Next, Randy Shillington, head of new business development for Becton-Dickinson, the top manufacturer of needles and syringes, spoke about what it's like to be a video client. He also discussed the importance of honesty. He said that when they did their first video, they were ignorant about the process and were afraid they would get ripped off. But as they became more comfortable with the production company, J.M. Productions (now JMDigitalWorks), they relaxed and gained more confidence. J.M. involved them in the process of developing the video which gave them a feeling of control. He mentioned that J.M. never said "no" to them. They always said, "We can do that, but it will cost "x" amount of dollars more." Randy appreciated being treated like a customer with respect and honesty.

The next speaker was Maureen Orey, a psychologist who specializes in business psychology and communication. She discussed the key priority of asking what the client's needs are, and the technique of "active listening" in which you repeat or feed back what the client says to make sure you've understood them. She also described the importance of body language, and how changing your body language will allow the client to change his or hers. She reiterated Fred's comments about admitting mistakes, and outlined the three steps to take when errors occur. They were a) acknowledge the mistake, b) apologize, and c) act to fix the problem.

The final speaker was Chris Reardon, a partner in Productivity Solutions Group, a marketing consultant firm. Chris said that service is the key to successful client relations. 80 percent of sales are made for reasons other than price. Clients want control, but often know less than the specialist they've hired to do the job. The key is to keep the client involved without giving them too much control over areas where they have less expertise than you do.

He also emphasized the importance of not trying to shoehorn yourself into a relationship that is too troublesome. He personally has a "client profile" that he uses to determine if he's going to work with a particular client. If he and the client aren't a good fit, he won't pursue the relationship. He drew the analogy of going out on a date. This is when you learn if the relationship has potential or not. This is when you look for common ground.

Once the relationship has begun, it's important to avoid "need creep" by keeping the client focused on why he or she hired you and the benefits you are providing for them. You should also continue to remind the client of the benefits after the sale. You should always strive to deliver more than you promised.

Another important role of the service provider is to alert the client to time and budget problems before they occur. Chris added that when problems do occur, you should be honest, work out options, and use problem solving with the client to come up with a solution.

Suggested Reading List

• Covey, Stephen "Seven Habits for Highly Successful People" 
• Tracy, Diane "The First Book of Common Sense Management" 
• Pepper, Don and Rogers, Martha, PhD "The One To One Future" 
• Malloy, John T. "Live For Success" 
• Psychology Today - various articles about understanding human behavior 

(This re-cap contributed by Steve Hensley)

KPBS-TV had a chance to show off their new facilities to the 35 attendees at this joint meeting with NATAS which featured the national video teleconference produced by the ITVA Foundation. After a well-produced and very well received hour and a half plus presentation that included live panels on both coasts and lots of case studies, Donn Johnson of KPBS took the group on a tour of the building. A small group of people stayed after the tour to surf the web a bit looking at the web sites of local San Diego video professionals. 
The satellite downlink presented many interesting statistics about just who is using the Internet and what they are using it for. According to ACNielsen Homescan, in the United States we see a ratio of 58% male Internet users to 42% female, with 45% of US households saying that they own a personal computer. While it currently appears that a small majority of Internet users are using the medium to access information on entertaiment (51%) -- 49% use it for news and current events. And also in the US , nearly one quarter of Internet users have made purchases over the Internet. 

Forrester Reasearch indicates that Internet commerce between business will grow fortyfold by the year 2002. This estimate would mean an increase in goods and services traded from $8 billion to $327 billion. While this seems to be a huge growth estimate, consider that between 1996 and 1997, Internet business-to-business grew 1,000%.

Twelve companies were featured during the teleconference as case studies and ranged from large to small companies with a wide ranges of products and services. These case studies revealed both positive and negative experiences with the technology and featured lots of lessons learned.

Many of these lessons were summarized by Jim Sterne, Target Marketing, who listed 10 Tips for Setting Up and Managing a Web Site -- and also 5 Booby Traps to Avoid. These tips, as well as much more valuable research data, opinion and information from this teleconference are available in the detailed 58-page handout that was passed out at the meeting.

This month's meeting was held in the new Rancho Bernardo facilities of the Duplication Center of San Diego, where the 20 or so attendees had an opportunity to sample the grand array of delicious snacks that proceeded the presentations. Please call to arrange for a tour - 800-828-2892. 

