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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Scratch?

I do think if Scratch was priced more inline with RED it would gain more market share.

RED has a hardware product that wins hands down compared to Arri, Panavision and Sony. Yet RED has seen the mid level industry is growing and this is the future. The mid level is becoming the high level.

Computers are getting faster and cheaper all the time so I don't see the hard ware being the expensive part of Scratch. All the computer bits of Scratch are off the shelf components which are coming down in price everyday. The only thing in the mix that remains high is the Tangent controls which you could always go for JL Cooper at half the price.

You have to admit that there is a huge amount of new clients needing a professional colour finishing tool to go with there RED cameras and these clients wouldn't look at Autodesk just like they would not purchase a Arri or Viper.

If Scratch was a little under half its price it is now (for the software only) I believe it would sell a great deal more licenses.

I'm not asking for Apple give away prices, just for independent artist who knows a good tool type prices like RED have done with the REDONE. There are a lot of us spending $40k - $60k with RED and I'd say thats no prosumer chuck of change...

It would make sense to spend the same on a Scratch software & hardware system.
 
roryhinds said:
If Scratch was a little under half its price it is now (for the software only) I believe it would sell a great deal more licenses.

I'm not asking for Apple give away prices, just for independent artist who knows a good tool type prices like RED have done with the REDONE. There are a lot of us spending $40k - $60k with RED and I'd say thats no prosumer chuck of change...

It would make sense to spend the same on a Scratch software & hardware system.
Click to expand...

I agree. I still don't really know exactly how much it costs for just the software (too afraid to ask). Also, how can they reduce the price without alienating their existing customer base?

Would it be rude to create a poll here in the Off Topic section asking how much one would be willing to spend for the basic software?
 
Here's a not so (to me anyway) distant thought: "RED acquires Assimilate". What do you think?
 
tlorenzo said:
Here's a not so (to me anyway) distant thought: "RED acquires Assimilate". What do you think?
Click to expand...

?
How about "Apple acquires Assimilate", that would make more
sense. But who knows the mindset of Assimilate?
I know Jim swears up and down that RED will never go public
or be sold. So any speculation about who, what, when and
how is just that. RED is the hot ticket now and let's see
what develops around it.
 
Apple have done wonders with Final Touch and its very stable if you know how to work with it.

Color needs REDCode RAW 4k support and multiple masks in secondaries and better copy paste functions.

A better interface like Scratch or Luster wouldn't go a miss either
 
Ever get this call?

Ever get this call?

As a small production company, we regularly get calls from potential new clients asking something like this:

"We are interested in putting together a new video (insert a few more details here of projected use, etc.) about 5 to 10 minutes long. How much would that cost?"

Now, if we were offering a commodity product, I might be able to answer this, but for us, and I would expect most people on this board, the final answer to this questions would vary dramatically depending on a whole host of details - anywhere from less than $10K for something very simple to well over $100K based on format, shoot days, graphics, talent fees, etc. Even if I was to put sample "configurations" on our Web site, I'm sure many people would make assumptions or have needs that differ enough that potential clients would call expecting one price and be dissapointed if what they really needed/wanted cost more.

When we get these calls, discuss all their needs, take the time to explain our approach, then give them a detailed proposal, we often get the business even if they had expected it would cost less. If their budget or cost assumptions are just not going to work they generally leave understanding what it will take to get them the product they want. Many actually wind up being future clients and even if they don't some even refer others to us down the road.

Anyway, enough about our little world, but I'm guessing the Scratch situation is similar. For me, just getting a ballpark price isn't really that helpful and in fact if I had only seen some of the higher numbers dropped in these forums I might have dismissed it entirely. In the end, I need to understand what the real value will be to my business and how that differs (cost wise and quality wise) from just using Color or sending out to other shops for finishing. Its a business decision and I need that information to make it effecively. So I will email to find out more. Then if it is or isn't something that will work for us in the short run I'll know more about the product, what it would cost for our specific needs and understand where it might fit into our business plan in the future. And from actual contact with the company I'll get a sense of how they'll treat me as a customer, their attitude, etc.

Just my $.02.

