How long does it take your tandem customers to receive their DVD?

[docjohn 0]

There has to be an easier way to create tandem DVDs! What I'm doing takes forever! It goes like this:

1). Capture video to PC (Adobe Premiere) 5 - 10 minutes

2). Edit video - 15 to 60 minutes (depends how fancy, titles, slo mo, etc)

3). Export timeline to AVI file - 15 minutes

4). Author DVD and create VIDEO_TS folder (using Ulead, Sonic, etc) - 15 - 30 minutes

5). Burn VIDEO_TS to DVD - 15 minutes

So in other words, 1 to 2 hours per DVD. After a busy weekend (5 to 10 tandem videos), it could be 1 to 2 weeks before they're in the mail. (because also have full time job and am doing video editing in my spare time: if any).

I'm very interested in how other folks do this.

Doc
http://www.manifestmaster.com/video

[Zee 0]

Standard linear editing system output to a DVD burner/VCR. Customer gets to choose if they'd like DVD or tape and they walk out the door with their video in hand.

Peace,
Z

Action©Sports

[howardwhite 6]

Doesn't this question need to be refined to ask whether the customer gets "real digital" DVD or a DVD burn from an analog VHS tape? (Clearly advertised as such, it is to be hoped.)

HW

[jtval 0]

we use a linear editing board( they are hard to find nowadays)


the whole process takes about 15 minutes to put on dvd and about 5 minutes to finalize the DVD.

I hand the dvd to them before the next load is out of the plane.

if there is a group and I can wait to edit til they are all done I get do back to back loads and they all walk away with vid

My photos

My Videos

[diverds 0]

John,
Editing tandems on an NLE is way too time consuming. Get yourself a mixer, titler and dvd recorder. Do all your editing in camera as you shoot and your life will be much easier. Takes me about 15 minutes to edit and I hand it to them right away. PM me if you want some info on equipment. Or just look me up at couchfreaks and I'll show you my setup. Cya there.

-Dave

Skydive Radio

[StevePhelps 0]

I prefer the NLE myself, plus we don't have a linear mixing board. It takes us about 25-30 minutes to make a complete digital DVD with all the the thrills only a NLE system can give you. The formula ... SIMPLIFY.

1-2 mintues intro
2-3 minutes jump (includes right before door to final shot of canopy going up)
1-2 minutes landing

Add in slow mo and stills along with DZ promo and credits you a have a complete digital video in aabout 20-30 minutes. Works for us in a small single Cessna DZ

[mccordia 74]

The length of the video is the time they have to wait while dubbing to DVD. Throwing in some slowmo's and some funky music..

NLE takes too much time..I usualy only do that when I have multimple videos that need to be combined into one DVD...

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

It takes us about 25-30 minutes to make a complete digital DVD with all the the thrills only a NLE system can give you. The formula ... SIMPLIFY.

1-2 mintues intro
2-3 minutes jump (includes right before door to final shot of canopy going up)
1-2 minutes landing

We use a linear board with a stand alone DVD-r that has a hard drive. We have all our promo stuff saved to the HD in the recorder, it takes roughly 15 minutes to edit the video through the board to the DVD-r's HD, drop all the intro and promo stuff onto it and finalize the disk (burn it). The customers are happy to wait for the DVD, not only that but we have TVs setup around the DZ and they watch while the video is being edited. Since its a linear board, what they see is what they're getting, generally speaking since people tend to come out in groups, the entire group will gather around a TV and enjoy the jump.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[diablopilot 2]

20 minutes.

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[alw 0]

First, let me qualify this response. I am not an aerial videographer. I do however produce production video and Commercial DVD’s. Here are my thoughts on this thread.

First, what has been described by John sounds like “linear” editing on a “non-linear” computer based system. That will always take longer unless you’ve invested $30k or more in a broadcast news system.

Second, each video is a mini project and so you want to be frugal about how you budget your time, tape, and equipment hours to get the most high quality product in the least amount of time. That maximizes revenue and increases customer satisfaction.

There are 3 basic shots in a tandem video:

1. Interviews
2. Aerial Sequences
3. “B” Roll (filler and set-up shots)

There are 2 basic types of effects:

1. Transitions
2. Video Effects

Interviews and aerial sequences require the customer’s interaction. “B” roll doesn’t require you to shoot in sequence or in the same time space. When you think of it, how much time do you spend in the plane and on the ground shooting the same “B” roll over and over. Even the very best linear videographers spend time processing this “B” roll every time.

