[Richard Herd]

Believe it or not, it’s actually very difficult to do correctly, so I suggest one of many email marketing vendors…via google, phone book, word of mouth etc.

Why is it so difficult? Because email formats come in 4 flavors:
— web
— text
— html
— aol

Yep, you have to send out 4 emails and you have to know which email receives what kind, very specialized technical field.

File size is a real problem. Measuring results is also a real problem. Valuing click-throughs is also a problem. You’ll run into terms like:
— click-through rate (each link in the email is a numerator, where total emails opened is the denominator)
— conversion rate (turning an email into $, like a hotel reservation)
— open rate (open/sent)
— delete rate (deleted/sent)

There’s also detailed list resting regulations having to do with avoiding spam. A proper vendor will have all that information.

[Richard Herd]

Digital Signage is a quickly growing industry. Although the skill set is really a video editing skill set, the jobs are coming through via graphic design. Sometimes called “multimedia” sometimes called “graphic design II.” In a lot of ways, the folks doing the hiring are unaware of the exact skill set. It’s like an RGB v. CMYK debate. Traditionally, a creative director (graphic designer) will land the client. THese CDs now need to add value for their clients by adding an entire video deliverable.

Often the software that delivers the content (not authoring, delivering) is Scala.

Marketing and media buying companies are scrambling for example to find a distribution channel so that say “Nike” can put their :30 spot on the digital signage in Athlete’s foot. There’s a bazillion examples like this: Calloway wants their :30 spot in Sport Mart. Coors wants their :30 spot in Walmart. We, digital signage gurus, cannot find enough talent to fill the need. In my department, I’m the only video dude, whereas there are 3 graphic designers. Because my skill set is perceived correctly as specialized, my compensation ain’t so bad.

To get a sense of what’s going on, check out digital signage expo for example https://www.digitalsignageexpo.net/

My typical work flow is like this:
— shoot on aghvx200
— edit in FCS
— convert In Design/illustrator/psd files into AE animations
— make it look pretty all together
— export, compress, deliver

[Richard Herd]

There are 208 other markets besides LA and NYC. Take you skill set to other markets.

https://www.tvjobs.com/cgi-bin/markets/market2.cgi

[Richard Herd]

[Mick Haensler] “They bought 2 high end 8′ LCD panels that must have cost gobs of cash”

I spec’d a 22′ by 2′ LCD panel in 07: $200k (didn’t buy it).
I use CastNET & Scala.

The Cow needs more digital signage network gurus!

[Richard Herd]

I have made a some money with the following work flow (which isn’t cinematic). Think cable access TV, 3 people around a table discussing politics.

— Cameras were JVC mini DV, forgot the model number, but decent SD cameras, with Fujinon lens, image quality was excellent. Camera price was very affordable and the camera size felt professional to the client

— Tripods were mounted on “cheesy” dolly things so the camera could dolly slightly if someone shifted in his or her seat

— a thin rubber mat on the ground so the dolly wouldn’t make much sound

— Signal out into a switcher that recorded to miniDV deck

— That miniDV tape was the master

— The title graphics were preproduced and flown in on the switcher as needed

— At the end of the show, miniDV was burned to DVD, while the talent and other folks shmoozed

— They left with a final DVD, and the miniDV master was archived

— Lav mics

Don’t forget headsets for the director in the booth and the two camera ops: “Cam A, Get me a close up of Johnny” then you switch the feed. Say “Cam B, matching single of Janey” then you switch feeds. Think Radio Shack quality here, not Motorola

I would definitely definitely definitely avoid a “cinema” style shoot-followed-by-editing work flow, and find a cable access work flow. And by work flow, I mean routing signal in such a way that the show is taped live in front of a studio audience. From a client pitching point of view, they will not have to wait for the deliverable and that (hopefully) means you will not have to wait for the check.

[Richard Herd]

What are on earth are you uploading that it takes 2 hours!?
How short is short?
How big is the file?

When my vendors charged me for FTP, I forced them to use yousendit, the free side of it, and I forced them to use the codec I demanded: :60 MPEG2 HD is 180 MB.

I agree with your notion of charging them to use the electricity. This is an easy place where you can say “value added.”

[Richard Herd]

I place my white cards where the subject is.

[Richard Herd]

I graduated from the school where Rick teaches. Doctor Fung used a book I still like to thumb through called Bare Bones Camera Course https://www.amazon.com/Bare-Bones-Camera-Course-Video/dp/0960371818

Here’s some other topics students will probably find engaging:
— Composition
— 180 degree rule
— Coverage (Wide, Medium, Close, POV)
— Camera moves
— Camera moves as editing (an in-order, in-camera shoot)
— Planning to cut on action
— Working with actors and directors
— The Deliverable (What do you hand over to the producer, director, editor?)

[Richard Herd]

Just had to mention the found art in this thread, via the type-o.

fallow 1 |ˈfalō|
adjective
(of farmland) plowed and harrowed but left unsown for a period in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation or to avoid surplus production : incentives for farmers to let the land lie fallow in order to reduce grain surpluses.
• figurative inactive : long fallow periods when nothing seems to happen.

[Richard Herd]

I use Apple Color, but the point is the same: [Mark Suszko] “The question becomes more open-ended, the more post production firepower you have at your command. Your choices open up more”