3. We shoot with production tools atypical for event video. Advantage: real Hollywood type shots can only be achieved with production techniques and equipment such as dollies and cranes, which take time to set up and use; we take that extra step.
THIS IS TEN times worse than a sharp stick in the eye, I sighed, as I gazed around my foreign surroundings. I was in a high-tech car showroom in Van Nuys, California, attempting to absorb the features on five shiny new Japanese automobiles, not as a buyer, but as a seller. I shuddered, still not believing how I had come to this. Pacing back and forth on the cold shiny floor, I felt the overhead lights embedded behind frosted panels beating down upon my aching head. I whispered in a dejected voice, “I can’t do this. I’m not a car salesman,” Not that anyone could hear me because the showroom was empty, which was just as well; I was scared stiff to talk to a customer.
I was 47 years old at the time, and a sorry sight indeed, wearing $800 loafers with holes in the soles, hence I knew it was a cold floor. A week earlier I had been looking for small change in the cracks of my sofa to buy a packet of spaghetti and can of tomato sauce to feed my family. Pretty tragic for a middle aged man with a wife, teenage daughter, 5 cats, 3 dogs, and bills that stacked higher than the showroom’s lofty ceiling. Gone was the gorgeous red Ferrari I used to own, gone the Hollywood Hills home, the yacht at Marina Del Rey, and a very healthy income. I was now a car salesman, and the very word repelled me. But if I could just last the day, I’d have a hundred dollars. If I could last the month, I’d have $2000, the minimum guarantee while training.
Yes, I was a sorry sight, at least in my mind. Two decades earlier, At 23 years of age, I’d come to America to earn fame and fortune in the entertainment industry. No I wasn’t one of the failed out-of-work actors who find refuge in the automotive industry. I had been a behind the scenes guy, a film editor, producer and director of low budget feature films with my own production company. Unfortunately, my fascination with technology ultimately became an anchor around my neck, and the high-tech studio I’d built from scratch fell prey to one of those entertainment industry union strikes that bring productions to a standstill. I lost pretty much everything.
Not my dignity.
“Go drive the cars, all of them, get to know them!” was just about the only instruction the sales manager gave me that first day. So it was quite a shock when on the second day he stormed up to me, waving his arms angrily close to my face. How dare I let a customer go without turning him over! Turning him over? Like a slab of meat in the frying pan, one flip of the wrist and the poor sucker was meant to be in the hands of another salesman. "Get back out there and grab another up!" His finger almost poked me in the eye. "And if you want to work in this business, you better get it through your skull! Turn, don't burn!"
Despite my visceral desire to deck the 25-year-old manager, I apologized weakly. I needed that $2000 minimum guarantee.
It wasn’t long before I took another scolding. ”Go get a commitment!” he yelled. I stood confused, ashen-faced on the other side of the sales manager’s desk. For the life of me I didn’t know what the heck he was talking about. I was sure the customer wanted the car, wasn’t that commitment enough? “Just go get me a ff—ing commitment! he shouted into my face again,” dismissing me abruptly with a wave of his arm.
So they teach you nothing and you’re expected to know it all.
I learned quickly a commitment was the customer’s signature on a work order specifying a dollar amount that he/she would drive the car home for right away. “If I can sell this car to you for $30,000 including all taxes and fees, you’re telling me you’ll drive it home today, Ms Smith. Is that correct?”
IT”S A BIG PURCHASE.
“Many say it’s the second largest you’ll ever make. You’ve heard horror stories about car dealers. And you’ve been warned: From the media to the public, father to son, coworker to coworker, you’ve been primed to watch out for the slick car salesman. Yes indeed their fancy silk ties mean they’re making more than the president. But even with the warnings, even when we arrive at the car dealership prepared, for many of us, when we drive away in that new automobile, the pit in the stomach is not unfounded. Take the story of Travis McPhee.
