Terms and Conditions
General
Alive Studios is a trading name of The Good Life Studios Ltd.
Please read these terms and conditions of use carefully before accessing, using or obtaining any materials, information, products or services. By accessing the Alive Studios website, mobile or tablet application, or any other feature or other Alive Studios platform (collectively “Our Website”), or by placing your order via phone, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions (“Terms”) and our Privacy Policy.
Leader tape
We edit out as much unused film as possible including the leadertape at the start of each reel. Whilst we cannot remove everything without charging for a full edit, we do endeavour to remove as much unused film as possible.
How long does it take?
This is a tricky question. We receive orders from a single video/reel to a room-full, so we’d need to know what you’re sending to give a lead-time. We find we are in high demand and usually have several weeks of work already scheduled in, so if your order is needed in a hurry, just phone and tell us what you need 🙂 We also offer an express service on the order-form which expedites your order for a surcharge. The varied nature of the work we do means that whilst we endeavour to meet requested deadlines, we cannot be held responsible for any loss caused, nor will offer a refund, as a result of a delay.
Damage, Loss, Post & Insurance
Orders are accepted on the basis that the liability of Alive Studios for any lost or damaged material shall be limited to the replacement with an equivalent amount of new blank stock. This is due to the unavailability of General Insurance cover for work of undefined value. When returning material to you we will use the post office services or a courier. We respectfully remind customers to retain a safety copy or take out Specialist Insurance Cover where appropriate.
Cloud Hosting
Although regular backups of the movies on our cloud are performed, Alive Studios does not guarantee there will be no loss or corruption of data, and may discontinue the service at any time without notice.
Alive Studios will provide support and attempt to troubleshoot any known or discovered issues that may affect the backups of Content. But You acknowledge that the Company has no liability related to the integrity of Content or the failure to successfully restore Content to a usable state.
You agree to maintain a complete and accurate copy of any Content in a location independent of the Service.
Film Format
Files are delivered as MPEG-4 h.264 and ProRes 422 as requested on the order form.
Framing and TV Cropping
Most cine films and many analogue videos are in 4:3 aspect ratio (or thereabouts). Modern TVs are 16:9. We therefore mount the original video into a 16:9 canvas, which creates black pillarboxes to the left and right of the image. This is to ensure we retain the entire picture, and there is no cropping or squashing.
Damaged Film
Whilst we don’t generally charge extra for poor/damaged/dirty film, we reserve the right to do so if we feel it is required, but will always agree it with you before starting work.
Where splices break, we repair them without charge. If a film is shrunk and doesn’t want to go through we will always try it in several machines to make sure it’s had it’s best shot at a transfer. Where sprocket holes are punctured or torn, we will still transfer the film, often with no visible problems. However, some sprocket damage prevents a steady image from being obtained, in which case we transfer the whole film, then edit out any sections which ‘jump’ or drag because of the damage. This way we keep as much film as possible, and with careful editing you don’t even notice any is missing.
Broken/damaged video tapes
99% of video and camcorder tapes transfer without issue. However, some tapes cannot be transferred fully, or at all. This can be for a variety of reasons including mould, water damage and the natural effects of decomposition. We will attempt to remove mould using a tape cleaning machine, and we may also bake the tape at low temperature to remove humidity which can help stabilise the tape sufficiently to transfer. Snapped tapes will be repaired free of charge.
If all attempts still prove negative, we will let you know what can/cannot be transferred. We will refund the cost of the transfer, less any costs we have incurred, including postage costs. We charge a standard fee of £15 per tape if we have worked on it but cannot provide a transfer. Where we have been able to rescue some footage, but not all the tape, you will still be charged for the tape as normal.
Dust and Hairs
We employ a very good dry-cleaning system which catches most of the dust and hairs commonly found on cine film. It is inevitable however that there will still be dust and hairs present, as it’s impossible to remove them completely with a dry-clean system. We also carry out hand-cleaning with film cleaning fluid where needed. It is also common for the dust/hairs to be imbedded into the emulsion making them impossible to ‘blow’ away, so you should expect a small amount to be visible in any transfer. Your film may have mould on it, often looking like a white powder. In this instance we will clean it as best as possible, often two or three times to remove as much loose material as possible, then use software to clean it up in post-production. The mould staining/mottling will be reduced but may still be visible. The demos on our website give you a very realistic example of what you can expect.
Text
Where text is to be included in the order, such as titles, chapter names etc. Alive Studios cannot be held responsible for spelling/grammar errors when the text is not supplied in a clear typed format. We will attempt to read handwritten text but if words are spelt wrong the customer will be responsible for correcting the filenames themselves, which can be easily done themselves on any computer. We strongly recommend you provide text digitally such as email.
Content of film / copyrights
By accepting our terms you are stating that you own or have permission to copy the material provided, and indemnify Alive Studios against any action including copyright infringement. If we feel the material to be of an indecent or illegal nature we reserve the right to refuse to continue and no refund will be offered.
Mistakes/Backups
We aim to keep your film footage on our editing suite for 30 days after completion to allow us to correct mistakes, after which time we may delete the footage to free up our storage. You must report any problem with your order as soon as possible, and certainly within 14 days of posting, after which tie we may not be able to make any changes. Due to the instability of data storage devices, this backup service is not guaranteed, and whilst every effort is made to retain your files for these periods, we cannot be held responsible for hard-drive failure resulting in us not being able to access your job. For very important projects, we suggest you order a backup hard-drive for your own security.
Delivery/Collections
We return orders via signed delivery with royal mail, or courier. This courier demands that items delivered damaged are reported within 24 hours of receipt, so it’s essential that you contact us immediately if your parcel is damaged.
Cancellation fees
In the unlikely event that you cancel your order, we reserve the right to charge a fee to cover admin/postage/bank fees we may incur. If we have begun work on the job then no refund will be offered. If we have not started work, then you can request a refund, less any costs we have incurred on your behalf. For example, if we arranged a free courier collection, you will need to pay for this at the current courier rate. If we processed a card payment, we will have incurred a handling fee which will be deducted from your refund. If we have to return your material to you, we will deduct the courier fee. We will also deduct a small admin fee in handling the paperwork involved with a cancellation.
Refunds
Orders paid for by card will be refunded to the card. Orders paid by cheque or bank transfer will be refunded by bank transfer.
Misc
We reserve the right to demonstrate our abilities by showing examples of work undertaken for our clients on our website, social media and other advertising or promotional activities. If your material is subject to copyright and cannot be used in this way please let us know in writing.
