how to add value to a dvd

[Richard_G]

An interesting thread this. The comments on grammar and spelling are being classed by many as off topic, but are they? One way of getting people to buy your product over anyone else's is in presentation. That doesn't only mean the product, but also the way you sell it.

Later today I am shooting a video project which will ultimately become a DVD for sale. I wasn't the only person approached to do the job and I have no idea if what I am going to supply will be any better than what the others would have produced had they been given the chance. But I was given the job because I managed to sell myself and leave the customer feeling that they had picked the best person to do it. Whether they made the right choice or not I have no idea (I would hope that they have though) but I'm doing the job and nobody else is.

The customer hasn't even seen any of my work either. I just managed to give the right impression that makes them assume that they will get a top quality end result. I did that by making sure that all my communication with them was properly presented.

So are comments on the grammar and spelling off topic? I would say that in the context of how to sell more of your DVDs over other peoples, I would say that they aren't.

[overloaded_ide]

It appears the OP is indeed capable of speaking in a professional manner and the original post was just the result of fatigue or laziness/sloppiness. Also that he is aware such an appearance will result in fewer sales. You are selling yourself first, the product second. There is some overlap here, but why not maximize everything you can?

Actually though he now expresses himself better, I would have skipped the post myself after previewing the popup text that shows when I roll the mouse over a post title on the front page.
I originally just poped in here to see if any replies were answers that would also bennifit me.

Dis dat N udr ting posts R not 1's I help wit or replie 2 N I seldom Evn read dem 2.

It looks like the typical, "How do I make my own DVD, Just got a burner yesterday and I want to rip off the movie rental disks" newbie type posts. I mostly skip those. And I would not hire a person that writes that way in person either. And I would read the contract before hiring the person.
So rather polite or rude I don't care, Smurfs comments do apply. If a person wants experienced people to spend thier time helping them, they should take the time to ask the questions correctly. Perfect typing or spelling not required, but at least try to make an impression that you care enough about the answers to write the question readable.

No ones ever really bothered me much about my bad spelling or typing, and I don't bother others about thiers. The lazy short cuts that take an effort to figure out how to read I skip and so do alot of other helpful people on alot of forums. I would rather put forth the same effort trying to provide good answers than deceipher codes.

"capable of speaking in a professional manner and the original post was just the result of fatigue or laziness/sloppiness."

I would hope I would not have to worry about this same problem if buying DVD's from some-one,
wan2no might produce the same great qualty DVD's everytime, but how would I know till after it was made? If it was a 1 time event like a wedding or such I don't want to find out a week later my DVD "was just the result of fatigue or laziness/sloppiness".

I would post helpful answers to this post, but I think most of it has already been covered by others.
Make a good impression to begin with!
Create a great small demo DVD to show as a sample of your work.
Use the best equipment you can.
Learn the best ways to do the work you plan to do.
Use the best software for the job that needs to be done and learn which to use when.
Don't go over board on the menus making it look trashey, but make good menus and motion menus when applicable.
Make a professional looking package people will be happy to get and look worth the money charged for it.

I don't think you ever really did say what you are wanting to do? Film weddings and author DVDs? Get a contract with a major studio? Contract for live Concert recordings with major bands? You would need to change your methodes to suit the work intended and people involved.

Remember people are stupid in general. I had a person trying to tell me how great they were doing making their own DVD's. What were they doing? They were using some crap program to steal comercail DVD's, breaking them into 650meg chunks and putting them onto 4-8 CD's as needed.
They were not even making DVD back-ups! And then they argued their DVD's had no loss in quality! It was not even a DVD after they butchered it like that
I was authoring original content DVD's from scratch and they said "OH, I make DVDs too" and that's what they were doing.
Then you have the people who's cousin has a set top DVD recorder making TV show disks with garbage text titles. They ask me what I do, I say I author DVDs, they say OH my cousin does that too
And then you have all the people who THINK they are making DVDs when they rip and shrink one for a backup. They made nothing, they just copied files to a new disk really. But all those backup people THINK they are actually making DVDs.

That's the people we try to sell to and what you must over come unless working with large businesses

Dos iz de ppl dat type dis way 2 and Y U should not f U like 2 B taken 4 real N git gr8 answers places like diz. N dat goes fer NE1 not jist wan2no but I c 2 much of dat stuff like diz at 2 many forums and NEWBs dat do diz git less help from gr8 smart ppl at doz forums

[wan2no]

point taken.