Walter
 
Hey Walter your analogy is way off... how can you compare time base work involving crews, editors, equipment and all to different production values and deliverables to a piece of software thats sold.

The piece of software is a finished product. The Video is a project that is created for the client from scratch. Excuse the pun :-)
 
OneCam said:
As a small production company, we regularly get calls from potential new clients asking something like this:

"We are interested in putting together a new video (insert a few more details here of projected use, etc.) about 5 to 10 minutes long. How much would that cost?"
Click to expand...

Sounds like you repeat yourself a lot.

If you specialized in high end commercials and fielded questions who were looking for low end commercials all day you could easily prevent that wasted time by mentioning typical projects for a firm like yours start at $25k and can run into the millions in your advertising and website alongside examples. That's why Scratch is not like you.

Even in your case - depending how much time you're spending on all those calls you'd be better off detailing a few theoretical projects at different price points on your website... ideally they would be videos. Create a demo DVD with all that info and give them away. You'll present your sales pitch perfectly every time.

I have a friend who's a custom video editing system integrator. He makes all his money on clients that buy over $50k of stuff. We were talking a while back and he said - "you should see what my average day looks like... I get calls all day long from people pick my brain and then go buy from BHPhoto because they are $20 cheaper." His belief was maybe he could upsell some of these people etc. and I asked him how often that happened. Almost never... and the reason was these people are little fish and they were not his customer. He was taking time away from serving big customers to work with all these little guys. But at the same time little guys can turn into big guys overnight in this industry so making them angry doesn't help.

Ultimately I thought he should create as much free information on his website covering typical daily questions so he could still offer the information but not have to do it personally.

For more detailed knowledge and integration issues I thought he should add hourly consulting fees instead of relying on hardware sales for profits - like Mike at HD for Indies does. Then everyone knows what his business is - when you need an expert he's the guy. And say it before they call.

I had other ideas - but you get the point. Most organizations don't optimize their sales activities. Pros toss out what they think they know and test different approaches and track the differences. Then they do it again because the market is always changing. Just ask Arri.
 
roryhinds said:
Color needs REDCode RAW 4k support and multiple masks in secondaries and better copy paste functions.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure every shot can have eight secondaries, each with a vignette that can either be a quadrilateral, ellipse, or custom spline shape.
 
roryhinds said:
Apple have done wonders with Final Touch and its very stable if you know how to work with it.

Color needs REDCode RAW 4k support and multiple masks in secondaries and better copy paste functions.

A better interface like Scratch or Luster wouldn't go a miss either
Click to expand...

Ok fair enough :)
 
roryhinds said:
Hey Walter your analogy is way off... how can you compare time base work involving crews, editors, equipment and all to different production values and deliverables to a piece of software thats sold.

The piece of software is a finished product. The Video is a project that is created for the client from scratch. Excuse the pun :-)
Click to expand...

Hi Rory,

Sorry if it didn't work for you. My main point was that I understood that there were many variables that go into price and the lack of a single easy to explain price stucture, such as we have for FCP and other commodities, meant that publishing numbers could easily lead to misunderstandings. For me this is consistent with my business experience, although I don't expect it is the same for everyone else.

Walter
 
joelnet said:
Sounds like you repeat yourself a lot.

If you specialized in high end commercials and fielded questions who were looking for low end commercials all day you could easily prevent that wasted time by mentioning typical projects for a firm like yours start at $25k and can run into the millions in your advertising and website alongside examples. That's why Scratch is not like you.

Even in your case - depending how much time you're spending on all those calls you'd be better off detailing a few theoretical projects at different price points on your website...
Click to expand...

Hi Joelnet,

Thanks for the free advice, but please don't assume too much about the word "regularly". I meant it happens a dozen or so times a year, not that it was a daily intrusion.

Anyway, the main point was that Assimilate seems to have a variety of options dependings on a client's needs, and that I understood, from my own experience, that it was better to explore that in consultation with them than to just get a cookie cutter price.

Thanks,
Walter
 
Just for everybody's general information... I have gotten a lot of offlist e-mails in the past few days requesting price options.

And we are actually discussing price options. : )

Lucas
-----
ASSIMILATE, Inc.
LA, CA, USA
 
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