from Gina

http://www.videomaker.com/article/12546/3/

Go Find Some Funding

Collect your outline, timeline, bid and distribution plan (distribution will be fully covered in part three of this series but it must be fully fleshed out in your pre-production planning if you wish to raise funds from someone other than your parents or credit cards). Create a printed proposal using these elements to pass for your fund-raising efforts to support your project. Documentary film budgets can run the gamut from low-budget to multi-million dollar ventures, but many make it on a very limited amount of hard capital. Documentary filmmakers as a group are notoriously successful at getting "sweat equity" from people who volunteer their equipment and their expertise for a stock in the project. There will always be some hard costs though, and if you are not in a position to cover them yourself you should see an attor-ney and get help setting up a simple system that will enable you to accept funds on behalf of your not for profit project. Some filmmakers seek financial support by asking existing non-profit organizations to sponsor their project, then take in the funds, and allocate them back to the filmmaker.

Randal K. West is the Vice President/Creative Director for a DRTV full service advertising agency.

Sidebar: Budgeting

Once you have made the initial choices about your documentary you will need to create a budget that reflects accurate estimates of the costs involved. First estimate how many days of shooting it will take to film your documentary. Divide the total into days when you will record sound and days when you will just shoot images. In the industry, they call this type of film/video budgeting as defining your "Day of Days." Create a proposed set of crew costs for both types of days. Even if your crew is volunteer, you will still need to consider food, travel and ancillary costs. Next create a list of equipment for each type of day and project any "real" or "hard" costs. Determine if you will have to rent support equipment, (sound, lights etc,) and get estimates for this equipment that you can put in your budget. Will you have to get permits or insurance to shoot in any of your locations? Include these and any projected expendables such as videotape, in your projected budget.

If you plan to use much of your own equipment, (camera, editing system) and these will not constitute "hard" costs in your budget, create an "in-kind" contribution section of the budget that demonstrates the savings created by your "sweat-equity", (volunteered hours), and owned equipment. This is helpful when soliciting contributions to cover the remaining "hard costs" because potential investors can see exactly where you allocate their contributions. Create a postproduction budget and be sure to include both editing time and costs for licensing stock footage, existing film footage, photos or music.

Video/Film budget templates exist on the Internet that can help you create your budget, just be sure to eliminate any line items that don't apply to your project.

Next Month:

"Fulfillment of the Dream:" How to plan your approach, find your subject and begin the process of bringing your vision to fruition.

editing - ration of shoot:edit

"Regardless of which technique you choose, you can expect to get outstanding results if you begin with the end in mind."

BY ARTHUR AIELLO May 2000

As a videographer, you can use a variety of methods to edit your video. These techniques can be broken down into two broad categories: in-camera editing and editing done in post production. The way you will edit your production greatly impacts the way you'll have to shoot your footage. Not sure why? Read on. In this month's column, we are going to look at these two styles of editing and at the shooting techniques required to make each one a success.

While the differences between editing in-camera and shooting to edit are many, the main difference between the two is a matter of sequence. When you shoot to edit, you can shoot your scenes out of order, since you're going to re-arrange them in post production anyway. When you edit in the camera, however, you need to shoot all of the scenes in order. Because in-camera editing requires that scenes be shot in the order, you might have to do some leg work to produce a scene that requires more than one location. Consider the following sequence: (see Figure 1)
Shot 1: A man sits on his couch watching TV, when he realizes that he is hungry.
Shot 2: He runs out the front door of his house, gets in his car, backs out of his driveway and screeches away.
Shot 3: He arrives at a fast food restaurant and orders a burger at the drive-up window.
Shot 4: He peels out of the drive-thru and
Shot 5: returns home where he gobbles down the burger at his kitchen table.

To edit this sequence in the camera, you would have to shoot the first few shots at the house, travel to the restaurant to shoot what is needed there, then return to the house to shoot the final shots in the kitchen. This running around can be time consuming, not to mention tiring. As productions get more complex, traveling can become quite inconvenient.

