The Window Channel
 

I have discovered a site named: http://www.thewindowchannel.com.
Has anyone in the forum submitted any footage to them?
Are they reputable?
I would appreciate any information that your members may have about this organization.
Thanks.
Claude

I've submitted a few things shot on my FX1, but none of them got accepted. I'm still trying though. Very polite folk... they take a week or two to get back to me usually.

-Steve

Steven, was the stuff you submitted good stuff? What I mean is...did you submit thinking "yeah, this is worthy"?

I'm asking because I was thinking of submitting, but I don't want to waste my time (or valuable tape stock) to find out their only accepting 1 out of 100 submissions. If it's a good chance I'll give it a shot, but otherwise it's a lot of work without any way of knowing if they'll accept.

If someone is already on-location I guess it ain't a big deal to shoot 15 minutes (3 clips) for them. But, still...it's up to them and it's not a good bet since they're probably getting 1000 submissions a week.

Also, how was your audio? Did you shotgun or use the on-camera? Was it consistant? Did you submit the stills they asked for?

Yeah, any feedback would be great.

I'm going to a couple of pretty beautiful places this summer and plan to take my FX1 with me. I'd love to try and shoot some material to submit.

I wasn't entirely sure what they were looking for (they want nice scenic landsapes), so some of my stuff wasn't suited for their application, even if they were interesting photographs. I didn't try to shoot garbage, but it wasn't stuff that screamed "best photo/video ever!" either. I'm not going to submit again until I'm confident I've got a winner - I don't want to end up on a "ignore this amateur" list.

This has been my philosophy on the subject. For me I figure I have nothing to lose by shooting stuff.

Audio is a problem for most of this outdoor stuff. There's no point in shooting a scene where nothing is moving, so that usually entails wind and everything accompanying it. I used the on camera mic with the levels adjusted manually, often shielded by whatever I've got at the time. I submitted stills, and never got to the point of submitting video - so I don't know what format they want (I would think *.m2t on DVD-R based on their website).

-Steve

Thanks for the info. It looks like a nice little add-on to any shooting that you already got. But, to go out to specifically shoot for them is a gamble. It could be costly if you add the tapes, time to shoot and time to capture the clips. Then you have to get stills to them and wait.

All told it's actual work without knowing you'll get paid. But, if you have a great shot sitting right there in front of you while shooting a paying gig it makes sense to shoot it for submission.

I actually shot a couple pieces for it on a recent shoot, but the audio had random people making noise. It wasn't solid for 5 minutes straight. That's the most difficult part - getting 5 minutes of consistant audio. Everyone we go now people are making noise. You can usually get a minute no problem, but 5 minutes of natural sound is a lot!

Aye - that's a major problem I've had. It's not something you can do without having to tell friends to shut up. I think the important way to look at it is that you're shooting stock footage. If they like it and buy it, great. Otherwise... meh. This is a hobby for me, so any chance I get to shoot stuff, practice with the camera etc. is great.

-Steve

My thought would also be to not watch the counter and stop the tape right at five minutes. Who knows if one little thing happened in the shot at 2:47 that makes the clip worthless.

When I shot my material I'll probably run each shot for about 10 minutes.

Yeah - I ususally shoot 7-10 minutes in case of either a drop-out, some bad sound or something else ruining the shot.

-Steve

You can edit the audio. If you are shooting a river stream. All you would need is one minute of clear audio.

I never realized how hard it was to get 5 continuous minutes of natural sound and video until I actually tried going out specifically to shoot a couple things to submit to Window Channel :

Had a great sunset shot out on the beach with practically no one around, and just as the sun dips below the horizon, this beachwalker lady comes up out of nowhere, sees me shooting with the Z1 on sticks - GUESS where she decides to walk by.

Next outing I'm shooting a Japanese Temple scene in the early morning, (had to wait a while for the leaf-blowing guy to stop). And just as I'm at the 4 minute mark of perfect natural sound and video.... A helicopter comes by. Does it fly past? Noooooo. It circles the temple and LANDS BEHIND IT.

Waited for the engine noise to die down, and started rolling tape again... Leaf Blower Guy comes back.

No wonder I'm losing my hair....

I hear you (pun intended!)..

While taking a drive in the country up in New Hampshire and Maine a couple weeks ago I tried shooting some stuff. Well, no one is around...it's totally isolated from the city. I'm shooting off into an gulf next to the ocean...beautiful shot. It's all nat sound..the wind, birds etc. At like 4:50 on my tape a stupid PLANE goes overhead! It's probably at 20,000 feet, but of course we can still hear it perfectly on the headphones.

Man has dominated the planet so much we can't even get away in the most remote parts of the US! It sucks!

They only pay $150 for HDV material but $300 for other material?? what's up with that? It's either good enough or not good enough IMHO. Do they price according to how the footage is captured or submitted?

I know what you're saying. But, if I were them I'd probably do the same thing. It's a fact that the expensive HD cameras produce a better image and they probably want to give incentive to them to shoot footage. I'd like the extra money, but I do understand they're trying to create the ultimate "window" experience...and the HDV format is good enough. However, the other HD cameras are definately better quality and worth the extra money. They have more expenses than HDV users do...

To me the fact that they're willing to accept HDV footage at all tells me that it's good enough.