Scott Sheriff
Forum Replies Created
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Been on both ends of trade shows.
This sounds like a dud to me.As far as video for trade shows, that is often done well ahead of the show. These are often looping dvd’s that run in the booths during breaks, or in the BG. There are usually a supply of the DVD’s to give out to serious customers, and version for the company web site. These are mostly VO and B Roll of the product and service. Don’t recall ever seeing one that was a recording of the booth pitch from last years show. Not sure what the value of that would be.
IMHO, for anyone that missed the show, the standard VO/B Roll piece with decent production values would be a lot better to view, then the booth pitch at the show. Of course you could dress it up with a lot of cut-aways and such, but what you end up with is still a lower quality version of the standard VO/B roll piece.
As far as going around the show trying to pitch your business, good luck. Best way to sell at a trade show is to be an exhibitor, not an attendee. At some shows, indiscreet selling by attendees can get you booted from the show, since selling booth space is how the show makes its real money. This isn’t your case, but there is also the possibility of complaints by exhibitors caused by your activities, which may limit what you want to do.
The reason most exhibitors are there for is to sell their product/service, and often won’t be interested in anything that distracts from that. You might be able to give out some cards, but other than that, I don’t know. A lot of time, the staff at these booths are there because of their knowledge of the product/service and not the people that hire video production anyway.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
I’m not sitting in front of the Mac at the moment, but I don’t think you can have KF bezier ‘handles’ on the controls in the 3wcc in FCP.
I should have been more specific when I wrote the above post. You can have bezier curves in Motion, which is where I was thinking I would do this. You can use the Keframe editor to have a nice ramped change in Motion.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
I think I’d start with just 3 Keyframes. One at the last frame before the change, and one at the end of the change, and one in the middle, then see how that works. I would try to match the change with bezier curves (handles), and only ad more KF’s as a last resort. If you use to many KF’s the change will look ‘steppy’.
Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
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“We use a green screen as a background with a single camera. The lights would have to function as studio lights and as lights for any interviews we do around the school. I was looking at the lowel dv creator light kit, but I wasn’t sure if that fits my needs.”
You didn’t say how much green screen you were trying to light, but it really doesn’t matter because that isn’t enough lights. The person in front of the green screen needs three lights, and you need at least couple of softbox or cyc types for the green screen, even for a single person shot. The Lowel DV kit is a very basic kit, and really only enough to do a small single 3-point interview type shot. A thousand dollars won’t really get you very far unless you buy used gear, and even then maybe double that budget amount.
“Also I am worried about the heat from the lights and how safe they would be for students to be setting up and taking down.”
Yes, they get hot. They can burn people and objects, and set off fire sprinklers. Bulbs also explode occasionally, lights and mounting fixtures can fail and fall and you often have to get on tall ladders when lighting. An insurance risk assessment at the last station I worked at listed lighting in the top 5 risks.
Students should be taught not only how to light, but how to do it safely. Even if you can avoid hot lights issue by using fluorescent fixtures, there are still plenty of other safety concerns. Media/film students really need to have experience in how to handle hot lights, since they are still the dominant light in the industry. If there isn’t anyone at the school with practical lighting experience, it might be a good idea to go to a lighting workshop, or hire someone to come in for a day and go over the basics.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
Tom
“Moviola”Thats funny, I almost said RTI Cinescan.
Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
Back in the 90’s the station I worked at bought a Media 100, but it couldn’t hold enough video to do anything useful. We also leased an Avid Newscutter for a while, and it had the same problem. Neither could keep up with the CMX online bay with four 1 inch machines.
Things sure have changed.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
Mary
“So I’ve confirmed “potential” sponsors for interviews for the show, how do I then approach them to be a sponsor without making it sound like they must contribute to be in the show? I really don’t want to make that an MO with anyone.”Money is what it is about.
It’s why we work, make shows, and especially make commercials. It’s what we use to buy gear, put gas in the car, and pay bills.
If you are doing this on spec with your own money, you have to learn to sell, and you might want to consider a different approach.First, write a business plan. Mistakes are easier to survive on paper.
There is nothing worse than finding out something like your underfunded in the middle of a project, or you can’t sell your show. You can’t ‘unspend’ what you have already invested, don’t have the money to move forward, and can’t sell an unfinished show. There are lots of other reasons to do this. To show sponsors and other investors, to have a budget to work with, to identify the ‘customers’ and other potential revenue streams, etc. And of course you want to make sure your revenue projections are realistic, and will actually fund what you are trying to do.Second, unless your rich uncle left you a pile of cash, don’t shoot anything, unless it’s paid for, with hopes the person your shooting will jump on board and become a sponsor. Recipe for disaster. Until you know what sponsors you have and what resources they are willing to commit, how will you know what your budget is? And in their eyes, since you are already proceeding without their financial help, there isn’t a clear ‘call to action’ or reason for them to invest.
If you want someone to become a sponsor, just go and talk to them. Show them your idea, and try to sell it. If they don’t have cash, find out if they can participate in some other way. If they are a ‘no-go’ on financing, but you still need to interview them, do it later once you have the money (obtained from someone else) to move forward.And one other thing is you have to have an in place deal to air your show when its done. It’s the real ‘chicken and the egg’ that keeps a lot of projects from moving forward. Potential sponsors will want to know how many customers their message is going to reach. And to get a SWAG at that number, you have to at least know where the show will be seen. And if you get your show picked up, a lot of your clearance questions will get answered, you will get access to in place advertisers, help from the sales department etc.
Or you just need to find a sponsor that can foot the bill for the show, and buy the air time. That can either be an investor that thinks he can sell the commercial time inside the show to make a profit, or a business that the show features or highlights. None of this is easy. There are advertiser conflicts, content control, product placement issues and lots of other things to deal with.Just some thoughts. There really isn’t a formula for success, or any one particular way to go about this. The only real common denominator is that it is a business, and it is 99.9% about selling. The only real reason for TV shows, is to have something to air in between the commercials.
Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
It not only depends on the network, but sometimes even advertisers and people in the show.
So lets say car brand X gives the show a vehicle to use, they won’t want the logo on that car blurred, but might want competing brands blurred that appear in the show. I saw this exact scenario play out on a network that had a policy of “no prominent logos”, but made an exception for a major advertiser.Another example is I cut a reality show pilot that had a scene at a rodeo, that had banners lining the arena. The client wanted three things blurred. One was a competitor to the main sponsor (clothing) banner, another was tobacco banner, and one was a ranch logo on one of the trucks whose owner didn’t want his name, brand and phone number (which was on the door of the truck) in the show as a condition of participation. Everything else went as is.
Three different blurs, three different reasons.Long story short, there is no ‘one answer’, and if there was, it could change tomorrow. This is why clearance is often a separate job.
Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
That is a good question for the clearance person where your producing the show, there is no ‘one’ answer, since your dealing with a two sided issue.
Almost everything that has a logo, has been trademarked.
Some companies want their logo shown, a while others may not, depending on the shows content.
And…
Some production companies don’t want any logos shown, some have a selective policy, some don’t care.
While your at it, don’t forget to watch backgrounds for copy-written art, incidental music etc.Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com