[Timothy J. allen]

Not to sound flip about it, but make sure you have a decent chair. If you are spending numerous hours in one chair every day, you want it to be a good one. That won’t make it a “dream room”, but it could keep it from being a nightmare one.

As the others mentioned, training is where I’d put any “extra” money. If you don’t have Adobe Creative Suite, I’d set aside for that as Version 5 is right around the corner, and you can’t go wrong having up-to-date versions of Photoshop and After Effects at your fingertips.

The rest of the list really depends on what you already have. Without knowing what to augment, it’s tough to suggest peripherals.

Do you have decent lights? A good clean and smooth chroma screen? Good sound gear?

-Tim

[Timothy J. allen]

Neil,
First let me say “Welcome”! We are really glad you are here. People do submit videos for critique from time to time, usually by posting it to a website and posting a link to the URL here.

If you have a thick skin, it can be a great way of getting valuable feedback. Just remember – it’s what your client thinks that’s most important. (We video guys sometimes tend to focus on details that not every client will notice.)

If you post something for review, it helps us to know a little about the intended goal of the piece. Hopefully the goal would be obvious, but summarizing the intent really helps us gauge effectiveness.

If you are looking for technical critique, well… that’s a little easier and less subjective. We all have different backgrounds and budgets and may have different paths to achieving the same things, but that may also give you food for thought on new ways to approach common production challenges.

So yes – by all means – as long as it’s not proprietary info, you should feel comfortable posting. Most of us won’t bite. Not enough to break the skin anyway. 😉

[Timothy J. allen]

The description on their blog is great.
https://youtube-global.blogspot.com/

I think we’ll add some TEXTp versions to our shows – you know to give clients that little “extra”. ;-p

[Timothy J. allen]

Exactly, Rob.
We use everything from Varicams to Flip Mino HDs. The wisdom comes from knowing which tool to use when to get what you want or need.

Have we ever used the Flip cam when in retrospect, I’d rather have gone with something more high-end? Of course. Have we ever used the Varicam when upon reflection, we should have gone lower-end? Absolutely.

There’s a tendency to want to use the “new hammer” just because it’s new. You learn as you go and hopefully get better about choosing the right tool for the right job.

This summer, when our interns come in and we want them to grab some “man on the street” type clips to augment a quick website article are they going to get to use the Varicam, lights and our full-time Videographers to guide them on their technique? Let’s not get expectations too high. I have a Flip cam in my desk drawer waiting for that job.

By the way, that’s not because they are students. The purpose of the finished video – it’s content and the intended “feel” – plays a huge role in the tools we choose to get there.

[Timothy J. allen]

I think your client relationship can be safe – but it will be different. Don’t sweat the loss of future income for video production services. It doesn’t sound like “that” income exists anymore. It’s not like they are paying another company to replace the same service that you provided.

Your professionalism in your previous production services role has paid off, as evidenced by the fact that they trust and value your expertise enough to offer you an opportunity in this new role. Even though you may not have proven yourself as an instructor yet, you earned enough professional “capital” that they believe you are the best person for the new role. That’s a credit to you. Don’t blow it by feeling hurt that the game is changing.

This is a great opportunity to diversify and grow. If you don’t like your new role once you try it, you don’t have to seek or take on other similar “training” jobs from other customers. But if you do, you already have your first paying customer lined up and probable testimonials and references for similar opportunities.

That’s a pretty good deal. Meanwhile, if you really enjoy educational productions like you were doing, it’s time to cultivate new clients while you continue to serve the older ones.

[Timothy J. allen]

I just got the email that I’m sure many of you also received announcing the CS5 Launch Event on April 12. I’ll be at NAB and will miss the online launch event, but I hope the demo hosts will be out in full force on CS5 starting that day.

Tim

[Timothy J. allen]

I followed the link to the thread that featured the glowing reviews and saw where the teacher of the course recommends that the students get a Flip camera to use during the course. Um…I’m still searching for the right emoticon to use in response to that…

Meanwhile, I think Charles W. was just asking about the course and what we thought about it – and expressed that he (Charles) doesn’t have anything to do with it. Is that right, Charles?

[Timothy J. allen]

I’m sharing this with my NASA colleagues! Now, any pointers to a video that models how to simply and accurately explain something that’s technically complex?

I’ve used this as an example in the past:
https://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english

The problem with that particular example is that people get tied up thinking that we need that same style (including the animation style) to to achieve the goal of clear communications. That’s not my point. So… would any of you point to samples that might help illustrate the value of good corporate scriptwriting?

[Timothy J. allen]

Charles,
This reeks of “color-by-number” self help that will sell you pre-packaged emails for $35. My opinion? I don’t think they really want the $35 so much, it’s getting your contact information as a potential lead to sell more gimmicks they really want.

The quality of the video on his page is abysmal. No lighting, horrible audio, a composite that my 8-year old could do. All these promises to point you to “free software”.

Remember the line in the movie “Good Will Hunting”? “You blew $150k on an education you could have gotten for a buck fifty in late fees from the library.” Well, $35 isn’t quite $150k, but I get the impression that $35 would be the first drip as they try to get you to turn on the money faucet to keep “learning” more.

Seriously, a DV cam, iMovie and a library subscription will take you farther and faster than anything this guy offers. Add in the internet and you are already way ahead of the game.

A quick sidebar, but on a related topic… one of the things I really liked about creative cow from the very start was that there wasn’t a single “video expert” leading any of the forums – especially a “self-proclaimed” one. You may get different opinions on some subjects here, but that’s because all the forum leaders and the forum visitors keep each other honest… and we are all continually learning. Kudos to you for continuing to grow and learn new things throughout your career!

[Timothy J. allen]

Great point. The white paper that you can get from the link at that page is more entertaining than the video. The video almost seems like an afterthought. (Sound familiar?)

It does further demonstrate that what is perceived as “good enough” often prevails. I still shudder when I see things that sound like that and are lit like that (i.e., not lit), but that ship sailed long ago. (And YouTube was the bottle that christened its voyage.)