[Steve Kownacki]

This may also be of interest. Richard Crowley posted in a recent thread about classroom recording. https://www.homestudiocorner.com/the-31-rule/
Or the whole thread https://mobi.creativecow.net/thread/30/867182

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

Whenever I get approached with that volume of work, I always figure out a reasonable cost to produce say 5 of them. The client and I agree to a fixed price to create those first 5; fully-knowing to track all costs, make adjustments and proceed with the next 10 now having a cookie-cutter approach. Then you can determine a great rate for the remaining work. You’ll have some straight costs like studio design/setup, project mgmt, etc. Those are divided into the total number you create at a single time.

Pro talent with a prompter would help, but I know lots of marketing people that can spew out a pitch very quickly and concisely – they really know their products. Who is going to approve them on location so you can mover to the next one? How perfect do they need to be? I see the big problem as the writing an possibly loading a prompter. It all takes time. I’d suggest a few changes of clothes too for variety. And ya gotta keep the client from taking over – you need to direct and keep them on schedule. They generally like to watch outtakes eating up your day.

Say you could get one done on loc every 10 minutes; that’s only 6 per hour; with no breaks 150 would take you 25 hours just to shoot them. Shoot direct to your laptop (or KiPro) to eliminate ingest (you’ll need more hard drives) having their intern log the good takes accurately, chop ’em apart, throw on the end graphic/music bed, set in/out, render, burn ’em a disc, done. Maybe 10 mins work per video (I’m serious, maybe only 5 minutes). It’s a single take with a graphic – this is robot work. So you can pump out 3, maybe 4 per hour (depends on your render power, you’d have enough profit to buy another iMac to add to your network anyway). So again, someplace between 6-12/hour hopefully more. This is still 10 hrs + with no breaks. I also wouldn’t render during your edit daytime. Send them to a render que and let them churn out when you sleep.

I’d also get in touch with their web person and send a test file they approve before you render lots of them.

What I’ve described is not inexpensive by the hour, this will keep you churning them out quickly, because of an effective approach. The next guy will shoot tape or cards, ingest them, convert them, etc. That would add significant time to the production schedule. I don’t bill by the hour, I bill by the service.

Have fun!

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

Good reminder Jordan. It’s always a good idea to befriend maintenance and facilities people so you can have access to breakers, fan controls, shutting off air conditioners and music systems.

I don’t recall who said the phrase “you never saw a CEO with a keyring full of keys”, but you need those folks on your side who can get you where you need to go.

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

I would hang a few choir mics from the ceiling grid or lights – with a drop ceiling you can tuck the wire under a tile to get the desired height, the rest of the cable can be routed the same way, but its easier with pigtails https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/124733-REG/Avenger_C1005_Scissor_Clip_Cable_Support.html

This will take some setup time and a ladder so add time to your schedule. You can drop them down to just out of camera frame. Rent a motu box or some mulit-track recorder so you have fewer devices to worry about.

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

Yeah, couldn’t find color temp adjustment, that would be a good app. Yes, changing the background color is the ticket but knowing he was going to use it in the first place would have been better.

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

Have a look in the https://forums.creativecow.net/businessmarketing, this is covered frequently.

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

Also consider asking the talent to work with you. Treat them as professionals and they in turn should help you by keeping the mic at a proper distance and deliver a consistent performance, this will help minimize variables in levels from the source. And like Ty pointed out, make sure they can hear themselves so they feel themselves in the mix – it’s not a competition.

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

And your overhead. Day rate for what?

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

Those guys are pretty stoic. You can get a garbage matte really close to them so you’re only worrying about keying a very minute outline, not the entire background. I’d also cut them into layers/individuals and key them separately like you did.

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

While that is a pain, it’s less painful when you are paid for your time and you anticipate several changes; this allows you to buy a 2nd computer for render horsepower.

You didn’t mention how long your programs are?

Some ideas:
YouTub allows non-public settings, he just needs to log in and review or you send the private link.
Don’t encode at such high quality for smaller file sizes
Only upload the segments that changed, this may be :10 rather than 10 min.
Does FCP/ichat allow screen sharing?
Point your webcam at the screen for realtime viewing

And no offense, but does your client have clear expectations before you start editing? Lots of small tweaks are often caused by lack of their input or dedicated time in pre-production or you permitting revision after revision.

Steve