Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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Ha!!! @ Glen Ross… back in my actor-man days I actually played Shelley Levene in a production of Glengarry Glen Ross (under tons of prosthetic makeup to hide my youthful visage)… and each performance was the most swearing (and smoking) I’ve ever done in any given two-hour period in my life. But that’s neither here nor there….
Not to highjack, but since we are talking about LinkedIn…
Curious as to how you guys handle LinkedIn invitations from people?
Personally, I don’t quite “get” LinkedIn. I’ve personally never received even ONE legitimate business tip or contact (that panned out to be anything) through LinkedIn… and honestly I don’t know even one single other person that has either (and I’ve asked a lot of people). I’m a little dumbfounded that it’s like the second or third largest social networking site… but hey, it’s working for someone, I guess.
I have to say my personal LinkedIn views have always been a little more like Jack Donaghy’s from 30 Rock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnCbRMBfBW0
I’m also a little dumbfounded by the rather large number of people who seem to use LinkedIn as a personal blog and blather on about things, related or not (often not). But as I said, it must be working for someone.
The thing I can’t quite grasp of are the completely random (and I do mean RANDOM) invitations I get from people. I’m a television commercial producer in Huntsville Alabama. Just looking at my pending invitations… there’s a US Army Acquisition manager in California, an IT manager at a Verizon store in Oregon, a technical director at a country music radio station in Arizona, a high school guidance counselor hundreds of miles away… and, lets see… 52 more right now.
I tend to just ignore these, and either accept people that I KNOW, or are close to my industry. But then again, if I already know these people, what’s the point of networking with them? I already know them and can pick up the phone.
But where do you draw the line?
Wisdom appreciated, as always….
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Well firstly, let’s see it 🙂
Secondly, probably your local AdFed chapter’s ADDY awards would be the most apropos… there would definitely be applicable categories for it, although for almost all chapters those awards are in the spring. The next ones would roll around next spring, and will be for any work done during the 2014 calendar year.
You’re probably right in that it couldn’t hurt… very doubtful about the “boon to business” hope though. We’ve been around for 17 years but stopped entering any awards a couple of years ago… we win lots of them but I found them to be a waste of money and really not helpful from a business standpoint. An ego standpoint, yes, but not from a business one.
We still casually brag about the ones we have, but don’t seek any new ones. A few years ago when we moved into our present studio from the previous one, awards were temporarily piled in a corner of the lobby. Literally in a big pile… not shelves, not on tables, or even in a box… a pile. I didn’t think twice about it, but one client came through and said “I love that. It says ‘We win tons of awards… but don’t give a crap abut them.'” Which I thought was a pretty good attitude to have.
I should have left them there.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Can’t say I’ve ever heard a real name for that kind of shot before… you’ll often see it designated in a script as just TO CAMERA, although that’s not really a shot name, obviously.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[rose_em] “because the footage is now being used for a TVC we want to charge them extra.”
Might I ask why?
It occurs to me that you might actually have different shooting rates, and that your rate for shooting for broadcast TV is higher than it is for web. We don’t do that (and honestly I’ve never heard of that), but it certainly is possible.
If that’s the case, then I’d say you should feel comfortable with charging the client for the difference in what the shoot (or whatever appropriate portion of the shoot) cost them at the time vs. what it would have cost if it were shot for broadcast.
If that’s not the case… then to stick them again for use of footage (when you’re getting the edit job) that I’m sure they feel they’ve already paid for seems a little… well, I hate to use the word “sleazy”… let’s say “inappropriately opportunistic.”
But if you can get it out of them, I guess go for it. I certainly wouldn’t do that with a valued long-term or repeat client, though.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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It’s probably not what you want to hear (and it may not be at all the way anyone else in here operates), but in a situation like that we don’t charge the client anything at all.
We do mostly commercial production, and under our contracts all footage and rights to such is owned by us. If a client wants to take that footage elsewhere and use it for something else, we are happy to sell them rights to do so.
However, as long as they keep the production here and we do any and all additional work, then we do not charge them for rights to use reuse footage. That’s more than worth it to us to get another post job… and our clients would probably balk at the idea of being charged for what they see as “their footage” (even though we own it).
The only time they are charged for usage is if the footage contains any rights-managed material… i.e., footage of a location that we paid for for just a specific use, or an actor’s performance that has limited usage rights due to talent, agency, or union restrictions. But the footage itself, that’s a giveaway.
BUT… sounds like your client might be expecting to be charged for re-use of the footage. In that case the answer is simply “Whatever you think is fair… and you can get away with.”
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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It varies, but as a general rule we bill net/30.
There are some exceptions… we have one particular ad agency client that we bill due on receipt, because we know they are going to take at least 45-60 days to pay anyway, so we don’t want to give them even more time than that.
