Video Editing Suite

off.the.walls

Hi Guys and Gals,

Thinking of opening up a new video editing production facility. Want to see what the interest would be like!.

So firstly what will be in it.

2 sound treated rooms
both running FCPX
both with high quality studio monitors
both running I-Mac 2013 models
tape decks for importing mini Dv footage

This will be a dry hire suite so if you want editors i've also got a load I could suggest to you.

Comfortable Chairs,
Kettles, mini fridge

And Secondly how much it'll cost anyone to use it.

€7 per hour.

Would there be much interest in this?

Days: Monday - Saturday
Times: 10:00-20:00

Lump

I would steer clear of FCP X. You haven't said where it'll be. €7 an hour is very cheap. Most places are about €20-30 Euro an hour!

off.the.walls

Lump wrote: »

I would steer clear of FCP X. You haven't said where it'll be. €7 an hour is very cheap. Most places are about €20-30 Euro an hour!

Hi lump, i've been using FCPx.0.8 for a while now they've worked alot of the bugs out, i still rather work on 7 but 10 is rather fun to play with.

It will probably be based in greenhills dublin 12.

And the reason i'm keeping prices down is that I have no money starting this, alot of people in the country have no money to work with so i'd rather give them a space they can use and not break the bank with it.

ev

fitzy45

Hi,

Firstly, FCPX has not been adapted by the industry. It is a very cheap program to buy, so there is no harm offering it, but do not base your entire suite on it. Provide FCP7 and most importantly, AVID. AVID is used for the majority of material for broadcast. It has had a considerable price drop this year. Expecting professional editors to come in and only have FCPX as an option because it's "rather fun to play with", is inconceivable.

You have not mentioned the kind of storage you intend to provide. A redundant RAID? Unity?

Mini DV is mostly dead, and I only occasionally encounter it, mainly it is the source of old material that is being used in a new documentary program. DigiBeta and HDCam etc. are what people need for acquisition, archive, and mastering out for broadcast. Digi is RTEs main delivery medium for example. And also most of RTEs archive is Digi, many clients would need to capture from this source.

Studio monitors do not need to be top class, just mid range active monitors. Most people will have sound done elsewhere by professionals. Also, if you are just running a cable from the iMacs headphone jack, then you are throwing your money away. And that is no a professional setup either.

I-Macs don't have XLR or SDi for example, so what is your I/O device? Blackmagic and Matrox are great options for these.

Are you providing colour accurate monitoring, or even just LCD TVs for full screen viewing by editors and their clients?

Honesty tho, I don't see what you are offering that can't be achieved on a mid-range macbook or similar spec'd computer. My 5 year old macbook pro has been transcoding up to 4k raw, and I can edit up to 2k natively with no trouble on it.

I have worked as an editor for many years now, and I even disagree with your proposed opening hours. Editors and assistant editors, more often than not, work considerably longer than a 10 hour day.

This is not a production facility in my opinion. Everything is consumer level, and you are offering nothing worth paying for. If it is dry hire, believe me, the editors that clients will hire have all the hardware you are providing themselves, which renders this not viable as a business in my opinion.

You are pretty much expecting people to pay for what I had in my bedroom during college. This may seem harsh, but to label this endeavor a Video Editing Production Facility is a crime, and judging by your list of specifications, I don't think you know what you are doing.

off.the.walls

fitzy45 wrote: »

Hi,

Firstly, FCPX has not been adapted by the industry. It is a very cheap program to buy, so there is no harm offering it, but do not base your entire suite on it. Provide FCP7 and most importantly, AVID. AVID is used for the majority of material for broadcast. It has had a considerable price drop this year. Expecting professional editors to come in and only have FCPX as an option because it's "rather fun to play with", is inconceivable.

You have not mentioned the kind of storage you intend to provide. A redundant RAID? Unity?

Mini DV is mostly dead, and I only occasionally encounter it, mainly it is the source of old material that is being used in a new documentary program. DigiBeta and HDCam etc. are what people need for acquisition, archive, and mastering out for broadcast. Digi is RTEs main delivery medium for example. And also most of RTEs archive is Digi, many clients would need to capture from this source.

Studio monitors do not need to be top class, just mid range active monitors. Most people will have sound done elsewhere by professionals. Also, if you are just running a cable from the iMacs headphone jack, then you are throwing your money away. And that is no a professional setup either.

I-Macs don't have XLR or SDi for example, so what is your I/O device? Blackmagic and Matrox are great options for these.

Are you providing colour accurate monitoring, or even just LCD TVs for full screen viewing by editors and their clients?

Honesty tho, I don't see what you are offering that can't be achieved on a mid-range macbook or similar spec'd computer. My 5 year old macbook pro has been transcoding up to 4k raw, and I can edit up to 2k natively with no trouble on it.

I have worked as an editor for many years now, and I even disagree with your proposed opening hours. Editors and assistant editors, more often than not, work considerably longer than a 10 hour day.

This is not a production facility in my opinion. Everything is consumer level, and you are offering nothing worth paying for. If it is dry hire, believe me, the editors that clients will hire have all the hardware you are providing themselves, which renders this not viable as a business in my opinion.

You are pretty much expecting people to pay for what I had in my bedroom during college. This may seem harsh, but to label this endeavor a Video Editing Production Facility is a crime, and judging by your list of specifications, I don't think you know what you are doing.

After doing some research for video editing i will be providing

FCPX
FCP7
AVID
Premier pro,
after effects,
speed grade,
pro tools ten


for audio interfacing I will be using M-Audio Project mix I/O desks connected Via firewire into the computers. I will also be investing in a secondary blackmagic I/O incase there is ever a fault with the desks. Audio Monitors will be KRK Rokit 6's as i feel they give a nice bass frequency and will not provide too much low end for mixing.

I am still researching what I am going to use for storage, and also what i am going to use for backup storage.

As for your last comment where you have said i do not know what i'm doing.

1. I've studied this in college for the past three years.
2. I've worked in editing studios and on my own personal edits for the past year.
3. I've never had an unhappy client with my work.

As i said this is only to gauge feedback on the idea of setting this up. It is not a definite thing.

fitzy45

Very convenient that your research addresses most of what I just said.

Also, your last comment starts with "After doing some research for video editing i will be providing"... This tells me that you don't know what you're doing. Get out in the industry and see what's really out there, and what people are paying for.

Imac 2013 don't have FireWire, just so you know. It's thunderbolt only. You'll need a connection hub to thunderbolt.

If you are providing protools, will you have mixing desks? Acoustically treated rooms? A recording booth for VO? You'll need I/o on all computers for sdi or hdmi output to broadcast monitors. Does the facility accommodate an online/offline workflow?

Fair play that you're studying it, but I'm only trying to help. I've been in the business longer and I can tell you that it is an over saturated market. The technology is getting cheaper and cheaper, which has led to hundreds of production companies in dublin alone. They are mostly low end facilities doing corporate and commercial work, the big companies like screen scene and windmill have the market for their level pretty much locked up. The reason being that their technology which cost hundreds of thousands is in place already.

Most of the tech is easily available, so you need to provide a full service with that little bit more. Simple dry hire for editing is not something I see a demand for or something worth paying for.

All the best.