It seemed every stage of this show had its own set of dramas.  For Halifax the stories began early – on our taxi ride from the airport!  The driver, a very talkative fellow, was enjoying showing us the sights among of which, the exit to Cole Harbor – the town which produced Hockey superstar Sydney Crosby.  While on the way to our hotel, the driver received a phone call from what we will assume was a female friend of his.  Well lets just say he didn’t hold back!

“I came by to see you last night, where were you – you lazy bitch!?”.

Hillarious stuff when you hear it.  The guy just had one of “those” kinds of voices – it almost seemed customary the way he was speaking.  But anwyay…

SO we got to the hotel – and were greeted by men (bell hops)  in kilts.  Hey, when in Rome…… 

Upon entering the room downstairs we noticed we really needed a backdrop for the singers.  American Idol has their logo splased all over the place, right?  Well – a muslin (a patterned/textured canvas backdrop) was order prior to leaving Toronto but it wouldn’t arrive in time so we had to improvise.  We called a local company and asked them to deliver us some theatre curtain.  It was the best we would do.  The room itself was nice, but the layout just didnt allow us to use it the way we wanted – so we opted to use the ambient backdrops for the judges as it was just technically better for us.  Anyway – the original curtain they brought us was white, which is never a good colour to use on TV on its own.  Neither is black, for that matter – however given the only 2 choices we had – we opted for black. 

Ofcourse, most of the singers we saw were either black themselves, or had black clothing or black hair.  OY!  So time was required to add sufficient backlighting so that “separation” could be achieved so that singers wouldn’t blend into the backdrop.  In the end – it looked GOOD!  We did our job well   We had rented some extra lighting before we left Toronto just incase we didnt have enough and it proved very useful for not only lighting the singers, but the judges and the room as a whole as well.

We expected a slew of singers – what we had was about 25….over 2 days.  Not a GREAT turnout by any stretch.  In the end – only 2 were automatically voted through to the 2nd round.  AGain, not great news!!  This lack of turnout prompted the now famous saying from Justice, our Executive Producer of, “They are still coming”.   Well, at least he was trying to be positive.  That saying would be uttered throughout the entire production schedule whenever we needed a laugh.  Yes, sir – it made it from coast-to-coast and is still being thrown around – over a year later!

When we got back to our hotel – a condo about 10mins from the Delta – we decided to put some footage together on our laptops to see if everything would “cut” properly.  We chose “Prayer Changes Things” which was performed by Donald Riley (who was actually one of those guys in a kilt that helped us with our luggage) as it seemed to be a good performance and got the judges “groovin”.  We cut together a few mins with footage from all 3 cameras and even we were excited by the results.  We knew we had the right formula – just a matter of making it work for all the locations.  But as I said before, each stage of this show had its OWN drama.  Next stop – back home in Toronto.  Our home town – what could POSSIBLY happen?

Up Next – Toronto

For the past several weeks I have been in the edit suite putting together Gospel’s Dynamic Duets!  Its a “Gospel-Idol” for lack of a better description.  Anyway, you can view the promos for it on youtube.  PLease have a look and let me know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/mmmgcreativestudios

Lots of stories to go with the production of this show – all kinds of drama!  Maybe I’ll share ‘em soon.

Gospel’s Dynamic Duets – coming to CTS in Canada in January 2010.

http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Reality-Show

Its even worse when you have already paid your dues, and done your freebies that you get asked again and again to take it on the chin and work for nothing! But it still happens. The way I see it, you never REALLY work for nothing. You always get a return of some kind sooner or later wether it be monetary (money) or in trade for some service or usage in your portfolio. Its better to work and POSSIBLY make money, than to not work and DEFINITLEY NOT make anything.

Case in point – Gospel’s Dynamic Duets. This is a show we were hired to produce last year. Its a Christian-themed “American Idol” for lack of better terms. It came along at a point where we weren’t very busy, and the job came with free travel and accomodations. It also came with a very limited budget. So we decided to take it on using the above philosophy, fully aware of the fact that the client may just never be able to pay for production.

