Ned Miller
3
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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Hi Terry,
I hope you’re in Scotland now enjoying the curved slider.
I had a meeting with my buddy who formerly was my web guy, but has moved onto greener pastures specializing in e-commerce for web sites. I asked him if he would consult hourly with you and your sister and he doesn’t do such “little” engagements anymore but from what I described that your sister wants, here’s the take-away:
First, he doesn’t know of any turn key services that provide that but he said you’re needing a CDN (Content Delivery Network) which provides a video vault so only subscribers paying a recurring fee have access through their log in, meaning a database has to be set up. He does this for large companies so he figures there’s so little revenue in calligraphy it would be too expensive.
His suggestion is to produce many short teaser videos for free viewing on YouTube which will then drive curious viewers to your sister’s site where she can sell hard copy DVDs. My wife, against my wishes, buys a lot of these types of tutorial DVDs of the experts in her hobbies. I figure the reason they are using DVD instead of web viewing is that they can control the situation? Plus the cost of setting up a mom & pop CDN. Once on the web anyone with skills can download it, get around the paid access control.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com -
OK Mark, it’s 11:30AM and I’m STILL in my PJs, so this is the last one of the day.
I am a very creative type, the last thing I want to do is learn how to control a Mevo via an iPad, or any such geeky situation. I’ill shoot a panel discussion so I can put food on the table but for me to make less money doing so does not appeal to me, and if you think I can get the same amount of rate you are mistaken. Can you show me a tech innovation in our biz where the rates did NOT go down? That’s one of the principle definitions of a tech innovation: Cheaper.
I’m a shooter, specifically I love the rush of a documentary situation. I am actually trying to reduce my screen time. If you think about how much we used to be creating, now we’re doing geek chores on a computer, even if it’s editing. So any endeavor to reinvent myself which requires screen time is anathema to me. I am very active on DVXuser.com and I will say that in the last few years the tech geeks have moved into the shooting realm, after all, video cameras aren’t really cameras anymore. Cameras are now little computers with a lens stuck on the front. On those camera forums you’d think you stumbled onto a developers’ site.
Wrapping up, there’s two things you wrote that paint the differences between our perspectives (Staff vs Freelance vis-a-vis DIY tech changes) then I got to go. It’s nice out and the dogs are looking at me.
• You welcomed the demise of VHS because it makes your life easier, yet your paycheck did not change downhill as your company transitioned to digital delivery. My level of income drastically did. Are we in the same boat? No. You see it as a positive because your family income is not negatively affected.
• I’m 100% sure if I asked you if the plethora of offerings of all these choices of today’s video cameras is a good thing, you’d say YES! You wrote that at your company you rent the camera models you need and do not own. Yet when you rent your paycheck stays the same. I work for different TV shows and they actually dictate which model camera I should use plus the settings. Yet when I rent my income goes DOWN. I have to absorb some of the rental cost because they may go to a competitor who owns it, I need time to pick up and drop off, I have to study tutorials and set it up, etc. To summarize, tech innovations cause us both to need to rent yet your income remains level, mine goes down. Now do you see?
Just those two examples illustrate the difference between staff and freelance, which colors our view of tech innovations. You seem to have a rosy view of reinventing oneself and being able to charge the same. It doesn’t work like that. For example, because the bulk of my work is corporate, (or the ugly LA term industrials) I am in Midwest factories a lot. I mean a real LOT. Many factories I go into are now using robots and have become very lite on workers. Do you think they all reinvented themselves? There aren’t enough rental car shuttle busses at the airport to employ them all.
I think it’s easier to consider adapting to industry changing innovations, such as this Mevo, as a positive thing if one does not need to worry about one’s income. If one is getting the same paycheck every two weeks innovative tech disruptions may be seen as a positive thing, but not to those who lose income to them.
Well, got to run. We are of different universes, I must hunt and kill for my next meal. I worked only one day this week so I need 2.5 days next week somehow.
Later, still friends but of different worlds.
Ned
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com -
Good morning Mark,
Lucky I am an Evelyn Wood Speed Reader graduate. I will say that all of the tech changes that have negatively affected my revenue stream over the years, that you find to be positive yet are insulated from, causes us two to look at it from opposite angles.
When you back out the rich kids, married wells and hobbyists, there are two types of folks in our biz in terms of the way they make an income: Those with steady paychecks and those who are independent, meaning the latter go from project to project trying to glean a profit, such as freelancers and small post and prod co owners. The perspectives you and I disagree on illustrates this chasm. Over my 38 years in the freelance biz I know the difference very well, having had friends, clients, associates and competitors on both sides of the fence which is also why I could tell you must be of the steady paycheck crowd.
