll stop.)

Invoice them for the stuff they had you do “off the books”. Nowhere is what they asked you to do legal. This is how undocumenteds are overworked by unscrupulous employers. When the discussion ensues, offer to tear up the bill if they will agree on some standards for any such “voluntary” work in the future.

I get the impression that things are very casual there due to the intimate size of the operation, but there are some areas of a business that need formalized rules and procedures regardless of size, and this is one of those areas. You need a consistent policy to keep everyone on the same page.

Maybe you’ll get lucky and they’ll just pay the invoice without comment, knwoing they were in the wrong and you called them on it.

And yes, start updating the reel and resume. Such goings-on are a big hint that this is not a place you want to stay, or will be able to stay, long-term. They are not running it like a real business. If they try to intimidate you, don’t escalate, don’t get heated, just walk out, go home. It is your only leverage. What are they going to do after all; replace you with someone who will do the work for less than free? (Isn’t that the definition of Craig’s List? 🙂 )

There’s a saying in the bible: “The worker is worth his wage, so pay him”. Doing too much stuff for free just ensures that’s how much you’ll always get paid. Giving your time as a gift only has meaning and value when that is your own choice. You’re not ingratiating yourself with anyone by being their doormat, there’s a difference between charity, friendship, and servitude.

Seems like we’re working on a trifecta for this topic this week already. A bad economy tends to bring this kind of thing out in people, I guess. Hard not to cave in to abuse when you have mouths at home to feed, so I can’t disrespect a person who makes that choice, there but for the grace of God go I, but long term it never pays off. Hang on long enough to find other work, then make the jump, and best of luck to you.

[Mark Suszko]

There’s nothing wrong with that clip, it works. Decently lit, good sound, shots composed. The hand-held thing turns some people off but for something like bike racing, it is not at all uncommon to add that feeling of youth, edginess, rough-on-the-roadness… and it wasn’t at a nausea-inducing level, just barely there. If the equipment cutaways were stabilized, or shot off a locked tripod, I think that adds an air of “precision” to them in the semiotic sense. Those kinds of shots can look excellent on a slow dolly move. This is purely s subjective aesthetic choice on the part of the editor.

Something I might have tried would have been to change up the focal length on the guy talking, do snap-zooms that you then either use live because they look spontaneous, or if not, at least if they are done fast, they are easy enough to cover with more b-roll. Some b-roll of him in a wide or medium shot handling the bike in the shop or outside would have been nice but I’m guessing you would have used it already if you had it. Does he have still photos or home movies of him out riding it? Could montage in a little bit of that while he talks. But the discussion I would have in the suite with the producer then would be how much do we focus the story on him and his riding versus showing the merchandise, and I think you struck a fair balance there as-is.

In terms of the shot composition I would have liked to cheat his body or at least his head a little more towards the camera, I like two eyes very plain in the face in that kind of 3/4 shot, this one was a little bit too much into his ear, but I know you don’t always get to control those things.

Finally, it is not a problem as-is, but I would have liked to either darken the area behind him or use depth of field control to throw the background more out of focus.

These are all minor nitpiks, it is good work as-is.

If they wanted you to add some more visual excitement, you could tint and layer some PIP of the interview and B-roll mechanical closeups. Been done before, a lot, so it is easy to get cliche’ with that.

As far as getting the copy points across, what I took away from viewing was: unique niche supplier, custom high tech fabrication, dedicated, knowledgeable sales and service that’s customer-focused. That’s a lot to get across in one short clip. I think it mostly works. The guy’s reserved manner and flat affect probably mirrors and appeals to the hard-core bike racer types. I am not this market, so I as a buyer may not respond to it as the target consumer would.

So how do you know if this works on the target market? I always tell clients to have a 5-question quiz in mind; after viewing, the first-time viewer should be able to answer between 3 and 5 questions correctly. If he can only answer 2 or less, go back and re-work the message. Sometimes that means you have to throw out the coolest part or the part you liked the best, well, save that for your reel, but don’t be shy to cut the parts you love if it makes the rest of the piece stronger. Like fabricating the bikes, function and cost defines the form.

