So I'm a Blogger now

That's all right. I like to write, I learned my basics from a master, I've got experience, judgment, a modicum of common sense, I like to teach and I've got opinions. So I'm all set.

Now what?

OK, my first urge to say something to somebody somehow (before I ever even heard of blogs) was when I decided I'd like to start a video business--this after 20 years of working for a non-profit doing film and video.  I wanted to find out what people were charging, but found few who had the decency (or guts?) to post any kind of price guideline on their sites. But I did find a lot of "Silver, Gold and Platinum" packages which seemed all the rage. Then, in checking into these I found that if I wanted a personal biography, the "Gold" package would get me "one hour of interview...50 photos, blah, blah blah".

Ridiculous.  That's not how you do a biography, documentary, wedding video or ANYTHING ELSE.

But I figured out what was going on.
In this modern technological age anyone can buy a good quality video camera and editing system for less than $1000.  When digital editing first came out, what did we pay for the AVID editing software? ...$30,000?  I don't know, I wasn't the one who bought it but it was something in the 10s of thousands. These days Final Cut Pro, which does everything our AVID software did last century and more, costs about $1000. And Final Cut Express, which could be used to edit a feature film in a pinch, costs a couple hundred bucks. And you can do it all on a laptop ON LOCATION with a laptop-powered 500 gig Firewire external drive that can fit in your front pocket.  I just bought one! (I know, I didn't mean edit a feature film on a 500 gig drive)

So I figured there must be a lot of guys out there, god bless 'em, who bought the stuff, charge a fee and, Voila! They're now professional videographers, graduates of the MTV School of Videography, gawd 'elp us all. (make a note: there's a topic...)

In all fairness, yes some of these blokes have gone to school to study the subject seriously (some of whom may have been forced to take the "Marketing School of Silver, Gold and Platinum Packages"...)

On the other hand, there were also some real pros out there trying to distinguish themselves from the cut rate amateurs. And therein lay the problem.

I imagine the going rate of professional work of this nature must start at around $75/hour. You can't compete with a $500 Silver Package.  Well, that's not totally true, but you get the point.

So that's when I thought I'd like to say a few things about the importances of the subject.  --Just for the fun of writing it down and to maybe help someone become a better videographer, exchange ideas, etc. But I wound up getting involved in some other things over the past few years.

Now I'm back where I started.  I've decided to get back into the video business.  So...  getting a website going, Facebook, a blog...

Future Topics (in no particular order):

Message
Camerawork
The Handheld Camera
How to do an interview
How to do a biography
How to do a Documentary
"Gimmicks" vs. "Basics"
Importances (what's important, what's not)
Equipment
Lighting
Quality
Pricing