Mike Cohen
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
-
If it sounds too good to be true, it’s too good to be true.
This sounds too bad to be true. You have a good chance of getting burned.
If you want this to happen, get something in writing and pay a lawyer to look at it. It seems much of the risk is on you, so the risk management is also on you.
You may like working with the talent and want your work to be broadcast for your local market to see, but don’t forget your most important customer…YOU!Mike Cohen
-
I would comp in a low-key motion loop or even a static black or white in teh background, and then bring in relevant b-roll only when in jives with what they are taking about, and not the full background image, more of a split screen with a soft edge, so the area behind the subject is plain, and the b-roll is visible in the nose room area of the screen.
Let us know what you came up with.
Mike Cohen
-
I agree with Tim. The point of a forum like this is to trade advice and experiences in such a way as to promote learning and self-improvement, or to get help with the unknown, not to cast stones in the town square.
The original poster on this thread could open himself up to something called “exposure.” In other words, you expose yourself, your client or your employer to unwanted negative public attention – usually a bad thing.
While one may feel like venting, be generic. A website with a million visitors a month is not the place to name names. Once you name names, you have passed the point of no return and Tim’s warnings become a real possibility.
Perhaps we should have a “Posting Guidelines” at the top of the page for new users (or for anyone with an axe to grind), since this forum is more likely to open someone up to possible exposure. For example, saying “WXYZ Network does the following with their lighting design” is a lot more benign that “WXYZ Network doesn’t pay their bills.” Both may be true but both may not be public information, whether you feel abused or not. Dare I say you could get into a slander situation.
Anytime you rent a camera, there needs to be a down-payment, security deposit, or a billing relationship between the parties.
Mike Cohen
-
That seems a bit weird to begin with – freelancing for your own full time employer. What were you doing for them that is outside your regular job duties?
Mike
-
This makes me think of the AVID Roadshow event I went to in the Boston area circa 1993. The event kicked off with a blank screen, as the PowerMac would not boot. Once it got going, the tech spent about half an hour showing all the cool backgrounds he could put on the Mac desktop. Eventually they got to the AVID software itself, but I don’t recall any specifics, since the dog and pony show for the Mac itself permanently scarred my frontal lobe.
I did get a free t-shirt.A few weeks later I went to the SGI Roadshow, and had a similar experience. An audience watching someone type UNIX commands on a projection screen – exciting! No t-shirt – bah!
A similar experience with the Radius Telecaster and the IMIX VideoCube also went down soon after.
All of these events had one thing in common – showing something that was probably not quite ready for the public, just to get it into the public.
Despite the non-starter nature of these events, they all came into play early in my career as we went about the following activities:
– Researched replacements for the aging 1″ edit bays
– Toured the country with our SGI computers displaying cutting edge Virtual Reality simulations
– Demonstrated not-yet-ready-for-primetime technology and presentation methodologies in front of large audiences
– Developed a large collection of customized Anvil casesMike Cohen
-
Don – no worries. The beauty of the COW forums is that people with similar and different backgrounds can exchange both good and bad experiences in a non-confrontational manner and in the end learn from one another.
Next time I need something shot in San Fran I know who to call!
That’s another great thing about this site, you can find the best people to work with. Just today we are editing some beautiful XDCAM stuff shot for us by another COW member.
Mike Cohen
-
Last year I hired a freelance shooter to record a meeting that I did not attend. I went through Google city search and talked to the three bears.
One was too high for pointing a camera at guys giving powerpoint lectures.
One was just right, but couldn’t make it.
The third was too low – a kid right out of school, trying to get some gigs, with his own JVC HD camera. His reel showed that, if he was being honest about actually producing the material, he had some basic aesthetic and technical skill.
But he was going to charge $100 plus tape stock.
This is usually a sign that someone either, A, does not know how much to charge, or B, someone does not know what they are doing but still wants to make money.
I generally would never pay so little for a video shoot, because you are asking for trouble. A bargain is not a bargain if you do not get anything in return.
Knowing that he was probably my only option, and wanting to steer him in the right direction, I asked a few questions to make sure he knew what he was talking about, which he did, and then suggested he come up with a legitimate half-day rate – something that is a good value for me, but something that pays him as a professional, not a kid. You pay your nephew $100 to shoot your kid’s bar-mitzvah.
The end result was $400 changed hands, still the lowest I have ever paid for a half-day shoot. The result was ok for what it is – guys giving powerpoint lectures. Had I paid him the $100, I would have gotten the same result, but I would never pay so little due to the above discussion. Also paying so little for “pro” work devalues our industry. Finally, paying within a professional range for work lets the vendor know that you expect a good result but that you trust them to do what they say they can do.
There is of course the honor system in these transactions.
Mike
-
A few important questions to answer:
Were you at the shoot?
If so, was there a video monitor, or did you just sit there assuming the shooter knew what to do.
If you checked the shots, or even checked the viewfinder and iris settings yourself once in a while, then you could avert disaster later.
If you were on the shoot but not able to check any shots, then what were you doing?I certainly have been on shoots where I have so many things to do that there is little time to look over shoulders, but I tend to work with people whose reputations I trust or who I have trained myself.
If you were not at the shoot, did you give the shooter a shot list of exactly what you want?
If so, did they follow it?
If they got you your shots, but then displayed a lack of skill and got you crap, then the other replies on this thread are valid – check out a reel and get a recommendation or testimonial from a past client of the shooter.
Regardless of the answers, it still comes down to knowing the capabilities of the contractor.
When hiring a crew in a major city, you should be able to find a crew with Network or Dateline-type credits. Lacking that, get a recommendation from someone you know.
As to your recourse, you could tell the freelancer how dissatisfied you are and try to pay him less. But your only option with the client is to go, tail between the legs, and admit that there is a problem with the footage. It happens, probably more than you would imagine.
Mike
-
We had a similar issue. Our .com emails had been around since 1995 and were clogged with spam. We switched to .net in 2004 but people were hesitant to lose their identity so we left the .com addresses forwarding to our .net inboxes, which kept the spam coming. Once we erased the .com addresses completely the spam vanished.
We have heard about using gmail to manage non-gmail email but I have the same concern as Franklin – google already controls commerce to some degree, why give them more control?
One problem is vague subject lines. If a thread goes back and forth for weekes and the subject line never changes you then need to search for the particular communication you are looking for. I try to change the subject line even when responding to an email just to be more specific. The problem with doing this is that people who view as threads by subject line won’t be too happy.
Mike
-
The creative Cow Services section lists production companies in the LA area – no doubt you could hire employees of these outfits to run camera.
Vimeo.com is a popular place for people to post their HD reels or shorts. You might look there. For example, Tom Guilmette who works in the Boston area posts some cool videos shot for fun with his EX1 as well as from his sports gigs as both operator(Fenway park) and as DP. No doubt there are similar people in your neck of the woods.
Mandy.com seems somewhat reliable, and doing a Google or dare I say, a Bing search for “freelance video” might yield some results.
If you “google” someone, do we also now have the ability to “bing” someone? That just doesn’t sound right.
People shudder at craigslist, but I use it every so often with good results. At present, it remains a place to look for paying gigs (and lots of scams) but if you are the one posting ads then you may be surprised at the number of hits you get. From an ad for a full time position that I posted last year, in addition to the guy we hired, I also got 8 other candidates to interview and a dozen or so freelance shooters looking to get on my rolodex. Many had their reels on Vimeo as it turns out.
Mike Cohen