Lightning Corporation's Leslie Dillahunt spoke about packaging: Ask your clients who is their customer (audience) and how they are going to distribute the video? These are generally the types of jobs:

1. Corporate (non custom and custom options) 
2. Speakers/Seminars (they need a “presence”, they like large sized videotape packages, often combining literature and other items with the videotape together) 
3. Retail (standard is 4-color sleeve with shrinkwrap) 
4. Giveaway/Promotional (direct mail; they want the least expensive options, cardboard sleeve and laser label) 

Custom packaging can range from a few cents extra to $10 on up for very fancy boxed sets. Practically anything you can imagine can be done. There are quite a lot of noncustom, pre-made binders, jackets, etc. in all sizes, which can have a 4-color printed page inserted, or can be custom stamped with a logo. Because there are so many options, it is wise to bring along a manufacturer’s rep as your “packaging expert” when you meet with your client.

Packaging should be thought of very early in the video project, address it when you’re discussing the script. It can take 3 weeks or longer to print up custom jobs. For the standard “retail” 4-color sleeve shrinkwrapped, Leslie said it can be done in quantities of 2,500 or more, for about $1,000 with artwork and layout included.

San Diego Duplication Center’s Bob Burns spoke about video duplication: Look for good quality, price and service.

Quality: 

• Ask what kind of tape they’re using; some manufacturers produce much better quality. Ask what brand of shells they’re using; there is a wide range of quality. 
• Are they loading tape in-house? In general the better duplicators load in-house and can better control the quality and components at all stages. 
• What kind of VHS machines are they using? There are really only 3 professional decks currently in use by professional duplicators: Panasonic 6840/50 (industry standard--the best), Sony 915/965, and JVC BR7040 4) Visit the duplicator yourself and inspect the facility. Look at the machines. How clean is the facility? How does the engineering look? Separate, climate-controlled sealed rooms for tape loading, packing/packaging and duplicating are best. The #1 enemy of quality dubs is dust in the air. 
• Real-time vs. high-speed duplication? Real-time is always the best, and extended play recording is not recommended. 
• What kind of quality control are they using? Do they check every single dub, or do they use a statistical sample? What kind of equipment are they using to check the technical specs of your dubs? 

Price: You really do get what you pay for. There are all kinds of ways to cut corners, from the shells to the bulk tape stock to the duplicating machines and methods. If you get a low-ball bid, be careful, there’s some tradeoff you should be aware of. Some duplicators are really brokers, and will farm out their dubs to large regional duplication centers, so you may not even be dealing directly with the duplicator who ran your dubs.

Service: Ask for references, check turnaround times and their responsiveness. Ask if they are actually doing the work or are they farming it out to someone else. Get involved early in the production, don’t wait until the last minute. Will they drop ship or coordinate shipping of the final dubs? Can they provide labels and shrinkwrapping? Can they warehouse your packaging? 

(This re-cap contributed by David Kuspa)

What a great meeting! Many thanks to Jack Armstrong and Karen Olson of UCSD Video Productions for hosting the meeting this month. If you haven't had a chance to visit their rambling facility in the basement of the Biomedical Library on the campus of UCSD, then give Jack or Karen a call. 619-534-4134. They would love to show you around.

The meeting was sponsored by Videonics who provided the food and a brief demonstration of the PowerScripter 1000 character generator - a low-cost, high-feature CG. Logan Enright of The Enright Company arranged for Jim Stewart of Videonics to wow the crowd of over 30 people with the capabilities of this versatile system. For facilities who may be making the jump to non-linear in a couple of years, but need a good CG in the meantime, this system may fit the bill.

The main program featured Bob Mellon, President of Creative Response Marketing, Inc. (CRM) of Orange County . Listed in the First Edition of "Who's Who in Advertising", Mr. Mellon provided lots of valuable insight and information on marketing culled from his almost 30 years experience. In a nutshell - paraphrased here from a quote by Bob Perlstein - marketing effectively is getting the right offer to the right market at the right time. 

A key part of his message that evening was the "60-30-10" rule. 60% of your success is based on selecting the right AUDIENCE for your message. 30% of your success is based on communicating the right OFFER. 10% of your success is based on the PACKAGE. In other words. Targeting the right people is the most important part of your marketing plan.

What? You don't have a marketing "plan". Well, you should! And it should be a S.M.A.R.T. plan. It must be SPECIFIC. It must be MEASURABLE. It must be ATTAINABLE. It must be REALISTIC. And it must have a TIMETABLE. Oh, and repetition helps. Oh, and repetition helps. Oh, and - you get it.

