NOTE: Youtube will not do widescreen so it squished it. plus youtube compresses things so bad that end up looking really crappy, it looks fantastic in real life.
[This message has been edited by timgray (edited 08-22-2008).]
Another Note: The first 2 minutes is the actual teaser, I simply rendered from the editor a selection of the time-line so it includes some blank areas.
We are on track for 4-6 weeks to start shipping them. That's if the publisher delivers on time. Books will be shipped in lots of ten or more. I.E.: I need to have 10 or more orders per batch before I can order another run of them. So everyone that preorders and pays for the preorder will get their book right away after I get them from the publisher.
The DVD's are going to be ordered in a 100 batch, anyone not pre-ordering has a decent chance of getting one right away after we get it from the publisher.
If you really want to get the book as soon as possible I strongly recommend pre-ordering. I will put out a "last-call" here in 2 weeks before we send the book off for the first run order so that any stragglers can get in on the first run.
The hardest part seems to be the reviewing, having other people look the DVD over and the Book over for mistakes and errors before it goes to print. Plus the artist for the DVD cover/disc art still has not sent his proof to me either.
I'll keep everyone updated at least weekly here. more updates as we get closer. Everyone pre-ordering get's a special signed copy of the book (Like anyone wants my autograph! LOL) and the extra CD of photos in the book will contain a lot more photos than the standard one after the preorder is done. (I'll sign those too if anyone wants me to!)
I am hoping enough sell that I can send a couple of the books to the group that hosted the 25'th event to raffle off as well as donating some of every sale to them.
Book - Going VERY WELL. Worked on that until Midnight last night. It should be ready for initial inspection and for the writer to finish up the text by the end of this weekend.
DVD - Yikes I'm going to start having to not put stuff in there. The DVD is FULL and I dont have everything I wanted in there. I may have to trim some of the talks at the banquet or cut down some of the events footage. It's looking great, I'm stuck as I ran out of Royalty Free music from my library I bought that fits the high energy the DVD is going for. I'm searching opsound and other indie band sites that will release music for use in the DVD. That's a big issue, getting rights to use music on the DVD. Royalty free CD's Cost me about $199.00 each and you have the rights to use the music in things you sell. Many indie bands are glad to also give you rights to use their music in something like a DVD. I should solve this one by the end of the weekend.
Again a giant thanks to everyone that is pre-ordering, they keep rolling in and we are keeping track and starting to gear up for shipping when the items come back from production. We are still on track for sending the items to the production house and publisher in 10 days.
Placed my order, And I second what R Runner posted. I really want the whole John Callies presentation. It was one of the major highlights of the whole event.
Early update this week as I am getting closer to finishing and getting this off to be manufactured.
Got the DVD initial Edit done. I am cutting a bit of time to make more room on the DVD for the dinner speakers.
Book is going to be done and in the hands of the reviewer this weekend to be shipped off for manufacture by the end of next week. If you want to get in on the initial run of these books I need a paid order by next wednesday (9/10/08) midnight. DVD inital run will be 100 discs so it is not as important to get your order in right away. As soon as I get those done and sent off I will start on the Poster and show everyone what it looks like. Production time on those are only 1 week so I will be ready to ship almost instantly and there is no minimum order for those. (Local company printing them)
I'm excited, I saw the rough edit of the DVD today for the first time on a big screen (50" HDTV) and I am happy how it is turning out.
Hello everyone! This is Tim Gray's wife, Lynne. I will be posting some pictures after the book is sent to be printed, so I joined the forum too! I'm so excited that I got to meet some of you at the Pontiac 25th Anniversary. You are all such very nice people. I immediately started telling Tim that I wanted a Fiero of my own! I've always wanted a gold Fiero.
Lynne
------------------ You only get out of life what you put in it!
The Book is Finished. It was wrapped up late last night with the last of the text added in as well as the photos. DVD will be wrapped up later this week as well. Both will be going to the publishers by the end of this week.
DVD is taking longer as I am trying to make more video fit as well as dealing with some quality issues. it looks great on a HDTV but on a standard TV there is a bit of a smear that I want to get rid of. That should be solved soon as well as fitting all three talks on the DVD from the banquet.
Book is Going to print Wednesday. IF anyone was waiting for the last second to order, this is it.
After wednesday, you can still order the book. But it will be delayed until 9 other people order before the publisher will print and ship the box of books to me.
This friday I am also shooting to send the DVD in for manufacture. I am simplifying the menu to make more room for the Banquet speakers. I am hoping to fit 4 of them on the DVD with John's talk completely uncut.
Hate to rub it in I'm watching the DVD right now. Finished the menu graphics and animations. Got EVERY SECOND of Hulki and John 's talks on the dvd and I have room for 1 more talk video...
