Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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Like on all cameras, the Canon’s “live” output is the same framerate as that which is being recorded in camera. If the camera is set to 24f, then the component, composite, S-video, and firewire outputs are all spitting out 24fps video. If it is set to 60i, then those outputs are all putting out 60i video. It doesn’t matter if you are recording to tape or not, or even if there’s a tape in the camera.
I’m unaware of any cameras that output a live signal that is actually a different framerate than that which is being recorded. I’m not even sure how that would technically be possible.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Yikes.
Hmmm, that’s hard to say, it’s simply impossible to tell from the photo. It could be dust, it could be a nick in the element.
It is surprising though that Able would just go ahead and replace the element and then bill you for it, rather than speak with you about it first.
Does insurance not come into play here? I’ve never ever rented any kind of high-end cine gear without the vendor’s insistence that we have the proper insurance in place on the rented gear. It’s been a long time since I’ve had any dealings with ACT, but could almost swear they do as well.
I will say though that if it was a higher-end lens (something along the likes of a Cook S4 or similar) that replacing the entire front element could have been a much bigger hit than $2K.
I’d have a heart-to-heart chat with them, and see what’s up. Then I’d ask for the old element for inspection (seems like they’d have to give it to you, since they are basically making you buy it). Then I’d send it to an independent lens guru for an opinion (Paul Duclos of Duclos Lenses in L.A. comes to mind, he’d be glad to give it a free once-over).
Good luck… it’s a tough situation.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Is this for footage that you have just shot? Or a tape that you have shot sometime back that you are now trying to “end search”?
Canon’s end-search function is only applicable to the current tape that you are shooting on right now. If you change tapes, then go back to the first one, you will no longer be able to end search. Or even if you just remove the tape and put it right back in. The camera only “remembers” the end point as long as the same tape has been left undisturbed in the camera.
I’m not sure, but I don’t believe this is a Canon anomaly. We haven’t shot with them in a while (and frankly I never used the “end search” function), but I think our Sony DRS-series cameras operate in the same way.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I can’t speak to that particular product/brand… but one of our big corporate clients is Avocent Corporation.
Avocent is mostly known for KVM switches and other computer peripherals… but they do have an audio/video division, and among their products are wireless HD systems.
Here’s a link to a page that has a video we produced for them about their video distribution systems…
https://www.connectivity.avocent.com/tv/
Most of that video deals mostly with their distribution over CAT5 cabling, but they do wireless HDMI (and HD-SDI, I think) as well, and I’m sure there are appropriate links on that page…
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Marcello Mazzilli] “What if the clients says the video is for “internal” use? Is the videomaker still responsible for the use of music?”
Yes.
The perceived damages to the rights holders might not be as much… but snagging unpaid-for music or unpaid-for video footage for internal usage is no “less illegal” than broadcast.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Mark Suszko] “…shut down tighter than Julie Andrews’ vocal cords.”
Cruel, Mark! So cruel!
(but ok, I laughed anyway)
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Emre is exactly right.
A similar analogy that I often use when clients want to “assume the responsibility” for illegal music use (which we refuse, of course):
Let’s say I borrow your car, and get caught speeding. I can’t tell the cop, “It’s ok, this is Greg’s car, I have his permission. He even gave me this note that says if I get stopped speeding just send the ticket to him.” It doesn’t work that way.I’d strongly suggest that you come up with and/or suggest a completely different concept for this client. While the spot that you envision might be cool… it would be a paperwork/rights/negotiations nightmare. And the cost would be astronomical, even for a local commercial. You’d be getting up into national spot budget territory.
I’m willing to bet that the current crop of DirecTV spots that use footage from old movies (including the current tasteless resurrection of the late Chris Farley from “Tommy Boy”) are paying well in the six-figures range for each movie to license that footage.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Not to be the voice of doom, or a glass-is-half-empty kind of guy…
But…
Through the years I’ve knows a few dozen people who worked either as crew, post-production staff, or actors in exactly the same set-up.
Some have even made pretty darn decent and potentially marketable films. Some were bad, but some were quite quite good.
I’m unaware of any of them that ever saw as much as one dime from their “points deal.”
I’d say, if you wanna make the movie, make it… if it is something that you want to do, if it is a subject or theme that is close to your heart, if it seems fun, or if you want to build your reel. Don’t make it though in expectation of a future payday down the road. I have rarely seen those happen.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Hi Jack…
I’m late to the party, but I’ll chime in.
We do some corporate, but the vast bulk of what we produce is :30 broadcast commercials, so I’m always looking for those tracks.
I’d say, as others have mentioned here, that ease of use should be what you really strive for with your library. We already own a couple of different libraries (a couple of hundred discs, I guess) but don’t primarily use them. It’s just too darn hard to wade through them, frankly.
We usually buy music on-line, via a half-dozen or so different vendors that we regularly go to. We’ve ended up gravitating to those that have the best search features to lead us in the right direction and avoid wasting time. Some, yes, work better than others. The ones that work better get most of our business, probably.
Some of the tracks we use are total buy-out… others are buy-out for a specific project… and others are more closely rights-managed. It seems the better a track is, the more paperwork that’s involved… ha.
Various available length cuts are of course a bonus. When doing a commercial, what I hate is finding a great 3:40 track, but their :30 version is just the first :30 that fades out at :29.9. That usually leads to a lot of sound editing and patching to try to cobble together a true-sounding :30 with a cold ending.
And obviously the bigger and better and more variety your library has, the better. There’s nothing worse than turning on the boob tube and hearing “your” track on someone else’s spot. We did a campaign last year for a bottled water company. We searched and searched and finally found the perfect track, actually from a fairly obscure source. Within a couple of days that same track was all over the air as the main theme for tons of NBC bumper promos for their new fall season. Grrrrrr.
Good luck with your venture…
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Yeah, way low.
At least for semi-high-endish professional production. Not a cable production.
When we get the inevitable “How much does a video cost” question, my smartass answer is always “How long is a road?” It just depends on where you want to go and what kind of scenery you’d like along the way.
Actually, I always want to answer, “How much you got?” But I don’t.
But, to wild ballpark it, for long-form stuff (and here anything longer than a :30 commercial we consider long form) I tell clients that they are probably looking at somewhere between $1500 and $5000 per finished minute. It just depends on what goes in it and how long it takes. A talking head is cheaper than Gone with the Wind, plus car chases through Tara.
Your estimate to your potential client is dirt cheap, especially if it includes the narration (talent fees) and music licensing. If the $200 Comcast production is “good enough” for them, then that’s where they need to go.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com