[Tom Sefton]

No problem. Dataton products are really good, and are constantly improving. They also allow full 7.1 sound output which we’ve cleverly used to do live language translations via infra-red headsets in the past. You can also have live video inputs – both HD and SD. The playback relies on a local network so you can set up a small wireless one, or run cat5/6 cables between your slave and master machines. Running multiple slave machines is easy, and you can add them together on a single projection screen with the inbuilt edge blending to have a large projection screen at very high resolution (higher than 4k). Cutting up your projects in AE first and then rendering out quadrants helps get round this.

The only issue is the cost of purchase which at £1400+VAT in the UK is expensive per dongle (they are also very easy for someone to steal on an event due to their small size and that they look just like a USB stick).

We’ve used Matrox triplehead2go a few times for events. The only issue comes with switching inputs, but if you can buy a decent vision mixer/HDMI splitter, it is easy to get round.

[Tom Sefton]

what about using your video output and playing it back from the timeline in premiere or FCP? Macbook pro can set the HDMI output to be used for video out from premiere and you could cue it with space bar press and add fades in/out on the timeline. You then might need to purchase a HDMI splitter so that when the film finishes you can have another media source to cut to (holding screen).

This is as low budget a suggestion I would make – otherwise, why not hire in some dataton watchout dongles and use one slave PC/mac for playback while your mac controls the timeline playback? In the UK you should be able to hire a dongle for £80 per day (you would need 2)

[Tom Sefton]

Also, the supplied links look to have been filmed inside an independent shopping mart, not wal-mart or asda or tesco or any of the worlds largest retailers. They have every right to tell a private firm to leave if they are filming without consent-as you would if someone turfed up and started shooting b-roll in your garden.

[Tom Sefton]

I’m not sure how things work in America, but in England the supermarkets make filming inside a drawn out process unless you are working for them…

[Tom Sefton]

“It’s a real shame that we can’t work together on this one-please keep me informed if the chance to pitch ideas to you comes up again. In the meantime-we like finding new studio spaces that we can hire for greenscreen work – can you pass on their details so I can enquire about some projects we have coming up….?” Or just stay cordial and friendly and wait for the first editing session they book with the client to end badly…

[Tom Sefton]

From videos to Nazism in one easy thread. Wow.

Come on man – I’m needling you for a reason; to acknowledge that giving away personal labour rates on a public forum without lots of information first is a big step. You haven’t behaved like a saint on here. If you feel victimised then tough; I post in the business forum all the time – not just because of you.

It’s a hard thing costing for video projects – you need to think of every single factor that will come your way over the course of the production, weigh that up with your experience and skillset, decide how much you want to do the work and then come up with a daily/hourly/project fee. Heck – I’ve charged anything from £25 per hour up to £250 per hour; it’s hugely dependent on each project I’ve undertaken and what it demands. There aren’t any simple documentaries.

I wont post again when your name crops up. Good luck with it.

[Tom Sefton]

How many days on production? Are you handing over rights to footage or sharing it? If this is b-roll for a documentary are you going to need to hand out release forms for all the people who walk through shot? Are you setting up and using jib or tracking shots? Do you need to record sound to an external device? If its HD, is it a format you are familiar with? Do you have assistants on set to do grip and lighting and focus pulling or is it you on your own humping kit around for a 12 hour day? Are you capturing footage during the shoot or after-tape or solid state? If this is for TV broadcast, what delivery format and what size of broadcaster is asking for it? Most pertinently, what budget has your client got for the whole production?

If you can’t be bothered to answer any of the simple yet hugely relevant questions that any of the professionals are asking you on this forum then just charge the same fee you charge to shoot a wedding. Each question hints at an additional skillset required and something that an experienced person would legitimately charge more for. You don’t need advice so why ask?

You’ve already been hugely rude to some vastly experienced professionals elsewhere on this forum in the last 24 hours so why on earth should anyone give you the answer to one of the hardest questions most producers get asked – “how much should I charge/how much CAN I charge”.

[Tom Sefton]

It might depend on the subject matter?

[Tom Sefton]

You really aren’t doing yourself any favours here.

[Tom Sefton]

I don’t think there is a problem with him giving his business card in that situation. You don’t own that person and plus, his profession is sound…what is your job description?

Your first comment was why I responded. I didn’t see anything here that accepts it is a no no, or that a contract would have stopped it.