...So are comments on the grammar and spelling off topic? I would say that in the context of how to sell more of your DVDs over other peoples, I would say that they aren't.

i understand that is what his message was trying to convey. So why didn't he relay his message like how you did? good question, isn't it?

how's my english?

[jameshgross]

I agree with Lordsmurf, sometimes the quality of the of the posts are very poor.
More then likely it is the writer just trying to be cute. Othertimes just ignorant.
Writting in slang should be left to the professionals(who can do it right).
Posters should try to put their best English foot forward.
The poor writing of the original poster almost turned me off from a really good thread.
Lordsmurf, your posting are always sharp and to the point. I see nothing wrong with a little sharp criticism now and then.

[wan2no]

Dos iz de ppl dat type dis way 2 and Y U should not f U like 2 B taken 4 real N git gr8 answers places like diz. N dat goes fer NE1 not jist wan2no but I c 2 much of dat stuff like diz at 2 many forums and NEWBs dat do diz git less help from gr8 smart ppl at doz forums

That's a good one. Lordsmurf, did you understand?

ok onward we shall go. Point was taken. I understood and i would undergo that change. Initially, I intend to target weddings. I figured its a worthy segment of the market since the young ppl people nowadays tend to get married at the ages of 19 and 20 and there is still the old folks that want to prove they are young.

How's my english

[wan2no]

Does anyone here have any ebooks on photography or the study of filming?

How's my english?

[Supreme2k]

You made baby Jeebus cry

I'm sorry to take your precious time away from the "Report" Thread. I'm sure there's some vague remark somewhere that may or may not be breaking the rules that you need to bring to everyone's attention. Don't worry. I'm sure there's plenty of mod positions available, even for Cockney Pommies like yourself.



wan2no, here's a page to get you started.

[overloaded_ide]

The customer hasn't even seen any of my work either. I just managed to give the right impression that makes them assume that they will get a top quality end result. I did that by making sure that all my communication with them was properly presented.

That reminds me of a job I got once that presses this point a bit also. I am the casaul type that does not dress up fancy in suit and tie except for weddings and funerals, and only if I have to then. Though I do dress decent and clean, but not like a profesional saleman.

Anyway I wanted to do a DVD for a live band performance that was coming up at a little place. So did some other people. Well I dressed as normal, nice but no jacket or tie, spoke as normal, all the casaul stuff. I did not get far, did not even leave the demo disk.
I then sent profesional looking documents, faxes, sample contract, demo disk of my work, raised my prices about 20%. I beat out the other people and got the contract never even meeting in person the second time.
When I showed up to get the tapes (they had their own camera and sound setup ) I was dressed fancy. I was recognized as being the guy they did NOT hire from when I had showed up in person the first time, they remembered my original lower price and asked why I was charging more now.
Being a one time deal I didn't care, I told them jokingly it was to pay for the jacket and tie I was now wearing

They called me after that to see if I would do another show DVD, they really like the first one. They remembered my joke about the jacket and tie being the reason for the higher price, said it would be fine to show up in Jeans and T-shirt to get the tapes if they could save 10% this time

That was just a little place, but after that I had about 3 bands sending me tapes once in a while for videos. I just charge a bunch for the master, I think the copyright stuff is bull crap myself. It's their songs, thier talent, thier performance. I am just getting paid to do a one time job just like a factory worker, you don't pay a royalty or other fee each time you start your car right!
So I charge a crapload for a master, they can make all the copies they want themselfs, or I'll do it for a reasonable per disk fee.
That also worked well for a business model for me. The client owns the disk and contents once produced. Where others are trying to claim ownership rights just because they were paid to do a one time job of someone elses event, I don't, but I do charge alot more for the master disk!
So if a band or what not thinks they are going to sell alot of them I get the job cause they don't want to be paying out per disk to anyone. Sure they can copy DVDs or CDs onto crappy blanks, but they don't have the files for the art work for jacket cover or disks and most can't print disks either. So they come back and ask for 50 or 100 copies anyway and I charge for the work of making copies. For me not trying to argue over who owns what worked well for getting extra business and actually made me more money per job, whereas others that tried to claim rights to the DVDs lost sales totally, because I got them

To Wan2no, there is maybe some advice I can give you that is useful.
Make it clear the client owns all rights to the DVD you produce for them. And Also point out others in the business often try to claim the rights to it. Make great art work for the Jacket and disk, DO NOT give out those files with the dvds. If they want copies made they still come back to you because you are the only one that can print the covers and disks, unless they want to make other artwork. AND most people do not own DVD printers anyway.
How many copies of a wedding or birthday party would you be making anyway to worry over the copyrights, and they can still burn all the copies they want anytime they want anyway, so why worry about it.