In sum, if one is going along swell making very good money in a certain manner, such as making great markups on large VHS (DVD orders are a pittance in terms of profit) dub orders, selling stock footage on digital beta tapes with little competition, selling used equipment at auctions when there’s no Ebay or CL, etc., and then major technological advances occur that tremendously reduce or totally zap that revenue flow occur, I hear you saying that one should welcome and embrace that change? Really? I can predict, adapt, purchase and deal with all these changes but as someone who used to make rather large totals doing biz that has been eradicated, there’s no way to feel happy about it, just like the former Disney IT guy who is now driving the airport shuttle bus. After all, I am a success story in terms of being a survivor but I do see the younger shooters in this biz as never going to be able to make the great money my generation did and I steered my kids away from it.
And this thread is reminiscent of a thread a few years back regarding the Flip camera taking biz away because clients started DIY and the respondents claimed it wouldn’t cut into my revenue stream because it can’t compete against a pro. Well, they were wrong, it did. Analogous to when PowerPoint came out it was assumed that the clients would still need the freelance graphic artists. Nope. 100% of clients now create their own PP. And a client asking me how to use a Mevo is the same damn thing. I am very tuned to these types of changes because they affect me getting a check. See? That’s the difference. I actually experience the losses in revenue rather than oogle a tech change that cuts me out. Just yesterday I shot for an educational company and at break the client told me they were now going to do less video and move into “digital signage”. Asking why, I was informed that it is easier to revise and update but most importantly, with videos the people in proximity turn the audio off! So they want their messaging to be text driven totally independent of audio. That’s an “innovative tech change” which means less shooting days per year. Oh! BTW, they figured out how to do the programming in-house.
Someday when I have time, I will tell you some stories of how these tech changes you find so exhilarating have undercut us non-staff folks’ ability to hit what I call financial home runs and grand slams. A very small sampling:
• Mid 90’s made $27K in 60 seconds (two 30 second phone calls) on a 9000 VHS dub order I marked up $3 each! When I first started producing VHS dub orders were my favorite thing.
• In 1984 bought our first house at 29 years old producing a $80K 16mm industrial film, spent $20K, project got cancelled and I got to keep the remaining $60K to buy the house! BTW, today that client could get their video made at $30K, easy.
• In 1991 made $156K in 6 months shooting America’s 2nd reality TV series ($1000 a day x 6 days a week x 6.5 months), that would be $248000 in today’s money! Can you imagine a 38 year old DP (outside of Hollywood) making $248000 in six months today????? Can’t do that today. This was what put 2 kids through college and provided the base of our nest egg and in the last half of the 90’s it was expected to make 15% a year in a large stock mutual fund!
• Until Ebay & CL came along I was very active in the auction scene, specifically dealing in used Mole Richardson (anyone remember them?). Bought classified ads in the back of our trade magazines and sold and shipped them nationwide.
• Before this interwebby thing I was pretty much the sole source to purchase digi beta stock shot reels of Chicago’s most requested establishing shots and every year that was good for $4-$8K, since much of the year the weather sucks and there was zero competition this was nice to do!
After a few beers I could probably come up with a dozen or so more grand slam stories which are now impossible due to tech changes. See? Change is inevitable but not always good as you claim, at least not for the freelance/indie crowd. Of course, young peeps don’t know what they missed, they only know the prod biz in 2016.
So now I hit singles, doubles and occasionally a triple. I don’t fear change, I know it’s always coming, but I do get bummed, unlike a guy with a steady paycheck, when my revenue streams get cut, such as the Mevo you lust after. For several reasons this is a horrible biz to grow old in (unless you’re “protected” by a union, have a staff gig or are in post) but the main one, if you are in production, is that as you need to max out your 401K and prep for retirement (and that day will come to all) you can’t invest in the new best thing to keep yourself competitive. However, if you have a staff gig you are insulated from these tech changes, unless you get canned. Fortunately my (teacher) wife and I who come from modest Midwest backgrounds so we are instilled with a savings ethic and are avid savers. I am a self taught investor (remember Magellan and Puritan funds?) and we are ready for “retirement” in a couple of years, but I shake my head at the Millenials in the biz in terms of the financial future they will have, specifically in the art of freelance camerawork. They will seldom have a fully paid off camera for very long. 4K is just a brief stepping stone towards 8K and who knows what, but in order to compete all these changes will require constant capital outlays when that money needs to go into an IRA and grow. There’s no pensions for us. So screw the Mevo. If my client buys, learns and adapts it, that means perhaps five less working days a year for me. See what I mean now?
