[Steve Kownacki]

More things that came to mind on your job:

I see 2 full days of pre-production/scouting/gear list making. While some you could chalk up as education, it’ll take time to coordinate. Plus you’ll want to do a dry run in your office to finalize workflow.
This is easily a 4 hour setup even when you are familiar with what you need to do. (The first day tends to be 16-20 hours)
Can you leave the gear in the room each night or do you have to move it to a secure area or completely tear down? More setup each day. Your budget may not allow for an assistant there the whole time, but maybe get one at that start and end of each day.

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

I really like Mark’s ideas. Tape is cheap and reliable (and stressless!) as a backup. I re-read your post and it looks like all you need to ultimately do is chop out segments and get them online* – no editing, no inserting of slides after the fact, etc. Here’s what I’d do:

16×9 DVcam camera running iso tape backup, split audio presenter ch1, audience ch 2 (3 hour tapes are your friend, if you run a 2hr session and the next is 2 hours you start fresh on a 2nd tape and not think you are going to switch midway; that’s about 5-6 per day) this is simply backup.

Balanced audio feeds camera directly from mixer.

Run video monitor out of cam w/TC burn to DA to 2 DVD recorders (1 is backup) in 4 hr mode. Run RCA audio out to DA to recorders. DVDs are client reference.

Now for your actual online footage * you need to eventually export
idea 1) Firewire out of cam to FCP (or whatever) capturing in your final upload format. Since you are not editing, just capturing, save as final desired output. Your TC will be identical & files will be way smaller. If you have to recapture a certain segment from tape at least its minimal.

idea 2) pickup an old MediaPress capture board and stick it in an old MAC. You can take s-video (component if your cam has it) and capture direct to your output format like above. You’ll need to feed the TC out of the cam to the MediaPress for timecode.

idea 3) I suppose you could capture straight to QTPro or iMovie, but I don’t think they support timecode in this fashion.

Either way, files captured can be opened in QTPro, set in & out points, save with mono audio, done. No rendering. Upload.

This is a lot of coordination to make sure you break at pre-determined times so you don’t miss anything. Take copious notes of what’s on what media. You’ll need to ride the audio on the mixer as no post audio will be done. NEVER loop anything, always DAs; if you daisy chain and something fails, everything behind it is lost. This is really one of those jobs where you should have a backup camera and mics.

I personally LOVE these challenging jobs! If you layout to the client how complex it really is, they’ll justify the budget. If they shortchange the gear list too much, put a clause in your contract that they rejected it and you are not liable for lost material and you still get paid. I’d put an overhead line item too with a guestimate of what’ll need to be re-captured for whatever reason. Then give them a discount in the end if it all goes perfectly.

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

I think what you really want is a low contrast filter or maybe in addition to, here’s what Tiffen says https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=https://www.tiffen.com/literature/Contrast_FactSheet_Lo.pdf

https://www.tiffen.com/results.html?search_type_no=369&tablename=filters

Of course there’s a hundred of them, but more research will guide you.

Also, make sure your camera is on manual control and no AGC (auto gain). Have fun!

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

Hello Carla, you are in one crazy awesome position right out of school and responsible for all that! Way to go! I also commend you for looking around and asking questions. I’m a huge fan of renting gear when needed, and if you have a budget, get it with a skilled operator and learn all you can.

To look at cool stuff check these places
https://www.trewaudio.com awesome people, great service
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/ box house, sells everything great store in NYC to look at stuff
forums.creativecow.net/classifiedsdealers This the COWs dealer forum where you can get names of vendors. Don’t forget to check out the web ads on the sides of these forums too.
https://www.sweetwater.com/
these guys are music-driven but you see cool toys.

There are rental houses in your area that most likely sell the stuff as well. Ask around. Good luck!

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

A local friend of mine is in a setup that sounds similar to this. The company advertises a certificate/career in audio engineering, the student spends X hours per week in the studio getting training and the remainder is a sort of internship. The company takes the call, coordinates a studio/engineer in their area, and the engineer follows a basic curriculum and evaluates the student. Seems like easy money for my friend paid by the hour but he does get frustrated with the dumb ones. The company is merely a broker to get people trained at local facilities. I have no idea of any accreditation. Interesting business model though.

