The Professional Difference Part 1: Insurance

On a recent well deserved vacation in the mountains, I had the good fortune to spend some time with an old friend from college. As we caught up on family, life, and the typical “what ever happened to…” discussions, the conversation eventually got around to work. When I explained a little about what I do, my friend asked me a question I have been asked over and over throughout the years. “Why,” he asked, “should someone hire you as opposed to doing it herself or having a friend with a video camera come and do the work?”

For a long time, I found this question very offensive. I used to say things like, “Well, you can read and write, and I know you like to argue, so why did you hire an attorney to settle that lawsuit you were involved in?” Or, “Hey, you’re pretty handy with tools, why did you hire a contractor to put the second story on your house?” This, however, never got the point across for a simple reason—most people have no idea that there is a difference between pointing the camera at a subject and making a beautiful, and watchable film or video—and furthermore, it is not their fault for not knowing this difference—it is the fault of everyone in our industry who hasn’t done a good job of explaining the value that a media professional provides. It is my hope that posts here will help toward that end.

Since this a huge topic, which will cover a wide range of areas, I decided to start with one of the simplest areas that differentiates the pro from the amateur—insurance. Before you stop reading, let me assure you that the rest of this post will NOT read like a claim form or an advertisement for insurance companies.

The simple fact of the matter is that all business endeavors carry a certain amount of risk with them and the media business is no different. In addition to the common risks of injury (which requires worker’s compensation insurance) or general liability the media business carry risks that are associated with the nature of our business. These include but are not limited to: damage to the negatives or recording media, completion of a project, damage to props and locations, and improper use of someone’s image or recording.

The first thing a professional has over a pro in these areas is that they understand these risks and know how to mitigate them. After all, avoiding a disaster is far better than having an insurance policy to cover it. This being the real world, however, we all know that even the most prepared and risk-averse people sometimes have accidents, and when these accidents happen, insurance is the best way to recover from them.

Rather than going into all of the different types of insurance that our out there for media professionals (and boring you to tears) let me just make a simple observation and recommendation: Media professionals carry insurance, amateurs do not. If you are uncertain about whether the person you are about to hire is a professional or not, ask for proof of their insurance for liability and worker’s comp—at a minimum. If the person you are hiring doesn’t carry this type of insurance, keep in mind that you--or your organization--will likely be responsible if something happens during the production.

This is a good explanation of the different types of insurance Film and Video Professional carry.

Using Video with Social Media-3 Quick Tips

I know, I know.... you're tired of hearing about social media and how web 2.0 has changed the world... blah, blah, blah!

I totally understand. Everyone I talk to and everywhere I go, it seems, social media is THE topic of conversation. While there is a TON of hype out there about the promise of these new media, I think in this case, you CAN believe the hype (sorry Flava...) There has been an explosion in the number of users the best of these sites are attracting.

If this is true, (and if you've seen you're Facebook and LinkedIn networks grow as much as mine in the last 3 months, I suspect you KNOW it's true,) then there is a tremendous opportunity to use these media to distribute all kinds of content, inlcuding video.

So what should you do if you have video content you want to distribute via social media networks? Here are three quick tips.

1) If you haven't already done it, get accounts set up for your organization at Facebook and MySpace, then go find niche social networks in your organizations area of interest.

2) Encode and upload your videos to all of the major viral video sites (we can help you with this if you want.) Keep them short and focus on humor and how to videos for best results.

3) Embed links to your videos on viral sites on your social network pages so that your network is instantly notified that you have uploaded new content. (You can also upload directly to many of the social network sites, however this will make it more difficult to track the traffic you generate for your videos.)

That's it, simple! Oh yeah, and if you would be so kind as to join our Facebook Group while you're at it, it would be much appreciated!

Pro-sumer HD Video Formats Demystified

There are many different flavors of HD Video available for today’s video producer, and it seems like more are being created each day. In this post, I’ll look at a few of the common flavors and talk about their strengths and weaknesses. Since I am not even close to being an engineer, I’ll attempt to keep the information top-level and look at them from the standpoint of someone considering shooting and editing in these formats. If you want information suitable for an engineer, check out this site. Also, keep in mind that some of what I say is my subjective opinion. Don’t take mine as the final word—ideally, you should look at both first-generation footage and finished projects from the various formats to form your own subjective opinion.

HDV: This has rapidly become the most popular of pro-sumer formats due to the relatively inexpensive cameras that shoot in the format and the feature that it records on miniDV tape stock. Other than these two features (which are actually pretty huge), HDV really doesn’t have many advantages over other formats. The high compression and use of an MPEG-like codec make it a poor choice for editing and DVD distribution, although many projects that originate on HDV are improved by use of dedicated editing technology. This format is also made more difficult to work with due to competing and incompatible formats released by Sony and JVC.

XDCAM xe: This is the most recent release from Sony and is largely an answer to DVCProHD (see below.) This format uses a compression technology similar to, but better than, HDV. While the verdict is out on whether this compression is “better” than DVCPro HD, the considerably lower data rate allows for longer record times on solid state media, but will probably also require you to convert to a different format for editing. Prosumer cameras using this flavor of HD record on Sony’s proprietary solid state media which sells for a price similar to Panasonic’s P2 cards.

DVCPro HD: This format, available on Panasonic Cameras, is a nice step up from HDV in terms of quality. The much lower compression, wider dynamic range and color space, and use of discreet frames makes DVCProHD (also sometimes called DVCPro100) a much nicer recording format. It is also an excellent choice for post production when disc space is a consideration—in fact many people recommend converting HDV to DVCProHD for editing to preserve the image quality of the HD. The primary drawback of this format is that in pro-sumer cameras like the HVX200, you can only record on Panasonic’s proprietary solid state P2 cards instead of inexpensive and widely available MiniDV tape.

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Editing in HD

With the 2009 HD conversion deadline rapidly approaching, anyone in the video post production business has been taking all of the necessary steps to become a complete HD facility. What this means is that we are all upgrading all of our equipment to accommodate an HD workflow and building an all new HD editing suites.

What does this mean? Well, essentially, it means getting dedicated HD hardware and software. In our case we opted for a Final Cut Pro Studio solution for our Berkeley, CA HD Facility. This suite is a state of the art suite featuring Final Cut Pro Studio HD, a 3Ghz 8 Core Mac Pro, a huge hard disk array capable of 4 streams of HD video, and an AJA Kona 3 card for HD i/o. There are also many other options out there on both Windows and Mac platforms from vendors like Avid, Adobe, and Autodesk.
OK, I know, that’s a serious stream of jargon, so I’ll break down what makes a dedicated HD editing suite better than what you’ll find in the average 20-something’s apartment. For starters, dedicated edit suites have more than just the software to edit in HD, they include specialized hardware. Without extremely fast hard drives and a dedicated i/o card, it is impossible to unlock the true power of the software. If you’re ever tried to use FCP to edit HD without a fast computer, fast hard drives, and an i/o card, you know what I’m talking about. The video stutters, not all of the frames are visible, and render times are somewhere between “Oh-My-God” and “Forget-It!”

If you want to deliver the best possible image quality in the least amount of time, you’ll want to go to a facility with an integrated HD edit system. Do you have other questions about what it takes to shoot and edit in HD? What are the things that still mystify you about working in HD? Are you confused about all of the new flavors of HD like HDV, DVCPro HD, and XDCAM? Post your questions here and we will do our best to get you the answers you need!

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