As it turns out, on one day we nearly put the brakes on it during the first “elmination round” phase due to lack of funds. But we knew we’d really screw this guy if we did that and then we’d NEVER see a dime. We actually showed up a few hours before they were set to begin! One way or another, we managed to pull things together and that episode may just be the hidden gem of the whole series. We had next to no lighting to work with and the cameras were crappy. We also had sound issues to start with. But we placed what we had in very strategic places to at least give the show SOME kind of production value. Fully thinking we had captured nothing but crap, i began to play with some of the footage – a tweak here and a tweak there and “voila” – i have something magical. But i digress….

Getting back to the point here – its been a year, and the client is still paying. Hey, at least he is paying and nearly paid off the production end. Now, we’re about to enter post-production on the show with the exact same philophy. However when its over, i will have (a) a fine quality reality show to my credit in HD, (b) a probably well-paying gig, and (c) i set myself up to take on season 2 of the show. Now Season 1 will air and i predict it will get attention, and even become profitable.

And that is how you build a business. If you turn around every low-paying, or non-paying gig that comes your way, you are not seeing the big picture. Before you decide to turn work down, ask yourself if there is the potential for more work to come of it either directly, or in directly.  There is a difference between working  “Free”,  and working for “nothing”.

editor’s note – check our twitter page and website for info on when Gospel Duets will air, and on what network(s).  Also visit us on Facebook, and/or youtube to see some preview performances of GDD.

Piero Marinelli is a Video Producer in Toronto, Canada, and co-owner of MMMG.ca – a creative studio specializing in design, and creation of marketing media from websites and brochures to videos and television.  Visit www.mmmg.ca for more info and to see samples of his work.

In one case, the client was also going to be selling merchandise so his idea was using the show as a vehicle to drive the website sales which would in turn help pay production costs.  The only problem is, if you sell merchandise your show is seen as being an infomercial and that opens up a whole new world of cost.  So not only was he mistaken in thinking he could sell merchandise, he also laid out some $50,000 on said merchandise hoping it would sell.  It gets even worse!  This client had also managed to fall into a major hotel chain that would pay him $15,000 to allow them to be a sponsor of the show – the FIRST advertiser.  He turned it down feeling that a sponsor was worth much more than that.  OY!  Anyone who has ever tried to sell a show or idea knows the first question out of a potential investors mouth is,  ”who else is on board?”  Need I say more?  In the end, we cut production after half a season because of a $100,000 bill which had gone unpaid.

In the second instance, my client wanted to cash in on the whole “idol” phenomenon by creating a genre specific reality show. His idea was they he would charge contestants an audition fee to pay for production, and use advertiser revenue to pay for post-production because “he knew someone” who said a major network would fork over big bucks to buy his show.  First off, he mistakenly used audtion numbers from Canadian Idol of some 2000 a day, and multiplied it by $20/person.  Simple Mathematics makes it a $40,000 haul, per location (of which there were 3).  In 3 major Canadian cities, audition numbers were roughly 20, 50, and 20.  A far cry from original estimates.  Secondly, he had no deal in place to buy the show.  Nobody was interested in buying the show, especially since he couldn’t finance it being completed.  The footage is sitting here in an unedited form.  I later found out he had sunk about $40,000 of his own money into bringing the show as far as it went – which is not even half way in reality.

Its insane to think you can produce a show without any external funding.  Nor should you even attempt it unless you are prepared for large short-term losses, and in some cases LONG term losses.  3 things to remember:

1) Nobody buys new shows.

2) Nobody wants to be the first advertiser on board

3) Nobody wants to put money into a show that isn’t even finished yet.  They all want to see a finished product.

Incase you are asking, YES i warned both clients of the pitfalls in very explicit fashion.  However, their ambition and ego let them down.  In short, unless you have the finances to complete the show, you are going nowhere with your idea.  Both of these series had, in reality, a good chance of success as both shows were great ideas, and we did an excellent job in producing them.  The only thing they lacked was the business sense to drive them to air.  Get your ducks in a row before you shoot one single frame.  Once you begin shooting, you only commit yourself to further losses. 