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

[Steve Martin] “but lets not forget: Nobody ever died on the video table!”

Which is exactly why I’m not a doctor.

Aside from you doing biz dev, don’t forget to ask your staff for referrals on salespeople or even the possibility of them bringing in business. Offer an incentive/piece of the action for qualified referrals.

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

At one time I had “shopping list” notepads printed. At the top I put in items for them to “check off” – book shoot, order graphics, schedule edit, order DVDs (for fun I had pay bill at the bottom but my wife had me take it off); then about 10 blank lines for them to use for groceries or whatever. They worked very well & didn’t cost all that much for 300, 25 page pads, 3″x8″. Get memorable to your customer.

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

Doh! LinkedIn does have odd or non-existent sharing at times and I do try to link rather than copy.

Credit: Todd Frankford, Certified Business Coach at ActionCOACH, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

What Do Fries Have to Do with Increasing Your Profits?

Can you remember when the McDonalds cashier only asked “Do you want fries with that?” This simple question was probably the most profitable cross selling question ever. The simple and effective assumption was that at least 1 out of 3 people would say yes resulting in millions upon millions of revenues and profit. The customer was already there so why not ask?
Then McDonalds took it to the next level by offering the value meal. Cha ching! Then you could upsize your fries and drink. A few more coins in the coffer. Set aside your personal feelings about McDonalds. The simple system provided the opportunity to increase their average order and profits substantially.
Average order is one of the 5 key profit multipliers in any business. It is simply measured by taking your total revenue and dividing it by the number of transactions or orders. Fairly simple math and a fairly simple way to add profits without adding much work.
So, the real question every business should ask is “What are our fries?” or “How can we systematically increase our average order?” I would define systematically as applying the technique and language consistently rather than randomly. Here are a few ideas to increase your average order to get the profit party started.
• Assign natural companion products and ask the “Would you like…” question with each order.
• Create packages or product bundles that incorporate high profit items.
• Offer quantity breaks for larger orders.
• Provide a shopping list to suggest items – Think checklist for a painting project at a hardware store.
• Know your clients well so you are aware of what they buy and ask them to buy everything from you.
• Make sure your clients are aware of the full range of your products. Have you heard “I didn’t know you offer that?”
• Sell warranties, insurance or service plans.
• Measure the average order by company and sales representative and set goals. Most metrics improve immediately when they are measured.
• Stop discounting and add value! Average order will go up immediately if we discount less.
• Ask how they will be using the product. That will often allow the opportunity to suggest additional products or services to achieve the result they desire.
Add a few of these and watch your sales and profits soar! Measure your average order and make the process systematic to SUPERSIZE your results! Sound like any business you know?

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

First comment – Have you ever met salespeople for a video company? I’ve heard them talk at networking events and can’t believe what I hear. They’re as bad as car salesmen. They’re not going to have the technical know-how you do and be able to offer solutions like you because of your working knowledge. They might be great lead generators, but I believe you will ultimately sell the job.

Second thought – Here’s a great post What Do Fries Have to Do with Increasing Your Profits? Before I’d go the salaesperson route (this topic has been covered many times from how to, to what to pay, etc.) I’d spend time making sure your current client base knows EVERYTHING you can offer them and also simply ask them for referrals. Maybe all you really need to do is keep in contact with your customers; offer them suggestions on how to re-purpose their video to reach new audiences. Make your satisfied clients your network to bring in new business. No cold calling, it’ll be a warm – maybe even a hot – call.

Steve

[Steve Kownacki]

Not that you want to add a ton of time to post, but what about getting really great still images of the rooms and shooting green screen? Then you could shoot in a controlled space, leave your setup and not worry about the lighting at all? (so to speak)

Shoot the still crisp and clear and then in Pshop add varying amounts of blur to create depth of field. Zoom in on them as necessary to match your focal length. Don’t blur in your timeline that’ll take forever to render.

Steve