Production Job Headache

R

RKPEAGLE

New member
Hey everyone,

I know this isn't really a place to blog but I"m just trying to get some advice on what I should do with this production job I've been at for 3 months. Basically, I graduated in May and landed this part-time production job for this church in which I edit their broadcast for local television and any video announcements. However, they are completely oblivious to how production works and did not own any editing equipment before I finally persuaded them to purchase a Mac. They refused to purchase FCP so I edit with imovie. Also, I'm only allotted 20 hours a week for $10 a hour.

My problem is that I'm unsure if I should quit or not because the footage that I'm editing is complete **** and I would never put this on my demo reel. This is due to them refusing to hire a videographer and relying on volunteers who don't know anything about videography. The only equipment that they own is a flip camera and all I do is just lay a bunch of iMovie templates down over the footage in which they are completely happy with it. But, the church is huge and one of the largest congregations in the area so for them to be producing such low-quality work is unacceptable.

I'm grateful to be employed and have a source of income in today's economy which is allowing me to purchase my own equipment. However, I feel that them refusing to listen to me on what needs to be done to up their production quality is a disgrace to everything I"ve learned. Has anyone encountered a similar situation such as this and is it worth it to continue to deal with an ignorant client?
 
RKPEAGLE said:
Hey everyone,

I know this isn't really a place to blog but I"m just trying to get some advice on what I should do with this production job I've been at for 3 months. Basically, I graduated in May and landed this part-time production job for this church in which I edit their broadcast for local television and any video announcements. However, they are completely oblivious to how production works and did not own any editing equipment before I finally persuaded them to purchase a Mac. They refused to purchase FCP so I edit with imovie. Also, I'm only allotted 20 hours a week for $10 a hour.

My problem is that I'm unsure if I should quit or not because the footage that I'm editing is complete s**t and I would never put this on my demo reel. This is due to them refusing to hire a videographer and relying on volunteers who don't know anything about videography. The only equipment that they own is a flip camera and all I do is just lay a bunch of iMovie templates down over the footage in which they are completely happy with it. But, the church is huge and one of the largest congregations in the area so for them to be producing such low-quality work is unacceptable.

I'm grateful to be employed and have a source of income in today's economy which is allowing me to purchase my own equipment. However, I feel that them refusing to listen to me on what needs to be done to up their production quality is a disgrace to everything I"ve learned. Has anyone encountered a similar situation such as this and is it worth it to continue to deal with an ignorant client?
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It's good you are thankful!

Do you own FCP? If not, don't complain. If so, why not edit on that?

If you improved their production quality, can you show them how that would help them get more folks in their Church or get them larger donations? Have you written a paper on the Subject? or researched that for Churches? They may be ignorant as you say, but if you can show them potential for more greenbacks, they'll listen!
 
So it's not your dream job, so what, your young. You have a lifetime ahead of you to shoot and cut quality material. and whether you realize it or not. Your lucky your working in this economy, not to mention your doing something you like to do. so it may not be what your used to as far as quality, but hey, thats the budget your working with. I own a business, i'm getting on avg 20-50 applications a week from people looking for a job, many are college grads that cant find work in their field. So I advise you not to walk unless you have a better job lined up and ready to start.

And let me tell you something else, it's only going to get worse, much worse. The media has down played the situation at the request of the gov. The economy is ready to fall, so be ready for hyperinflation, it's coming soon to a theatre near you. So yeah, keep your job. But also look at the bigger picture.
 
You want to quit because you're not totally satisfied with a part time (at most) job? Do you know how many people get paid less than you for much more demeaning work? If you have so much free time you can use that to work on your own projects that will go in your demo reel. If you're not interested in that keep in mind that a lot of retail stores are looking for seasonal hires.

I agree with the above, if you haven't researched and written a marketing proposal with a clear indication of the benefit and cost you haven't done all you can. I'm not even sure that there is a real benefit; the market might not care about video quality, being the humble church going crowd, and those who do might not care enough to factor that in with attendance. The volunteers who don't know what they're doing have volunteered their time to help the church, if they'll listen you can volunteer your time to teach them what to do. Your post really comes off as arrogant and disdainful of people who haven't dedicated their time to learning the same skills you have, which is not a productive attitude.

If you want to quit and you can afford it go ahead. But really ask yourself what you'll be doing instead that will be more worthwhile, and make sure you have an answer first. And if you intend to work in the world of consumer and small business/organization production make sure you learn to work with people who don't know anything about what you do. Of course this is coming from someone who only knows three paragraphs about the situation, so any advice you get here isn't going to take into account the personalities behind it.
 
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You're only working 20 hours a week, so do other stuff on the side that is something you can put on your reel.
 
sounds like you are on the treadmill wasting time. better to be a pa picking up garbage on a film with people you can learn from than editing useless stuff you will never get a job from for pennies.
 
Sorry, sounds whiny to me, too, and further, makes you sound like you're not willing to make much effort.

Why'd you convince them to buy a Mac, without proper editing software? Likely you could have gotten a much better camera and begged an old computer (or gotten a PC rather than a Mac and a somewhat better camera). As has been mentioned, you could be training these volunteers to shoot better, or even just producing a document that would guide them. You could be doing more even in iMovie than just slapping down a template. You could make the effort to shoot something great yourself, with their equipment and with your preferred equipment, to demonstrate what more can be done. You can try to understand the needs of your client/employer and address THOSE rather than trying to sell them on your goals.

As you enter the job market, doing things like what you're doing now or even working on major films, it'll be rate that your artistic priorities will matter to anyone. So, find a way to use your skills to stand out in any job and show people what a great job you can do (even under restrictions). That will get you closer to having people care about and support your artistic vision than complaining that you can't do anything worthwhile because everyone around you is ignorant.
 
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