I did a major housekeeping of the Avid that is not on shared storage, and thus not on Interplay, so media deletion is a more manual affair.
As I was digging about the media folders looking for orphaned clips I was glad that Avid added less cryptic naming conventions to their software. I am old enough to remember the time when every file in the media folder would be named something like:
"172JJD88222JJSD9923ISKDKD992ID90SA00DKD"
At least now the files are named something like:
"ProjectName11289R89FJF9F9OFFK"
It's the little things.
Peter
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Catch It While You Can
A few months ago I sampled Guiding Light, which had switched from the traditional soap production format to a handheld, small format, shoot everything in the field kind of storytelling. I thought it looked underlit, and, well, cheap. (Note: I would only attempt this with a DVR. Catch it while you can.
Unfortunately, the producers didn't really exploit the small cameras by radically evolving their style- the show still cut like your traditional soap. Perhaps they were limited in what they could try by the unions, writers, producers, or the fear of losing the 35 viewers they had left. Perhaps it was a decision made by an accountant who picked up a "Broadcast Quality at 10% of the price!" brochure at Best Buy.
Whatever margins the lower production costs drove were not enough to save the series from cancellation.
I hate seeing folks lose their jobs, but I am relieved that the strategy of making your show look worse than the competition, with no benefit for the viewer, was not rewarded.
Peter
Unfortunately, the producers didn't really exploit the small cameras by radically evolving their style- the show still cut like your traditional soap. Perhaps they were limited in what they could try by the unions, writers, producers, or the fear of losing the 35 viewers they had left. Perhaps it was a decision made by an accountant who picked up a "Broadcast Quality at 10% of the price!" brochure at Best Buy.
Whatever margins the lower production costs drove were not enough to save the series from cancellation.
I hate seeing folks lose their jobs, but I am relieved that the strategy of making your show look worse than the competition, with no benefit for the viewer, was not rewarded.
Peter
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Confusion
I sent some tapes I shot this week to a post house, and I don't envy their position. They hadn't encountered DVCPro HD tapes shot in 1080 30P.
One of the advantages of my one-man-band-world is that I can learn what I my gear does and leave it at that. A post house has to learn every possible format that material can be sent and figure out how to ingest it into their edit system. In today's 57 format universe, that has to be dizzying at times.
That was one advantage of the 3/4 U-matic and beta days- passing tapes about didn't require an electronic Babel Fish to make them all work together.
Peter
One of the advantages of my one-man-band-world is that I can learn what I my gear does and leave it at that. A post house has to learn every possible format that material can be sent and figure out how to ingest it into their edit system. In today's 57 format universe, that has to be dizzying at times.
That was one advantage of the 3/4 U-matic and beta days- passing tapes about didn't require an electronic Babel Fish to make them all work together.
Peter
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Tipping Points
My research on Adobe Premiere is leading me in this direction:
1. Premiere has issues with DVCProHD, which I work in and will soon distribute;
2. Since hardly anyone uses Premiere, it is very hard to hire freelancers to edit in it, which we do on occasion.
3. Reports of bugginess, especially when you start tying a bunch Photoshop, Illustrator, AfterEffect and Premiere bits into one project.
For some things Premiere sounds like a handy tool, especially if working in a non-TV aspect ratio. If I ever get a free day to experiment, I may break out a demo.
Much thanks to the forums at Creative Cow.
Peter
1. Premiere has issues with DVCProHD, which I work in and will soon distribute;
2. Since hardly anyone uses Premiere, it is very hard to hire freelancers to edit in it, which we do on occasion.
3. Reports of bugginess, especially when you start tying a bunch Photoshop, Illustrator, AfterEffect and Premiere bits into one project.
For some things Premiere sounds like a handy tool, especially if working in a non-TV aspect ratio. If I ever get a free day to experiment, I may break out a demo.
Much thanks to the forums at Creative Cow.
Peter
Friday, March 13, 2009
Avid QT Export
Does anyone else have difficulty exporting a QT file that doesn't have washed out gamma? I'm still trying to find a decent workaround for that one.
Peter
Peter
Keyframes
Avid has released keyframable color correction to the Newscutter. I can now solve some problems with the lousy amateur video I must deal with occasionally.
That was going to be a "Missing Avid Features" post, so they beat me to the complaint. Nice job! Perhaps in another decade or so this will be a solid tool.
Peter
That was going to be a "Missing Avid Features" post, so they beat me to the complaint. Nice job! Perhaps in another decade or so this will be a solid tool.
Peter
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Adobe Premiere
I'm searching for reasonable pros and cons of using Adobe Premiere in an HD broadcast environment.
DVCProHD, P2, shared storage, and output to everything from HD tape to YouTube and flash.
I can find stand alone reviews, but not comparisons of AP to FCP and the various Avid platforms. Personal experience a plus. I assume a few things have changed since I last used it in 2K.
The one feature I recall from an NAB demo was auto updating of other Adobe projects in the Premiere timeline. That's some nice engineering, but I need more to consider it a viable option.
My biggest issue is finding freelancers to work on it.
TIA.
Peter
DVCProHD, P2, shared storage, and output to everything from HD tape to YouTube and flash.
I can find stand alone reviews, but not comparisons of AP to FCP and the various Avid platforms. Personal experience a plus. I assume a few things have changed since I last used it in 2K.
The one feature I recall from an NAB demo was auto updating of other Adobe projects in the Premiere timeline. That's some nice engineering, but I need more to consider it a viable option.
My biggest issue is finding freelancers to work on it.
TIA.
Peter
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