[Mark Suszko]

Do.
Not.
Give.
The tape.

Tell the courier the tape is being held for lack of payment. Give him a copy of the invoice to bring back with him.

If this client has a boss, forward all your bills outstanding to that person. Go over this guy’s head to his client. I guarandarntee you he’ll be on the phone right quick. Understand that this is never going to turn into a party, you will probably not be getting a Christmas card from this guy. Its okay. The fact is, if he really, REALLY needs you, he’ll have to play ball and pay up. If he can find some other victim to string along like you, he will. Be happy if he does, because it may be he’s already burned thru all the other suckers in town and been banned from their shops for it. Let him go. That’s a small loss to you, even if you face some pain near-term. You have to look at the bigger picture, scary as it is.

Understand, this guy is a bad business situation for you, he always will be, and in the long run the best course is to cut him off until he pays up, or never deal with him again if he won’t. You have no bargaining power to negotiate if you are not willing to walk away from a bad deal.

Three people in a row, two of them acknowledged experts, and one regular joe, have told you it is a bad idea to keep the status quo with this guy, and to instead take a hard line. But you don’t accept the sought out advice. Maybe you have Stockholm Syndrome from working too long with this guy? Then interpose somebody to beard for you; have a buddy handle all communication for you.

Short of a burning bush, I don’t know what else it will take to convince you. If you have a significant other, have you bounced this off of them and asked their opinion? I find that my wife is my Guiding Star whenever I am conflicted like this. She has never failed to know what is absolutely right, and I thank my maker for her counsel.

I think though that if you can’t make this decision yourself, Hamle- um, John, you should probably be working for someone else and not trying to be a great editor and at the same time a poor manager. We’re not all equally good at every task, we each have our special gifts. Consider letting someone else make these decisions for you and letting you do what you do best. Because I’m telling you, if you let this guy keep going, unopposed, you’ve made him your boss anyway, without a commensurate salary. And very little in the way of benefits.

[Mark Suszko]

The only leverage you have is his broadcast deadline. It is amazing what miracles you will see performed when you demand payment before the tapes or whatever are released, as the deadline to air approaches.

What this guy has been doing, and will continue to do, is prioritize his crises. The priority is easy to figure out: what gets him paid first, gets his bills paid, then everything else. Then you. Because he can: as the man said, you’ve let him do it. The longer you allow him to do it, the more you’re training in the bad behavior and legitimizing it. At this point, either sit there and take it, or go cold turkey.

Ask yourself this question: who’s fault really is it, if the deadline gets blown? Answer; his, not yours. Put aside the Judeo-Christian Guilt. The job is done when it is paid for. Your responsibility was to produce the finished tape. His is to pay for it. Do the entire job, perfectly, and get it done in time for air.

Then hold it ransom.

Mechanic’s lein. Cash on delivery. There are forms you can buy at local business supply stores like Staples, or download. Or you can just point at the invoice, which should say something like “materials are held until payment in full is received.” You DO have something like that on the paperwork? If not, your position is even weaker. From this day on, all the jobs begin by signing a work order that lays out the payment requirements and a receipt at the end to sign off paid in full.

Remind yourself and him that you are not a bank, and if he’s looking for an interest-free loan with variable duration, he can call what’s left of Wachovia, but you need to have the money now. Today. Or the tape stays with you.

Of course he’s going to extrude a ceramic rhomboid. That is not your problem. But now your bill is going to get re-prioritized to the top of this guy’s list, and he’s going to short someone else. Someone not as smart as you, someone who can be intimidated or bluffed or deceived. But it won’t be you anymore.

You may not ever get paid the stuff he still owes, once you take the hard line this time. But truth be told, under his system, you were never going to get paid for that stuff anyhow, not in any meaningful time line. You are actually losing money with this guy, and he is making money on the interest from the amount he owes you.