If you are serious about non-linear there are “Need” items and “Want” items. You “Need” 2 computers. In reality it’s the same as the linear process where you need 2 video sources. In non-linear, you need an editing deck and a processing deck. You accomplish that for roughly the same price as the linear approach. You’ll need to set them up on at least a peer to peer network. The “Want” items here are gigabit Ethernet and flat panel displays, but you can live with 100 Mbit Ethernet and CRT’s.

For software you need the right editing program. In my book for most that would be Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro. I’ll just speak to PC because that keeps cost down and frankly, that’s what I use – mainly because of networking constraints. I don’t have a software preference between the two (that’s a subject for another debate). In addition to the non-linear editing software, these also contribute to the consumer-pro suite.

Audition (sound editor)
Encore DVD (DVD mastering software)
After Effects (effects software-really nice to have but pricey and not essential)
Photoshop (or just about any photo editing software)

STEP 1 – Edit on PC1

The trick to non-linear is to understand the project timeline. Freefall is usually predictable give or take a few seconds, and the camera flyer succumbs to gravity as the final arbiter. The interviews, landings, and in-plane video are up to the videographer to determine length. Discipline in this area saves loads of time in postproduction – keep them close to the same length.

“B” roll, titles, and stills should always be exact in length with some over-run and under-run possible in the B rolls’ videos to adjust for overall project time. A library of these elements should be built – such as “out the door take-off morning bright”, “out the door take-off afternoon clouds” etc. Once you’ve built a time line for the conditions, you can set it up once or twice a day and not worry beyond that.

Set up a video timeline with your stock royalty free music and insert the title and filler footage in the appropriate locations in the sequence. Then, the only video you have to capture is the customer related shots. Capture as clips, import to the asset list and pop them into place on the timeline - should take less than X 2 of footage run time once you get the hang of it.

Save the project and export as a movie to the “other” PC hard disk via Ethernet.

STEP 2 – Post Production DVD Creation on PC2

Using a product like Encore build a standard library of DVD projects. This is non-linear as well and allows for some very efficient mastering of high quality products. Using your exported video from step one, transcode and burn the DVD. I prefer to build an image and then master from the image. That allows me to save the image in case I need to produce a copy later, but to save time, you can do it all in one step – click it and forget it.

Summary

The creativity in editing and postproduction speaks volumes for your work and your DZ. Linear or Non-linear; no hardware makes up for creativity.

The more you know about the software the better your productivity. Productivity=money. I’ve jumped at DZ’z that keep loads waiting while DVD’s are edited.

Using the software I mentioned, if you do digital stills, you can build a hybrid DVD that has the video and the stills on the same DVD, a .wmv or mpeg1 file so they can send it to their friends over the internet, and a compelling advertisement/promo for the DZ and even your services. Everything is in the can except what you shoot for that customer – the only extra time is the time it takes to burn the DVD – but you don’t have to be there for that.

With experience and planning you can turn this out in 10-15 minutes of your time. And you can cut a few minutes off you “B” roll shooting for a cold drink/quiet moment/or gear safety check.

Sorry to ramble on – just another way to look at the time-space conundrum.

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Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

[windinmyface 0]

Nice post, thanks for taking the time.

I always thought a non-linear production would just be too time consuming. I'm beginning to believe that with some time investment on the learning curve and some good prep work, I could use this type of methodology and get better results as efficiently as my current linear process.

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I am Dyslexia of Borg, futility is resistant, your ass will be laminated.

[DaGimp 0]

only takes us 10 minutes per.......computer takes to long.....liner board

"Professor of Pimpology"~~~Bolas

[Pendejo 0]

We do all ours while they wait. They watch it as we do the edit. Its done like Zee described.

Pendejo

He who swoops the ditch and does not get out buys the BEER!!

[Chrissay 0]

I takes us about 20 minutes to burn a DVD. Here is the process we use, no doubt there are more efficient ways to do this, but we prefer at this point to use non linear editting.

--capture video ~5-7 minutes
--edit in Adobe Premier ~ 5 minutes. We have numerous templates set up, so we just cut up the footage and drop it in. We have a leader, plane pulling up, plane taking off, altimeter shots and end leader. We also slowmo the exit and opening shots.
--export as movie ~1 minute
--burn to DVD in Adobe Encore ~10 minutes

Most people wait for their videos, if they don't want to wait, we charge them $5.00 to mail them out. We have our tandem students fill out a form that tells them some of our policies, ie. it will take about 40 minutes to edit, footage is kept on file for two weeks, refund policy, etc. We also have 3 computers setup for editting so this helps with the process as well. It depends on the weekend, but we probably do about 30-40 videos a weekend and we don't have a problem keeping up with the system we have.

[diverds 0]

Chrissay,
Do you have full time editors or do your video guys edit for themselves?