Well, breakfast is over. That’s my two cents.
See ya,
Ned
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com -
Thanks again Joe! I think I need to pay for a post consultant to come in and work this out, over my head, don’t think a Comcast Blast connection will suffice. When I have a large budget (important) gig I always farm it out to editors who deal only with post and they have similar systems to yours. However, when I have little mark up or it’s very simple I do it myself and if worse came to worst I’d start the edit over or tell the client my house burned down, sorry!
I do believe I will wean my editing computer off it’s internet connection just in case and keep the laptop close using thumb drives to drag client downloads over to the editing computer. I believe, from what I learned on this thread, will protect me from ransomware.
Thanks,
Ned
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com -
I don’t tell clients the cost of my gear, unless I want to impress. I mentioned the $400 figure so the thread reader knows how little the Mevo costs.
I make my living mainly as a DP, perhaps 70% of my revenue, so “storytelling” is up to the writer (if any), producer, director and editor. I’m up to my eyebrows with the technical and running the crew (if any).
The best camera is a Paid Off Camera, then it is generating profit. The longer you can keep it going without losing clients to the new thing, the more profitable you are. The only sector that benefits from tech changes are the manufacturers, they are always shoving something new down our throats, look at NAB. I had a paid off $60K Beta SP 4×3 camera when 16×9 got popular and when I bought the new 16×9 model (clients don’t pay extra), it took over a year before it broke even. Same when we went to HD. Will be the same when we go to 4K. In fact, I probably have bought 16-20 pro level film and video cameras over my career. When a cameraman brags to you how quickly their new camera paid for itself I can assure you, it took much longer. The reason is, when I discuss with a fellow shooter how they determined when their break even point occurs, they invariably, 99% of the time, tell me they use the local rental house’s rate for that model and apply it to every day they go out with it. Me, I’m honest with myself. No matter what the cost of the new camera it is a mere percentage of the gear I bring out so I put down $200-$250 and I include the insurance, taxes, etc. So in sum, I never get in from of my clients, I wait for them to desire the new thing instead of talking them into it. It is very easy to buy into a mistake. Anyone remember the recent 3D push?
But I digress. I don’t recall reading if you’re freelance or staff but I’d say your mindset is not that of a freelancer. That’s not an insult, just an observation. Please let me ask you a few quick questions:
1) Is the demise of VHS (and DVD) as the deliverable of choice in favor of a media file to the client a good thing in your opinion? Yes or no.
2) You say you have or hire a camera operator for shooting a panel discussion/live event. If you buy and use the Mevo, what happens to that person? Will they be on the job where the Mevo is used? If it was a freelancer that you hired, will they be on the crew the day the Mevo is used? Tell the truth.
3) Is the rise of micro sites to buy individual stock footage shots in your opinion a good thing or bad thing?
4) Is the tremendous rise of people offering freelance production services, specifically DP, a good thing or bad thing?
5) Is the creation of Ebay and CraigsList to buy and sell used gear a good thing or bad thing in your opinion?
I am two years away from retiring, although no freelancer ever truly retires because they need to keep the tax write offs open. I will then use my super powers only for the good of mankind, rather than using my skills to sell some product or service or entertain the masses. I have no interest, having riden the Golden Age of Camerawork, to go out shooting for a third of the rate I used to just to employ the latest technology. I am very interested in the answer to the above questions.
