Mike Cohen
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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Good question – I suppose you could use the fill left or fill right effect, but I think the speech analysis works from files in the project, not on a sequence. If that is the case, and your background atmosphere on Ch 2 is interfering with the analysis, you could export clean audio and re-import, but that does not really answer your question.
Phil – have not seen or heard your name in a very long time since I was starting out with Media 100 in the late 90’s – hope you are doing well.
Mike Cohen
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Consider your audience – are your viewers all on similar levels of broadband – are you really streaming it using a streaming server?
400-700kbit/sec will accommodate most users – higher for HD but remember, people in offices do not necessarily enjoy the bandwidth you have at home or in your studio.Mike Cohen
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[Joshua Klinkenberger] “Unfortunately my position, since starting here, has changed A LOT and is quite unique.”
Actually Josh, your position is pretty common – a company hires you for X, finds you are pretty good at Y and Z and they keep giving you more and interesting things to work on.
Generally you should wait until a performance review to suggest a salary upgrade, or risk alienating yourself, especially during economic times like we are all coping with.
Sure there is a possibility that your bosses do not appreciate your talents or what you are worth, but they no doubt appreciate the work you do. But maybe they have not considered the value of your work vs paying a la carte for it with outside services.
So rather than trying to tell them how freaking awesome you are (which you may be) – sell them on how you are doing work they would otherwise pay outside contractors for. You might poke around on the web for service providers in your area, and figure out some ballpark numbers, such as what the going rate is for the various projects you deliver.
Consider the two statements:
1. I’m awesome and you should pay be X because I do great work and I do a lot more than you hired me for.
or
2. Over the past year I have completed X projects, and at prevailing rates for outside services, we would have had to pay Y. Thus, for my salary, we are getting a great deal.
Assuming the difference between X and Y is more than say $50,000, then you may have some leverage, but as Walter pointed out, saving them money is not necessarily an easy sell.
Regarding statement 1, bosses do not like being told by their employees that they are doing something wrong in the eyes of the employee, and they certainly do not like demands or managing up.
It is a buyer’s market for employers, so present your position in a way that benefits your bosses – their paradigm is what is important to them, and should be to you too.
Good luck and address this post haste.
Mike Cohen
PS – Google yourself
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[Gary Hazen] “”I put the shiny thing in my computer and it doesn’t work right”.”
Don’t you mean:
“I put the CD in my DVD player and nothing happened”
or
“Can you play a DVD in a computer without a DVD drive?”
or
“I put the disc in my DVD player and nothing happened”
“You mean the disc labeled ‘PDF documents – view on computer’?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. Can you send me a working copy?”
“No, it is not supposed to work in a DVD player – you view a PDF on your computer.”
“Oh, ok. What’s a PDF? Can it be made to play on a DVD player?”
etc.Of course our job is to educate the client, so these conversations, when they happen, are helpful to the customer. They are not technical experts – that’s why they hire you.
Mike
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We print DVD in bold Arial Black on the disc and the case and no one has ever said “hey is this a DVD?”
We have seen duplicated discs with the DVD trademarked logo, often from individuals who think they are being professional, but we would never do that.
Mike Cohen
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[Craig Seeman] “Maybe you’re personal experience is different but even with that wording some clients (clients I’ve had) assume a rate is flat if you don’t mention hours.”
Of course every experience is different, and we all have our particular way of working.
I think one thing is clear from this and many other threads like it – film schools are not teaching film students much about how to actually operate in a business setting. I have seen this in numerous film school grads – they learn all the technical skills, but then if they want to go into business for themselves, they are dead in the water unless they find a good mentor to teach them the business side of things.
Mike
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I would argue that Connecticut is the center of the universe. We have the following based in our small but diverse state:
Insurance Companies: Aetna, The Hartford, Cigna, Travelers
These companies seem to be weathering the financial storm, and will be called upon to care for citizens of many countries and their offspring as they age, get sick and eventually die(life insurance benefits). They also offer various financial instruments.
Industry: Stanley Tools, Lego, Otis Elevator, General Dynamics Electric Boat, United Technologies
You may get in an elevator in Hong Kong that was designed in CT. While LEGO has offshored its manufacturing, their world headquarters is still here.
