Deliver Eisteddfod DVDs same day?

[Gerald Webb]

Hey people,
Just wondering if anyone is delivering their Eisteddfod/ events DVDs on the same day?
I guess, one cam shoot, one guy on cam, one on PC. Either capture to PC, or keep changing SD cards.
Have pre printed DVDs with event name and hand write the performers name on each one.
Would/does this work?
Have just done 200 or so individual DVDs from an Eisteddfod and the editing and media management (used 3 cams, I know, foolish) after the event took all the profit out of it.
Opinions very much appreciated.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Gerald

Sounds like an awful amount of effort..with Dance Recitals I normally get the organisers to place an order sheet in the foyer and the host for the evening announces it's location at the start, intermission and also at the end, they normally give the price too. I do recitals as a freebie shoot and then just rely on DVD sales after the event for profit...The last one gave us a net of $1600 so I felt that was not bad for 4 hours on site and about the same for editing.

When the performance is over how many sales/disks will you have ready for people that only want to really find the car and go home??? I don't think I would attempt that, but at the best I guess I might be prepared to have someone edit a bit of the initial footage (let's say 30 minutes of a 2 hour show) and have it on a display screen in the foyer so patrons can see what the DVD will look like and place an order based on that. You really don't want to churn out DVD's that might not even sell??? and I very much doubt whether anyone could edit an entire show as at the end people just up and leave so you will never get everything!! Maybe I'm missing something that makes Eisteddfords different.

Chris

[Eric Olson]

Originally Posted by Gerald Webb

Opinions very much appreciated.

Is the reason behind the individual DVDs related to individual performer copyright?

Capturing to a PC requires the camera to be tethered to the PC. Moreover, the PC can't be used for anything else while it is being used for capture. A camera such as the Sony NX5 can record DVD compatible MPEG2 to an SD card. Recording a separate file for each performance would allow near-instantaneous mastering of individual DVDs from the card after the session.

What do you think about the following?

1. Number the SD cards.
2. Record about 10 performances on each card.
3. Write card number and performances in order on an envelope.
4. Put the card in the envelope and take it to the sales booth.
6. On demand master a DVD from a PC in the sales booth.

[Gerald Webb]

Thanks Eric and Chris,
I'll elaborate a bit more,
The Eisteddfod I've just done works a bit like this-
Goes over 3 weekends.
Each Sat I am on site from 7.30am until approx 11pm, (dancing is from 8.30 am till approx 10.45pm)
Sundays are a bit easier, dances go from 8.30 am to about 7pm.
Last weekend has a Fri evening as well.
The parents/performers approach me and pay, and highlight the dances they want captured in my program before the dances happen.
This year I edited after the fact and put all the dances by each performer if there was more than one ( the hard core kids might be in as many as 15 sections) on one disc with a motion menu.
As I mentioned in the OP, the long days are a grind but worth it if that was the completion of the job.
I start losing money ( and motivation) with all the days of editing and disc production at home after the fact.
I realise I will lose a small amount of money on more discs for every dance, rather than grouping single kids onto one disc, but, for the simplicity of having each dance done and out the door, so to speak, it may be worth it.
Chris,
I do some end of year dance concerts as well, but this is a completely different animal, being that no 2 discs are the same,
Just did a count on my program of the dances I did , there were 341 (there are prob close to twice as many in all) individual dances that I had to edit and produce discs for, basically equates to a single concert that goes for about 23 hrs.
Eric,
There arent any copyright issues that I know of.
I have a Blackmagic card in my PC, but I'm more thinking an mpg2 cheapy capture card may work better to just put the files straight on the disc. Just use the Burn Disc feature on the Vegas timeline.
So many things to weigh up.....

[Eric Olson]

Originally Posted by Gerald Webb

Just did a count on my program of the dances I did , there were 341 (there are prob close to twice as many in all) individual dances that I had to edit and produce discs for, basically equates to a single concert that goes for about 23 hrs.

You can fit 23 hours of standard definition video on a single blu-ray disk, but I'm not recommending this approach! Yes, it sounds reasonable to make individual disks.

Cheap capture cards are usually disappointing in both video quality and reliability. I see from your profile you have a Panasonic GH2, JVC HM100 and a Canon HV20 so I guess recording DVD compatible MPEG2 files direct to SD cards is out.

This is the most efficient editing workflow I can imagine:

1. Shoot one file per performance.
2. Sort the files by time/date and number them 1 through 341.
3. Batch convert all files to DVD compatible MPEG2 format.
4. Create a list telling which files go on each customer's disk.
5. Batch master 200 individualized DVDs.

One way to accomplish the above workflow would be with the open source tools GNU Bash, FFmpeg and DVDAuthor. These tools are available on Windows using the Cygwin POSIX emulation layer.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Gerald

Wow..That's complex and hard work too!! I just assumed it was an evening gig but it's a lot more obviously!!

You really need to do it the way that makes you a decent profit and makes shooting all that worthwhile. You certainly have a market there with that many performances so what you really need to look at here, since they pre-order, is can you manage to shoot and make DVD's all on your own or will you need some help?

That's quite a big task!! Hopefully is well worth while!

Chris

[Gerald Webb]

Originally Posted by Eric Olson

. I see from your profile you have a Panasonic GH2, JVC HM100 and a Canon HV20 so I guess recording DVD compatible MPEG2 files direct to SD cards is out.

One step forward, I have an old Sony SR8 hard drive camcorder and I just worked out a way to smart render its 720x576 mpeg2 output in Vegas.
Now to get it onto the discs quickly.......