guidelines | mikeczerniewski

Guidelines for Clients

Thank you for your business. Over the past few months, there have been a number of issues on shoots that I wish to address by stating a few guidelines that I am now putting into place for all clients, present and future. This is my attempt to avoid any of the misunderstandings that have made putting this list together necessary.

Timing: Please give me a minimum of 24 hours’ notice of your event/project to give me adequate time to prepare.
Access to electricity: Please allow me to set up as close to an electrical outlet as possible. This is so I can operate the camera without having to worry about the batteries draining due to the length of the shoot. This is an absolute must for any shoot lasting over 30 minutes.
Final format: Given my current equipment, I am required to down-convert the camera’s native .TOD files in order to edit without worrying about experiencing glitches in the video, which has been known to happen with particular formats. All down-converting will be to QuickTime .MOV format. I would greatly appreciate knowing what the intended means of watching the final video is so that I know which format to export the final video to. What works for web video may not necessarily work for high-definition televisions, and vice-versa.
Post production costs: Exporting is included in final post-production costs, as this is a very time-consuming and resource-intensive process. It can sometimes take hours for a video to finish exporting, and it often prevents me from doing much else while it’s taking place.
Final delivery of finished video: Unless otherwise arranged in advance, the default delivery method for finished video will include a data DVD and a print-out of the invoice. With the exception of posting to a YouTube account, online delivery is strongly discouraged due to the size of the video files.
Appropriate time to contact me: Please DO NOT contact me via phone or text after 9 pm Central time.

Additional guidelines may be added over time as the need arises.

I want to thank you for your business and for your cooperation as I continue to seek to improve the services I provide to the best of my ability.

Mike