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old folks and young folks
Hi –
recently I observed a producer (old folks) at a major station totally confused about how he would do a voiceover on an AVID system (because he was so used to working in a linear room, with a playback Digi Beta tape, where they would do the voiceover while watching the tape, and record the finished product live onto the R-VTR (another Digi Beta VTR). Now, this new room has an “old” AVID Adrenaline system, and the concept of doing a voiceover into the non linear edit system is “totally unaccepable to him”.The contrast, which I saw today, which made me post this, was at another facilty that used both AVID and FCP. The client wanted to “retire” their old voiceover booth methods, which was to record the VO onto a beta tape, which would be digitized into either an AVID Adrenaline or FCP system. They had another AVID Mojo, which they wanted to dedicate to the “voiceover booth” function. So I rigged up the VO booth output to the audio input of the AVID Mojo, so they could record the VO into the AVID, and use a portable drive or USB stick to the editing systems on the other side of the building (sorry – no network). But how were they going to get that VO from the AVID into the FCP system.
So the female 20 year old intern said “lets just export the file out to a wave file, and then we can import it into FCP, and it will play immediately”.
After this worked instantly, I thought about the 50+ year old producer at the TV station, and all the people that say “aah, those damn kids – they are just button pushers – what the hell do they know, they can’t do a job” – and wonder how long these 50+ year olds will remain employed.
Bob Zelin
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22 Replies
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I run into the same issue with Producers who insist they must have Window Burn DVD’s of all material instead of the P2 files or Quicktime movies. They want to watch the DVD’s on their TV and take notes on their laptop.
Or one client who insists on saving each and every XDCAM HD BluRay disc on the shelf. I asked why they bothered switching from tape to disc if they’re just going to save everything.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” now in Post.
Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital. -
Being 47+ I kind of fall in the middle. I had plenty of tape to tape editing with TBC’s and Dubner CG to have a pretty solid basic understanding of video.
But I quickly adapted to one of the first Avid’s and the whole Avid, AE, Photoshop workflow.
I think a lot of old station guys and producers work a lot on PC’s and the Mac just has this way of leading you down the path of least resistance, whereas the PC seems to have resistance built in at every step. Does for me anyway.
Also, tools like iTunes and iMovie all require you to know something about converting digital formats and since we all work with digital files every day, these kinds of workflows (tapeless, really) are second nature to the new generation.
Good observation though. I am all about the workflow. Shortest distance between my idea and the client.
Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production and Post
Owner/President/Editor/Designer/Animator -
There is no about it, fifty something year olds who continue to use 1970’s techniques and technology should have been in the elephant bone yard a long time ago. However, the fact is, content is still king, so I have no doubt that Charlie Chaplin would still be making films today using age old technology if he were still alive.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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We do a lot of TC Window dubs for clients. Since we still shoot a lot of DVCProHD we run the dub from the deck straight into a Sony DVD recorder while we upload the tape.
If we use the EX or P2 we simply drag the clips onto a timeline and add the timecode filter then output composite to the DVD recorder in realtime thru the Kona card.
I like knowing they have a DVD TC dub for those times when they say we have a shot that we don’t and I send them to the TC where the shots are. I appreciated producers who will take a DVD to look over the footage so we all have a good idea of what we have before the edit.
Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production and Post
Owner/President/Editor/Designer/Animator -
[Rich Rubasch] “We do a lot of TC Window dubs for clients. Since we still shoot a lot of DVCProHD we run the dub from the deck straight into a Sony DVD recorder while we upload the tape.”
We do the same with tape.
With P2 we can transfer the material to a hard drive and they can watch it on the same laptop as they type on. That’s even easier. Waste of time to transfer it into an editing system and then lay it out to DVD.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” now in Post.
Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital. -
[David Roth Weiss] “I have no doubt that Charlie Chaplin would still be making films today using age old technology if he were still alive.”
Chaplin released Modern Times, a silent film in 1936, 9 years after The Jazz Singer broke the sound barrier. But I think he started working on it sometime around 1930, when silent movies were still somewhat current. It wasn’t that Chaplin was a purist or slow to adapt, it’s just that he was slow to finish a film.
Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/ -
The senior producer could hire a young assistant to help him with the computer stuff.
It would be a win-win partnership. Skills on new technologies and experience on the field.
That can be a great team.
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“… use a portable drive or USB stick to the editing systems on the other side of the building (sorry – no network).” – Bob Z.
Wow – sneaker net. It sounds like this facility has much bigger problems than an aging producer. Still a good job by the intern updating the work flow to 1996 standards.
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It is fairly common that when a new technology comes along, people first try to use it or inefficiently interpret it, in an old-fashioned way, until they transition to the new way of thinking.
I come down on both sides of this, working and trained in a shop based in 80’s tech, with modern tech spliced into it here and there. Sometimes we still do a certain function a more “old fashioned” way, when it works out as more time or cost-efficient.
There are still occasional jobs (though fewer every day) where a linear edit is actually faster than NLE. That sort of thing. -
Mark — WGAL (NBC) up here in Lancaster still uses linear editing systems for almost all of their news production. Faster, and more familiar to their staff.
I really don’t think it’s an old/young issue; I’ve gone to school with several kids who wanted to be editors/shooter/writers/whatever, but were unwilling or incapable of learning new tech or new processes. And I’ve worked with some people significantly older than I who are inspiringly eager to learn new tech or try something new. Merely anecdotal, but I suspect the root issue is more about the type of person you’re working, not necessarily their age.
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