Michael Brown
Forum Replies Created
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Postage & shipping is a common everyday business expense. Your contract, deal memo, agreement, etc. (you do have that, don’t you?) can simply say, “plus postage and shipping.”
All the production companies I work with charge for shipping. I really don’t know of any business that doesn’t.
There’s no way to estimate it because you don’t know at the beginning how many trips a project will need.Mike Brown
Video/Film Producer
American Heart Association -
Ask the narrator if s/he is willing to work outside of SAG. If so, have the actor sign your release and you can just pay the bill.
If the actor is not willing to work non-union, then you can sign a “one production only” agreement and go from there. Or, go through a signator paymaster.
The main money issues are:
1. SAG (or AFTRA) contracts are for a specific use for a specific length of time, and would have to be renewed (re-use fees).
2. Pension & health fees.
You are still liable for payroll taxes and workers’ comp. Unless they have their own company (known as “FSO” – for service only) that can send you an invoice, actors are always considered employees by the IRS. That’s why it’s still a good idea to go through a paymaster, union or not.
So, it’s up to the actor to decide. The union has strict rules about its members working non-union projects, so don’t be surprised with the answer.
I hope this is helpful.Mike Brown
Video/Film Producer
American Heart Association -
I believe the DSR-11 is just a player/recorder, not an editor, so crash recording is all it can do.
Mike Brown
Video/Film Producer
American Heart Association -
Pro Tools LE cannot live in the same box with MCA.
Check the “readme” file with Adrenaline.Mike Brown
Video/Film Producer
American Heart Association -
Always power down when you change the battery or switch to/from AC. Then wait until the little LED next to the CAMERA/VCR button goes off before pulling the plug.
Mike Brown
Video/Film Producer
American Heart Association -
You might consider digital signage software such as Scala http://www.scala.com or Infocaster http://www.infocaster.tv for this, although I have no firsthand experience with either. I believe Infocaster is based on Inscriber, a pretty good CG, IMHO.
Mike Brown
Video/Film Producer
American Heart Association -
Settings > Media Creation > Render Tab
Cleared the “Same as source” check box.
Some of the underlying material was DV25, causing setup to go up & down, among other things.
All is well.Mike Brown
Video/Film Producer
American Heart Association -
Hi Mark!
Yes, our edit* T2K preserved CC. We’ve moved to Adrenaline, but it too retains the info. I’ve re-edited many projects while preserving CC. I put the old clip behind the new material and do a tiny crop at the top on to reveal the CC.
This is all in the Beta SP / Dig Beta world. I don’t think it works with the DV flavors.Mike Brown
Video/Film Producer
American Heart Association -
Closed captions are cued using the master’s timecode. This is done with specialized software to time stamp each caption and create a file. That file drives a hardware encoder to insert the CC data on line 21 as your master is copied to a new CC master.
All hardware encoders are not created equal. This is a dupe, so if you are mastering to Beta SP, make sure the encoder can use y, pb, pr component video rather than composite. We try to stick with Digital Betacam & digital encoders so as not to take the analog hit.
If you are making a DVD, you will need to create a .scc file file for the DVD authoring system. Be aware that very few DVD authoring packages support line 21 closed captioning.
Besides the technical part, there is some skill in determining where the captions are on the screen, font, color, and describing non-spoken sounds, according to accepted practices for CC.
Because this is all very time-intensive, we use an outside service.
I hope this is helpful.Mike Brown
Video/Film Producer
American Heart Association -
Kiki,
Please go here and download the “Technical Standards Quick Guide” pdf. Also check out the other docs. I highly recommend the “Widescreen Book” as a reference for your bookshelf.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/delivering_quality/tv.shtml#WidescreenMike Brown
Video/Film Producer
American Heart Association