[Mike Cohen]

I can’t believe there are so many local wedding coordinators in your area that an e-mail campaign is the best approach. I would suggest calling them and setting up a time to show them your work.

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

Business arrangements based upon “free” are flawed. you should have a contract with each subject matter expert, incorporating a list of your costs. Just because you are doing the work at no charge does not mean you are not incurring costs. For example:

Generic How To Video

Expert’s Costs
Parking $10
Lunch $20
Supplies $50

Producer’s Costs
1-day video shoot $3500
Post-production editing (40 hours @ $50/hr) $2000
DVD authoring and package design (10 hours @ $50/hr) $500

DVD units sold at $20/ea

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) = total costs / #units

you have two ways of splitting the proceeds:

Subtract your COGS from the gross sales and then split the net according to your contractual percentage

or

Put the gross towards COGS until you make your money back, then split the gross accordingly.

If this is your primary business then you need to consider your overhead in your own costs.

For example, a one-day shoot may cost $800, or if this is your own business and you are not getting outside work, then make your shoot rate higher, so you account for overhead.

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

we are updating the drivers today, will let you know if that helps.

Incidentally, can the Intensity Pro on XP Pro cause any Premiere CS3 errors? I have been getting the ubiquitous:

Sorry, a serious error has occurred…

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

I too am using the intensity (CS3 on Windows XP) to monitor SD firewire projects. My one HDV project I have edited in HDV native, only to avoid any workflow hinderances which might arise.
On my setup, i take the audio out from the Intensity into an audio mixer, which feeds speakers or headphonnes.

oddly, the left and right audio outputs of the Intensity are attenuated differently – i had to set the trims on my mixer to even out the left and right channels. Is there some Intensity settings I am not seeing?

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

Was this an assignment for class, or is this actually going to be used as part of orientation or on the school’s website.
My own alma mater has some pretty dismal videos on their alumni website.
If this is to show to students, then the others have hit the nail on the head – it is boring.
Watch MTV or whatever it is college kids watch these days, and try to emulate what you see – but with purpose and intention, not just to copy.
Needs some design – even superimposing the college’s logo in the lower right, but that logo should be in the supers also.

Show to your friends and see if they pay attention.

Good luck.

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

I recently watched Cloverfield – I thought it was real, but it turns out it was just an advertisement for the P2 format!

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

look at open source project management software, such as dot project. It is not for everyone, but may be what you are looking for. It is a free offering, similar to the non-free Basecamp.

[Mike Cohen]

I would say:
1. Expertise – understanding the subject matter, solid database functionality and ease of making updates
2. Special services – we offer CME accreditation, conference planning, support
3. Pricing – this is more than just a low price – it is the value for the money
4. They want what we have – since we market our own products (books, DVDs) we have both clients(work for hire) and customers (commerce).

[Mike Cohen]

I will chime in about cold calling and cold e-mailing.
Outside sales is a tough job and I feel sorry for people who have to make cold calls all day long.
But I agree, the internet lets you do free research on almost any company, so a cold caller should never ask “so what does your company do?”
I on the other hand often ask cold callers “so what does your company do?”
I get the occasional call with the following scenario:
Receptionist over PA: Mike, you have a call on line 2.
Me: Who is it?
Receptionist: I didn’t ask.
Me: Ask.
Receptionist: It’s Bob.
Me: I don’t know a Bob, but whatever.
Caller: Is this Mike?
Me: Yes. Do I know you?
Caller: Hi this is Bob from ABCXYZ Inc. I’d like to take a few minutes…
Me: What do you do, or what are you selling?
Caller: Well, can you tell me about your IT needs?
Me: We have no IT needs.
Caller: Are you the person who makes computer purchasing decisions?
Me: What’s a computer? I don’t have time, can you send me something?

Or Alternatively, I get a follow-up call from someone I hung up on previously:

Caller: Mike? Hi this is Bob Smith.
Mike: Do I know you?
Caller: Yes, we spoke a few months back. I own XYZ Fish Hook Repair company.
Mike: Oh yeah. I told you before, we repair our own fish hooks.
Caller: Well can you allow me to quote you a rate?
Mike: What is your rate?
Caller: Well, if I could direct you to our website you can view our rate card.
Mike: You know what, no. Don’t call me ever again.
Caller: But…
click

Well that is a bit extreme, but as others have said, a cold call need not be ice cold.

As for cold e-mails, I usually delete these unless it is a newsletter I have signed up for.

More often I get e-mails as a response to a classified ad I have posted. I have several criteria for weeding through the dozens of responses:

1. A typo in the e-mail – trash.
2. A dead link – trash
3. Poor grammar, ie “I present to you myself for excellent work on the behalf of yourself” – trash
4. Form e-mail “Dear Sirs…” move to the Bad responses folder.
5. If none of the above happen and the links are good, this is a good e-mail to pursue contact.

Our time is precious, and so is our money.

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

My opinion matches the other responses. When doing corporate video work, the client owns the end product and can do what they like with it.
I occasionally get an e-mail “we are having trouble copying the videos off the DVD, can you send us WMV…” etc
In most cases it is not too big a deal to make them their other formats, either at no charge or at our agreed upon hourly rate – it is an hour or so of work to convert to another format, so it is sometimes just a nice thing to do for your client – assuming it is a client who pays their bills!
If you are paid as an editor, for example, on a broadcast or direct to video for sale project, it may be ok for your name to be on the credits – that is at the discretion of those paying you. But on a corporate job, usually it should have the appearance of being totally a corporate production – your credit is your payment.

Mike