More footage means more options. You'd be amazed at how handy a few seconds of seemingly unusable footage can be when you've got a hole to fill in your program. On the downside, you may have to shuttle through a ton of videotape when it's time to edit. How can you make sure your own safety net doesn't strangle you? For one thing, you can learn to budget your time and the amount of tape you use by comparing how much footage you shoot to the length of your finished program. Often called a shooting ratio, it can give you a good feel for how quickly and economically you are able to get the shots you need. For example, if you shot thirty minutes of tape to produce a five-minute video, your shooting ratio would be 30:5, or more appropriately, 6:1. That means that you shot six minutes of raw footage for every minute of edited tape in your program. To improve efficiency, you might try to achieve shooting ratios closer to 2:1 or even 3:1.

Even with a small shooting ratio, you'll still have a lot of tape to slog through in the edit suite. That's why shooting to edit requires additional organization. When you gather a lot of footage, it is essential that you keep a log as you shoot. Logging requires that you keep a written record of which shots are on which tape and where the best shots are located. When you get into the edit suite, you will be able to find shots more quickly. Logging can be as simple as identifying the shots on a tape by their order and approximate length, or, for the ultimate in precision, by noting time code numbers.

Logging is even more effective if you slate your shots. You've all seen the little clapboard that filmmakers use--the one they clap down while yelling, "Take 15." It is called a slate and it is used to identify quickly the beginning of a shot. If you use a makeshift slate, such as a dry erase board, you can flag each scene you shoot. A short description of each shot is also helpful when its time to edit.

As you've seen, there is a great deal of difference between shooting to edit and editing in-camera. Shooting to edit requires a lot more work in post production, but eases the pressure on you, the videographer. Editing in-camera can save time and money, but you have to get it right the first time. Regardless of which technique you choose, you can expect to get outstanding results if you begin with the end in mind.

more on costs

How Much Should A Video Production Cost?

Some people come into video production thinking it won't cost very much and think it takes just a few hours to do. Sometimes it can be that way but most of the time it isn't. Some of the factors that can determine the
cost for digital video productions are:

• Experience
• Equipment
• Time
• Production Value

EXPERIENCE
Experience counts for a lot when choosing a producer/videographer/editor. They understand how to spend the
time wisely and efficiently. The less experience someone has the more likely mistakes will show up when you
start a production. Is there good audio, was there enough light on the subject, how slick does the
production look? Most of the high quality work that is done in videography/editing is never noticed even though you do see it. It just looks good. Lower quality work is more noticeable as unattractive or lacking something.
If you look around you can find some individuals out there who have plenty of good experience and creativity and not charge an arm and a leg for it. Whoever you look at, watch their clip reels, observe their work history and talk with them to get an idea of what they have to offer.

EQUIPMENT
Equipment is the next consideration. The type used can add a lot of quality and/or cost to a production. Do
you want the video production done in HD or SD? HD is going to cost more but that is where all production is
going. Though SD is still very good for web videos or internal company use. There are many tiers of HD and
SD equipment and you should be aware that the more sophisticated the stuff is, the more it will cost to use. Most companies invest thousands and thousands of dollars in getting the right equipment while others invest ten's of thousands. Get the camera/crew that fits your needs.

And it's not just the camera. There are lights, microphones, teleprompter and other accessories that help with the creation but add to the cost, especially if more people are involved. So, how many people will be on site? Each person adds a significant amount to that total. Is the crew just 1 person or is it 2 or more? Location is something else that will dictate what is needed. Is it indoors or outdoors? Way out of town or in the suburbs?

The other half to this production is the video editor. They too have a lot of equipment that needs to be updated on a constant basis. New and better techniques are evolving which requires upgrades and further investments, again in the thousands and ten's of thousands of dollars.

One of the major stumbling blocks to having a pleasant production experience is the type of video format you choose to use. Be especially aware of the formats and codecs. Talk with your video production team and choose a format/codec that is compatible to both the videographer and editor. It is real important to talk with both before starting a production. Not just the videographer. Not just the editor. Both! There are a lot of new and evolving develpments within the industry which changes the playing field on a regular basis. If you have both of these folks on the same page you can save yourself some money and lots of headaches.

TIME
This is a very important point: make most of your decisions during pre-production, making changes mid-production can be very costly. The decision making process is the most expensive part of any video production and eats up most of the time. Which is why the more time you spend on pre-production the less time is spent making last minute decisions during the actual production, therefore saving you money. Some items to focus on are: a script, location, if and who will be the on-camera person and preparing them for their appearance, any props you need, make sure they are ready by the day of the shoot. The more of these projects you do the better you will get. These are some time saving features during a production but what about in post? Sometimes changing a font is easy and doesn't cost much, other times it almost means a complete rework of a video edit. It really depends on where in the process the change is made and how many other steps are affected by that change. This is with all aspects of post. Find out how many other things get changed when you ask for "your" one change. Where it lands in the process makes a huge difference.