Thanks
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com -
Nah Mark, I’ve seen this play before. Change is not always positive when you’re making good money as an independent biz owner the ways thing are. It’s called Disruption, you lose a revenue stream, which is a bummer when you make your living based on projects rather than a steady paycheck. My experience with bare knuckle Capitalism, and our tech oriented industry in particular, is that everything will always move towards what is:
CHEAPER • QUICKER • EASIER • SMALLER
Let’s say a client calls me to film something live and “get it up on the web ASAP”. I might get a gig like that 10-20 times a year and if I am booked I farm it out for a commission. Between the day rate and the post I may clear $1200-$1800 depending if I edit it myself on site or hire an editor to be on site. So, with your “the glass is half full” scenario, you think if I learn the Mevo app interface the client will pay me that kind of money for being at the live event for a couple of hours? I don’t think so. I don’t want to call the client and say, “Please don’t pay me $2000 for the shoot and edit, I will come with my $400 Mevo for a couple of hours and charge you $350”. The way clients think, they will learn to do it themselves and even though it sucks they will think they did an admirable job. Just as with their scriptwriting…
As to embracing technological change, please tell that to the IT folks at Disney, Toys R Us, Abbott Labs, etc. who have been training their H1B Visa replacements and will be let go shortly. Perhaps send them those two videos? That’s the same thing as telling a freelancer like me to welcome a gizmo that cuts me out. I’m in the end of the pool where you need to hustle for a living, there’s no steady paycheck, I have a nice niche doing something for good coin, and you expect me to “embrace the change” knowing I will make less money? When something new that comes along that pulls the rug out from one of your revenue streams, it is not a good thing, even when it’s called Change. Storytelling? I have no idea what you are talking about. This forum is Business & Marketing, I use video to make a living.
Tech Change can be a bad thing from a biz POV and usually is. It often is about inventing a way to do something Cheaper, Quicker, Easier, so in effect less money can be made to charge for that product or service, which is what I do and the forum is about: Making Money. I’m sure Creative Cow has a Storytelling forum, right? This Mevo is an example of bad change, so why would you like me to embrace it? Now that I’m making more money with paid off gear, do I really want to use my working capital to buy 4K gear which will make me no additional profit, yet create a loan repayment schedule just to “embrace change”? Do I want to oogle new gizmos that I know will mean I make less money this year just because they will promote “storytelling” for the masses? In fact, anything that allows for more competitors or for clients to DIY, such as the DSLR option, is good for the buyers of that service, not the providers such as myself. Anything that gets video done simpler and cheaper is good for the clients so they don’t need to hire a pro. I shoot for several small marketing agencies that no longer need to hire my recommended freelance editors since they either DIY or have an intern on iMovie or some low cost editing platform now and to them it’s “good enough”.
And if you think I’m a crackpot, just call some Hollywood DPs who specialize(d) in helicopter work and ask them what they feel about drones. Even if they buy and get good at drones they will never make the kind of money they once commanded. Or ask the VO pros how happy they are with Voices123. Maybe the Stedicam experts who put tens of thousands of dollars into their rigs and made great day rates now going up against $2000 Ronins that a drunk can use. So, tech change is double edged, good for poor newbies and cost conscious clients, bad for the old freelance pros hustlin to make a livin.
P.S. I have decided I want nothing to do with this Mevo. If the client buys one I can hope it messes up and they have to call me in for the next event.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com -
Thanks Joe. Yes, I have a separate back up hard drive on my desk, it is physically detached from everything until I plug it in for Time Machine, I usually back up on Sunday nights but with this ransomware scare I may start doing it nightly. I realize the pitfalls of this low tech method, I was a firefighter for two years and have been in basements with home offices where either everything was melted like a Velveeta grilled cheese sandwich and/or deluged with water. Also, a buddy had an edit room in an office park and burglars took every computer, hard drive, anything appearing valuable before the police left the donut shop.
So…I realize I need to move to the cloud, especially since I am doing more post work in my old age. Do you know if backing up valuable files to the cloud is as effective as Time Machine? I’d rather not be worrying about my physical back up drive crashing, melting or being stolen, yet I don’t understand how such large files used in post can get up into the cloud with my Comcast Blast internet connection. And will this protect me further from ransomware?
When the internet first started to be useful we were told to not have one’s editing computer connected to the web due to the danger of viruses, but I now have gotten lazy and I do use my editing 27″ iMac for the web just so grabbing downloads and files is easier. Do you think I should disconnect my editing computer from the internet?
Thanks
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com -
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Anything video the client can start to do themselves: I make less money.
Anything video the client does that no longer needs my gear: I make less money.
Anything video that no longer needs me to book and bring my on-site editor who I would mark up: I make less money.
Mevo = Less $ for me. So, new tech is a way to bypass Old Pros.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
I described to my wife what your sister wants to do in terms of membership fee and watching videos, and she said for you to check out these two, perhaps contact them:
creativebug.com
The latter has great, hip videos. I sometimes watch them just to absorb the style. I have a good friend who did my last website but now specializes in
e-commerce in case you’d like to talk with him about setting up the credit card portion.Lastly, I think calligraphy, knowing how damn slow it goes, would be the perfect candidate for aiming straight down time lapse.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com