If doing commercail work on a large scale then it's maybe a different idea. But on the normal small scale stuff where future copies won't be much anyway, make the money on the Master and first batch of copies, and keep the files for art work yourself.

[wan2no]

well for the first wedding that i'm intending to do. Since it's my first, i intend to do about 50 that should exceed the break-even mark. I haven't thought about birthday parties. Thanks alot

I was saying to myself i need to get some surveys out but my fear is the potential competition which would surface due to my surveys.

Thanks alot tho

[overloaded_ide]

Learn how to do a great job before you start, and use the best equipment you can.

Well it's like anything else, soon as you start and are making a few dollars probably everyone around with a set top recorder will try to claim they are a DVD author and want to "AUTHOR" home movies to DVD. People will pop up with old Vhs or VHS-c camcorders and setop recorders for capturing the VHS to dvd and claim to be pros.

Just sit them out and they will die off, that's what happened to me for awhile a few years ago I geuss it was. I had extra time and a nice office in town for other use (I live in the woods). Well I ran adds doing home movie to DVD conversions and authoring for part time stuff to kill time. Soon as that got doing fairly well, lots of Bozos bought the ILO setop recorders for around $150 and suddenly the area was flooded with "AUTHORS", ya right.

Lost of few clients for a short time to those "would be's" with the cheapy cheapy prices, but once people got the junk they bought there they started comming back to me again and the "would be's" started dying off.

Also I was the only one around that could print DVD's. See the Village Idiots guide to modding a Lexmark printer here
Was no R200 R300 Epsons back then
But I built a Lexmark DVD printer using his guide

I been doing alot of other stuff for awhile and just getting back into video again this year.
Recently the only things I been doing is Backups for my own use and coverting my VHS tapes to DVD, but now I have sound problems, hiss and a thump thump thump at times, and not doing any capturing right now till I get that figured out.

Oh, I been gone awhile myself, but Lord Smurf was a great help to me and so were many others here when I was getting started out.

[jimmalenko]

You made baby Jeebus cry

I'm sorry to take your precious time away from the "Report" Thread. I'm sure there's some vague remark somewhere that may or may not be breaking the rules that you need to bring to everyone's attention. Don't worry. I'm sure there's plenty of mod positions available, even for Cockney Pommies like yourself.

Hello Pot !

[wan2no]

thanks to all. i appreciate it

[Supreme2k]

Hello Pot !

You would know, since you're the Authority on that particular thread :P

Or were you calling me marijuana/cannabis?



Good luck, wan2no. That field seems to be getting harder to make a profit due to the availability of DVDburners and $50 "one-click" software.

[Brainiac]

Hello again all

Once again, I'd like to express how much I have enjoyed this thread and the information presented. Now, I have a few questions.

For those of you who videotape events for profit, what advice would you give to someone starting out with just one camera (Sony VX2100 and Sony Remote Controlled Tripod)?

When submitting a bid for a job (videotaping, editing and DVD authoring and distribution), is there a template you use to type your proposal? I have Microsoft Word.

Thanks
Brainiac

[jimmalenko]

Hello Pot !

You would know, since you're the Authority on that particular thread :P

What, now it's my turn ?

That's about as lame as a "No, you are " response

[zoobie]

Follow in the foosteps of the 3 Stooges. Add funny sound effects you've found or even created yourself for your demo. You'd be amazed how funny you can make simple boring video.

[lordsmurf]

Final Cut Pro (FCP) is a Macintosh solution. If all you plan to do is DV shooting and DVD authoring, FCP combined with DVD Studio Pro (DVDSP) makes for good discs.

These can do amazing things to video and DVD menus. But they have steep learning curves. It will probably take a year or more to truly master them, and even then, just the basics and a few nifty extras. Full-on knowledge will take years. No book can teach you these software, you have to learn from experience and you honestly need a bit of guidance in-person.

AVID systems are expensive and not really needed for this task of yours.

Your English seems fine now. Ask intelligent questions and people will often be nice enough to give intelligent answers.

[wan2no]

ok. ah you mentioned the dv shooting. what's dv?

[Supreme2k]

ok. ah you mentioned the dv shooting. what's dv?