So, you may be afraid he’ll bad-mouth you? What’s he going to say: “Don’t take your work to Joe Doakes: he insists on getting paid for it.”!?!?! What you want, really, is for this guy to go bother your worst rival competitor, tie up HIS suites with working for free. Make HIM go to small claims court. What you need is proof of a bill, proof he paid at least some of it, and then it is up to him to prove he paid you in full or not, with a canceled check.

[Mark Suszko]

I’m guessing they used a 35mm adapter unit between the lens and the image sensor of the camera to get more of a “film look”. A feature that would be nice would be if you can just tell the NLE to flip the presentation in your canvas window, without actually treating the footage. I think an editing plug0in to do that, if it hasn’t been thought of yet, could be handy. You wouldn’t then have to apply the flip to every stinking frame, even if it was never going to be used, just so you can see your footage.

But since I don’t think such a monitor plug-in exists in FCP, I would just do a lossless SDI transfer into a huge RAID array, apply the invert to the entire drive, and go home for the weekend. Come back Monday and start logging clips. If they logged time codes in the field, it would be important to regenerate identical code in the flopped clone for accuracy in the finished cut.

A less high tech method might be to work from lesser rez footage; take the master footage and play it live analog or dv, with a window burn, thru a switcher with DVE to do the flip, and onto another deck or into a digitizer, and then that is your low rez proxy for a rough cut.

Or, just forget that the editing canvas is upside down and edit using a TV monitor with the CRT’s deflection coils switched, as your main monitor/interface. Some LCD’s made for prompting have a similar switch but are not as cheap or easy as a CRT for that.

[Mark Suszko]

Considering all the travel and setup/teardown time, I think your only choice is to bill a full day rate and do whatever it takes to get everything done, for as many days as it is going to take. Maybe you just fold the travel costs into the setting of the day rate, or show a lower day rate but break out the travel to make your rate look lower. Just don’t do it for free.

When I did wedding vids on weekends, the guy I worked for once sent me to a client that was not wanting to pay the full bill.

The mother of the bride had been quoted a fair hourly rate for the job,(say 100 an hour) but she insisted she was paying the hourly rate for the finished run time of the tape, i.e. the tape was 2 hours long, she was only paying $200 at 100 per hour.

The shoot took six hours and the edit took ten more, so her bill was $1,600. Your story about what they want to pay reminded me of that.:-P

[Mark Suszko]

Agreed. One other plus: many of these have a Hard Drive that can record simultaneously, keep one copy on the HD, and you can burn extra dvd dubs later if needed. Including playlists of selected cuts.

I like the Panasonic models for this, we use the DMR T-3040 and some close cousins. Others work too. The only pain is, the shorter the recording, the longer the finalizing step takes, as much as maybe eight minutes, but you don’t dare not skip the finalize if you want compatibility. OTOH, you can remove the disc, record the next guy, then finalize them all one at a time at the end of the day…

Also, we only ever use the 2-hour speed, the high-capacity/low speed lacks quality IMO, and the higher quality one-hour “speed” has compatibility probs sometimes with various makes and ages of consumer gear. At least, that’s been our experience.

Walmart and the like now sell VCR-like DVD recorders *without* tuners (just composite and component inputs) specifically marketed to people that just want to transfer VHS dubs and home movies, these are pretty cheap but most I think lach a hard drive. Still, for this particular application, could be just right.

[Mark Suszko]

I almost always spot a reversed-motion clip when I see one on TV. They are hard to do well, so I avoid them. But I don’t think you should call this “cheating”, more like clever cutting.

I remember in my linear tape days, editing some dialog from someone with really poor diction, dropped a lot of their sibilant “s” sounds and it made them sound ignorant. Sent the client away to lunch and spent the hour finding 2-frame sibilance clips and pasting them into all the words missing the “ess”. Client came back and said “did you find better takes? This guy sounds intelligent now”. “Nope, just massaged his audio a little”.

“I didn’t cheat: I changed the conditions of the test. Got a commendation for creative thinking.”-J.T. Kirk, re: The “Kobayashi Maru test”. ST: The Wrath Of Kahn.