It's doable. It works. It makes good business sense, and worst of all, it's catching on. Share holder value is all that matters. Michael is making a bundle on this VJ idea and for good reason. It works. Does it threaten the old school way of news aquisition, you bet it does. Does it show how people with far less talent and experience than any of us who have been in this business for more than a dozen years can do what we do for 1/10th the cost, yes it does. There in lies the rub. There is a defense to this onslaught of inexperienced people swarming in to do what we do and you better have that defense in your arsenal of gear. It's called MOTIVATION. VJ'ing isn't the end of an era it's a era in transition. Find a way to make money on it or some kid fresh out of college at 1/3rd your money is going to be doing what you do today, tomorrow. And rest uneasy knowing Joe Bob and Mary Sue sitting at home isn't going to give a rats ass who, how, or with what, something is shot.
Lake4 you are absolutely right, Michael is making millions and so are the shareholders, and what are you making? Do you have a family? Do you own a house; could you buy a house tomorrow if you want to? Could you pay for your kids education? Could you go on vacations anywhere you choose? If you fall in love with a BMW could you buy one? Could the average VJ or any VJ do that?
Last November, before Michael made one of his famous periodical disappearances, something that he usually does after he is not able to answer questions, he claimed to have helped hundreds of cameramen on this and other board, I asked him to produce some, after all he has been on B-roll claiming that his system works for over five years now and with over 4000 members of B-roll, mostly cameramen there must be at least a dozen that are making a decent living by following Michael’s doctrine. Do you know how many responded or how many Michael was able to produce? NONE, ZERO, NADA. Have you ever heard Michael telling how much the average VJ makes? That should tell you something. Yes the VJ system works for the chiefs but how well are the Indians doing, when push comes to shove there’s only one reason to have a job, and that’s to make a decent living, out of all the BS that Michael has been spreading there’s only one reason for the VJ movement, and that’s cost cutting, VJ being so easy to do that everybody can do it, how much seniority and raises do you think that you’ll get before they replace you with some minimum wager, or by cell phones? Think about it, once you are replaced, and be assured that you will be replaced before the next raise comes due, with your level of VJ knowledge and skills what are you going to do, weddings and birthday parties? Use your brains man, don't let Rosenblum screw up your life so he can make a bundle at your expenses.
Quality shooter don’t make much noises, most good shooters that I know and work with don’t even know that B-roll or other board exist, and they have no clue what a VJ is or who Michael Rosenblum is. They are busy making money and I can assure you (being one of them) that with their equipment they make more in one day that the average VJ makes in one month, perhaps you should also know that most of these freelancers were once working for stations, probably just like you, but they felt the need for quality work and took the plunge into freelancer, and now they do very well financially, how do they do it, they constantly work to improve themselves, they know the value of quality for themselves and for their clients.
I started my web site EFPlighting.com to expand people’s knowledge and create awareness of quality, because quality will always win over quantity. 2 million hits and hundreds of e-mails in less than four month be assured that people knows what it takes to make a decent living.
But we are all pretty well motivated.
