[Steve Wargo]

In my original post, I started to move a remark and deleted it altogether.

Thanks for that. In the past year or so, it seems like all I hear about is the need to have the background out of focus at all times. The people who are concerned own the small cameras with the small chips. The solution, it seems, is the adapters that mount film lenses onto the front of the small cameras The one major problem is that the Image records upside down. I have seen cameras and monitors upside down and DPs and crew members concentrating all of their efforts on dealing with this instead of doing their real job. They will have crummy lighting and a non-existent sound package, but all they care about is that soft background. This is not to say that the adapters shouldn’t be used, but they need not be the primary place to put money when the budget is really tight. I will be more impressed by an awesome sound track than I will with a fuzzy background.

I have had distributors ask “How is the soundtrack” but I’ve never heard one say “So, the background’s out of focus, right?”

As I said before, poor priorities.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way.

[Steve Wargo]

“Vacation” Wasn’t that the name of a Chevy Chase movie? I didn’t think it was a real thing.

By the way, we have a weekday rate and a night time rate and a Saturday rate and a Sunday rate. I find it amazing how clients think that we should charge the very same thing for Sunday morning at 5am as we do on Monday afternoon at 2pm.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way.

[Steve Wargo]

I sent the LX1 to Pioneer for the $550 overhaul. When it gets back, I’m going to pull the drive out and clone it. Any reason that shouldn’t work for a backup for the future?

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way.

[Steve Wargo]

[boydmcc] ” Also remember, a shallow DoF is not the sole objective of good cinematography. “

Thanks for that. In the past year or so, it seems like all I hear about is the need to have the background out of focus at all times. The people who are concerned own the small cameras with the small chips. The one major problem is that the Image records upside down. I have seen cameras and monitors upside down and DPs and crew members concentrating all of their efforts on dealing with this instead of doing their real job. They will have crummy lighting and a non-existent sound package, but all they care about is that soft background.

Poor priorities for sure.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way.

[Steve Wargo]

https://www.school-for-champions.com/science/ac_world_volt_freq.htm

and South Africa is PAL.

Here’s a tip: 50Hz = 25 fps and 60Hz = 30 fps. The electricity determines the TV type. That is why PAL didn’t fly in the US even though PAL had better resolution.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way.

[Steve Wargo]

Just today my dealer told me 7 cameras next week and 25 the following week. I’m #8. I even tried a bribe. No go.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way.

[Steve Wargo]

Having had the same problem, we have a mic mount that slides into the shoe and raises the mic about 4.5 inches. That camera also has a whine when it’s in record. To get around the sound, simply stop recording. Solves everything.

Anybody know if the 900R has the same issue?

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way.

[Steve Wargo]

[Timothy J. Allen] “because most laypeople don

[Steve Wargo]

Both posts by you and Bruce make perfect sense to me. I am going to go over this with the lawyer again in case I misunderstood something along the way. The “work for hire” clause certainly sounds correct and sensible.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way.

[Steve Wargo]

Now that I’ve thought about it, there’s more.

Here’s what the lawyer said: If I shoot a job for Xerox, I own the copyright to the images. They own the rights to use the images forever and into perpetuity. I do not own the rights to USE the images, only the copyright of the images. (Crystal Clear ??? in my book.) So, what we own is a completely useless copyright, but a copyright non the less.

I’ll give you some background on the court case: A fellow, John Smith, owned a video production company and decided to sell it. A person that I know, Tom Jones, became interested, looked at the books and decided to buy the company for $150k. This included all of the usual junk cameras, an FCP edit system with pirated software, and a library of 600 BetaSp tapes from jobs and a great client list including a famous beer company. The new owner sent letters to all of the clients saying “Hello, I’m Tom and I’m your new video production company.” EVERY client wrote back and said “No you’re not. And we want our tapes”. This is where the copyright/ownwership issue came up. The clients were billed for the tapes so they owned them. The copyright of the images remained with the original production company owner who had no right to use them for any purpose. On the tapes were many celebrities and actors. No one had the right to use their likeness for anything other than the original contracted use.

I was brought into the case as an expert witness. The question to me was “What is normal as far as the copyright?” Here is how we have always treated even before I knew anything about copyright. We have always considered the footage as owned by the client and if they needed additional work done using that footage, we charged them the normal labor charge and nothing extra for “images”. If they want their tapes, we hand them over. We do not give them the job files without a good reason. That is our creative work and the client is paying for the finished animation only, not for a lesson on our secret way of doing things.

Some of my collegues in the business have done otherwise. They have charged clients an additional fee for use of the images. They immediately lose the client because the client then demands their tapes that they rightly paid for.

On to the usual question about reel footage. You must get permission to use their images on your demo reel to commercially promote your video company. I always do this with tape rolling when possible. On our website, we have a demo reel from some HD jobs. On it are clips with Jamie Farr, Rick Schroeder and Senator John McCain. While tape was rolling, I asked the producers and the actors if I could use a portion of the footage on my demo reel. This is a legal and binding verbal contract.

Of course, any contract that is written, overrides anything else except for one thing: The copyright is not transferable from the original copyright holder. The lawyers told me this quite firmly. But let me remind you that it is a useless copyright because you do not have the right to DISPLAY the images. Whoever PAID has the right to use the images FOREVER and if you billed them for the tape, they own the tape.

Here’s a question for you. What about the images captured to hard drive? That’s why we charge for image storage. They simply can’t have the original storage device so they now have to provide a transportation medium. Quite often, when I write the job proposal, I include a hard drive, usually an external, to store their job on. And later, if they want it, it’s theirs, except for the perviously mentioned process files.

Note: I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice. My lawyer did, however, tell me that I could quote their findings, to others. I specifically asked about the COW.

I am going to go back to him and ask him to write a page on this topic so we’ll all have it in the future. I’ll have him bill Ron directly. They are the top intellectual property law firm in the state.

As for the outcome of the court case, the new buyer ended up paying the old owner about $100k total just to see the whole thing dissapear. He sold the computer to one of his employees for $200 and gave the rest away after sending out as many tapes as he could to their owners. Had I known, I certainly would have advised him against buying any production company. They’re simply not worth anything, as many of us know. After all, it’s all about the people and you can’t sell people. At least not any more.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way.