I was leaning towards the talk on the development on the Fiero logo and increase the video quality of the main feature.
But, I can squeeze in the Talk by the writer of the first fiero book and not increase the quality of the main feature.
Loke I said, it's full. I cant add in the interviews that did not make it because of space or any outtakes. John talked for a long time and I really wanted to keep every bit of his talk in there.
If anyone chimes in with a preference, I'll take it into consideration. I need to wrap this up by friday night to get a final screening in front of people saturday so that any mistakes I missed can be fixed sunday so it can be shipped to the publisher monday morning. (Yes the date I promised slipped by a few days...)
Book is not slipping it's date. It's going to publisher tonight.
I want to take the time to thank everyone here. Without all of you I could not have done this. Your cars made the DVD and Book incredible, and it was great to see you guys are as cool as your cars. ------------------
Personally I would increase the quality and get Jon Albers shorter presentation of the pegasas emblem. Gary went on and on about how GM could not make any money from 2 seat cars. Nice guy I'm sure, but sounded like - well.... Death of the Fiero.
Got some initial responses back from the reviewers on the DVD. Things are going ahead as planned and on time.
As soon as the proof for the book shows up I'll give my approve to the publisher to start the production run, it looks like I'll have everyone's books in my hands before the DVD's return back from production. Did not expect that.
Artist is dragging his feet.... I'm coming up with an alternative plan so if he misses his end of the week deadline I'll go with plan B and create the artwork myself.
Disc looks good though. The manufacturer sent me a sample of how they will be made. The disks are full color printed with a glossy coating on them to make them more durable. Black DVD cases with full color outer cover label/insert. I cant wait to get hose off to manufacture so I can start shipping as soon as the books get here.
Saw the DVD and all I can say is WOW! If you are looking for a nice keepsake of the show, this is it. I am so stoked to get the full copy of the DVD and see the book.
It's funny, I have carried the proof copy of the book around for most of the week now and sold 3 copies to fiero friends that are local to me. both of them looked in it for about 10 seconds closed it and said, " I dont want to look at it anymore it will spoil enjoying my copy, can I write you a check?"
I am so glad everyone loves the book and DVD so far. I even got non car people reviews back that they enjoyed the talk by Hulki and John as well.
Oh the biggest comment I get from non car people about the DVD, "I did not know that many fieros were made!"
I was also approached by a TV station about airing the main DVD feature sometime in the fall.
[This message has been edited by timgray (edited 09-25-2008).]
Tim, I just viewed the preview copy that you sent me. All I can say is WOW. Congratualtions on a job well done. Very nicely done. I look forward to the finished products.
First shipment of books will be here in my hands by the end of the week. I am hoping to have at least a partial shipment of the DVD's to be here by then as well so I can start shipping this weekend! I'll update everyone as things go.
I'm excited to get these in everyone's hands.
Fred and Mark are the first here on PFF that got a "sneak peek" of a pre-release. Well that and a close friend of mine Jason (n8ykc here on PFF) he got a pre-pre-pre release viewing.... He watched about 1/2 the editing.
Everyone that paid in full will be shipped right away as their book was ordered in the first round before cutoff. I still have a couple of orders that are without payment but hope they will be sorted out soon
I also am approaching a point where I can order another book batch. If you want to get in on that batch I suggest placing your order in the next 10 days. DVD's are ordered in a larger batch so they will not have to wait for batch orders and will ship when ordered after I receive the first production run.
Lead time depends heavily on when you order and pay. If I get order and payment in the next 10 days, I will ship about 18 days after I order the next batch of books. If you miss the next batch of books it can take as long as 30 days before there are enough orders to place another batch order. so it depends if you get in at the end of a batch or if your order did not make it into that batch and must wait for 10 orders for a book before it will be ordered. It also depends if the publisher will be able to run them right away. Being a small fry my orders are low priority compared to a large corporation.
If you order right now, I can see the next batch getting ordered in 10 days, 2-3 weeks before I get them, then we ship that next weekend after I receive them. So an order placed today will get shipped around the end of october at the latest.
If all you order is the DVD, then I'll be able to ship from 3-7 days after your order. I hope to be receiving some of the DVD"s by the end of the week.
DVD's are not ready to do a partial ship as hoped this weekend. They will be ready by the end of this week, and we will be shipping to the first 30 orders of book and DVD and all others that ordered DVD only.
Second batch order of books will go in this tuesday. I'm going to order 2 extra to make it a full batch to get the order in. (I need one for my shelf, and Juli our Photographer needs one.)
So I have a set ship date of starting to ship most orders by next friday. All DVD orders will ship at that time and the first batch of DVD+Book orders will ship as well. Second batch orders will go out as soon as I get the second batch of books from the publisher.
