Need Some Advice...

Ok, so far, the graphics for Maciej (the DJ from Toronto) is going very well. I sent him a test video last night and he loved the design, just one small change to the text and it's done. I'm also going to provide him a numbered sequence transition to showcase his Top 10 videos. I know this is above and beyond what he was looking for, and almost 2 weeks early.

I now feel like I've finally crossed that line. The line between amateurism and (semi) professionalism. Now it's time to start getting paid.

So now, how do I go about introducing this potentially client-relationship destruction? What is fair?

I've been thinking about this lately, and I really don't feel comfortably putting a price on "work involved" for a project. It's almost impossible for me to keep track of when and for how long I work on a project or video to really put a price on it.

But what about just putting a price on the delivered product? Like say, $5 for every second of delivered rendered HD video. And have a premium scale, like 5$ for videos under 20 seconds, $4 for videos 20-59 seconds, $3 for videos over a minute. Most of my work falls into the 5-40 seconds, and I only have one delivered video that was over a minute.

But what about formats? There's Standard Definition, 720p HD and 1080p HD. There's a huge cost in time between Standard Definition and 1080p. So, maybe keep Standard Definition videos cheap, or even free? 720p will sport the standard price scale, and 1080p will incur a $1/sec premium charge.

What about my current clients? Fusion has really been good to their word about actively helping me get work and they really like my designs. It was Fusion that landed me the Toronto Dj gig just now, and I know that they really have a spot in their family for me. So maybe continue to keep doing videos for Fusion on pro-bono?

And Maciej has really liked my work so far, and he is looking to spice his videos up every 6 months or so. I don't feel good popping the price on videos I am working for him now, it's just too soon and I don't want to let him down. Maybe after the final product has been submitted and we have time to discuss this. Now that he knows that I am trustworthy and can deliver a good product, maybe he will be inclined to a small charge the next time he needs videos in a pinch? For what it's worth, the final product submitted to him will be 75 seconds total, that would of been $225 for 720p and $300 for 1080p. I think that's a decent charge, and I KNOW that is cheap as hell in the motion graphics world.

Maybe I should just be blunt and ask them how they feel about a charge, and what they would feel comfortable paying me?

In my experience, it never hurts to be up front and honest. Maybe I'll go over with it with the Fusion crew first as they have deeper insight into how deep these pockets are and what people are probably willing to spend. Since I know I won't charge Fusion at all, building this relationship even further might prove to return substantial gains.

Recommended in Toronto...

A radio DJ in Toronto got thrown to the wolves doing a top-20 VIDEO countdown on a bi-weekly basis. He was in contact with the Fusion folks about our video productions and he is lost when it comes to what he's looking for. He's never done anything with video before and needs serious help and this is where I now come in.

Maceij contacted me last night and we talked about his radio show, and his website http://myradiotopten.com and he needs an intro for his video countdown show to begin airing next week. He also said that he's been in contact with 3 other studios/motion graphics artists who have been unable to provide him with something decent. If I come through for him, I will be able to do what other's were unable to provide.

By the time we got done talking I had a pretty solid idea for a nice intro for him. Luckily for me, he has the same colors/flashy-style as Fusion has so that makes it much easier on my end. He was also very impressed with my work so far with Fusion and my website/vimeo page, he says I come highly recommended.

I feel pretty confident about getting him a solid product that he will enjoy and I already have most of the design elements and animation done. He said that I don't need to finish it by the first show, but 5 days before the second show which is December 2nd.

Virtual Studio

Most news/sport studios are hand crafted from the ground up, like Fox News and ESPN and Comcast Sportsnet. They leave the fancy graphics to the intros outros and transitional elements.

But shows with little or no budget like Tosh.0 and Talk Soup, the hosts are normally on a green screen and the designer pretty much can put whatever they want behind them.

In our case, we obviously don't have the money to spend on a fancy-schmancy studio desk and background, so we have to do everything digitally.

I started by looking at other news centers and see what they have in common, it's mostly steel/industrial with some shiny metallics and illuminating lights thrown in for good measure. And along with some kind of LCD array in which to "show-off" their broadcast center in the background and whatnot.

Being as Fusion is not the center of the Dance Radio broadcast world (not yet), we need to start of small. A backdrop depicting some metallic structure, a window to view Chicago's beautiful skyline and a virtual TV to show media as the DJ announces it.

I started out with the base stage with some basic geometry:














Then I built the window and the viewport for the TV:














And many hours later, some lighting and texturing, and some floor mechanics, and we currently have this:














I'm certainly not done yet, I need feedback from the Fusion folks on the general motif, what they like/don't like, and what they would like to see, etc.

Plus this was designed like the DJ would be standing, but if he is sitting or behind a desk that they might get, I will need to redesign the stage to reflect the phyiscal hardware and the perspective of the stage.

Anyways, I like the way this is going and time will tell how this eventually turns out.

Interesting appraise

I was talking with the marketing director of Fusion Radio last night, and we were discussing an upcoming Top 20 countdown that he wants me to work with someone from Canada on doing a graphic intro. And he mentioned that he was able to discuss their "live" videos with someone from Fox News Chicago who was the director of media over there, and he showed the guy from Fox some of my work and he said that they were really good! How about that, some good appraise from someone high up in the industry, wow!

In addition to that, he was also saying that our "live" videos need more movement in the background instead of just the static Fusion logo. So, I came up with the idea of a News Anchor-ish background for the DJ to stand in front of, there would of course be the Chicago skyline in the background, and some architecture around a window and a virtual TV in which to show media on.

So, a virtual news studio, a Top 20 countdown intro animation, and some videos to render for next week.

Busy busy busy!

Logo Redesign

After about a year trying to find that elusive logo design that accurately represents Angler.digital, I think I may have found it. Although I'm still contemplating how to bring the fish into the animation, I think I have a great start.

New Show reel

FX Reel - 11/05/2010 from Dave Spooner on Vimeo.

New show reel for this year, a compilation of things I have worked on so far in 2010. There's more motion graphics this time than visual effects, which is a first. And I was able to fill up a reel with work done only in this year, which is also a first. This year has also marked the conclusion of a great trilogy and a film that won 2 awards which is showcased in my VFX Breakdowns part of the video.

It's not the end of the year yet, but it might as well be. November and December months I don't normally have a lot of free time, mostly spending it with family and whatnot. But its a great time to sit back and relax.

The biggest change to this year's reel is the separation of Visual Effects and Motion Graphics, and I decided to show breakdowns of visual effects. Sometimes the art is lost if the viewer doesn't realize the blank canvas that you started with, and sometimes a new appreciation can be discovered.

I remember how this passion all started for me, it was The Mummy (1999) that really opened my eyes. Before I even saw the movie for the first time, they showed a behind the scenes feature one night and the showed the breakdown of the scene where the mummy was gaining his powers after he'd just consumed the blind guy, and Brendan Frasier started shooting at him causing bits and pieces to tear off. I was hooked!