Right here.

[daamon]

wan2no, here's a page to get you started.

An excellent looking link - I've not explored all the links on the page, but if the titles are anything to go by it'll prove really useful.

Final Cut Pro (FCP) is a Macintosh solution. If all you plan to do is DV shooting and DVD authoring, FCP combined with DVD Studio Pro (DVDSP) makes for good discs.

For PC, the equivalent level editing tool is Adobe Premiere Pro - I've never used FCP, so I don't know if it's better, about the same, or not as good. Look in the "Tools" section under the "Video Editors (Advanced)" category for a more comprehensive list and information.

ok. ah you mentioned the dv shooting. what's dv?

DV stands for digital video. It's a mild compression from totally undcompressed video (which is crazily huge) down to more manageable (though still big - approx. 13.5Gb per hour) file sizes, whilst still retaining excellent quality. DV AVI is around 25Mbps, compared to the max for DVD which is about 8 - 9Mbps. This DV compression is very common in today's camcorders (look for "miniDV" - the "mini" refers to the size of the tape), others being straight to MPEG.

More info on DV in the Glossary: www.videohelp.com/glossary?D#DV

[lordsmurf]

If you don't know what DV is, then what sort of product are you even offering?

[wan2no]

i gots to laugh because you're just trying so hard to pick at the slightest little thing. By now, it's known that i know little about this and i'm interested to ascertain the matter. Duh! that's why i am asking all these questions.

What give you the impression that i have actually made a sale. geez exactly what i was talking about straying off the topic. I was merely speculating and asking for the essentials.

Anyhow knowing that you did not say that with the intent that i perceived. Thanks again for your words of advice. I would do some more reading up on the matter and since you are so excited to answer again you should read up on "how to add value to a dvd" matter.

[lordsmurf]

it has been brought to my attention that when i tell ppl dat i would do a dvd for them they automatically think that it's nothing much to do and they can do it themselves by just simply using a digital camcorder, filmin watever but it on their pc, show to whoever or put it on a dvd.

After everything you have said, it would appear that this statement is true. All those other people probably can do things just as good as you can. In fact, maybe they can even do it better.

Remember that YOU are the one who came here and asked questions.
If you don't like the answers and responses, that's just too bad.

In fact, at this point, I fail to even understand the point of your question. You're asking how to do something better than average, and yet you don't even know how to do average quality work. It's like talking to a high school kid that says "just tell me how to get rich real quick".

[donnyj]

Since the original author also wandered off the course of the beginning topic, I will justify myself as well

Presentation is everything. Grammar errors, spelling problems, typos... well they happen. But it IS hard to take someone serious when they say

"Dis dat and de other"

Now, back on topic:

The people that don't understand that it IS a lot of work to do it right, won't change their mind based on you adding quality to your "product". Truth is, until you try it (and fail miserably) you don't understand how much work goes into a good DVD.

It "hurts my feelings" to spend 4 hours on getting a menu "just right" and presenting it to someone that simply skips over it to press play.

All the neat menus, incredible effects, top-of-the-line printing, etc. won't overcome crappy content. BUT, I am often amazed at how I rate movies based on the cover when deciding what to rent or buy.

Bottom line: Those that weren't impressed to begin with are not going to change their minds until they try it. It's one of those things that commercials, etc. constantly tell you that if you buy this camera, or use this software, you will get INSTANTLY PERFECT results. I wish it was so

[overloaded_ide]

What give you the impression that i have actually made a sale. geez exactly what i was talking about straying off the topic. I was merely speculating and asking for the essentials.

I think I had the same idea and must agree with Lordsmurf here, and not off topic as you said

it has been brought to my attention that when i tell ppl dat i would do a dvd for them

That gives me the idea you were doing something already and wanting to do better in some way to set youself aside from others when

they automatically think that it's nothing much to do and they can do it themselves by just simply using a digital camcorder, filmin watever but it on their pc, show to whoever or put it on a dvd.

And I would think you'd know what DV was since you mentioned digital camcorder there yourself. But not picky about that. Sometimes things don't click. I asked a friend what IIRC was once and e-mail, he replied with something that did not mae since about "If I recall correctly IIRC blah blah blah" and the sentance did not make sence as I read it. I ask my kid what he was saying there and DUH, "If I recall correctly IIRC". The sentance as I first looked at it just looked wierd in it's entirety and did not make sence. Boy did I feel like an idiot and she still laughs at me about that one, she caught it in a second.
IIRC but I was thinking something like IRC two things that looks the same but totally diferent.