Travis spent hours researching the new car he wanted, he read cover-to-cover two automobile magazines, and visited no less than 5 car websites. Feeling empowered with his newfound knowledge, Travis walked into an Infiniti dealership, where he was greeted by Vinnie, an ultra-friendly, low-pressure type of salesman who took him for a test drive, and didn’t ask any annoying questions such as: “So, Travis, if I make you a great deal, will you take the car today?” In fact, when Travis mentioned that he’d heard what other smart shoppers were paying, Vinnie agreed, and said if he were sitting on the other side of the desk, he wouldn’t pay a cent more. Armed with the knowledge he’d learned on-line, and feeling confident that he was in control, Travis decided to buy right away. (By the way, that was not necessarily his mistake).
Two hours later, as he drove away in his new Infiniti G37, feeling ecstatic about the best car buying experience he’d ever had, the salesman and his finance manager slapped each other a good old-fashioned high-five. In dealership language they’d just made a five-pounder.
It translates to a five thousand dollar gross profit!
How did Travis McPhee, a smart shopper, get taken? How did a $500 dealer profit turn into a $5000 dealer profit?
I can tell you it was not sleight of hand, nor bait and switch, but rather something much more prevalent yet almost invisible in a car dealership, a simple tactic that makes car dealers buckets of cash every month, and it’s number one on my list of rip-offs at the car dealership. I’ll get to it soon.
No wonder car buying is so stressful. Do you dare walk into a car dealership without a ready excuse on the tip of your tongue—have to pick up the kids; got a plane to catch, going to be late for a meeting with my state senator—so you can escape the salesman’s greedy pincers?
Maybe you’re brave and stuff like this doesn’t bother you, or perhaps you watched a TV segment on how to beat the salesman at his own game.
Game?
Is it really a game? What if your skills aren’t as honed as you thought? What if after all your groundwork you still get a lousy deal? Hey, no problem. You’ve got money to burn, don’t you? What’s a thousand, or two, or three?
All this sounds pretty scary. Let’s face it, all you want is a new car. Not the nightmare that goes along with it! Can this be achieved?
Actually, it can and very easily.
Pay sticker!
Just kidding. . .
But seriously, within these pages I’m going to show you the other side of the bargaining table. You’ll understand why car salesman lie, how to spot it when he or she does, and to know when you’ve found a salesman who’s a mensch—Yiddish word for someone who does the right thing. You’ll see who gets the best deals and why, and you’ll find out who is more likely to be drilled a new ahole—crass term used by some salesmen.
This isn’t a step-by-step manual on how to beat the salesman, or the system. Nor is this one of those guides instructing you to conceal your trade car until the end of the negotiations, or to hold onto your driver’s license so you won’t be held hostage at the dealership—tips found in just about every car-buying guide in the marketplace that do absolutely nothing to prevent you from being ripped off. But this little book is chock full of real insider information, gathered over 10 years inside a major Los Angeles car dealership.
While this book might save you thousands on your next car purchase, will it help you make the best deal ever? Truth be told, no matter what you do, research from now until doomsday, haggle all night, scream, stomp up and down, someone at some time, at some place, will probably better your deal.
So what’s the point?
Smarts.
Sir Francis Bacon once said, “Knowledge is power.” So, dear reader, be prepared to explore, to seek out new information, things that might help you smile a little with confidence as you sign on the dotted line. And smile a little, or a lot, after you’ve signed on the dotted line. Because that’s what’s it’s all about, isn’t it?
I became an insider.
And an outsider—meaning I refused to conform to the norm. I never considered myself a car salesman or car sales manager. I was just a person who, because of circumstances, sold cars. I always was a dimensional human being with proclivities and abilities in many arenas. The reason I bring this up is not for the purpose of self endorsement but rather to set up for you one of the themes of this book: to look outside the box.
Upon introspection, the ten years I spent in the automobile retail business is a treasure trove. Inside the trove I find things I’ve loathed, things I have appreciated, and little gems of information that might just save your ass big time on your next car purchase.
