[Mike Cohen]

the best trick, if you will, is editing narration, specifically creating a word out of parts of other words. We get narrations from doctors, usually recorded as they watch a video. They make it up as they go, which means a lot of umms and ahs and periodic mid-word re-takes without restarting the sentence.

For example:

Here we are taking down the, ah……………..the ah……greater omentum. Next, using a kelly,er, a debakey pickups we isolate the infer..superior mesenteric vein, ligating it with, between suturMIC POP s, paper shuffle. Etc..

The secret is to edit it so it sounds somewhat natural, inserting room tone to have natural pauses after I edit out the verbal glitches. In the case of a Mic pop or other noise during a word, I try to remember where that word was used previously. The one advantage of irregular off the cuff narration is there is sometimes enough space between words that words can be borrowed from other areas when needed, and the inflection is not too bad.

A trick which saves the edit on many occasions is freeze frame, cut out the background, and key the object over something else. I often do this to add interest to a text build, and it is somewhat invisible to the viewer, especially if you knock back the opacity.

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

if you have a master’s degree and have done teaching, and are overqualified for jobs you want, consider trying to get into production or creative management. Perhaps you would not be in the edit suite as often as the editor, but the pay is likely to be better.

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

I did copy the project files from one drive to another with more free space before initially opening and modifying the project.

I went back to 1.5 and finished the project with no hiccups, and I have made projects from scratch in 2.0 without problems.

Oh well, thanks for the feedback.

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

Does the offer seem appropriate for where you live? That is, is $45K in New York or LA = $45K in Arkansas or Des Moines? Presumably not due to cost of living etc.
How does the salary compare with what you can make freelance given the ideal situation of consistent gigs 52 weeks/year.
As others have pointed out, benefits can be worth a lot. If you are freelance and do not get health insurance from your spouse or union, there is a lot of value in group benefits.
Finally, if 4 years of work experience has given you the skills to impress a company to offer you a job cutting a network show, and cutting network shows is where you want to be going, then this sounds like a great opportunity. The experience to develop your skills is also worth something.
So let’s say the value of the job is:
1. Actual salary = $45,000
2. health benefits = $5,000 – $10,000
3. 401K, if matching contributions = $1000+, not to mention tax advantage
4. Paid experience developing your skills (vs. paying for training given a lack of freelance work, or for that matter taking the time un-paid to develop skills without doing it on company time or freelance gig time) = $could be a lot
5. Not having to support your own gear could equal $10,000 per year if you can earn money without buying things like computers, software upgrades, cameras, tape stock etc.

Also consider the negatives. If you work at home, are you prepared for a 9-5 gig with drive time, office politics, being low man on the totem pole? Make sure there is room for advancement and you won’t have to wait for the senior editor to die before you can make more money. Also what about vacation time. Having to wait 5 years to get 2 or 3 weeks can be a drag. Perhaps an extra week of vacation up front can offset your perceived lower pay.

Consider the big picture. Good luck.

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

I’ll chime in here. As production manager I have to manage the workflow of dozens of projects, not to mention the dozens of smaller projects which may be contained within 1 larger project. I can easily spend 40 hours a week doing project management and other admin work. Sometimes this means doing editing and other project specific tasks which i have delegated to myself during evenings or weekends. For example, i am at work right now (2:40pm on a Sunday). Other times those tasks just slip to the next week. Still other times the admin tasks slip in favor of more urgent production work.

As far as project tracking goes, we have tried using MS project, but that is really for large multi-person team projects, with all the dependent tasks, and it takes hours per week just to manage your MS project documents.

We tried a dedicated admin assistant to manage the admin tasks on projects, but not manage the projects themselves. There again, it took a portion of time each week to keep everyone on the same page.

So now we use a variety of systems.

1. For overall project management, Excel spreadsheets for asset management and milestone tracking.
2. For asset review, we use a variety of custom yet simple websites we have created. There are numerous web dashboards you can use, but those seem geared toward document management and many of the MS project type tasks.
3. If you need to keep track of physical media (tapes, digital media files, drive locations etc), and you are just one person, I would say use Excel. If you are ambitious, or if you have multiple employees, I say hire a freelance web guru to program you up a simple to use mySQL database with a simple web GUI. While you could use MS Access or OpenOffice for this, a web based app lets you access it from anywhere.
4. For invoices and tracking of time spent on projects, again there are numerous apps and no doubt some open source ones, you will have to try them out. We have a person who does this.

While you can spend lots of time evaluating software and implementing solutions, the main idea is to keep things simple. If you run your own business, you have no choice but to devote hours per week to the admin side of things.

However, if you are losing X dollars worth of productivity/billable hours per week doing these tasks, consider hiring a freelance bookkeeper or admin assistant. If you use independent contractors, you don’t have to be concerned with payroll and all those issues. If you run your own business you should already have an accountant, so start there regarding per diem help.

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

nevermind

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/3/876442

PC it is.

[Mike Cohen]

as a college grad myself, my two cents opinion is to take some non-technical classes as well. if you go to Full Sail, I’m sure they’ll teach you how to use all sorts of cool software, cameras and other gear. But take some college level classes in literature, writing, economics, marketing, finance and history. This makes you a more well rounded person, help you develop good work habits, critical thinking skills, and prepares you for a job. Unless you want to be a pure technician, you need to know how to write business communications and it is at least my opinion that you need some post-high school educational experiences, aside from the school of life.
As the others have said, you can know every feature of AE or any other software, but does that mean you are a sophisticated thinker who can engage in productive business relationships? Maybe, maybe not. There is a lot to be said for on the job training as well.
Good luck.
Mike

[Mike Cohen]

In my experience, i did 4 internships. Unsure of what part of the industry i wanted to work in, I did the following. however, doing this many internships was uncommon, but it did get me out of 4 classes!

1. WCVB – Channel 5 Boston. Midday news intern.
2. WFSB – Channel 3 Hartford – assignment desk intern.
3. COX Cable Advertising
4. Visual Concepts Media – high-end corporate media
5. Travelers Television – insurance company studio (not technically an internship)
6. TV Studio administrative assistant, teaching assistant, “the guy with the magnetic key card to the equipment locker” – this was a paid on-campus job.

So some people believe a college experience opens doors which may not be otherwise open to you. Plenty of people are self-taught, or have migrated to their current production jobs from other careers in media, journalism or zookeeping for example.

You can read in more detail about my internships here:
https://blogs.creativecow.net/node/221

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

Sorry I’m late for this party. Can I bring potato salad? Is anyone else bringing potato salad? I am very serious about my work and would be honored to be part of this project, as long as my aunt Minne’s potato salad has a prominent place on the buffet table. Hey do you need a table? I could go buy some tables.

Seriously, I think the thread should be renamed “A Compelling Reason to be wary of Craigslist”

Sure you can get some legit work and even hire people off that site, but it is also full of idiots and scams. I would not judge the industry by a few bad posts.

Mike

[Mike Cohen]

I would consider how the client will use the final product. If the client is going to show the video on a plasma/LCD display at a trade show booth, then show it in that setting, knowing that the image will be stretched. If this is a DVD the client will distribute to the field, then knowing if sales reps for example all have laptops with DVD players (You’d be surprised) then show it on a laptop.

I have written numerous e-mails to clients explaining why a standard def DVD does not look very good on a plasma tv, even compared to a Hollywood DVD (film vs HD vs DV etc).

Mike Cohen