Supplementing Mr. Mellon was a panel of three San Diego video professionals who discussed some of their personal experiences with marketing. Michael Silverman of Athena Video, representing the commercial video production company perspective expounded on the benefits of networking and cultivating clients. He suggests joining the Chamber of Commerce in your area and attending gatherings where you may have a chance to meet new people.

Karen Olson of UCSD Video Productions, representing an in-house point of video, discussed a recent marketing campaign that included full-color oversized post cards. Olson reiterated the importance of timing a marketing campaign, taking into consideration your target market's spending trends.

Wrapping up the panel was Brian Collins, a independent spokesperson known for his skills with the ear prompter. Collins, also an instructor for the Ear Prompter, has tried many different marketing methods over the years. He pointed out the importance of researching your market and looking for new opportunities.

Mr. Mellon wrapped up the meeting by reiterating some key points made by the panel and reminding us that an audience and offer is what we need. Create the need if it doesn't exist. And make it as easy as possible for the audience to respond.

The program was presented by David Branfman and Christopher Connolly of Branfman and Associates and covered a very important subject for video professionals - "The Care and Feeding of Trademarks and Copyrights" (The Short Version). Of primary interest was copyrights - how it affects both the work we do and the material we use. 

In the area of Copyrights, Branfman and the group discussed what can actually be copyrighted and focused on the difference between an idea and the expression of an idea. An idea cannot be copyrighted, it is the specific expression of an idea that can be copyrighted. Branfman felt that it was important to safeguard the expression of your idea (script, production, etc.) by not only using the copyright notice, but by officially registering your copyright. He felt it was well worth the $20 and the time to fill out the forms.

Time was also spent on what constitutes Public Domain material and Fair Use material. For example, there is a fine line between parody and satire. Parody is fair use, satire is not. Can you define which is which? Time was also spent on some of the penalties for copyright infringement. Is it worth the risk to use copyrighted music in your in-house video when you could be sued fo actual damages and defendants profits, as well as for statutory damages and attorney's fees? The material could be seized and destroyed. About the least that could happen is being asked to stop using the material.

Connolly led the discussion of Trademarks and some of the things you need to do to ensure that your personal trademarks are protected. The first thing to do is to pick a great name in the first place - something that can stand the test of time. Something that is simple, unique and memorable. The strength of a trademark can be described, in order of strongest to weakest, by the following terms: Coined, Arbitrary, Suggestive and Descriptive. 

For more information about Trademarks and Copyrights, please visit Branfman and Associates' web site.

It was a balmy Tuesday evening in the vast Miramar industrial park as approximately 20 people made their way to the new home of Vide-Post to talk about Animation and Graphics for video. Vide-Post's Kenyon Blower and Mike Salmen provided an excellent spread of munchies and made all the arrangements for the panel of three talented animators who made their presentation in the 47 x 48 foot studio which will feature a coved hard cyc. A large screen monitor was provided by Bexel. 

Founded in 1991 by Kenyon Blower, Vide-Post features on-line and off-line post production using D2, Chyron Infiniti and Media 100xs. Future plans include a digital audio production suite and a separate computer graphic facility.

Each artist showed samples of the kind of work their groups are doing, with Ray Hayden of Emerald Studios first up. Recent projects for Emerald studios have focused on human and character animation, especially "natural" motion. They are a multi-platform shop with corporate and commercial clients.

Next up was Chance Gardner from Vertigo Animation. He has a background in bio-tech, science and technical animation and broadcast animation, as well as lots of work for CD-ROM games. Chance is also producing a lot of 3D environments for live action.

Wrapping up the presentations was Bryan Whitaker of Special Designs Animation Studio. This group focuses their abilities on the high-end entertainment market in film, television and multimedia. Recent projects include several game and entertainment CD-ROMs for national release.

A common theme among the three was that getting the artists involved as early as possible in the project is the best course of action. And just as it is hard to answer the question "How much does it cost to make a video?", the same can be said for the question "How much does it cost for animation." The costs are all over the place depending on complexity and length, as well as the deadline of the project. Although the overall cost to produce animation has come down in recent years as hardware and software gets faster and smarter, the capabilities have increased which gives a producer many more options. 

