Nick Griffin
Forum Replies Created
-
There’s really not a lot more to say here than to reiterate that this may not be a desirable, long-term client. Attempts to micro-manage the budget are almost always a danger sign and the main reason we routinely “black box” quotes by listing the items by groups (pre-production, production/shoot, post, duplication/distribution) with a sub-total for each.
We’re also fortunate enough to have one client in particular who calls us before a shoot to determine what we would like brought in for the lunches on shoot days. Perhaps this is mostly because they routinely do this when they bring their own customers in, but even so it shows a level of courtesy and respect that it most appreciated.
Also for out of town travel our per diem, which I believe is fairly standard is $50 for meals: $10 for breakfast, $15 for lunch and $25 for dinner.
-
[Todd Terry] “undeserved, unwarranted, and just plain blatantly-uncalled-for extended vacations”
Yea, Todd. That’s why I’m self-employed so I can get a 7 day vacation after 16 months without one.
Also 🙂
-
I’ll ditto Todd. We’ve been VERY busy on a number of fronts with a LOT of out of town work. While I try to keep current with what’s going on here I’ve had little time to post.
Hope things are cyclical.
-
[Todd Terry] “iStock is indeed owned by Getty”
And, I believe both are owned by either Microsoft or, more likely, Bill Gates privately.
-
I used to use Killer Tracks almost exclusively and still have 7 or so libraries of theirs here on CD. The problem became when clients wanted to put their 8 minute video on their website or YouTube and I had to tell them it would cost $900 or more. Many of our clients have 1,000 or fewer prospects for their products in the entire world, so they balk at paying to license a music blanket as if millions and millions of people will listen to it.
That’s when PremiumBeat.com, MyMusicSource.com, Audiojungle.net, Audiosparx.com and others started to become VERY attractive, especially royaltyfreemusiclibrary.com where entire CD collections can cost less than a single “laser drop” from Killer. (Oh, and yes, Mark’s suggestion of SonicFire is a good one, too.)
Yes, of course the music from the big boys like Killer is overall superior, but if you spend anytime browsing you can get stuff almost as good, at a tenth of the price and without the paperwork.
We’ll still keep Killer around and may need something of theirs from time to time, but they’re no longer my first choice. They don’t seem to realize that, like a lot of stock photography and stock video, the world has changed.
-
[Jeff Breuer] “The joke didn’t go over very well”
Well, I for one found it hilarious. The translucent super read:
Scene Stealer Pro – Demo Version
And the next to last use in the series added something to the effect that this demo version was only good for one more use.
-
Willem-
MediaBatch Pro at MediBatch.com. I’m not sure if it’s a currently supported product, but it is still offered for sale and was created by one of the earliest contributors to the COW for use with his clients.
After installing on your own leased server space, MediaBatch allows you to put up videos in Flash as well as other formats. Clients view them, leave markers at any spot with notes pertaining to those markers, leave more detailed notes in another section and check a “Pass” button when the video is approved. It also allows for the downloading of your video files and uploading of their scripts, graphics, etc. (or optionally you can disable either of both of these functions).
The “hits” counter is one of my favorite features as you can use it to capture the IP addresses of who views your videos. You can also turn off its visibility so you can tell who actually watches each item without letting them know that you know. More than once I’ve have had someone tell me they watched something when this function clearly lets me see that they have not.
As I said, I do not know the status of this product these days, but for the 3+ years we’ve been using it our clients have found it quite useful. The only thing is the client has to have Flash installed and, believe it or not, as recently as a couple of months ago we had one who did not and had to be talked through the process of going to Adobe.com, downloading and installing the Flash plug-in.
-
Okay, one more.
About ten years ago I was screening a finished video for an industrial client. He had seen an early cut and many of the shots but not the finished product. This was a pretty smart and savvy guy, or so I thought until at the end of a few minute video when he gushed, “That’s amazing! How did you ever find music the exact length of our video?”
What could I possibly answer? After the fact I knew the answer on the spot should have been. “Pure luck. We’re extremely lucky that’s why we can charge for what we do.”
-
I shoot in plants a lot also. In my experience the insurance thing is standard practice whether you’re renting even small stuff like lights or a 2nd camera. So I don’t find it unusual that the people renting you an entire truck of gear would want the coverage.
What you probably should consider is having your insurance boosted to a much higher level for the shoot days. We normally carry 1 million for every day stuff, but for some plants I’ve doubled that for the actual shoot days just for the added protection. For example, if one of our C-stands were to fall over into or onto a factory machine not only could we be liable for the damage to the machine, but also its lost production. One such machine that we’ve shot multiple times produces around $9,000 an hour of product. Take that machine down for a couple of days while parts and an emergency service tech are brought in and we’d be liable for serious change.
-
How did you solve it? Every time I get a clip from my XDCam that was recorded on channel 1 it shows up in MC on channel 3. Doesn’t seem to matter that I re-direct the input, it keeps defaulting back to channel 3. Must be something I’m doing wrong and would love to know how to fix it.