Posted by Steve King on 10/08/05 22:27

"nobody special" <msu1049321@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1128806741.574014.228960@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I'm saying, Steve, that back in the 80's, when puppies were the oldest
> animal, there were technological and financial barriers to entry, so
> lots of bad ideas for projects never got past the inquiry stage. These
> days, all manner of cr@p productions are getting made, for the same
> reason a dog licks it's own... well, you get the rest of that. I swear,
> the next time a client asks me to do a streaming video of them reading
> an instruction manual out loud, and calling it "training", I will hit
> them upside the head with a gobo arm....
>
> At the same time, clients with no background order up projects with
> ambitious goals and a paltry budget, because "the cameras are so cheap
> now". Any smart video pro wouldn't want to touch it, but now there's
> always somebody out there with a camcorder and MovieShaker saying he
> can do it for beans, "hey, Bill in Accounting has a firewire card on
> his PC, HE can do it!" - and they go for it, because they don't
> really know...
>
> A real pro, an experienced writer-producer-editor, could use these
> low-cost tools effectively, and generate something better than a
> full-boat online A/B linear suite from the 80's could hope to do,
> without a lot of the time and expense of 1980's workflow. He'd be
> working solo, where back then it would have been a 2-3 man job. He
> COULD deliver that 1k project, say, a 30-second spot, or a simple
> five-minute product demo, for far, far less. Hopefully, he's converting
> the difference to more profit somewhere.

If you are saying that it is possible for a skilled video one-man-band with
a $1k camera and $2k in editing computer/software to whack together a
passable 30 second spot for a local merchant between 9 AM and 5 PM, I agree.
(I've done it myself for some public service spots done pro bono.) It is
true that the investment required for equipment has dropped precipitously
since the 80s. What has not dropped, has in fact escalated dramatically, is
everything else: insurance, real estate (own or rent), labor,
transportation, etc. In other words, if one is operating a business, the
cost of production has not dropped; the costs just fall in different columns
on the spread sheet. I don't believe that hobbyists will ever be much of a
threat.

I have been fortunate, I guess. I do not get requests from clients for dirt
cheap videos. I have had clients try to do their own. It was really good
for my business, because the stories of the embarrassing videos that
resulted tend to get around and stop the trend in its tracks. On the other
hand, I have heard from friends who do event video --- meetings, speeches,
etc. --- who say that they are getting a lot of downward pressure on their
day-rates. I have one client that used to have an in-house video
department. When that department was axed, some of their (internal) clients
thought that they were going to find their production costs were going to be
much less than the chargebacks they were used to. They did find a few
people that agreed to low-ball budgets. I guess they didn't work out so
well, because I'm still doing work there, as I did for the in-house
department, and at rates that are actually higher than I used to charge,
since I don't have an in-house producer running interference for me.

When I get price resistance, I just open up my spread sheet and go over it
point by point with them. "Let's see where we can cut," I say. "We might
do the CEO interview with available office lighting. Of course, he will look
a little washed out and sickly. Will he notice? Or mind?" I offer to let
them supply such things as graphics, scriptwriting, and set design and
construction. If they take me up on it, which has only happened once, I
supply a written specification for what is needed. (In the one case, the
client's in-house graphics person turned down the job;-))) When they see
all the line-items that go into a video production, they weary of the
process pretty quick.

Of course, my point of viewed is skewed. My time is worth more than it was
20 years ago. A lot more. Doesn't make much differences that the cameras
cost a tenth as much.

Steve King

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