footage storage fees at DVinfo.net

Brian David Melnyk · December 10th, 2007, 03:20 AM

greetings all. i have a client that wants a 5-7 minute video produced from the 16 hours of HDV footage i shot. They also want the footage to be used later for a larger ongoing project. i loaded the 16 hours onto my 1 terabyte hard drive and hope to pare down the footage to 2 hours max.
My question: what are the norms for storage fees? this is a significant amount of space to use on the long term considering i will be not only engaging in other projects, but likely adding footage to this project, also to be stored.
i have considered suggesting that the client buy their own hard drive, but cannot depend on that.
suggestions?
thanks,
Brian

Steve House · December 10th, 2007, 03:56 AM

Something doesn't add up. If they want you to retain all 16 hours of the camera original for potential future uses, why are you loading it on to your drive and paring it down to 2 hours? Why not just store the camera original tapes in a safe storage location? You don't reuse them anyway, do you?

Brian David Melnyk · December 10th, 2007, 04:53 AM

sorry for the double post, Burundian black out and faulty back up!

I loaded the footage to be gleaned for an original project at 20 min. (which the client then changed to 5-7 min) with the footage also to be pared down to a form more easily organized for the ongoing project. as logging and capturing all the footage takes so much time, I want to store the best material on the hard drive for easiest access. Further, the project was a conference of activists from DRC, Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda, so the translations on tape need to have the proper audio translations (french and english) lined up with the video of the activists speaking their native tongues. every 5 minutes of an activist talking adds up to about 15 minutes more of translations to all the languages (bit of an editing nightmare to even make out some of the translations over the din). I shudder at the thought of doing this twice, even when the 16 hours is rough edited to 2 hours. so re-loading the raw footage later would not make sense.
i do not reuse tapes, but severely limited access to Panasonic tapes here has made it tempting!!!

David W. Jones · December 10th, 2007, 08:22 AM

I don't see what the big deal is.
Just purchase an inexpensive external firewire hard drive and back up the project and all the footage when you are finished with the edit.

Richard Alvarez · December 10th, 2007, 08:45 AM

Back it up to an external drive and put it away. If it seems 'too late' to charge the client for the drive now, then amortize it over the cost of the future 're-edits'. You can recoup the expense later. You've already explained your need to keep it on a drive, you're only struggling with the need to justify the expense at this point.

You've already justified the expense, look at your post.

Brian David Melnyk · December 11th, 2007, 12:59 AM

thanks for your replies. You're absolutely right. Finding a firewire (or even USB) drive in Burundi is another matter... my current drive entailed a trip to Nairobi and an extensive search.

Richard Alvarez · December 11th, 2007, 08:43 AM

AHhh,,, who new from looking at your profile that Burundi was so clse to Winnepeg Canada! (Smile...) So yeah, if you're isoated, it can be difficult to locate cheap drives.

December 10th, 2007, 03:20 AM	#1
Brian David Melnyk Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Winnipeg Canada Posts: 532	footage storage fees greetings all. i have a client that wants a 5-7 minute video produced from the 16 hours of HDV footage i shot. They also want the footage to be used later for a larger ongoing project. i loaded the 16 hours onto my 1 terabyte hard drive and hope to pare down the footage to 2 hours max. My question: what are the norms for storage fees? this is a significant amount of space to use on the long term considering i will be not only engaging in other projects, but likely adding footage to this project, also to be stored. i have considered suggesting that the client buy their own hard drive, but cannot depend on that. suggestions? thanks, Brian

December 10th, 2007, 03:56 AM	#2
Steve House Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Posts: 5,742	Something doesn't add up. If they want you to retain all 16 hours of the camera original for potential future uses, why are you loading it on to your drive and paring it down to 2 hours? Why not just store the camera original tapes in a safe storage location? You don't reuse them anyway, do you? __________________ Good news, Cousins! This week's chocolate ration is 15 grams!

December 10th, 2007, 04:53 AM	#3
Brian David Melnyk Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Winnipeg Canada Posts: 532	sorry for the double post, Burundian black out and faulty back up! I loaded the footage to be gleaned for an original project at 20 min. (which the client then changed to 5-7 min) with the footage also to be pared down to a form more easily organized for the ongoing project. as logging and capturing all the footage takes so much time, I want to store the best material on the hard drive for easiest access. Further, the project was a conference of activists from DRC, Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda, so the translations on tape need to have the proper audio translations (french and english) lined up with the video of the activists speaking their native tongues. every 5 minutes of an activist talking adds up to about 15 minutes more of translations to all the languages (bit of an editing nightmare to even make out some of the translations over the din). I shudder at the thought of doing this twice, even when the 16 hours is rough edited to 2 hours. so re-loading the raw footage later would not make sense. i do not reuse tapes, but severely limited access to Panasonic tapes here has made it tempting!!!

December 10th, 2007, 08:22 AM	#4
David W. Jones Trustee Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Little Rock Posts: 1,383	I don't see what the big deal is. Just purchase an inexpensive external firewire hard drive and back up the project and all the footage when you are finished with the edit.

December 10th, 2007, 08:45 AM	#5
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Back it up to an external drive and put it away. If it seems 'too late' to charge the client for the drive now, then amortize it over the cost of the future 're-edits'. You can recoup the expense later. You've already explained your need to keep it on a drive, you're only struggling with the need to justify the expense at this point. You've already justified the expense, look at your post.

December 11th, 2007, 12:59 AM	#6
Brian David Melnyk Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Winnipeg Canada Posts: 532	thanks for your replies. You're absolutely right. Finding a firewire (or even USB) drive in Burundi is another matter... my current drive entailed a trip to Nairobi and an extensive search.

December 11th, 2007, 08:43 AM	#7
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	AHhh,,, who new from looking at your profile that Burundi was so clse to Winnepeg Canada! (Smile...) So yeah, if you're isoated, it can be difficult to locate cheap drives.