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The "Stupid Question" thread


Michael Miramontes

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In the slightly O.T. department:

While I'm generally in favor of less government intervention in our lives, there are two areas I believe are in dire need of legislation:

1) No Christmas music prior to December first.

2) One, and only one, organization or circumstance can utilize a given acronym. For instance, if the Culinary Institute of America gets there first, the Central Intelligence Agency is out of luck.

I think our quality of life will improve greatly with just these two changes.

+11

LMAO! too right!

~tt

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Fully Acknowledged Broadcast was my understanding of that

I knew somebody would answer. Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson actually says, "we just made it up because it sounded cool. It really didn't stand for anything." Apparently, he still gets asked about this all the time (at the ripe old age of 82).

What's funny (and sad) to me is when a client starts throwing around a fancy buzzword like they know what it means. We had lots of fun with "drop frame timecode" in the 1980s and early 1990s; I had some clients who wanted to know what happened to all the frames that got dropped, after the show... confused.gif

--Marc W.

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we need to make up more meaningless buzzwords they work a treat at impressing people. I knew a post engineer who would often employ the "multiple flange reverberator" on a final mix when clients weren't happy but couldn't explain what else they wanted. The MFR was initiated by a large toggle switch located at the side of the mixer (wired to nothing) and with a subtle increase in the monitor levels the clients indeed heard a distinct difference and were therefore placated. Soon people began asking for the MFR on their mixes as a matter of course.

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" We had lots of fun with "drop frame timecode" "

... and unfortunately, that led to even more misunderstanding, and problems down the line.

" clients who wanted to know what happened to all the frames that got dropped, after the show.. "

they go into the "bit bucket".

Many years ago, in the days of IBM mainframe computers, I was briefing some Pentagon Generals on the new computer systems they were acquiring for bases all over the world, and mentioned that in <some situations> excess data went into the bit bucket; later one of the generals asked me how often the bit bucket needed to be emptied

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I always forget BNC... I know it's not British Naval Connector.

Me and my boom op Betsy have our own term:

TMF = Too Much Fun - We use this when the sound dept. is totally on our game but everyone else is stressing out. It means "stop having fun in front of all these people who will get annoyed that you're laughing while they're stressing."

Dan Izen

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Fact check on BNC connector standing for "British Naval Connector" - which it does not!

"The connector was named after its bayonet mount locking mechanism and its inventors, Paul Neill and Carl Concelman.[1] Neill worked at Bell Labs and also invented the N connector; Concelman worked at Amphenol and also invented the C connector.

The basis for the development of the BNC connector was largely the work of Octavio M. Salati, a graduate of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1945, while working at Hazeltine Electronics Corporation, he filed a patent for a connector for coaxial cables that would minimize wave reflection/loss. The patent was granted in 1951.[3]

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In the slightly O.T. department:

While I'm generally in favor of less government intervention in our lives, there are two areas I believe are in dire need of legislation:

1) No Christmas music prior to December first.

2) One, and only one, organization or circumstance can utilize a given acronym. For instance, if the Culinary Institute of America gets there first, the Central Intelligence Agency is out of luck.

I think our quality of life will improve greatly with just these two changes.

Yeah i'm pretty tired of seeing commercials about saving animals sponsored by the World Wrestling Federation.

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Michael,

You should always stipulate your terms on your invoices... standard is NET30 (30 days from date of invoice), but some clients will have their own terms based on their accounting departments MO... IE: MTV has a hard NET60 policy from my experience -- don't even try to get them to pay sooner.

I've had varying degrees of success putting NET7 on my invoices (especially with some of my 1st-time clients), though it was discussed before I took the job.

Just make sure whatever your terms are, they're discussed beforehand so as to alleviate any confusion. Otherwise, you're kind of at the mercy of the person cutting the check -- and it never ceases to amaze me that however quickly you can get ahold of someone before a job actually shoots, that same person seems to vanish off the face of the Earth once you've provided your services.

If you want the repeat business, you have to exercise a certain amount of diplomacy. This is usually the most effective method of getting paid sooner as opposed to later.

Hope this helps : )

ps~ I tried to use some TLA's here so as to stay on topic ;)

~tt

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Taylor,

Thanks for the input. I once did a Fast&Furious5 commercial and that took about 45 days for me to get paid. I almost went ape shit on the producer for doing that to me. But, after seeing how this kinda is normal I'm glad I kept my cool since I would have been the jerk. However, as you had said this should have been discussed from the onset instead of after I turned the sound in. Lesson learned.

BTW, this thread quickly became the "stupid acronym thread" so no need to stay on that topic. LOL...I was hoping the topic would move from one topic to another so that we can all learn something from it.

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Dang Michael,

You're absolutely right. It is the stupid question thread -- sorry, I forgot... I guess I didn't think your question was all that stupid. You'll get used to waiting for paychecks -- just part of the business. I know it's been discussed in other threads, but I can't emphasize the importance of budgeting -- fight that compulsion to blow it all on new gear -- pace yourself. It really is about the journey.

~tom

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Client: So we are going out of town for this shoot next week and we don't really know if there is going to be any sound. But our client might want some at the last minute.

Me: So, what does that mean to me? You want to cut a deal?

Client: We were wondering if we could take your kit with us?

Me: NO!

Scott......

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Keep in mind that some agencies and production companies wait until they get paid to pay those they've hired. That means that if a company hires an ad agency who hires a production company, who, in turn, hires you, it could be 90 days even if each pays within 30. And, if each pays within 60, well... do the math.

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Client: So we are going out of town for this shoot next week and we don't really know if there is going to be any sound. But our client might want some at the last minute.

Me: So, what does that mean to me? You want to cut a deal?

Client: We were wondering if we could take your kit with us?

Me: NO!

Scott......

WOW! That's BOLD!

Irish Diplomacy:

The ability to tell a person to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.

I would implement Irish Diplomacy in this case. : )

~tt

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Keep in mind that some agencies and production companies wait until they get paid to pay those they've hired. That means that if a company hires an ad agency who hires a production company, who, in turn, hires you, it could be 90 days even if each pays within 30. And, if each pays within 60, well... do the math.

This is exactly what happened. Universal hired this production company, who had to wait to get paid so they can pay me.

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