Two years ago I wrote an article on global warming. Since then, if you look through a gigantic magnifying glass, you'd notice that little has changed on our planet. Here's the article:
David Marsh, April 6, 2007
LOS ANGELES, California – The deadly cyclone that tore through the island of Madagascar last month affecting more than 130,000 people was caused by global warming, claims a local scientist --
The BBC’s green bashing documentary “The Great Global Warming Swindle,” which aired last month in Great Britain is now causing a flash storm in the United States --
No doubt you see the connection in the two headlines. But is the connection real? The divisive debate on global warming is one of the most puzzling and mind boggling I have ever experienced. Temperature anomalies aside, from my eyes our world does not look remotely as clean and lovely as it did 35 years ago. Back then as a kid I remember swimming in the glorious French Mediterranean, and the sea looked and felt nothing like it does today, oily and green. The night skies were alive with millions of clear bright twinkling stars, the air in the city still smelled of trees and flowers, not nausea inducing gas fumes, and the Antarctic was a continent of ice. So I know first hand that the planet has changed significantly over these years. It’s been polluted, and the polluting continues. You don’t need to be a scientist to figure out that our planet is reeling from pollution, you just need to use your God-given commonsense.
Most of us pick up our news intake in mini bytes, a few minutes at the computer, another few flipping TV channels, a conversation at the water cooler. Not surprisingly, truths, falsehoods and rumors spread fast. After the BBC aired their documentary on global warming lies, many of my friends and colleagues were quick to point out that the documentary had presented a solid and sensible argument debunking the entire the global warming theory. For a moment I too began to think of the possibility of global warming as nothing but a hoax of enormous proportions. Was Al Gore’s documentary “Inconvenient Truth” slanted? Just months prior, after watching Gore's film, I pretty much had thought to myself, well, that’s it, game over. But now the BBC had presented other theories and facts on the subject, and it seemed that everywhere I turned others were decrying global warming. I listened to scathing counters by the likes of CNN’s Glenn Beck and journalist Robert Tracinski who wrote a post “Guilty Until Proven Innocent” in which he slams certain media outlets for calling carbon dioxide a pollutant, and my thinking of doom and gloom began to soften, which arguably might be a good thing.
But the oceans still look ugly, I reminded myself. The stars in the night sky are still concealed by blankets of smog, and the debunkers of global warming tend to make people forget these things. "What about your own eyes, what do you see?" I told my colleagues. "What about commonsense?" My point is that the debunkers make us lose sight of what we really observe on our planet, so much so that when the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released their latest findings on Global warming, almost every person I spoke to about the report, and it wasn’t a few, laughed it off. These people, it seems, would rather drown in our polluted cities or maybe die of thirst in them rather than entertain the notion that our planet is conveying some sort of message.
Let’s play the devil’s advocate for a moment. Let’s say the IPCC is wrong, and the changes in our climate are temporary and very normal, a view akin to the stance of the BBC documentary "The Great Global Warming Swindle." Governments will spend fortunes needlessly implementing environmental changes, many industries will be forced to conform to the new paradigm or fold, people will have to curb their environmental onslaught, new clean power inventions will overtake the old systems, the skies and oceans will take on a cleaner look and feel, and smog and fuel stinking streets will become memories of the past. What a terrible thought, huh?
Though technically correct with his commentary on what carbon dioxide is, journalist Robert Tracinski and others of like mind who decry global warming activism, are guilty of making millions of Americans lethargically indifferent to environmental pollution, which, rightly or wrongly, is locked hand in hand with global warming. Keeping the status quo is not a good thing. Debunking the hundreds or thousands of climatology scientists who are 90% certain that human produced carbon gases are contributing to global climatic changes is not a positive thing. Perhaps, in a court of law, these scientists who believe in global warming would lose, failing to prove their case by 10% of reasonable doubt. But does the world really want to let global warming go free, which really means letting polluters go free? Can humanity afford to guess with our future? Surely it makes more sense to err on the side of caution, even if the climate concerns are overstated and even though the clean up and conservation will cost billions. Is it better to spend billions on the war machine or the clean machine?
What really amazes me is why there are so many outspoken voices against global warming awareness from individuals without any deep-rooted knowledge on the subject, without any vested interest in industries that produce vast quantities of pollution such as the automotive industry, the oil and chemical industries, etc. To the millions of plain, hardworking people in America who believe wholeheartedly that global warming is hyped to the hilt, not so bad, a liberal minded ploy, all I can say is this: Are you ready to bet your life on it, and the lives of your children and grandchildren? How sure are you that we are not on the verge of massive species extinction and what makes you think man is exempt?
