[Story Catcher]

Hi Barry

Sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you.
I agree with what’s been said, for beginners it is a big undertaking to purchase all the “right” equipment and know how to edit into a professional looking piece. Filming style requires knowledge of cameras technically and composition within the shot. Editing requires technical background and creative ability and experience to know what to do to make a shot/piece look much better. I am not trying to poo-poo your idea, just realize it may be a bigger job than anticipated.

With that in mind, it might be financially better (and less stressful) if you rent cameras as needed. As far as editing is concerned, do you need to get into the professional software for what you need? There’s greater creative ability on these softwares for sure but they can be complicated if you don’t understand them technically.

I use Panasonic gear and Vegas to edit myself, I have a small lighting kit and sennheizer wireless mics. I’ve spent over $20,000 on my gear, so it is an investment – if you’re just making a few videos renting can be a good idea – even if it is only the camera equipment and lighting kits.

Hope this helps.
Heidi

[Story Catcher]

Hey there

I have recently upgraded from the Panasonic DVC30 to the DVX100a and am glad I did. The camera has many more features and the more I use it the more I love it. Are you able to rent one before you buy it?
I have found that the ease of use comes with each time I take it on a shoot. I’ve used cameras for over 12 years and this one is my favourite.
There is a training DVD and book you can purchase for around $60 that gives an overview of some of the popular questions about the camera.

H

[Story Catcher]

Thanks for your help Noah

[Story Catcher]

thank you Gary – yes, it is video. 🙂
Thanks for the advice and tip on altering the velocity %

Cheers
Heidi

[Story Catcher]

Thanks Ed

It is a piece of equipment that they want filmed, then slowed down in a video file so that they can see what’s going on while it is spinning.

Speaking of velocity envelopes – is there a way other than dragging the bar up and down to set it to a certain % point? I notice as I drag the bar it jumps a bit and sometimes a setting in between would work better.

Thanks
Heidi

[Story Catcher]

Thanks Mike.

[Story Catcher]

Hi there

You probably know this, but I would be sure to have a good contract before you start. If they’re trying to weasel money out of the deal at this point you might want to get at least 1/2 of the money upfront.
Try to get them to put your hotel room on their account, not yours.

[Story Catcher]

Hi Dave

I’ve been in the biz for over 10 years and agree with what’s being said here. $875 is a crazy price for a full video. You understand the time involved, plus the level of skill and technical knowledge to do a good job.

Our videos are usually around $1500, a little less than the going rate in the bigger cities but I’m a fairly quick editor so it works out ok. I see ads for people doing $500 videos – I don’t get it, that doesn’t cover the cost of the videography plus tape stock (let alone “stress pay”) for the day. Charging the extra to cover your editing time will produce better videos and you’ll get way more referrals then just being the cheap guy in town.

Would it be an option for you to rent the camera equipment from this co-worker of yours and then you charge your own rates – you can look after the contract and all the paper work, and the owner gets a rental fee he probably wouldn’t have gotten without you anyway. Just an idea.

Don’t be afraid to raise your prices if your work warrants it. Apart from your skill & experience to pay for, there’s also the point to consider that offering cheap rates doesn’t help to set the standard for videographers as professionals. Many videographers have more “artistic skill” than some of the bad photographers who often get paid way more than we do, for bad looking photos!

Hope this helps some.
All the best
H

[Story Catcher]

Sounds like a good plan! Thanks.

I actually accidentially deleted some picture files from my project. So I tried taking the MPEG I had rendered and slicing just after and before the fades from the picture section, then used the control key to slightly stretch that section out.

I know it was an MPEG but since it was simply pictures with a slight slow crop in I figured it would work ok. Then I rendered to AVI and tried printing to tape.

It didn’t like the streatched MPEG files and caused digital break up in those sections. 🙁

At least I know how to get it to tape now after I get those pictures again.

Thanks folks.

[Story Catcher]

Thanks Allen