Upping the Game
 

What is next on your list to up your game, go to the next level, progress you business?

The Glidecam 4000 which I just bought and am experimenting with.

You stole my answer... but I haven't bought it yet. Waiting till our new house is built before spending any more!

ha ha, what prompted me to start this thread was that I had just decided to up my game by...buying a Glidecam 4000!, great minds! I shall follow your results Jason.

Building a studio. My wife and I have a great vision for what we want, but the venture is just so expensive. Still, I think it would be great to not have to meet with people at our home. So that's top on our list probably.

Bigger chips (cameras) , probably in a year or two. We just went full HDV last year, steadicam this year. So chips will probably be the next thing. If they can full proof tapless cameras, then that will be a step, but I imagine that is probably 10 years down the road.

Hey Travis, I've thought about that too, I have a third floor that's going to cost an arm and a leg to finish, I'd love to have a garage studio...........thanks housing market.

All of the above.

I just purchased a Glidecam and am also looking to turn my unfinished basement into a nice, separate work area with editing suite and client meeting area.

Also, perfecting a short form edit, as I feel a concise cinematic edit has more drawing power than a traditional, long form edit with minimal editing.

Yeah, we've maxed out our house. The only spaces not used for business are 2 bedrooms and the kitchen. We have two offices, a theater presentation room, our living room is our meeting room, our dining room is our frame production room (wife is photog) and we have a studio built in our garage. It's seriously like we live at work. We have it set up nice for clients, but it's really starting to suck for us.

Same here, our house is very small and I almost have to sit on my clients lap when they visit :) That's the reason why I mainly go to my clients but that's not always possible. (we also have 2 big dogs and 9 cat's.)
So I'd love to have a, completely dog and cat free, office room with my editing suite, surround sound (instead of headphones now) a big lcd and a comfortable sofa for my clients, but space and budget don't allow that right now. (maybe also the possibility to put my desk outside under a tree when the sun is shining, hate sitting inside to edit in the summer)
Ah, daydreaming can be nice, maybe one day..

probably nothing for me since I'm really considering retiring (me...not my car. I just retired my car last year-4 shiny new ones;-) but I have a suggestion for those who are looking to expand to a bigger space. If the house layout doesn't allow for it or you have a lot of pets or whatever the reason how about a shard office space? Many office type buildings or office malls have shared space. You get the use of a receptionist office equipment etc and the rent would be a lot cheaper than running your own place. Do this for a while while you grow then move to a space of your own if that's what you want to do.

Just an FYI but I know a DJ that did that for years-now he does about 1200 gigs a year and just built and opened a 1.5 million dollar building that is 100% state of the art. A freind of mine (video and photog) rents the 2nd floor from him and because the DJ sends up about 80% of his clients my buddy's business has at least doubled if not almost tripled. His outgo per month for rent DSL lights etc is a lot less than if he opened on his own because a lot of the utiliites are shared.
Just sumting to tink bout.

Don

Don, really, retire? I hope not. But if you do, let me get my gear from your storage shed!

sure I think I've got a JVC X2 body (no lens) and maybe even an old Sony Beta, you know the kind that hooks up to the 500 pound recorder that you were supposed to carry on your shoulder and kept you in place unless you had a 200 foot extension cord. I might even still have an old SunGun. No good for video anymore but you can both suntan and send a light beam to Mars with it. Double duty ;-)

Seriously, the thought keeps going thru my mind. Retire, play golf 5 days a week make my wife really crazy-maybe go nuts myself. I'd probably get bored. I really need something productive to do but after 25 years and about 1600 weddings it's really starting to get old. Of course so am I but...I'll probably change my mind 1000 times before January and frankly, I'll probably keep going but not working like this anymore is quite inticing. After the season I'll put some serious thought to what I'm gonna do.

Don