While some scientific/media reports paint an alarming picture of our future on this planet, and others make light of those reports, and while the political posts use each viewpoint at whim, bending and distorting the facts, you would be hard pressed to find a practicing, employed scientist who rejects with complete and absolute conviction the notion of man’s involvement in global warming. Even Dr. John Christy, one of the leading climatologists in America, most notably recognized for his outspoken contrary opinions on some global warming issues, has publicly stated that, “It is scientifically inconceivable that after changing forests into cities, turning millions of acres into farmland, putting massive quantities of soot and dust into the atmosphere and sending quantities of greenhouse gases into the air, that the natural course of climate change hasn't been increased in the past century.”
As the climate debate rages on, as fierce as the weather in the southern hemisphere this year, we seem to lose perspective of one of the core values of the green movement: loving the earth. Even if carbon dioxide is not the cause of global warming, pollution from industry, cars, boats and planes definitely affects all living things on our planet, and not in a positive way. So the bottom line is this: If commonsense tells you that global warming awareness will lead to planetary respect, maybe you’d like to pass on this message of hope and change. If, on the other hand, you don’t feel we should err on the side of caution, feel free to e-mail me why we should carry on as normal, and by all means pick up my novel “Into the Abyss,” not so much about global warming as global respect.
David Marsh is a novelist and freelance writer in Los Angeles. You can reach him at davidm617@aol.comThe BBC documentary “The Great Global Warming Swindle,” a counter to Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth,” aired in Britain in March and briefly appeared on Google video. Last month’s Madagascan cyclone, hardly mentioned in the American press, was just one in a series of cyclones that marked one of the worst cyclone seasons on record.
Living in Los Angeles has its ups and living in Los Angeles has its downs. Up for some is the fact that Los Angeles is the entertainment hub of the world. Down for some is the fact that Los Angeles is the entertainment hub of the world. Los Angeles has more gorgeous residential areas than most cities, an "up" for those that can afford to live in them, but the traffic in Los Angeles stinks and getting to and from those million dollar homes is a big down. Even the great Los Angeles freeway system, originally built for drivers to travel the fringes of one side of Los Angeles to the other in 20 minutes or less, has become the bane of every Los Angeles driver, a plainly true "downer" for anyone keeping tabs on the merits of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is prone to earthquakes, but they come infrequently unlike the annual hurricanes and twisters that plague the eastern and midwestern states. The weather in Los Angeles is an "up" however the late summer fires borne out of months of high Los Angeles temperatures and the water shortages caused by this rain-free living are down marks. Los Angeles has a very eclectic and diverse population, with restaurants, markets and stores of varying flavors and contrasts, which is probably an "up" for the city of Los Angeles especially for those appetites yearning for something new. Los Angeles is a beach, desert, and mountain city, an "up" to some. But the smog in Los Angeles, although responsible for some spectacular orange and blue and pink late evening skies, is a choker and disgrace to both secular and religious worshippers of Gaia. Los Angeles is a city for liberals, a down for conservatives. Los Angeles has more than its fair share of beautiful people (not necessarily true) which is an up for those that care and a down for those that do not. It's been said that Angelinos, the affectionate term for the residents of Los Angeles, are shallow, that their depth only extends to their reflection in the mirror, which is likely to crack anyway given its overuse. This is a sad indictment for the people of Los Angeles especially for those who are trying to find meaningful relationships. And of relationships, finding true love in Los Angeles is elusive, claim many. Though Los Angeles weddings are plentiful indeed, Los Angeles divorces are as common a breed. Should such a notion be a factor for a bride to make a decision of marrying in Los Angeles? Come now, Los Angeles is where fairytales do come true. After all, Disney started here In Los Angeles. Akin to its name, Los Angeles is the home of many angels in the likes of humanitarians, philanthropists, neighborhood saints, and more, but in contrast darker forces are afoot, an ocean of violence coming from Los Angeles based gangs, street thugs and hardened criminals who are drawn to Los Angeles by the notion of easy pickings. Los Angeles, arguably, is not a pretty city but rather a sprawling mess. Los Angeles is the city I dreamed of, Los Angeles is the city I migrated to, and Los Angeles, paradoxically, is the city I cannot wait to leave. I love Los Angeles. I hate Los Angeles. Los Angeles is the city of promise. Los Angeles is the city of cracked hearts. Where else can one live if not in Los Angeles? Would the same of all said here be true of New York or Philadelphia or any other city? Smog aside, weather aside, population density aside, Los Angeles has its ups and Los Angeles has its downs. But in truth we do not live in Los Angeles, we live in our hearts.
