Ned Miller
3
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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You should strike a deal with a local DP:
• Ask him to shoot several scenes for you in the profile you want. Challenging scenes that lend themselves to improving greatly through color correction in post.
• In return you do some free color correcting on his next project.
That is a win/win. I have done that type of exchange several times. In this way you get exactly what you want.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
I love when I can charge portal-to-portal but in the non-union world it is now extremely rare. Many of us live in the far flung suburbs so our kids could attend better schools, so we can’t penalize clients by charging them the moment we leave our doorstep.
Some exceptions are when I work for spin offs of certain TV shows such as Dr. Phil, where the staffs are composed of former NBCers who expect to pay portal-to-portal as a remnant of their old union contracts. To them it’s normal so I won’t educate them otherwise. The only other place where it’s considered normal is when various crew members go to a production company in the morning to then leave for a location, called a launching pad, so these companies charge portal-to-portal from their production company door. But for us freelancers it’s very rare to get portal-to-portal. Too bad…
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
When you arrive there will often be two lines or at least they want to find out: Business or Tourist? If you don’t bring the slider you can breeze through as a tourist. Once you say “business” then there may be a can of worms regarding work visas, permits, etc. For me the slider wouldn’t be worth it if I could glide in as a tourist.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
No way! I’ve been a freelance shooter since 1979. No way you charge OT for the gear if you’re a freelancer. I hire shooters all over the country and I would never put up with that. That’s treating you like you just fell off the turnip truck.
Say the DP and his kit for a ten hour day is $1300, and of that $700 is labor. Then you would take the $700, divide by the ten hours ($70), multiply that by 1.5 since OT is time and a half and you get OT at $105 a hour. Simple as that. Forward my reply to the gougers.
I bet they’re charging portal-to-portal too?
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
Wow. Never seen anything like that. But knowing how cheap realtors are, I don’t want to invest in it.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
Rich wrote:
“You can only point a camera in one direction with a set field of view.”
Well, there’s a reason for that, only some parts of a 360 degree image are worth looking at. Here’s how I know this after spending a few thousand and countless days trying to market 360, although it was still photography I think the lessons are the same: Difficult to Monetize. There may be special applications, such as the NYPD putting it over an intersection to search for terrorists? Maybe gamers would be a market. Or news?
Here’s my story: When 9/11 occurred the White House cancelled all public tours. So they had a new type of 360 photography done so people could take “virtual tours”. I researched it and discovered it was a Nikon camera with a spherical lens, you take two 180 degree shots and their special software stitched it together. Where the tripod legs would show would be the Nikon logo. I was very, very excited and was sure this would be my FINAL get rich quick endeavor, but as you can tell because I am still perusing this forum, it didn’t work out…
I got good at it but discovered some limitations so I graduated to Apple’s QTVR (QuickTime Virtual Reality) and with a special tripod head adapter you took 36 photos in a circular manner, dumped them into their software and Presto! You had a 360 degree still. However, for interiors you had to make two passes: One for the interior, the other exposed for the windows. Then go into PhotoShop and lay your correctly exposed windows into the window frames. So now I was the expert and hot to trot to make my fortune.
But…the market of paying clients wanting to see the whole circle of the world, I couldn’t find them. My natural inclination was to hit up realtors of mansions but they were so cheap, they wanted to pay $20 a room! And that was the mansion class. So I went after commercial real estate agents thinking 360 would be a powerful tool to lease a warehouse, etc. No go: cheapskates.
It turns out I couldn’t even give away 360 for free! I’m a Civil War Nut First Class, so on my own dime I went to several famous battlefields in VA and I set the QTVR up at the exact spot of the hottest action, where the whole battle turned on this one place. I knew this would be the ultimate turn on for buffs. You could see exactly what the commanding general saw! So I approached the National Park Service with the idea and examples: I do it for free, they pay my gas, lodging and meals. Their answer: Not interested! Kept badgering them for a couple of years until I got, “Never. Is never good for you?”
I think doing it with video is kind of gimmicky, you have no control as you do in stills. Plus, the cost of these 360 video cameras is close to the GoPro’s price point so how can a pro command more? Here’s a link that lists the cameras for $400 and $60,000, not much in between:
Lastly, in every 360 situation there is a percentage of non-visual material. If you’re at the railing looking into the Grand Canyon or Niagra Falls, what’s being you is the parking lot. So I’m not investing a dime in 360 video. Thank God I didn’t take the 3D bait when that was the best new thing. 360 video will be fun for drunks at a party and sophisticated technical training but I don’t see how you can monetize it. However, I am very excited about Holography!
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
Thanks Shane & William! I greatly appreciate your advice.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
UPDATE:
Thank you Greg for not spilling the beans. I had great fun with him for a few days. I acted naive and susceptible. He wanted the deposit to go to a bank branch in Phoenix and I claimed my brother who lives there would make a cash deposit, but I kept delaying it day after day and he got quite excited that his money was coming, that he found an idiot. Fun for awhile. Then he started pressuring me. By then I had notified the Postal Service police and they had said to also get the FBI involved since his check crossed state lines. Although he is probably foreign based, most likely Nigeria or Romania, his compatriot in the US had counterfeited the check and may have fingerprints on the paperwork so I forwarded that to the FBI. Someone local opened their checking account.
I notified Production Hub and asked them to post a public service announcement and will do the same with DVXUSER.com. I don’t think anyone in our biz is stupid enough to send a refund to him, but I did waste twenty minutes of my life creating a detailed bid when his first email came in. So I hope by spreading the word people won’t even bother doing a bid. Although his English skills are atrocious I often deal with foreigners, so I had to treat his first email as a possible gig. I’m like Pavlov’s dog when an inquiry email comes in!
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
Hey Greg,
When you say you let him know he’s “busted”, did you mention me? I hope not because I was going to get the postal service on him tomorrow and I was hoping to trace him down physically. Really bust him, not just metaphorically, but get him arrested. He committed a felony s using the mail. Smart fraudsters use Fed Ex and UPS.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
Greg!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes! Same guy, word for word. What’s different is I just received a check in the mail for $4900! One minute after getting it from the mailbox I got an email from him (aledgedly in Romania) asking if I received the check and I answered Yes. Freaked me out, as if someone was watching me get it from my mailbox.
Took a circuitoutous route to my bank in case I was followed, and the banker made some calls and the check is bogus. So I emailed him back saying I don’t want his job because it is a union venue and I won’t deposit his check since I want to buy time to get law enforcement involved. Then he emails me back asking if I can work in a small suburban hotel and I say Yes. Meanwhile I will take it to the postmaster general, they have a powerful fraud enforcement arm.
I’d like to spread the word about him although he can easily change his name.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com