[Pat Tremblay]

Hi!

Thanks for the reply.

Actually I’ve done a bunch of those already, but I’ve been wondering if I’m actually charging “standard industry prices” since I never went through the ~system~ and always based myself on what time it takes me. Thing is, I believe I’m rather fast and efficient, leaving me with less than I should if charging on an hourly rate… Or sometimes actually even wondering if I’m asking for too much and fearing I could loose future contracts with other companies who are more “aware” of the business.

“A per finished minute rate is meaningless” I hear you loud and clear and totally get the picture on this one. I guess I was trying to ask for a price range.

So, on a “typical” corporate video(I know it’s vague, but something akin to let’s say 2 camera interviews, picture and archive footage inserts, motion graphic intro and transitions, creds, other titling and music (composed, not library), all with no explicit “wild” action-style stuff, just sober & simple) what approximate price one could charge from cheapest to most expensive?

If this is still too abstract, and I can easily understand why, maybe you could tell me approximately what percentage of the whole production budget is spent on a once again, classic/average vid for post prod… I.E. if they tell me they are spend X amount on the prod budget, I could have a better idea of what could be charged proportionally in that dept.

Thanks once more!

XP Professional 5.1 build 2600 (Service Pack 3)
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+, 3DNow (2CPUs)
Onboard soundcard Realtek 97
2GB RAM
DirectX 9.0c
Asus NVIDIA EN7800 GTX Video Card

[Pat Tremblay]

Ok, I’ve just figured it out… My layer wasn’t visible.

XP Professional 5.1 build 2600 (Service Pack 3)
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+, 3DNow (2CPUs)
2GB RAM
DirectX 9.0c
Asus NVIDIA EN7800 GTX Video Card

[Pat Tremblay]

Checked a few posts there and I think that maybe I either don’t have enough RAM or maybe not enough (or good enough) CPU power… But at the same time I wonder why such “stupid” crashes would occur just because of that… I might just try to buy more RAM, which cannot hurt, otherwise I’ll downgrade to my CS2 which was way more stable. I hate to do it, but I have to finish this project.

Thanks for your help, and BRIAN as well. I’ll definitely go back to Intel next time, which unfortunately won’t be anytime soon…

Pat

XP Professional 5.1 build 2600 (Service Pack 3)
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+, 3DNow (2CPUs)
2GB RAM
DirectX 9.0c
Asus NVIDIA EN7800 GTX Video Card

[Pat Tremblay]

Hum… If this is the case, then it would be very unfortunate… When I bought that computer I went against my gut to buy Intel processors (which I always did prior to that), and decided to to follow the advice of an IT guy at my previous job.

But could a processor be the single source of this vast amount of crashes?

Pat

XP Professional 5.1 build 2600 (Service Pack 3)
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+, 3DNow (2CPUs)
2GB RAM
DirectX 9.0c
Asus NVIDIA EN7800 GTX Video Card

[Pat Tremblay]

Alright, alright! I’ve read most of it, and it is safely kept as a bookmark for future uses. ; )

Thanks!

Pat

[Pat Tremblay]

OK:
I’ve tried re-interpreting the footage in AE7 back to the “use frame rate from file 29,97)” and automatically I can see a difference in the still image, as it gets a blurrier look.

Here are 2 other things I’ve tested:

1-Made a 24p project with about 6 shots in a row in PP2 with my AGDVX100 footage. The footage had a remove pulldown made automatically by the program. So all should have played slick in 24… Well strangely enough, it was ultra jerky, had a major field-like motion problem. I checked the project’s playback settings and there were 2 choices : (1) Repeat frame ABBCD and Interlace Frame 2:3:3:2. I tried both and the jerky image situation still goes on.

Nonethless since this was just a test, I didn’t care about this “bug” and imported that project into AE7. It detected my sequence as being 23.936 and removed the pulldown as well, separating the fields too (lower first).