A good reason people should not be too pickey in forums about some posts, too easy to misread something the wrong way.

[Richard_G]

Hello again all

Once again, I'd like to express how much I have enjoyed this thread and the information presented. Now, I have a few questions.

For those of you who videotape events for profit, what advice would you give to someone starting out with just one camera (Sony VX2100 and Sony Remote Controlled Tripod)?

At least one more camcorder..... It depends on what sort of events you are looking at shooting. I shoot stage productions, usually amateur dramatics, dance shows and live bands. One thing that separates my work from most others doing similar work is that I always shoot with 3 camcorders. All are on tripods, one fixed at the back of the auditorium looking straight at the stage, the other two off to one side of the stage. One fairly close, one further back and both have someone operating them. Far more post production work in synchronising the 3 video streams and editing to cut from one shot to the other, but the end result is far more interesting to the viewer than if it was shot with one camcorder with maybe the odd zoom in and out. Admittedly, with this type of event, I can't stop shooting, move to a different location and start again, so the camcorders are running constantly from start to finish.

That may not be the case with the sort of thing you may be planning on doing, but I would still suggest at least one more camcorder. If you do stop to move location, you can bet anything you like that something will happen that deserves recording while the cam isn't running!

VX2100.... I need to get a few more jobs booked before I can run to those. Ideally, I would have 3, but would happily accept 2 to use as the operator camcorders. Currently, I use a VX1000E as the fixed cam and a pair of VX700E's for the operators. It isn't what you've got but how you use it that makes the difference.

[wan2no]

thank you. i appreciate all the help you've given me even the help coming from lordsmurf

thank you

[Brainiac]

Thanks Richard_G for the advice. I will plan on getting at least one more VX2100, but I have to line up some more jobs to pay for the first one!

I have, on occasion, had to stop the camera for one reason or another and sure enough something happens that should have been caught on tape.

I am very happy with the VX2100. Purchased a 10 hour battery on eBay just to be sure I don't run out of power. I also purchased Panasonic 83 minute tapes as opposed to taping in LP speed.

Thanks again
Brainiac

[greymalkin]

Yes..Everyone..I would like to simply re-iterate a couple things:

Don't forget to carefully adjust color and brightness so the final output looks its best, do NOT do these adjustments using PC preview.

You can tweak out the colors/contrast and when you think it looks better than good you take the 5hr. rendering plunge. Then hours later you'll walk over to your tv with the burned dvd and see oversaturated blinding video . Patch a TV in if you've got the capability! - Please read post directly below this one. Apparently this is a BAD idea. Sorry for posting out bad advice!

Also you MUST MUST MUST have at least a second camera if you are going to do an event as important as a wedding. The ceremony especially can't be cut up into "highlights" if something goes wrong. And it never fails some goober will walk right out into your shot so you have a fullscreen shot of someone's shirt. This, however, does make a good addition to the outtakes section of the DVD .


Lastly, your best bet would be to hit the guides and find out about DV video, how it works, how it is transferred to pc, what best to edit it with..etc. Finding out that you don't know what DV is is kind of a red flag for us and gives us an idea of how far you have to go before really being able to make quality productions. As with anything, it takes practice to get good at. And you don't "practice" at someone's wedding .

It's kind of like saying You want to apply for a bus driver position and then ask what a steering wheel is :P.

[Nelson37]

No, do NOT use a TV output! The only way to properly adjust this is capture, adjust settings, burn DVD, play on standalone, compare to original. Repeat until correct.

TV output from computer will typically be too dark, with slightly washed out color. Correct TV output when viewing from a PC card TV-out will rarely if ever be correct when viewed from a standalone, completely different brightness scale, for one thing. Some cards may correct for this, but none of my ATI cards have.

Documentary channels which repeat a program every 4 hours or so are great for this. Capture, burn (RW would be handy), view and A-B switch to original source, note differences, repeat until source and copy are identical. These settings may be different for each camera and/or each connection type you use.

Now if, repeat IF, final playback method is intended to be a PC, then and only then can you adjust settings using the PC preview. This would be unusual, particularly if DVD is the goal.

Also recommend another pair of eyes because after several repeats of this, you can either get tired and think it is OK when it's not, or start seeing things that are not there when it is OK.

And to the OP, if you do not yet know what DV is, you are FAR from ready for any commercial enterprise. Practice, read, and learn some more first.