You're about to hire a wedding videographer, but you're confused; you've started looking at websites containing dozens of wedding video demos and they're all sort of melding into one another. Who is really the better craftsman? What should you pay? How long should you expect your edited wedding film to be? Strangely, it's this last question that, when not discussed between bride, groom and the videographer, poses one of the most ubiquitous problems once the wedding video has been completed.
HOW LONG IS A WEDDING VIDEO? If, somewhere in your conversation with the videographer this topic comes up, chances are you really are working on achieving the right kind of wedding film, because it means that you are actually discussing the process. Sometimes however, this little question, and others like it, escape us.
The other day I called one one of my wedding clients to announce the completion of their wedding film. The groom was shocked when I told him it ran just under 90 minutes. He figured that since we shot with 2 cameras for 9 hours the film would be much, much longer. "But you have 18 hours of footage, don't you?" he exclaimed. Fortunately, when this young couple, Gary and Marisa, saw their film they were delighted with the result. But this length business could have been a major issue.
It's a common misconception in the wedding industry that when you shoot for six hours, you have six hours of film. Well no, all you soon to be brides and grooms out there. Even with an un-edited wedding video, your videographer cannot possibly shoot non-stop from the moment he or she arrives at the venue. In all practically even if he could, that would yield the most boring moments ever recorded on video. After all, how much time can one spend watching empty pews before the throng arrives, and how many slow panning shots over splendid flower arrangements can one absorb before tedium sets in? You get the point. Selective shooting produces good looking video. Designed video produces even better.
So how long should the wedding video be? First off, you need to decide up front what style you want for your wedding film. Classy? Modern? Retro? Jazzy? Do you want it edited or would you prefer the look of watching a home movie, raw and in its original form? It’s your choice, and you should discuss this with your videographer. Now, taking into consideration budget, stylistic preferences, practicalities, etc, a wedding video can be delivered to you as:
(1) Raw unedited footage:
(2) Assembled, meaning the shots are compiled into a basic order but not tailored:
(3) Edited, meaning an artist called an editor will spend days, even weeks, fashioning your wedding film into a movie experience. They say that time is money, and certainly edited films cost more, but there again most people find it easier to watch a tailored film. Bear in mind, the method for filming a wedding, knowing that it will be edited, is vastly different from the method of filming for instant playback.
You might have heard of a few different name tags for film styles: journalistic, traditional, progressive, documentary, cinematic, all very confusing, because really in essence all wedding videos are documentaries of the cinema verite order. In other words, these type of films unfold with very little dramatic direction, the camera or cameras are just there (positioned properly hopefully) to record what happens. In todays world of wedding movies all the styles really boil down to 2. The first uses cinema tools of the trade such as movie cranes, dollies and Steadycams to capture much of the day's footage, and in the other category they don't. Let's call the first a cinematic film because of the cinematic tools of the trade, while the other is simply a documentary.
There is nothing wrong with choosing a documentary style wedding film. While it is likely to have a lot of handheld shots, major theatrical films have them too, and a good documentarian will seek to get that live news type feeling, and keep his camera (or cameras) rolling as much as possible in effort to capture as much of your wedding day as possible. If you opt for a highly tailored film it will include music, titles, etc.
The cinematic style edited wedding film will likely cost more. It is designed for cinematic impact and a “wow” factor. Multiple cameras come into play and at times specialized camera supports such as Steadycams, dollies and video cranes are used to make the cameras float poetically close with the action, almost inside the action. The editing is complex and tight because, like any film you’d see in the theater, the story has to flow, it has to have smooth pacing. A cinematic styled film is more likely to contain specialized color sequences, dream-like looks, black-and white and sepia sequences, and maybe even an animated photo montage, but the documentary style can also be designed with these post production techniques.