All suggest using a studio's demo tape as a benchmark when starting to figure out what it will cost to bring your ideas to life. It takes teamwork to arrive at a budget. First, as a producer, get familiar with the basic building blocks of animation and graphics, so that you know if you are envisioning something at the high or low end of the spectrum. If you find that your idea is pricing out above what your client can afford, let the artist suggest some alternative solutions that don't use as many bells and whistles. 

Another area that adds to the costs of animation is indecision. Go into the project with a clearly defined approval process that everyone in the loop is comfortable with. 

On Thursday, March 13 an eager crowd of around 30 gathered at HVS for a lively round-table discussion about non-linear editing. Dan Sparks of Tricom Video (now with Four Square) arranged for six of the best non-linear editors in the Southern California area to take questions. Bob Shroder of HVS, Ric Shellhammer of Pegasus Productions, Phil Munoa from Four Square, Mike Gault of Mike Gault Productions, Mark Nelson of Writing and Visual Concepts and Chuck Diehl of Eclipse Filmworks.

Discussion centered on the three most popular systems -- AVID, Media 100 and TurboCube -- with questions from the audience about how to make the shift from linear to non-linear. The group discussed the benefits and limitations of non-linear, as well as what can a producer do to be better prepared for a non-linear session. One key thing to be aware of is that there are a few things that can still done better (and faster) in a linear bay. The consensus of the group was that in many cases a producer might consider doing multi-layer effects and titling in a linear bay, after the key editing decisions have been made non-linear.

Additional points for having a successful non-linear edit included being sure to pre-select takes and have a detailed edit decision list (EDL) prepared for the digitization stage. Ideally, this information should be on disk, with an accompanying hard copy that shows Tape Number, Time Code In and Out Points (with a few seconds slop on either end) and a Short Scene Description.

Reps from Media 100 and Sony were in the audience and had a chance to update the audience on the latest releases and features. 

Many thanks to the folks at Satellite Video for hosting the February meeting. If you missed the meeting and would like to see the facility, give Sandy Jack a call at 858-483-4151 and she can arrange a tour (and a free game of good old-fashioned pin ball).

The topic for this February 18th meeting was "The Ins and Outs of Being (or Hiring) an Independent Contractor". Kicking off the evening was David Branfman, of Branfman & Associates, who stepped the 30 or so attendees through the basics of how to determine whether you or someone you want to hire is an employee or an independent contractor. He passed out several valuable tools including a self-assessment quiz and a sample short form Independent Contractor Agreement. 

Wrapping up the presentation was Art Kreigsmann from Employee Leaseback Corporation, who went into greater detail on the differences between an Independent Contractor and an Employee. He presented several options for streamlining the hiring process when you find yourself needing to hire employees rather than contractors. These include Employee Leasing, Payroll Services and Temporary Services (Paymasters). The Paymaster is particularly helpful for hiring AFTRA/SAG talent for the non-broadcast arena as they will assume all signatory responsibilities.

Questions followed the presentation and centered on the risks involved in mistakenly identifying a person as an independent contractor when they should be classified as an employee. The bottom line is that producers should be aware that the IRS and the state are cracking down on this issue and there could be serious financial ramifications if workers are incorrectly classified.

The most important hint on how to maintain your independent contractor status is to act like you are in business. Have a business license and a business name. Carry business cards with your name on them. Send invoices. Use Service Agreements. For more information about this check out these web sites:

The Independent Contractor Report
ITVA (Now called MCA-I)

On January 14, 1997 , over 40 people gathered at the Digital OutPost in Carlsbad CA for an informative discussion of video compression techniques and how to make your film or video look its best. Many thanks to Brian Douglass and the rest of the folks at Digital OutPost for letting us use the space and providing munchies and drinks for the group. 

Three speakers held our attention that evening: Pat Walker, WalkerVision Interarts, Chip Bruss, B&B Communications, and Gary Ellwood, Lightning Corporation.

Pat Walker, who considers himself a video person and a computer geek, stepped through some of the basic technical aspects of compression and what it does to the video image. His vast technical knowledge, teaching experience and unbelievable ability to remember details made a compelling presentation.

Chip Bruss, showed and discussed a couple of clips of recent footage created and digitized for Lightspan Partnership. The bottom line for Chip was that in certain cases the emotional impact or storytelling power of a particular shot or scene can override the necessity for a technically perfect picture.

Wrapping up the presentation was Gary Ellwood, of Lightning Corporation, who brought examples of green screen production and discussed the methods for achieving good results.