And if you are a producer, never fall into the trap of good intentions.  Even a contract, as I have found out, is only worth the paper its written on.  The sad reality is any debtor can claim bankruptcy and/or drag it through the court system costing you more time and money.  You can’t get blood from a stone.  Be sure you are paid for the work you do by collecting a minimum 33% (50%  if you can negotiate it) of the total budget in advance, and a further 33% once you reach the half-way point of filming.  The final 33% should be due to you before you begin post-production, or at the very least half-way through.  However you decide to divide the payments is really up to you.  The idea is to make sure every stage is paid for, and you are not left on the hook to pay cast and crew out of your own pocket.

And as bad it sounds, good intentions and handshakes are not going to pay your bills.  If you choose to enter into an agreement in good faith, that’s your business.  As someone who has made that mistake, i strongly advise you to reconsider.

Piero Marinelli is a Video Producer in Toronto, Canada, and co-owner of MMMG.ca – a creative studio specializing in design, and creation of marketing media from websites and brochures to videos and television.  Visit www.mmmg.ca for more info and to see samples of his work.

“We use Matrox systems”, i respond.

“Is that like Avid or Final Cut?”, he asks.

I guess nonlinear editing, like everything else in the world, has come a long way since I started some 15 years ago.  When i was in school, we used one of the first versions of Adobe Premiere and in the early 90′s – NLE was pretty new and slow as molases – not to mention expensive!  My very first edit suite used  one 4GB SCSI drive.  The cost?  Over $1200.  That is just the drive, no computer!   Now adays, you can buy a dual core system with 6GB of ram and a 1TB hardrive will cost you about that much – and that includes a 23″ LCD monitor!

But i digress…

My first system used Adobe Premiere 4, and it ran with a Miro DC30 capture card.  All in toll, about $3000.  Back then i thought it was pretty quick.  I used that system to create a demo reel so that I could land a job.  The job i landed was editing on a brand new $50,000 Avid system.  The transition from Premiere to Avid was pretty easy at first.  Both used a combination of  timelines, bins, effect and transition pallettes.  The workflows were a bit different and the Avid was a bit more powerful, of course. 

What the AVID lacked at that time was the ability to stack layers, the way i could in Premiere.  That was limiting to me as i liked to create multi-layer builds.  Moreover, it ran on a MAC and i was a PC guy.  It crashed A LOT, and crashes usually resulted in lost work.  I remember one time, after working weeks on a major pharmaceutical project, the system just crashed and we lost weeks worth of work as the drives became corrupt.  I NEVER had this problem using Premiere and i made sure to let my bosses know about it.  I think they were a bit pissed when I showed them i could replicate certain effects at a fraction of the cost.  But AVID was “THE” name and if you didnt have an AVID, you werent a serious post-house.

Admittedly, i am NOT as up on current NLE’s as I once was.  I have spent too much time in the trenches to keep up on everything going on.  I found a system that works for me, and i continue to use it.  Since then, I have been editing ONLY on system that runs with Premiere as an interface.  I still utilise the Matrox board-set (i was once a Beta tester for Matrox) because for the money, it beats the Avid hands down.   Its a simple “risk vs reward” scenario.   Moreoever, Premiere has adopted many of AVID’s functions which made AVID the leader in NLE back in the day.  The ability to add multiple transition at once is a function I liked about AVID and missed using Premiere.   As was real time preview of multiple layers.  The Matrox board set allows me to have realtime function on many levels, whereas the AVID does not / or the refresh rate is slow working at hi resolution.  In order to get real power, you need to spend thousands more!  And really, whatever I could do on an AVID, i can still do in Premiere.  A producer would never look at a finished video and be able to tell it was done with one or the other.  As far as I’m concerned, Premiere is the better solution for me and my business because it allows me to make excellent productions, work efficiently, and finally and most importantly – make money!

To me, its all about what you can make money with.  I have seen post houses spend hundreds of thousands on an Avid system, but they never made money with it because  the initial investment was so huge it would take forever to make it back. 