Expect it to take a minimum of at least a half day for a video production shoot. The time needed will depend
on how long the total piece is that you are creating and how much production value you want to invest in the
video. The crew will need to set up their equipment and make sure everything is ready for the on-camera
person. Lights, audio and anything else required for the video will be included at this time. This process
can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour (or more) to complete. Be prepared for this necessary prep
time. It makes a big difference in how the final product looks. Then there is the on-camera person. Are they
comfortable in front of a camera, are they experienced or is this their first time? Even the best of talent
will need more than a couple of takes to get the "good one". A newbie will require more takes but isn't it
better to spend an additional 15 minutes to get a better take then to try and edit around the mistake in post? Once the shoot is finished, all of the equipment needs to be packed up and removed. This tends to be faster than the set-up time. Keep in mind every time you need to change locations the whole tear-down/set-up
process has to be done all over again.

Editing generally takes longer to complete than the actual shoot. First the video needs to be brought into
the computer which can take time. If an hour of video is shot on tape, it will take one hour of time to get
it into the computer before editing can even begin. Deciding which "takes" are the good ones requires listening to all of them. This in istself takes time. Do graphics need to be created? This takes time. Is everything all gathered together and ready to go? If not, this can cause delays in the middle of an edit. Once an edit is finished it will need to be rendered, exported and turned into whatever format is needed as a deliverable. This takes time. Sometimes hours. Also, how many proofs are needed before a final is agreed upon by the "decider". Each redo can take an hour or more.

One time saver is to have all of these elements ready to go at the beginning of the edit. A script will really
help speed up the editing process. It makes it easier for the editor to follow along with the different takes and ensures that all elements are included in the edit. Having the script on hand will also help determine what graphics are needed. What music if any is wanted? Is there any animation? What are the names and titles of people shown in this video? Do you need them identified?

Other items to consider are; what final format is the product supposed to be? This can be a different format from the one used on the video shoot. What size? How will it be delivered? These bits of information are needed from the beginning of the production to help save time in the long haul. Each process requires a certain amount of time. Be aware of that "production" time and smart decisions will follow.

PRODUCTION VALUE
This is an intangible type of thing. This is the creativity of the people involved and how they go about
incorporating it into the video. Sometimes these are very well thought out methods and procedures, sometimes
quirky, on-the-spot changes and sometimes it's trying to get things perfect and paying attention to detail.
There are many little things added together and they all add time to the production. Changing the audio level,
getting rid of a hiss, doing a take one more time to get the shot just right, changing the light just a
little, adding a filter, re-working the script, adding more graphic elements, adding music, adding animation, editing out something someone said because it is too late to have it re-shot, experimenting with several methods to reach a "best" solution, correcting color; all of this takes time. But this kind of time is well spent. This is your look and feel - your image.

COST
You can take all of the above mentioned factors into consideration to help you determine how much time it would take to create your video. The more involved it is the more time it will take. The more simple it is the less time it will take. One is not necessarily better than the other. However, how that time is spent is important.

If you think a completed video, shot and edited for you, can be done for $100 think again. Add another zero
to it and it will be closer to what needs to be spent to get the kind of video you might be pleased with. A
more realistic approach is to figure that a finished video will cost anywhere from $200 to $2000 for every
finished minute. (That $200 is rock bottom by the way. Probably someone just starting out shooting on a small camera and doing a minimum of editing.) Given that range, a 3 minute video could cost anywhere from $600 to $6000. Some folks would even say that $6000 is too cheap for making a good production. To give you a different perspective; the average cost to produce a 30-second national television ad in 2001 was $358,000. You obviously don't need to spend that much unless you are wanting to advertise nationally.

These sums probably don't help much because it is such a wide range but that is part of the business. There is such an extensive variety of production styles and such a wildly different set of expectations that sometimes it's just a simple jump into hard reality that will give you a number that works for you. If you are interested in creating a video for the web, launching a company product or making a training video then having a better idea on what is involved in making a video can help lead you into making a better budget for a video production. This in turn should give you a better product in the end and will make you much more pleased with the whole experience.


basically anywhere from $37.50 - $115 per hour ( 700/day and he does 6 hours)

NEW PATH MEDIA | Altanta Video Production Blog on AUG 2009

Pricing video editing

Never charge using a flat fee. That way lies madness. Always establish an hourly rate.