There is one other type of film, but it should not really be classified a style. It's the assembled film. Assembled films can be shot either with big cinema tools or without; what sets them apart is the editing, or should I say lack of. The viewing experience is close to that of an unedited film but with titles and a semblance of order to the shots. Whereas it takes a week or more to craft an edited wedding film, the assembled film is usually put together in under a day.
The length of your edited wedding film also depends on hours on scene, how many cameras, guests, wedding elements (bride and groom getting ready, pictures in the park, DJ napkin games, live band coverage, etc ) but the biggest element determining the wedding video length is the editing. Do you want all of the ceremony in the finished film or can some of the officiant’s monologue be shortened? Do you want to see the guests arriving in real time, or do you want those sections fashioned to be short and snappy? Fortunately, all this information does somehow translate into a quasi time equation, which reads as follows:
If you desire a long wedding film (more than 90 minutes) 2 or more cameras are usually required, and the documentary style, unedited film, or assembled film might be best suited for you. A long cinematic film might require special elements such as bride and groom interviews, and maid of honor and best man interviews, perhaps a musical romantic sequence shot on a separate day.
Most important of all, discuss your film with the videographer. Really discuss it.
The author of this article, David Marsh, is a novelist and screenwriter who, from time to time, produces high-end cinematic wedding films. He can be reached through his websites www.beverlyhillsvideographer.com and www.wefilmweddings.com
Can a $300 wedding video look as good as one costing $3000? In other words, how often does the frog get to kiss the princess? Not everyday, right? As a rule, like everything in life, you get what you pay for. A $300 to $500 wedding video will more than likely be lacking in several areas even if it is produced by a gifted, award winning film maker, even if he uses top-notch equipment because cheap suffers from a prodigious diminishment of buck/time/effort.
If you spend way less than the nation average on your wedding videography the videographer/filmmaker is unlikely to spend much time in preparation, like arriving early to scout the filming location, and he/she is unlikely to spend much effort seeking out special filming angles that might, for example, be photogenically better for the bride or the location. He/she is unlikely to take the time or effort to bring along extra gear, like soft lights that can make all the difference in dimly lit areas, or back-up sound just in case the primary sound system fails. Then, after the wedding, he/she will have to squeeze time in the editing suite because it simply does not make dollar sense for her to do a time consuming creative edit.
For the easy to please bride, a cheap wedding video serves a purpose; it is, after all, an indelible recording of the wedding day, but to expect a well tailored film that family and friends would marvel over is wishful thinking. As stated, it can happen, but it's a rare.
If you spend a sum that is close to the national average for wedding videography, It is reasonable to expect a good looking film. However, be mindful, the national average of $1700 applies to one wedding videographer with one camera filming for 4 hours. Needless to say, some couples get great looking wedding videos for less even with 8 hours of videography, 2 or 3 cameras and a Blu-ray upgrade for free. Competition in the wedding vendor business is fierce, and some excellent videographers are willing to slash their prices to earn the business. Bottom line is: do your homework and ask the videographer questions, especially about the editing. This is worth repeating. Ask about the editing. Editing means more than making shorter. It is the process of selecting shots, cutting them up and carefully placing them into a creative order. Without editing, your film is sort of like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle laid out in a neat linear display, one piece after another, but you can hardly discern the finished picture by looking at the jigsaw puzzle this way.
If you really want a phenomenal looking wedding video, one that will not only swell your heart but the hearts of others too, get involved in the process. Discuss your wedding film with the videographer. If you want an animated photo montage rather than a simple picture slide show showing you and your other half during childhood, make sure that the video stylist is proficient in that area. If you want dolly shots and crane shots in your wedding video (shots that have a big film look) discuss it. Discuss your music preferences. Discuss the film's length. Its color tones, sound track. Work on the design of your wedding video before the wedding. What does a wedding film like this cost? I can't speak for others but the Beverly Hills Videographer produces exquisite wedding films doing all of the above for $3500, and they too make deals.
Contact David Marsh at www.beverlyhillsvideographer.com
