Steve Kownacki
3
COW Coins
2
Premiere Pro Coins
Forum Replies Created
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I’ve always been a fan of the refurbs on apple.com
https://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdealsAnd if you go to your local apple store, ask to talk to a business specialist – gotten good deals that way too.
Steve
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I use one mic for 2-person interviews all the time. It will add a little work in post to balance things out, but it can be done. Here I’m using an old Sennheiser M40 super cardioid about 12″ in front of them, slightly more to the right (in front of the guy), but point more toward the woman. Basically so the mic is pointing more toward the woman’s soft, higher-pitched, directional voice and the guy’s bassier, less-directional voice is picked up OK. I also knew she would do the majority of the talking. Mic is on a c-stand and during my pre-interview we tweaked the mic for “good enough” from both. It’s not always the case that the woman’s voice is softer. Mic is running thru my trusty FP-32 mixer.
Be sure to practice this before your shoot.
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Steve
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Well, Ned, this is my first go-round with this sort of thing and so far, so good. I have always tracked my project hours like a hawk. (Well, more like at rabid pigeon, but tracked none the less). After looking at billings, frequency of projects, their anticipated upcoming desired work… it made sense to me to pitch the retainer idea. We agreed on a scope of services, came up with a $ amount and simply divided it by 12. I get the next best thing to a regular paycheck without hunting down money, and they just see work getting done. I still track hours (and different items have different rates) and we settle up every quarter. Clients are also kept aware of the monthly billings.
My agreement states “reasonable” turn-around (we discuss each upcoming project in detail) and while I do give them exceptional service (I get paid at the beginning of the month for work not done yet) they understand they can’t beat me up on unreasonable deadlines.
There’s no rate discounting or anything like that, but if you figure out how much it costs to obtain a new client… retainers become more profitable.
Rich asked if it could backfire, I suppose it can… especially next year. So I need to keep them happy and keep adding value so they keep me around.
Steve
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A couple of thing in play, Rich, that worked to my advantage – A new CEO that loves video, an at-capacity PR department, my great personality, and timing.
1st quarter volume was 1 video every 5-7 weeks, 2Q 1 video every 4 weeks, 3Q 2 videos every 4 weeks, by then of 4Q2013 it was 2 videos a month. These ranged from locked down talking heads – total 3-4 hours on-site & 1 hr edit – to 2 days on-site & 3 days edit. I worked with them to track webviews and prove the value of video.
Now, the “more work” wasn’t just shooting and editing (it is rougly 50% more video), but it includes writing (for the videos, web and print too), graphics (for the videos, web and print too), project management – things that go into a full video but some tasks that they were doing themselves and were more efficient to outsource – to me. When they mention about being overworked, I just tell them “I can do that for you.” Say that 4-5 times in a meeting and they finally ask “how?” I am a resource & make things happen. I do not personally do all the tasks – I’m a shooter, writer, director and rough-cut editor – but I have people to call on. The costs are reasonable enough for specialized tasks that they couldn’t hire a single, annual salaried person cover all the bases.
Steve
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Thanks Patrick! I’m gonna meet up with you someday.
Steve
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That does have to do with the lighting, but it appears to me that it is in the way it is keyed/software settings. I’m not sure what AFX calls it, but in Premier I use the Ultrakey, aggressive, and tweak from there. I’m interested to see if the black edge is there in your raw, that’s what I understood your issue to be. For your key, you may need to duplicate the layer and use a mask to set a separate key for each edge of the talent.
Steve
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Can you post a screen grab of the raw footage.
Steve
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With no reference to the above thread, I too pull a perfect key from my EX1 with the default settings.
Answering your specific question: You can’t adjust the sharpness in the default mode. It’s only available when you choose a Picture Profile. There is a button below the power switch to access them (the print is probably worn off like mine), you then choose a “profile” with the thumbwheel. Choose one, select “Set. ” Lots of options for each profile.
Steve
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Here’s some interesting insight… I didn’t read much into this, but maybe getting close. I do some audio restoration and remember finding a software years ago that was about $10K US to isolate sounds. But tech has come a long way. I searched “forensic audio”.
One of the links…
https://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/ahyvarin/whatisica.shtmlMaybe this…
https://speechpro-usa.com/product/forensic_analysis/fawThis…
https://sourceforge.net/projects/isse/Steve
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How long do you plan on hand-holding? It can certainly be done but it will get heavy and it is awkward. It’s not all that different than the Z7 in relation of the viewfinder & LCD. To answer you question, the battery mount is fairly rugged and I don’t think you’l have any issues as far as anything breaking. My issue is that while resting the camera on my front shoulder like that, my eyes can no longer focus at that 4-5″ distance to the LCD, so I need to hold the camera about 10″ away for the bifocals to even have a chance. 🙂
Steve