Mike Cohen
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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[Mark Suszko] “Clients were very happy. With my work, I mean, obviously.”
LOL
[Mark Suszko] “It in many respects was not unlike covering a wedding”
Wedding…funeral…”family reunion” in many cases.
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I guess this is where I chime in and mention that if you puncture a vein instead of an artery you will be less likely to bleed to death while signing this contract.
Mark – this should be required reading for anyone getting into business.Mike Cohen
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Do you mean a channel that shows funerals, or one that has funeral industry content.
My next door neighbor is a former mortician, who still attends trade shows. I am surprised a tv channel has never emerged targeting the funeral industry.
Or perhaps a little of each. Industry news and celebrity funeral coverage.
The RFD channel, about farming and topics of interest to farmers and country-folk is a pretty targeted channel. The weekly Farm Report is actually interesting, as I would never have known that the Kansas soybean crop is only 34% planted as of this week, or that apical dominance is an actual agriculture term.
I know that videos for funerals is a segment of the production business.
It seems someone has thought of this:
https://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/news/article_1334922.php/Funeral_channel_to_cater_to_Germanys_affluent_elderly_TV_audiencehttps://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_1998_Nov/ai_54879214/
https://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1997/09/6904
and amazingly, Nick’s post is already listed in Google under funeral channel – amazing.
Mike Cohen
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Mick,
I think you hit the nail on the head.
There is more to a person than just what they do 9-5 at their jobs.
I have been guilty of having a bad day, and that translates into everything.
But it can certainly be more subtle.My original post is not meant to be a rant, just a means to stir up some of the great insights that we get on this forum. And to admit that there is always room for improvement.
Zane, you also make the great point that people will react to how you manage them. Perhaps under tight deadlines one could make an extra effort to be thoughtful of the extra time people might be taking to make things happen for you.
Mike
Well, maybe a little ranting never hurt anyone!
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You didn’t tell us what format..DV or some HD format?
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You might look for office rentals in a virtual or shared office (Regus or others). You rent the office, but the conference room, kitchen area, and receptionist are shared. The receptionist answer your line with you company name, and either takes a message or routes your calls to you. When a client visits, it is very professional looking, but you save on overhead and staff.
Mike Cohen
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In general, if you are paid to create a work for hire, the client owns it soup to nuts. You putting your logo on it should only be with the permission of the client, often the client should suggest this. No suggestion, no agreement, no permission, no credit. Your credit is your payment.
If the subject matter of the work is non-proprietary, and you and the client both think it is great, you could approach the client about using it as a case study in your portfolio. Ad agencies and commercial post houses routinely do this. But it needs to be with permission.
From my perspective, most of the work for hire we do is specific to the company in question, and cannot be publicly displayed, as the pieces are generally used by the client for their own marketing.
Projects we produce for ourselves are fair game and are a great way to get publicity and for networking. “Oh, you made that CD-ROM? Really? We should talk.” or “Hey, I really like that textbook you published. I have an idea for a book. Can I share it with you?”
Since our business is both doing work for hire and producing our own products for sale, we can do some cross-promotion, and word of mouth goes a long way.
Mike Cohen
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Actual synopsis of a phone conversation I had a couple of years ago:
Me: Hello, this is Mike.
Caller: Hi, this is Jane Smith. I’m a producer for “major science and health cable channel”. We are working on a show about colon cancer. I was wondering if you have any stock footage of colonoscopy.
Me: Hmm, maybe. Where are you located?
Caller: We’re in LA.
Me: Don’t you work with any of the hospitals out there?
Caller: No, not really. We weren’t allowed to film any actual colonoscopy procedures. Do you have any?
Me: Maybe. We really don’t make a habit of selling our footage. Most of it isn’t licensed for that.
Caller: Oh. Well I wasn’t thinking of buying footage. I was hoping you might be able to give me something to use. We’ll give you credit of course.
Me: Really, you don’t have a budget for this? Don’t you work for “major science and health cable channel?”
Caller: Well yes, but they don’t really give us any money.
Me: I see. Well I can’t just give you footage. And as I said, most of our stuff is not for sale anyway. Sorry I can’t be of more help.
Caller: Oh gee whiz. Well can you suggest anyone I could call.
Me: You’re the producer honey. Produce.
Ok, I didn’t really say that, but I was thinking it!
Me: Why not call one of the biggest most well known hospital in Los Angeles. I’m sure they could lead you in the right direction. Or call Katie Couric. Her colon is all over the internet.
Caller: Blank stare coming through phone.
Me: Well, good luck to you.
Scene.
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Yep, people everywhere are looking for a free lunch. The problem with free lunch is it often consists of undercooked hot dogs and weak iced tea. It may satisfy your hunger for a little while, but you’ll have an upset stomach later.
Mike
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What Ron said.
and..
Here is my limited experience:
If your primary job is not wedding videos, do not tell the bride you will give them what the local wedding video guy gives them, because of what Ron said.
Even for the guys who have a day job but do wedding videos on the side, I’m talking every weekend – they still follow the formula and charge a lot.
If you are doing this for a friend, cousin, niece etc, or for a stranger who somehow found out you may be good at this, tell them:
“I don’t do wedding videos for a living. I’m not going to charge you $3500 like the other quotes you got, but you are not going to get $3500 worth of wedding video for the $1500 I will charge you. Using my sensibilities as an editor and my non-wedding production experience. Thus, your video will look very good but will be tastefully edited without wipes, motion backgrounds, cheesy animations or immediate playback at the reception. If you want those things, I am not the person for the job. But if you want a video like I would make for my own daughter or sister, then let’s go.”
That’s what I said and did the few times I did a wedding. it is still 8 hours on your feet and 40 hours of editing.
Once you get into the price range of the top guys in your area, you had better be able to do exactly what they do and how they do it – HDV x2 cameras and lots of cheese.
Manage expectations. Go to the rehearsal with your camera. Be prepared for the reception – cake, dances, speeches with the lights on, then pitch black for dancing.
Mike Cohen
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here’s a handy little tool I use daily:
https://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.phpSince digital files tend to have names like DSC10023456789.mov or whatever, before I import anything into an editing app, I rename files in some easy to follow manner, that makes it easier to find files later. Inevitably files will get misplaced. We are human and have brains that occasionally forget to do things.
As for tapes, it is every man for himself here. Cardboard boxes for finished projects help. In progress projects, you keep your tapes rubber banded together on a shelf, away from trash cans.
Write down, on paper, the location of projects (drive name, computer) or in a Word or Excel doc.
That being said, there are some files like logos that live on the desktop. It is important to copy such files to your project directory before importing into the project.
I tend to label my field tapes Date_#, knowing that I can add more details later if I want to, but that there is (almost) never more than one shoot on a given date. I just have to remember the shoot date. 90% of the time, we capture the tapes within a week of the shoot, and then barring any hard drive failures, that is the last time you touch the tapes.
Always room for improvement.
Mike Cohen