[Mike Cohen]

If it uses clipart which is well known, such as the Windows Paperclip man, then you may eventually get called on it. But there is so much clipart out there, if you are really concerned, use Illustrator to create your own vector graphic in the same design, but that way it is your image.

[Mike Cohen]

see this blog post of mine – I had to do a DVD loop using all SD 4:3 material and one HD 16:9 video – thus I was committed to 16:9 SD – and I knew this owuld play on widescreen monitors and the hotel tv system. Lowest common denominator.
https://blogs.creativecow.net/blog/491/video-grab-bag

[Mike Cohen]

I should get in the habit of using subclips. You have to make the sequence first, before copying and pasting. No big deal.

[Mike Cohen]

I too can relate these experiences:

1. I offer the client a DV res AVI or a FLV file in their preferred format. Rather, they ask for a WMV file from which they make their own FLV. Looks horrible. I even told them it looks horrible. Again, this is an IT guy who wants to do it his way. Not a lot you can do.

2. I offer the client the above, they ask for a DVD so they can “rip” the video for their website.

3. Last year we did a 16:9 DV project to DVD for use on a hotel tv system. I prayed that the hotel DVD player was setup correctly to format the 16:9 video correctly – it was correct but I did not know this until I checked into the hotel room.

These threads are great because they confirm that these issues are common, if not the norm.

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

My experience with convention center AV companies ranges from button pushers who don’t know how to troubleshoot to world class know-how, usually somewhere in the middle. There are a few pretty big AV rental companies who are known for not maintaining their gear nor training their operators. I have had a few run-ins with these groups. I distinctly recall a few projectionists who referred to any tape format, from U-Matic to mini DV as “Beta tapes.”

Luckily all of my clients have switched to reliable vendors.

There is no way to anticipate the un-anticipatable.

I too will vouch that trade-show videos are usually done at the last minute, often I hand-deliver these to the booths. On one occasion someone came to find me to say they could not play the video. I went over to the booth and saw that they were trying to play the DVD through a computer by double-clicking the VOB files. This could work, however I told them to use windows media player, and it worked fine. Again, knowing the capabilities of who you are dealing with helps.

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

Unless you are going through a capture card that can change the capture format,you will likely capture to the format in which video was recorded. With HDV for example, unless you set yout camera or deck to downconvert HDV to DV, you will capture HDV. Look in the camera’s menu system.
Something like this:
Set to “play” mode> function button> menu> down twice to “play/out setup2″> select DV Output> select DV Lock.

[Mike Cohen]

I recently shot an interview with two people. However the usual interview setup with the subject looking off camera is not as easy with two people. We were in tight quarters, so I had them stand next to each other, but with one camera it was as described by others – wide shot, drift in to the speaker then pan and zoom out. It would have been ok if they kept their responses concise, but it was the opposite. When we were done I interviewed each guy separately, asking the same questions, and got better results.
I am usually in a tight space (offices) and neither have the room or the amperage for a backlight. In proper interview situations a backlight is nice.

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

I guess a legitimate question for you is, where do you live now and is there any work there?
Given the economy, moving without an actual job lead means you will be waiting tables to pay your rent. Have you worked editing broadcast shows in your local market? I think more important than “do I have to move?” is “are there jobs worth moving for?”

Provide some background on your work history and why you are looking for a change. Do you have a reel that would make a producer want to have you cut his or her show?

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

A couple of years ago we did a shoot for someone. Actually we hired a local crew on their behalf due to the short lead time.
They paid for the shoot, they get the tapes.
“What’s a BetaSP tape?” they asked. “Our graphics person is editing this on her Mac. Can you send us Quicktime files?”

Sure. Digitized the Beta tapes into the Mac in small enough chunks to then burn to DVD.

Another client asked for the raw footage of a project so they could do the editing. We sent them the mini DV tapes. They sent them back with a note saying “we can’t use these…send us the following weird format…”

Right.

[Mike Cohen]

You can indeed monitor timeline playback on a 2nd monitor in CS4 via the Sequence settings drop-down. Actually you can do it in CS3 but you need to setup your project to work this way from the start.

Make sure you make your Premiere only occupy one screen, or you can lose access to some windows.
HDV looks sweet even though it is conforming to the monitor’s resolution and dimensions, one can imagine DVCPRO would as well. Seems very dependent upon a good display card. I have a GeForce 8500 GT, it plays pretty smoothly, but there is a slight pause between starts and stops of the timeline. Obviously you can spend thousands on a display card alone.

Mike Cohen