Mike Smith
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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News archives and stock footage services offer varied terms, and for unusual or unique footage of newsworthy events prices can be very high. But for a doc crew they probably won’t have the budget to go much over a typical $1000 -$1500 dollar a minute of cut screen time rate for what is probably useful but not necessary footage for them … though who knows for any specific project.
You could research rates and how libraries can protect themselves a little by upfront research fees and the supply of low-res and/or watermarked footage for picture research purposes by checking out some of the main suppliers in the field
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_footage
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Pitch for a good daily rate – one that you’d like. They can always try to negotiate you down (only VERY few negotiators will ever think to build your rate up to make your service sustainable.)
Make sure to allow for your equipment and materials costs. You should be able to edit AVCHD slickly on a fast Windows computer with a decent graphics card with premiere, edius, vegas – even MS’s free Movie Maker for that homespun look they want. But you may need to (hire or) buy a new computer, second hard drive, big graphics card and second monitor, decent speakers, camera, microphone, software, maybe a soft portable light or two … and those costs need to be covered.
Your IMDB credits suggest you have a lot of talent, and while it’s easy to lose confidence in fallow periods, remember that: a tech company would be lucky to get your best efforts. If they can think they can do it as well and cheaper, they will; so try to give yourself time to make the stuff distinctive, quirky, appealing to their (geeky?) customers so that if they do try another route they see worse work …
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If you are on apache / linux this might get you going. https://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/custom404.shtml
If you’re using a Win server this might be relevant. https://www.asp.net/web-forms/tutorials/deployment/deploying-web-site-projects/displaying-a-custom-error-page-cs
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Vimeo’s Hubnut widget is Flash based, which is great for desktop but not supported in mobile devices – never on iOS, and no longer on Android.
With the rise of mobile and Steve Job’s desire to break Flash’s grip on video, https://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/09/tech/mobile/flash-steve-jobs/index.html there is no longer an easy publish-once-play-anywhere option for video distribution – at least not a publish-one-file option.
For Mobile devices, there are a number of free HTML5-bsaed players you could try out, which can work on most platforms with no more than two published output files per video. This might help you get started. https://praegnanz.de/html5video/
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What have you tried so far?
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Recording to picture is a minority pursuit, useful when deadlines are very tight. It does offer a chance for personality to respond to or bounce off the picture, but it adds a layer of technical involvement that increases costs and often hinders rather than helps a talented and well-directed performer.
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It sounds as if you need to open whatever you’ve been given in Vegas, then immediately render a lower-res version in a format you know you can play back in Vegas. Make your audio mix with that. When finished render / export the audio, re-open the master and replace audio with your new audio. Render your master in your output format, and play back on a machine that meets your playback requirement and can play it back smoothly.
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Doesn’t a simple out-of-normal-hours and overtime rate do the job? And shouldn’t a production budget include a charge to cover standard project costs and overheads that might be partly independent of time-rate items?
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There are lots of people who say they can edit: look for one near you who has edited work that you like, and ask her / him … though it’s usually helpful to think through as much as possible audience, outlets (distribution), story at an early stage and before shooting too much footage.
It’s hard to raise much money with traditional distribution approaches for independent doc films, even if the story is spectacularly strong and the editorial and technical standards high: there’s a lot of material out there and broadcasters can pick and choose. This might limit your budget, or push you towards self-distribution or web sales …
These might help …
https://www.noendpress.com/caleb/documentary_film/index.php
https://www.unesco.org/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_ADE5124ABB726335ACB2F48D34633AAC99A10700/filename/programme_doc_documentary_script.pdf
https://makebettermedia.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/book-review-documentary-editing.html
https://www.documentaryhowto.com/documentary-tips/138-documentary-tip-7-distribution-strategies-for-a-changing-world -
You could go for an expansion card like (there are lots of others)
according to what expansion potential your machine has.https://www.amazon.co.uk/Startech-com-ExpressCard-FireWire-Laptop-Adapter/dp/B003N3J354
or https://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&sku=500-10056&~ck=baynoteSearch&baynote_bnrank=0&baynote_irrank=0&ST=Cables%20-%20I/O,LPB&dgc=ST&cid=41141&lid=1069630&acd=239715600820560