It still amazes me with how much stuff it takes to make good television. Wide shot of one of our setups for The Golf Fitness Academy by Titleist. If you start taking things away however, quality suffers.
Pre-production Meeting
Pre-production planning sets the stage for cost efficiency and successful projects. During this location scout for a Terminix corporate shoot, the Sloan Productions team combine efficiencies for scheduling, lighting, props and set dressing, amongst many others.
Getting it Right the First Time
Sometimes we only get one chance at a shot and must predict what will happen and how to shoot it. During filming of a Video News Release for a local shopping mall a motorcyclist rides through a (simulated), plate of glass. Bob is to the left of the scene and has also set up a low angle un-manned camera to double the footage of this one-take shot.
Multi-Camera Camcorder Production
During taping of The Golf Fitness Academy by Titleist, hosts Greg Rose and Dave Phillips discuss golf exercise with a guest. Sloan Productions has shot five seasons of GFA with four Betacam SP camcorders & transforming Titleist’s Carlsbad, CA gym into a television studio.
Redrock Micro’s M2 Encore
I’ve been using the Redrock Micro M2 Encore imaging system with a Sony Z1U HDV camera for some of our clients and am very impressed with it. It has minimal light loss, about a third of a stop. We have made it a standard offering with our HD crews in San Diego and Los Angeles.. We use Zeiss prime lenses with the M2 yielding super sharp images with shallow depth of field. Shallow depth of field is virtually impossible with standard small imager cameras. In the photo above right, Peter Ryan of Bridge Street Productions, conducts an interview for their client IBM. To learn more about advanced production techniques, contact us about our HD crews in San Diego.
Website Video Production
One of the routine services we accomplish for our clients is producing video clips for their websites. In this photo, Kimber Mahon, delivers a client’s message. Sloan Productions has a great deal of experience in producing web video content. “We have been producing video way before the internet as we know it ever existed”, according to Bob Sloan, owner and president.
Kimber is one of my favorite on-camera talent professionals to work with. She is extremely professional, very, very experienced, looks great, and works fast. I highly recommend her to any producer or production company.
Contact her through her website at www.creativelyspoken.com
Elements of a Video Production
Every successful production is a result of the execution of each, or a variation thereof, of these elements. Their impact on cost is only a matter of degree.
Pre-Production & Preparation
This initial & critical phase consists of all initial meetings with you, the client, leading up to field production & editing. We utilize a needs assessment process where the purpose for the project is clearly defined, target audience is pinpointed, and an outline of the script for the project is agreed upon. Conceptual ideas are then fielded, visual content, design elements, and music are discussed along with aligning with company goals & objectives.
Also part of this phase is all preparation for the production shoot days; scheduling, casting of on-camera & voice over talent, (including reviews with client), crew hiring, equipment procurement, location scouting, construction of sets, props, & wardrobe.
Scripting
In most cases scripts need to be produced from scratch. This phase is part of pre-production yet draws off of the Creative line in the budget. Scripting consists of discovery meetings, research, production of a first, second, & final draft script(s).
Field Production
In most cases scripts need to be produced from scratch. Production costs include fees for the procurement of locations, payroll for production staff & crew, camera, sound, & lighting equipment rentals, set dressing, props, & staging, cast & crew transportation & meals, & insurance.
Talent Costs & Expenses
In most cases scripts need to be produced from scratch. Talent consists of all persons appearing on camera in principal & supporting roles, voice-over artists, & animals. Costs associated with their roles such as transportation, lodging, & wardrobing are also part of talent costs & expenses.
Post Production – Editing
In most cases scripts need to be produced from scratch. Post Production is when everything comes together and the fruits of our extensive pre-production, scripting, & quality field production is realized. Editing is accomplished digitally with computer-based systems and software to incorporate all video, graphics, music, animation, (if included), and other elements. This entirely digital process makes future revisions much more cost effective than other means. Included is the design & production of necessary graphics, and voice-over recordings, which are made at a professional sound studio. Two reviews of rough-cuts are made available before final finishing.
Profit, Overhead, & Contingency
The production fee covers administrative costs, limited overruns, contingencies, and overhead, typically 25% of direct costs. Most importantly this prevents us having to come back to you for additional money as things change.
Creative
Creative fees cover scriptwriting and the time spent by the director of the project for client meetings, pre-production planning, script breakdown, production days, post production planning, & post production. The director takes the “gods eye view”, of the entire project, creating and executing the purposeful vision born in the initial phases of pre-production.
Delivery & Distribution
This extremely important step converts the digital master of the finished work for the display medium of choice; broadcast television, DVD, internet, etc. This phase includes digital mastering, digital output, compression for computer playback, & archiving. It is normally best that the production company control this process to conserve the production value the has gone into the project in it’s entirety.
DVD Playability
DVD playability issues predominately stem from dirt, dust, smudges, or foreign matter on the bottom side, (non label), of the DVD.
Upon inspection if you find this to be true, clean the disk with water and some dish soap. Do this repeatedly until it is shiny and clean again. Use a soft cotton cloth or towel for both cleaning and drying it. Do not use a paper towel except for perhaps blotting to make sure it is fully dry. Don’t put the disk back in your drive until it is completely dry.
The next cause can be scratches, big or small. Next time you rent a DVD take a look at the bottom of it and you will most likely see some degree of scratches. Scratches can be played through, although they can also cause issues.
Beyond cleanliness, and when your problem occurs at the same point on the disc, it is almost always a defect within the disc. It is rare that defects of this kind are seen by the naked eye. They are most often a result of poor plating or coating in the manufacturing process and because of the poor reflectivity the decoder in the player gets overloaded with raw data that is full of dropouts and cannot keep up.
There can be problems with compatibility between discs and players but this is rarely the case these days. If it is a compatibility issue, the player won’t be able to read the DVD at all and you never get to the menu screen.
Our advice is to clean the DVD as mentioned above. this normally restores about 95% of playability issues. Then try the disk in a different player and see if you get the same result.
The highest quality DVD stock manufactured today in terms of compatibility and quality for burning DVD’s is Taiyo Yuden. This is what we at Sloan Productions use to help eliminate issues with our products. If you continue to have difficulty contact us and we will rectify the situation.
Discovery Channel Online
In March, we joined Discovery New Media producers Vanessa Serrao and Matt Strocchia to shoot segments for “Pet Trends” with Maggie Gallant. Shooting in HDV with our Sony Z1-U we visited the Global Pet Expo and Solana Beach based pet store “Muttropolis”, as Maggie and her dog Trixie researched the very latest in “Pet Trends”.
Time Lapse Photography
One of our advanced services for our clients is time-lapse photography. Our Sony XDCAM HD F-350L is specifically suited to time-lapse sequences, as well as our Panasonic Varicam. Bob has been shooting time-lapse sequences for clients, and collecting stock footage sequences for our library.
