[Tim Kolb]

[Frank Otto] “Your best bet is to contact the people you used that you were happy with, obligate them before the show and tell the signatory (crewer) that these are the people you want and DO NOT SUBSTITUTE as they have already been booked by you and will accept the call.”

This was Caesar’s Palace…so it was Encore. A friend of mine works on the Cirque show at MGM…he has confirmed that Encore is just awful. It was so messed up that they must have put on extra staff to screw it up that much. They refunded the entire amount to my client with my help documenting the issues…then the client still wanted my fee refunded as well.

When the venue has that sort of policy, it has usually not bode well for me or my clients in Vegas as Encore is in waaay too many facilities.

I recently worked in Boca Raton and those guys were awesome, as well as the guys at the spankin’ new Marriott property in Phoenix…even the freelancers I had to pull in from Miami for the Atlantis in the Bahamas were pretty good, but I’ve told my clients that I simply won’t be taking a job where I’m forced to use facility crew ever again.

I can’t afford that type of thing. In fact I may leave the corporate staging altogether…too many issues and too few dollars.

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net

[Tim Kolb]

Arie,

Thank you very much…that was the ticket. I use Photoshop much more than Illustrator in video production and I know enough about Illustrator to be dangerous…mostly to myself.

I appreciate a quick answer to what I am sure is a painfully simple question.

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net

[Tim Kolb]

You might also try adding a slight blur to the images. Many times this can remove the overly “edgy” appearance.

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net

[Tim Kolb]

How about idiots at agencies who want a price before they have a fleshed out concept…discounted 20-30% so they can add their markup and have a zero net rate difference between them billing the work and the client hiring you direct.

Or…the clients who never get any of their obligations associated with the project done on time, then tell others that you can’t make any deadlines…

OR…being forced to work with union stage crew in Vegas that couldn’t have the foggiest notion of what they’re doing because the client wouldn’t pay my crews’ fees and the “shadow” fees for the union guys. Then the project goes in the tank because the hotel’s rental company can’t read an equipment list AND the so-called “professionals” wait until rehearsal is 10 minutes late getting started before they tell me they brought the wrong gear…of course, the client refuses to pay my fees because even though there was only one of me fixing stuff while I had 13 people screwing it up…it was “my responsibility.”

…uh…hypothetically of course.

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net

[Tim Kolb]

Hi Steven,

What problems have you experienced? For me, PPro 1.5.1 captures fine, but you do have to wait at the end for the conversion to finish. No file integrity problems on this end though… (I have the Aspect HD plugin and that works faster, but 1.5.1 works…)

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net

[Tim Kolb]

Usually your local Ad Association will have local American Advertising Awards sometimes called “Addys” in the US.

“Communicator” awards and “Videographer” awards are a couple more.

The Tellys are a nice way to start out because you can submit a lot of material for a low cost and you only pay for the statue if you win…

Another way to get some recognition for yourself professionally if you have the inclination, is to write for trade magazines.

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net

[Tim Kolb]

I have an HVR-Z1U, a JVC DV500, a PDX-10, and a TRV-900. That 900 is a great, sturdy little camcorder and has amazed me many times.

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net

[Tim Kolb]

v1.5.1 works just fine with HDV, but the machine it’s on can make a difference. What are your system specs?

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net

[Tim Kolb]

There’s probably nothing wrong with the camera…it’s most likely the lights themselves.

Lights have cycles of emitting their waves…it’s why you can’t shoot NTSC video very well in Europe without some power adapters and 60 Hz lighting. Europe’s 50 Hz electricity causes lights to emit their “waves” of light at a diferent frequency than you are shooting…hence a scene that looks fine to your eyes will constantly be getting lighter and darker as each video frame is exposed. It’s why PAL television runs at 25 FPS and NTSC runs at 30…it lines up with the electrical service.

Ultimately, I’m sure that the lights weren’t imported from Europe…but sometimes aging bulbs or ballasts can cause this. I’ve had theatrical spotlights with failing ballasts cause some pretty interesting fluctuation over time…we thought the camera was malfunctioning on that shoot as well at first…

The best thing you could probably do would be to key frame some color correction so it sort of “fluctuates” with the lighting.

Unfortunately these sorts of issues aren’t easy to solve in post.

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net

[Tim Kolb]

[Nick Griffin] ”
Well… I GUESS it’s okay, Ron. But only on one condition: you either have to grow a beard or work for NASA”

Whew!…I just squeak in by the hair on my chinny-chin…ah…yeah, anyway…

Don’t let that salt and pepper beard throw you, Ron…my beard and head are far more salt than pepper these days…and now I notice the salt is thinning. Oh well.

I think Nick G had a quote on the bottom of his emails for a while that went something like “They say wisdom comes with age…but sometimes age arrives alone.”

…I’m sure my wisdom will be by any time now…

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net