Now, a new fighter has entered the ring  – Apple’s Final Cut Pro.  FCP has taken a huge chunk of AVID’s fan base.  But FCP will not do when I need it to do.  First off, as I said, Im a PC person.  Despite everyone’s grumblings with VISTA, I still use it.  I use it well.  It works for me and what I do.  Secondly, to my knowledge there is no realtime out put from FCP.  Matrox now makes a breakout box for FCP which seems to be quite popular and works well.  Thats a step in the right direction.  Lastly, no 3D!  A real edit suite needs a realtime 3D DVE!  Without it, you are restricted to basic editing.  I use the DVE on just about every job i do as I often to multi-layer builds.  And as nice has a preview is, you need to see it playback in real time – especially if you are timing your edits to music.   This is one function Matrox adopted in their RT2000 series system which was my first entrance into anything realtime.

So what separates “the men” from “the boys” in reference to editing?  REAL TIME!  A few points i have come to realize is that if your system lacks 1 or any of these major features, you are not a serious editor.

• realtime playback of multiple layers of HD video

• realtime 3D DVE, and Color Correction

• realtime NTSC/PAL output to an external NTSC (or Pal if you live abroad) monitor.  Editors who work without external monitors are missing something BIGTIME! 

• realtime conversion to MPEG 2 for DVD/Blu-Ray authoring

Without real time – a project like this  or like this would take forever to render out over and over as you edit, refine and finally – master.  These are NOT complex sequences, either.  But they do utilize media in a variety of formats whether its text, or multi-format graphics and animations.

In production, time is money!  And I find the profit margins are greatest in post-production.  The more real time you have, the more money you will make in post-production.

WOW!

But wait!  There is some editing software for your PC available for a few hundred bucks as well!

Logically, you would assume that you too can now create “professional” looking video for a an investment of a couple grand.   Unfortunatley,  so do many others. 

I recently had some landscape work done on my home – a new driveway and some pattenered concrete for a walkway.  When it came to doing the verandah – the piece of concrete right outside my door – i too thought it would be beneficial (and cheap) to do it myself.  After all, the brochures say its suitable for “beginners”.  So i spent $300 buying everything i would need to resurface my verandah in a faux-stone finish.   The only problem was I had NO CLUE to what I was doing and no matter how closely i followed the instructions,  I couldnt get that stuff on and keep it smooth.  I trowled it on and went over it a thousand times.  I simply did not have the knowledge, or the – wait for it – TALENT – to be able to do the job like a pro.  Nice little segue, eh? 

I’m a professional video producer/editor.  I have spent literally half my life working in the industry.  I have produced commercials, infomercials, TV series and corporate videos for some of the biggest names in North America. When it comes to birthdays and anniversaries, by all means do it yourself.  After all, its those little imperfections which make home video enjoyable to watch.  You dont want a polished product because your special events do not unfold like aHollywood picture.  They are not scripted.  They are not conceived.  They just happen. 

This is the common problem we face as professionals in the industry, and that is to convince our clientele of the same logic.  You have invested years of your life in building your business….invested a fortune in time and finances…why the hell would you cheap out on marketing?!  Do you realize you almost ALWAYS require supplemental lighting before you shoot?  Do you know how to light properly?  Do you know the mic on your camera picks up every noise around you (including the camera itself) and is not suitable for talking heads?  Do you understand proper exposure, focus and composition?  Do you know how to join 2 shots together in editing, and what steps you must take before you even begin rolling the camera to ensure that those 2 shots will, in fact, make sense when edited together?  10 times out of 10, the answers are “NO”. 

So now you have spent a couple grand on gear, probably a day or 2 on shooting (or more) and then got back to your “edit suite” only to realize your footage is dark, out of focus and heads are cut off.  With EVERY DIY’er I encounter, these problems always come up.  And then I am forced to spend countless errors correcting them, which means i have to charge more hours which means your efforts to save a few bucks have now translated into you spending MORE than if you just hired a pro to begin with.  No to mention, no matter what magic I perform, the footage will never, EVER look like it could have.  Crap in = crap out.  Plain and simple.   

Please, for everyone’s good when it comes to creating slick, high-quality marketing materials for your business - Don’t Do It Yourself.

Piero Marinelli is a Video Producer in Toronto, Canada, and co-owner of MMMG.ca – a creative studio specializing in design, and creation of marketing media from websites and brochures to videos and television.  Visit www.mmmg.ca for more info and to see samples of his work.