Prizm as a Time Bandit? Ah, yes!

As we begin a new year, it occurs to me that I have spent a dozen years now with Prizm.  How can that possibly be?  After all, to contemplate 12 years in future tense feels like a much longer span of time than it does to look back on that same number of years.  And the scary part about it is that as I age, time seems to just go faster and faster.  But enough of that conversation, it could lead me down an entirely different path.  Hmmmmmmmm…Perhaps another blog?  Perhaps not…we shall see.

The purpose of this blog, though, is to give you, the reader, an inside perspective on Prizm, and why, as I look back over these past years, it is easy enough to recognize why time here passes so quickly.  There are a number of contributing factors, all of which could be a singular cause of time slippage, depending upon which angle one views life through, at, and with Prizm.  I have decided to list my top five in no particular order:

What is a slate?

Ask someone to picture a standard Hollywood movie set, and what do you get? A director shouting, “Lights, Camera, Action!” and an assistant snapping shut the hinged leg of a black-and-white chalkboard.

That board is called a slate (or clapperboard, or marker, or clapper, etc.), and it has a few distinct purposes.

What we learn from Picasso

Every day in every industry, we try to help folks understand the value we bring and why we charge what we do. Prizm isn’t the most expensive company in town, nor are we the least expensive. We do charge industry standard rates and bill for our expertise and experience to get the job done right the first time.

Because the production industry is objective and intangible, I thought I’d share a story about Pablo Picasso to help explain the difficult nature and experience necessary to provide an outstanding end result for Prizm clients. The story goes:

Picasso was sitting at a café in Paris one day, having a cappuccino and reading the paper. A woman approached him and forcefully said, “You’re Picasso. Oh my. Could you paint my profile?” Picasso slowly set his cappuccino down, folded his paper and picked up his sketch tablet. Without saying a word, Picasso motioned to the lady to have a seat. He positioned his subject for the right angle and light that would highlight the image he was about to capture.

The lady began to speak again, and Picasso hushed her, repositioning her, and began his work.

About five minutes passed as the master sketched the subject into beautiful colors and hues. Once he’d finished, he turned the painting around to show his subject. She exclaimed, “It’s amazing! I knew it would be incredible. How much?”

Without hesitation, Picasso said, “5,000 Franks.”

“$5,000 Franks? It took you only five minutes!” she exclaimed.

“No,” Picasso said, “it took me a lifetime.”

As with Picasso, you have to create your brand, your reputation, and the reason why people would be crazy NOT to do business with you!

With everyone searching for the lowest price, they sometimes forget quality, service, and value. Our goal at Prizm is to compete on those three elements of success. Happy shopping, and check us out online to see what we’ve created for other clients like Renzenberger, Indiana State University Foundation, Essential Knowledge, and many other great organizations.

Editor’s Note: Pre-production is a MUST!

Pre-production is an often overlooked part of the video production process. Many people think videos are thrown together and magically come alive. It’s true, the outcome can sometimes be magical, but is it really worth the money to bet on everything falling together perfectly? What happens when the opposite happens, and the video portrays your company’s message at just a percentage of its potential?

As an editor who works with budgetary constraints on a constant basis, my advice to you is pre-production, pre-production, pre-production! If your company is spending thousands of dollars on a video, I’m sure your boss wants it to have the highest quality, maintain a good retention rate, and be as effective as possible. How do you accomplish this? Pre-production!

No-Nonsense Scriptwriting

We almost always write the scripts for our clients’ videos; however, on the rare occasion that they prefer to keep those costs in-house, we hand the oh-so-holy duty to them.

Bear in mind, it’s not easy for us to keep our claws off this one small responsibility.

What the b-roll?!

In the film/tv world there is plenty of lingo flung around that could really have a more practical or universally understood name…but it doesn’t.  I don’t know if it’s because we industry peeps want to sound cool or speak in code or what.  But that’s how it is. (Actually, all of those terms once had a very logical meaning.  But technology has eliminated or changed most of those meanings.)

Editor’s note to Videographer and Client

Think you have enough footage for your video project? I highly doubt it!

What everyone should know about pricing professional video

What could possibly be so hard about pricing a professional video project?

From the outside looking in, it may seem simple enough to put a price tag on a professional video, but there are many considerations involved.  Having spent more than a decade working for Prizm, I have learned so much about the process of creating a professional video, and let me tell you, there is absolutely nothing simple about it!

I receive inquiries for cost quotes daily, and frequently find it necessary to help people understand how much really goes into creating professional, award winning videos.   I can’t tell you how many times I have heard:  “Just off of the top of your head, how much does it usually cost to…?” Although I don’t like to say it, there genuinely is not a “usual” cost when it comes to the creation of a professional video.

Capturing professional video for Extreme Makeover Home Edition

In order to receive a true and complete price quote on your video, you must be prepared to provide your production company with answers to some very pertinent questions like these:

1. How long do you want your video to be?
2. What style and quality do you envision for your final product?
3. What delivery medium (or mediums) do you intend to use?
4. What is your deadline?
5. Are you working within a specific budget?
6. Do you want professional actors and/or voice talent to be part of your video?
7. Do you need scripting services?

The answers to the above questions then create more leading questions, which largely influence pricing, such as: 

Final Cut Pro X – Wired or Fired? (part 1)

As a follow up to my previous blog about the release of Final Cut Pro X, I am exploring the pros and cons of this new app.

The release of FCPX was last week, and it already received very mixed reviews across the editing community. According to the Apple app store, it has already received 153 one star ratings and 116 five star ratings. This makes me very skeptical about the purchase for our company.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Just for fun, I Googled chocolate chip cookie recipes.  And in less than a second, I had the opportunity to choose from 835,000 different recipes.  As a child, I had just my Mom’s cookies and a few other varieties from Grandma and my neighbor.  I always liked my Moms.

While your senses may be working on remembering the smell of chocolate chip cookies you may be thinking; What does this have to do with video/film production?  Stay with me and let me stir the batch.