I made an AVI, let the defaults there (Use comp’s rate, field render off, pulldown off)

2-Made a STANDARD DV NTSC 29,97 project with about 6 shots in a row in PP2 with my AGDVX100 footage. Basically what I’ve done in my previous full project.

I imported the sequence into a new AE7 project. Again removed the pulldown, and kept it flowing in my 29,97 comp. Still made the duplicate frames but no jagged edges on the 2 frames every other 3. So an in all same thing as my concern.

I exported a AVI out of it let the defaults there (Use comp’s rate, field render off, pulldown off).

NOT : None of these comps had spfx or color correction added in AE7. I just wanted to compare the footage in its raw form.

Made 2 DVDs out of this test. I used TMPGenc 3.0 encoding/authoring. Both detected the footage as one being progressive and the other interlaced. And yes I have Progressive Scan DVD Player.

THE RESULT: BOTH look exactly the same, no quality difference. Unless my eye is not trained enough, but there’s definitely nothing drastically dramatic if anything. So I guess I’ll be quite alright with what I’ve done so far, which is a huge relief.

Although, I must admit that my fxed scenes do still look a little softer. Maybe it has to do with me using Cinelook and Film Damage plugin filters (with NO grain or defocus options enabled I must say) and a copious amount of color correcting filters….

I thank you guys once more for having stuck with me on this one, I have learned anyhow!

Maybe what kept me instinctively going for the Standard DV NTSC project in PP2, is the fact that I have a vague memory of reading somewhere to not use the 24p project feature, cause it was actually only valid for 24pA in PP2… Could that have anything to do with the jittery playback motion I earlier mentioned? To be on the safe side next time, I would rather deal with 24 straight progressive frames and not have the double frames pulldown process going on especially when doing rotoscoping and extensive masking effects. So any clue on resolving this one would be great!

Pat

[Pat Tremblay]

You guys are right… I realized I did edit in PP2 in a regular DV NTSC 29.97 project.

BUT since AE has actually decided on its own to re-interpret the footage as I now understand should, i.e. from 23.976 separating the fields, w/ removed pulldown (in my 29.97 comps), resulting in my first concern about duplicate frames, I wonder if this “late interpretation” (in AE instead of PP2) winds up affecting the image quality in my final renders. I’m asking this because, my renders actually look fine on TV/DVD aside from sometimes having a suspicious softer feel… Or could that just actually be the typical DVD mpg compression degrading the image (which I put to the max BTW at CBR 9000)

Could this be the compromise of not having dealt with a true 24p project in PP2 in the first place?

Thanks ALOT to both of you on this matter,

Pat

[Pat Tremblay]

Arrrgh, my big mistake here, I don’t know why I wrote this, but I’m indeed working with the AG-DVX100 camera and with DV tapes (not HDX100)…. Maybe this will clear things up a little…

Sorry to you all for this! Thanks Dave for noticing it.

I’ve made a test though re-rendering a scene with the footage without the pulldown, and it looked pretty much the same aside from some jagged edges here and there, and from what Steve says, I believe I haven’t previously encountered interlacing in my shots, so it might be ok after all. (I can’t verify at the present moment)

Now does my problem make more sense or everything is fine?

Pat

[Pat Tremblay]

Humm…. I’m not sure I understand…

I don’t have 24pA material, but strictly 24p, so as far as I know, my footage is 29,97 since it’s converted inside the cam already, meaning that I would believe it should be also interpreted as typical interlaced footage in AE, no?

My renders look *alright*, but I’m perplexed by a somewhat blurriness to the ensemble of shots… Could my concern lead to that result?

I have no idea what is the 24pA cadences and how to use that number. I use After Effects 7, and I have not seen this listed in the interpreting footage menu…

I thank you for your help, but I’m still confused!

Pat

[Pat Tremblay]

Alright, thanks for the answer!

I did use the Lossless default, so I’ll be fine then.

Cheers!

Pat