Interview with Thomas Grove Carter

[Bob Zelin]

For storage, we’re currently using Samsung T3 SSD drives, which are so fast and light, they can handle most things we throw at them. It’s a really slick and flexible set up. But with a few potential feature films in the near future, we are looking again at shared storage.

reply –
wow, doing major shows, with small SSD’s and no shared storage. Wow.
Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Douglas K. dempsey]

Another great interview by Oliver! I have read brief interviews with Carter before; this is by far the best, most insightful piece! We’re lucky to have OP on this forum.

Doug D

[Oliver Peters]

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it. I certainly enjoyed chatting with Thomas.

Bob – the SSDs were related to their commercial work. They are currently investigating shared storage for upcoming projects. They used to have Avid Isis in their previous building, but opted not to initially go that way when they moved into new digs.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Bill Davis]

[Bob Zelin] “reply –
wow, doing major shows, with small SSD’s and no shared storage. Wow.
Bob Zelin”

Tom works extremely high level short form projects for clients like global automakers – and equally high end music video work like Ed Sheeran’s recent Castle on the Hill project. I’m sure the field footage is stored on complex storage systems and backed up appropriately in their shop.

What’s changed is what’s required to load and work with that footage for the editor. This is the era of creating metadata ABOUT the footage – not so much always needing to touch the original footage and pass it around a facility. Sure there’s still a place for that. But it’s not the same place that it used to be. At least from where I’m seeing things these days.

I think I know Thomas well enough now to opine that what he likely values over all else, is the ability to launch a project and simply get lost in the creative side of it – with as few distractions pulling his focus away from the material as possible.

That he can do this on a Laptop with an SSD “not” tethered to a larger network – successfully – is likely liberating. I know it has been for me.

I’m pretty sure his shop has plenty of network capability and secure storage – but the point is that not that long ago, an editor had to be hanging directly ON THAT NETWORK for an effective workflow. But editing, itself, today – even with very high quality decently large raster video streams just isn’t the kind of network stressing process it was just a few years ago. Not in the era where the decisions are just modifying metadata that can show you the results on a laptop – and instantly scale the same creative choices against the highest available display tech back at home base with just a mouse click

And if a “fit in your briefcase” SSD & laptop combo successfully lets him be creative away from his desk -(even part of the time) and lose nothing when his editorial choices are transferred to the larger system – well, that’s all the really matters, right?

Work as you like, when you like, where you like. And lose no quality along the way.

Golden era stuff, right there.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Steve Connor]

[Bill Davis] “Work as you like, when you like, where you like. And lose no quality along the way.

Golden era stuff, right there.
“

It really is, and it’s achievable on any NLE on both Mac and PC. The choices we have now are amazing!

[Tony West]

“What I’ve found with everyone who has moved to it, including myself – there were always a few little hooks that keep people coming back, even if you don’t like the whole app initially. ”

That’s one of the best descriptions I have seen of X.

X has a bunch of things that are cool and fun even if you don’t like the concept of the timeline, that peak the interest of many editors.

When I’m showing the tools of X to people for the first time they will often say, “Well…….I do like thaaaat part” : )

[David Lawrence]

[Tony West] “When I’m showing the tools of X to people for the first time they will often say, “Well…….I do like thaaaat part” : )”

That’s true even for me! 😉

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research

linkedIn: https://lnkd.in/Cfz92F
vimeo: vimeo.com/album/2271696
web: propaganda.com
facebook: /dlawrence
twitter: @dhl

[Neil Sadwelkar]

With a Samsung T3 SSD of 2 TB running $ 750 or so, its like carrying a RAID of yesteryear in your pocket. 2 Tb can hold over 100 hrs of ProRes Proxy (or DNxHD36) so you could have down-converted rushes of an entire feature or feature length docu, in a tiny package which has the speed (300+ MB/sec) of a 4-bay RAID. And FCP X lets you store everything in one convenient library.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Oliver Peters]

People tend to forget that this is creative (“offline”) editing – not “finishing”. So while the camera originals might be higher resolution, the editors tend to work with 1080 or 720 ProResProxy or LT. Secondly, it’s not a shared editing situation. One editor and maybe an assistant is working all the way through. Ultimately, keeping everything together in a single location makes more workflow sense than a large SAN. However, that’s where Thomas mentioned that they are also looking at a SAN/NAS, because of possible indie film projects coming their way. Those have different workflow needs.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Bill Davis]

[Oliver Peters] “People tend to forget that this is creative (“offline”) editing – not “finishing”. “

This is absolutely true.

But it’s also true that “finishing” is changing. And worse, becoming less and less relevant in the modern era.

Honestly, for a LONG time, finishing was a thing done by separate people in separate facilities using separate tools and deploying separate specific “hard to gain” expertise.

That’s still happens. But it’s NOT the only way things get professionally produced anymore.

This is the era where one person CAN touch everything from creation to delivery – at an impressively high level of success – and deliver content that doesn’t compare all that badly to what the “pro team” can produce.

Is it the most efficient way in all circumstances? Heck no. But that’s not the HUGE change. The huge change is that it was IMPOSSIBLE for a small team (or a talented individual) to compete with a huge team not so long ago.

And now it’s just not.

I was watching the work of one of those kids who go to school during the day – and produces a weekly tech based web-series in his free time. He’s got more than 100,000 subscribers. And his work looks GREAT. His shooting is clear. His graphic design aesthetic is solid. His delivery, both on-camera and via VO is totally credible. And his audience RELATES to him the way I related to the TV hosts of my era. He’s produced more than 100 “episodes” over the past few years for his YouTube audience and he’s killing it.

This tells me that anyone who clings too strongly to the classic production modes of yesterday is making a dangerous decision (in my opinion.) The traditional production process still works just fine today. It creates excellence. It leverages expertise built over long hard work. But if you don’t understand that there are NON traditional production processes nipping at the traditional ones heels – you’re delusional.

Basically, only a tiny sliver of the MOST highly conditioned professionals can discern the visual and audio differences between that young YouTubers work – and a high dollar professional production companies work. And worse, the cheaper process probably looks more “authentic” and more “organic” to that audience. And that audience is growing WAY faster than the one it’s replacing.

So do NOT get complacent about this stuff.

Do NOT think that what you (or I) know now, is what’s going to be what you need to know tomorrow.

Because it isn’t.

That’s all.

Heck, Look at what Apple just started doing in their public facing customer training right now.
Watch some of these.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryi0mt_yr3k

And it does NOT look like what I used to do in my training work.

And, to my distress, MUCH better than even what I’m trying to learn how to do now with my XinTwo thing. I’ve got to step up my game and evolve even FASTER than I have been. ???? Because the video space is now a very fast moving target.

More change coming. Faster.

And I still think that if you’re still doing the same kind of work you did a decade ago – the same way you did it back then, look out.

My 2 cents.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.