We have another agency client that we bill due on receipt, because that’s what they want. They like to cut checks immediately (usually same day) so that’s how we bill them (and we certainly don’t complain about it).
And if we get an out-of-town and out-of-the-blue client that we’ve never heard of before, usually they are billed as payable on receipt.
But as a general rule, there is usually a deposit required before we begin shooting, usually from 25 to 50% (depending on the client), and the balance billed net/30 when the project is complete.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Always glad to provide clarity…
[Rich Rubasch] “there are actually five staff on your site. So is it just the three or five”
Well one of those five on our site is our art director… who is also my better half. She only works for us as-needed, and the rest of the time works full time for her own graphic design company. She’s already an over-tapped source for concepts as she is cranking them out for her own company 24/7 as well.
The other staff member listed on our site is Larry Tate. Ummm… Larry is not a real person. You must be a young’un.
[Rich Rubasch] “you say it is always a three person crew, so no grips or makeup artists or production design or PAs and things like that? Just the three staff and the client or agency staff?”
Right, usually it is just three of us. We run lean and mean. This is how we churn out stuff that looks (we hope) at least moderate-budget, for what are in actuality very very low budgets.
The occasional extra staff (PAs, grips, hair/makeup) are people hired for individual shoots… if they are needed. I’d never see them (or possibly even meet them) before call time of the shoot. In reality, the only extra crew is usually hair/makeup. I might need to hire a grip or two maybe once or twice a year. It’s been years since I hired a PA. Sometimes agency staff is around, but in those instances when we work for agencies there is typically no concepting required of us… they bring the ideas. It’s the non-agency work that does tax our brains, so there are no agency personnel on set for those, because there is no agency.
So yes, it’s usually just the three of us, start to finish. Sometimes two. I always direct, DP, and camera op. Heck I even do props/wardrobe. During pre-prod I do production design, coordination, casting, scouting, whatever it takes. My partner produces, talent wrangles, location coordinates, and a zillion little things that PAs would usually also do. Unless we are double booked and he’s back in an edit suite, my editor is usually on location as swing… anything from sound to grip to camera assistant… whatever is needed.
We stay tired.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Hmmm… sounds like you do indeed have a backfocus problem then. If you keep adjusting it but the settings don’t “stick,” then sounds like some camera service might be in order.
[Matt Orfalea] ” I didn’t want those bursts of water to be blurry so I thought an increased shutter speed would help.”
Well, yes and no. This gets slightly complicated. Yes, indeed the higher shutter speed will make the water bursts less blurry… if that’s what you really want (which it might be).
Unless there are special circumstances, usually a “normal” shutter speed is desirable… normal being the equivalent of a 180° shutter in a film camera. Translating to the video world the math is easy… “one over twice the frame rate.” Ergo, when shooting 24fps, a “normal” shutter would be 1/48th of a second.
Some people might think “won’t such a slow shutter speed make motion blurry?” Yep… and that’s the whole idea. Your brain needs that motion blur in order to interpret that series of still photos as smooth motion. If you shoot with a higher shutter speed, the motion gets very choppy and staccato because each frame is sharp and your eyes/brain gets no motion blur to make everything look smooth. A higher shutter than that will give that “narrow shutter” look that some cinematographers use to purposely make action movies look more “actiony.” It’s a very slippery slope though and must be done judiciously. See “Saving Private Ryan” to see it used very carefully and to good effect. See “Gladiator” or a zillion other action movies to see it waaaaaaay overdone to the point of annoyance.
So… if you want that choppy strobby look (which might indeed be desired, depending on what aesthetic look you are going for), then yes your 1/125th shutter (or even higher) is the way to go. If however you want things to look smooth with much more natural fluid motion, then stick to something closer to 1/48th.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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One question, you say the background is out of focus… but do you mean that your foreground subject is still correctly in sharp focus?
If so, sounds like your camera is behaving perfectly normally… as it should be, and as you would want it to.
With the lens wide open like that your depth of field is at its very shallowest. So if the point that the camera is actually focusing on is sharp, it’s doing what it is supposed to. If you want a deeper depth of field, you’ll need to shoot with a higher f-stop.
If indeed both the background (and foreground) and your focal point are all soft, then yes you likely have a backfocus issue.
And not that you asked, but assuming you are shooting something with motion (which you may or may not be) and assuming you are wanting natural and normal-looking motion (which you might not) and assuming you are not shooting a higher-than-usual fps… why are you shooting with a 1/125th shutter speed? That’s way high, and will give you that annoying strobby staccato “narrow shutter” look if you have any motion going on.
I realize I’m butting in and mentioning something that you didn’t ask about (and something that has nothing to do with backfocus or DoF), and you probably are using that high shutter speed for a specific reason…. but I just had to ask.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Mark Suszko] “some pizza joint is getting prank calls asking about script consulting.”
But the important question is, are they any good at it?
(and does that come with free breadsticks?)
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