Film and Television: We have film studios, a state film tax credit and a particularly good medical video industry
Wealth and Poverty: CT provides a nice cross-section of wealth and poverty, featuring Fairfield County and Bridgeport – two of the most divergent areas of the country in per capita income and abject poverty in the nation, right next to each other.
Transportation: Metro North railroad provide rail transport into and out of NYC daily, with Amtrak using the same crowded rails. We could use a local option for commuter rail in Hartford, New Haven and other cities. So from this perspective, CT is a possible small area testing ground for new transport initiatives that could one day criss-cross the nation. But we could do better. Our roads are highly congested and in disrepair thanks to too many cars and a few poorly executed improvement projects. Again, we have a developing nation feel to our driving conditions.
Proximity to other centers of the world: You can drive to Boston, New York, Philadelphia in a few hours from any point in CT and our local airport can get you anywhere else pretty easily. So no matter where the center of the universe ACTUALLY is, CT is a good place to start.
I’m Mike Cohen, independent candidate for Governor, and I approve this message!
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[Benjamin Reichman] “how many hours should I estimate? Is there a rule of thumb I should use?”
Tell them how much it will cost for you to complete the final project. Once you open the door to hourly charges you run the risk of nickel and diming which is not fair on either party.
If you know your client, and you know what kind of footage you have and what the project scope is, then estimate the hours it will take you, calculate your rate based upon your actual labor costs, and add the factors you always take into account (overhead, profit, cost of materials) and come up with a price.
Let’s say you think it will take:
100 hours x $50/hour labor = $5,000 + profit (labor x X%) + overhead (labor x X% (a percentage of your annual costs for overhead)) + cost of materials (tapes, hard drives, batteries, gaffer tape, stock music, etc) and that is your minimum selling price.
You give the client the price, perhaps broken down into the different milestones as a logical percentage of the whole, but not the number of hours.
Then if the scope changes beyond what is in your statement of work, you can have a clause in your contract about charging more, say in 5% increments per mutual agreement. For example, you deliver the final DVD and the client says “oh, can you also make me some files to play on my iPad” – that maybe was not in your SOW so you can say “sure, but that was not in my SOW so I will charge you 5% of the agreed upon amount to do that for you – or whatever.
Once you get into hourly charges you are a plumber, but installing a garbage disposal is likely to never take more than 2 hours. If the plumber told you it would take about 2 hours, then, due to the odd configuration of your kitchen sink and limited space under the counter it took 11 hours, you would be upset and likely fight the charges. Rather, if your plumber said “I am a great plumber and I will install the disposal for $500 no matter how long it takes (this assumes the plumber has inspected your sink configuration and knows it might be quick but it might not, so he comes up with a price that is fair to both of you. And you likely know that your sink if oddly configured and might take extra work, so knowing the plumber’s hourly rate posted on his website, you agree that the fixed price may actually be cheaper but that it is more than the price quoted at Home Depot for the same job. etc)
Mike Cohen
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Tim – you made me recall my upbringing – similar but different.
My dad was working in his cousin’s camera store in the late 70’s when he decided to advance his career. This required getting out of Mayberry. We left school mid-year and moved to Des Moines. Then at the end of the school year we moved to a new school district in the same town. 5 years later we moved back east, then again the next year and again the next year – each move was to allow Dad to advance his career, first in retail buying then in consumer product sales. Each move was exciting in that we changed towns and states, but difficult in that I was the new kid in school 4 years in a row. But once we got settled in each place things got better and I credit these experiences with my ability to adapt to new situations and to deal with people of all backgrounds. Once my brother and I flew the coop, my parents continued their moves a few more times, this time around to allow Mom to advance her career. Finally, we all hit the road together in matching Wagon Queen Family Trucksters to move Mom and Dad to their long-awaited McMansion in the Sunshine State.
So to reiterate what Tim has explained – learn from all experiences both good and bad, because every experience you have makes you into the person you will be in the future.
Cheers Tim.
Mike Cohen
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The Panasonic camera says it also has 5.1 surround – so you will hear Uncle Bill breathing heavily in the rear speakers!
Also, playback is via HDMI or SD card into a 3D tv or Blu-ray player. But does Panasonic assume people will simply collect SD cards? Once you save the files to your computer, can you edit in 3D (no doubt you will be able to soon) and what do you do then, burn to Blu-Ray?
I look forward to 3D videos from amusement parks.
Mike Cohen