Editing:

Our editing system is a high-quality digital system with critically acclaimed VTASC compression delivering in excess of 750 lines of noise-free resolution. Lightwave3D animation; lots of effects, fonts, custom-built transitions, sophisticated graphics, layering capabilities.  For your website, we can create either video-stream clips or GIF or JPEG files of freeze-frames from live video. Any acquisition formats are accepted.

The suite is located in Amherst, MA, across Main Street from the famous Emily Dickinson Homestead, and just behind the railroad station

Imaging:

For many of our clients who do not need to spend the extra $300-$500/day for Betacam imaging, we have two cameras:  the Canon XL-1 which is one of the most popular digital cameras now being used by professionals around the world; and the Panasonic EZ-1, a digital camera small enough to hold in one hand enabling our videographer to capture images that are inaccessible with larger cameras.  Both cameras produce noise-free digital images, which, when combined with our digital editing system, guarantee no generational loss through the entire production.  Both cameras have amazed reviewers with their betacam-like quality,  and they keep your budget for broadcast-quality television as low as possible. Of course, for higher cost productions we can make BetacamSP available, but many people look at the digital image and say, "I can't tell the difference."

Production Costs

Clients often wonder what contributes to the bottom line. Producing a video is a labor-intensive business: roughly 2/3rds of the cost is labor; 1/3 equipment and supplies. Asking how much a video costs is a bit like asking how much a car costs:  the answer depends upon what kind of car you have in mind--a Corolla or a Mercedes?  Rules of thumb don't help much except to give you an idea of range! In exceptional cases, for a few non-profit clients, we have produced programs for under $1000 per finished screen minute.   An expensive program might run as high as $4,000 per screen minute.  Production costs depend on the length and complexity of the production, the number of shooting locations, the production values and formats, the number and elegance of the graphics that need to be created, and so forth.  Short programs usually cost more per minute than long programs.

Creating a video is traditionally described and budgeted as a 3-step process:

(1) Pre-production: Pre-production is what happens before the shooting starts. The producer works with you to develop a creative concept, then writes an initial treatment, which is a several pages-long description of the project, containing enough details of images, places, and content to give you a sense of the scope and style of the proposed production. When you agree on what is to be done, the producer schedules the shooting, coordinating staff and equipment with "talent."

(2) Production: this is the "shooting " phase of the project.

(3) Post production: this is the editing phase of the project.