Skydive Radio

[billo 0]

Doc,
We have the DVD or tape in the customer's hands pretty quickly, usually takes about 15 minutes of time sitting down in the editing loft...maybe a couple minutes longer if the customer brings their own music (since we rip it to mp3).

Instead of a titler, we use PowerPoint on a PC along with an overlay box that mixes the video input from the camera and the text from the PowerPoint slide. Any area on the slide that is black allows the video to show through. The templates we use are a mix of blank slides and title slides, and we just navigate through the whole deck once per video. So then the audio from the PC and the video mix from the overlay box go through a linear board for fades and audio mixing, and then straight to the VHS/DVD dual recorder box. Using PowerPoint as a titler works great. Even someone with little computer experience can run it very easily and put out a good looking video.

I'm pretty sure Ty will be bringing his mobile setup that has the same parts, just ask around and one of us should be able to find him for you. I love using NLE for end-of-year videos and such, but linear is the way to go for tandems, IMHO.

[Fuzzy 0]

We do ours in the same fashion as well, with the exception of having them watch while editing. We used to do that once in a while, but found the distraction / interuptions added to the time it took to finish.

Through effects board & character generator to the DVD recorder and generally in 20 min they have the DVD.

We do try to encourage them to watch the video at the dropzone, it kind of helps to add to the experience, hearing them laugh helps add to ours
The only exception to the above are the days of back to back to back etc (those really are the best days, although not enough of them). On those days we tell them the video will be mailed out and they get it within a few days.

One thing we have found this year is that VHS is pretty much gone (only 1 VHS so far the rest DVD). It's gotten to the point that one of our setups no longer has a VCR, on the other its disconected but can be hooked up in a minute if needed.

Fuzzy
Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

[Chrissay 0]

Quote

Chrissay,
Do you have full time editors or do your video guys edit for themselves?

We have dedicated editors, the video guys just drop off their tape and go.

[Pendejo 0]

Quote

We used to do that once in a while, but found the distraction / interuptions added to the time it took to finish.

It gets me sometimes to. We are fixing that in the next two weeks. We are getting our own video room, and there will be a tv in the hanger that will show the edits there (both realtime and we will have a dvd player in there).

Quote

One thing we have found this year is that VHS is pretty much gone (only 1 VHS so far the rest DVD). It's gotten to the point that one of our setups no longer has a VCR, on the other its disconected but can be hooked up in a minute if needed.

I'm seeing the same thing there as well. I think that for next season we will just price it with the dvd included. Right now we give them to option to upgrade to dvd.... I haven't made up my mind if I want to offer a discount for vhs of just not offer it at all.

Pendejo

He who swoops the ditch and does not get out buys the BEER!!

[Fuzzy 0]

Quote

I'm seeing the same thing there as well. I think that for next season we will just price it with the dvd included. Right now we give them to option to upgrade to dvd.... I haven't made up my mind if I want to offer a discount for vhs of just not offer it at all.

With the cost of VHS tapes vs DVD writables now, and the fact that they can be done pretty much in the same amount of time, it seemed easier for us to just charge one price, so started doing that last year.

We also thought of not offering VHS but didn't want to upset or pass on anyone (or so far in this case the one person) who didn't have a dvd player so have kept it as an option, since we already have the equip it's not really costing anything to offer it.

Now I'm wondering what will replace DVD & when

Fuzzy
Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

[EricTheRed 0]

Quote

Now I'm wondering what will replace DVD & when

My bet is http://www.blu-ray.com/

but who knows

illegible usually

[YahooLV 0]

15 minutes.

http://www.curtisglennphotography.com

[AndyMan 7]

At Chicagoland, the first tandem is getting their DVD about 7 minutes after they land. The second gets his 7 minutes later, and the third - yup, about 7 minutes after the second.

It's not a conincidence that the custom part of most of the videos are about 5 minutes long. This goes on the DVD after a pre-burnt stock leader.

Non-linear editing is key to a fast operation.

Having a good mixing board is key to non-stop linear editing. A good mixing board can capture stills and short video and fade those back in later. A good cameraman can do most of his editing as he shoots the video, that only leaves using a combination of the board and the playback camera to do real-time effects, like the camera slow-motion, and the mixing board for putting up stills and titles.

With this system the problem comes when there's more than 3 video tandems on each load, and the planes are flying back-to-back. With more than 3 videos on each load you max out the capacity of the editing station and get backed up. That's when a second editing station comes in handy.

Chicagoland often does 70-80 tandems on a Saturday, so there isn't much of an alternative. Chicagoland is still a "small" DZ, flying only a single turbine. Spending an hour on each video would take two full time workers a whole week, just to get through the volume of one saturday. That's not an option.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.