You can use other folks in your area as a guide, but the first step is to calculate what it is costing YOU to edit, then build from there to include the profit. What some OTHER guy charges may have little to do with his OR your reality, so blindly copying another guy's rate is a mistake.

If you are editing on your own gear, figure the cost of buying, maintaining, upgrading that gear, software, expendables, blank stock, insurance, tax witholding, all your costs of doing business. Put your weekly salary down as a cost. Also put in a percentage that goes into the bank to save up. Total all the costs. Divide the costs into the number of working days you want to be working in the year, that tells you how much per day, per week, per month, per year you must make to break even or make a profit. Your rate is that figure, plus whatever markup the local situation enables you to tack on. Aim for a figure that meets your etsablished calculated personal minimums, but sits in the middle of the range of your competitors. But always defer to the floor you calculated, even if it makes you more expensive than anybody else in your area.

The reason the other guys are charging less may be they didn't do the same homework as you, and are low-balling the rates at a level they cannot sustain. They may be setting a rate that barely keeps the gear out of hock, but doesn't allow for upgrades or improvements. They may be limited in what they can offer with that rate in areas like graphics, music, audio sweetening, etc. They may have a second and third job that's underwriting the video business. They may be taking a page from Gates and just trying to starve out all competitors, then raise the rate once they are the sole survivor. They may just be really BAD, and need the lowball rate because they only ever see a customer once. Hopefully, you want to build repeat business, and you do that on reputation, not on price. The quality of your product and the integrity of your dealings is the number one advertisement for this kind of business.

No matter what, NEVER, EVER, believe the phrase: "give us a price break on this first one, and we'll give you more business in the future, it will be good for your portfolio". For me, these "magic words" mean these folks are crooks and liars, best referred to your worst rival. You are an editor, not a bank. Still, if they ask for this, and you would walk thru fire for the chance to work with the particular client, turn the phrase around and say: "I'll give you a terrific break on the third one, let's see real money at the real rate for the first one". If they balk, walk away. Best thing you can do. They may even come back, after they've burned someone else, or tried a lowball player and been dissatisfied. Once you set a lowball rate, it is VERY VERY hard to raise it. Our markets are an incredibly small circle, word of mouth and reputation will make or break you.

I don't recommend setting a pure simple "hourly rate". I'd set a day rate (up to ten hours) a half day rate (for those times you work between 1 minute and 4 hours on a project during a day) and an "overtime" hourly rate (the overtime rate should be well above your daily rate divided by 10, I'd say at least double).

This keeps you from losing full days of work because you booked a project that only took 90 minutes. I book a minimum half day for any project. There are a number of reasons for doing so, including:

*It keeps clients from "underestimating" the time it takes to edit something.

*It help keep you from working with "grinders" who only want to pay for a couple of hours of work, even though booking the edit session with them blows away the time you could have booked for a larger job.

*In my opinion, that 11th or 12th hour you spend doing "one more thing before we wrap up and you go home" is worth more than any of the hours during your "expected normal" working hours. It gives everyone a reason to wrap the project up in a timely manner rather than keep going that same day. (There's not as much incentive if you are "already here anyway and it will only add a couple of hours to the finished cost".)

fyi Brave New Films

From
http://bravenewfilms.org/dosomething/videoactivist.php

Ever shot a YouTube video? Want to make a difference? Brave New Films is building a national network of Video Activists - people armed with a camera, a laptop, and a cool idea. Capture and submit compelling stories that you want told. Now is the time to put your creativity and consciousness to good use. Brave New Films seeks volunteers from all over to embark upon an exciting journey where you're the director and the world is your audience. 'Do Something' with your creativity, help build a new movement with video activism!


http://rethinkafghanistan.com/blog/?p=604

No Bikini

Check out this great little film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWOfcQ4O_yY
go to embed code and copy it then post:

Patti Smith trailer

Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer–songwriter, poet and visual artist who was a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses.[1] Called the "Godmother of Punk",[2] she integrated the beat poetry performance style with three-chord rock. Smith's most widely known song is "Because the Night", which was co-written with Bruce Springsteen and reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1978.[1] In 2005, Patti Smith was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture,[3] and in 2007, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[4]