Al Bergstein
Forum Replies Created
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Hiyaso, I’m an independent one to three man band shop, and have done most of my editing alone in the last three years. I’ve gone from Vegas and FCP (older version) to Pr. I shoot MXF and would share the following.
- Your choice might depend on whether you are editing with more than one editor or sharing files across a team. If you are working in the LA area, and are doing a team editing effort, I’d likely seriously look at Avid. The editors that I’ve met from LA seem to be favoring AVID for larger team efforts. I was at a workshop for indies last spring, and I asked this question of all the editors I met. So I have a small sample of people that all seemed to favor AVID.
- I have really enjoyed the switch to the Pr, especially the stability of the platform on Windows. Yes, I’ve had a few moments, but compared to what I experienced on the same machine with Vegas, with the same files, it’s much much more stable. It handles MXF files just fine. From what I’ve seen on the web, all platforms are now having some stability issues, but especially the Mac users on Pr using FCPX. My guess is that Mountain Lion is still causing more problems than W7 for Adobe. This is only a guess. The integration with other Adobe products is also very deep and useful.
FCPX seems to finally ‘getting there’ but after the bungled conversion and the lack of newer professional machines from Apple, I really don’t feel that Apple is interested in the professional market any longer. I was happily using FCP on a Mac Pro, really had no reason to switch. There was so much to like about the old FCP. But I ended up doing so because I’m a small shop. They may be back, but it’s too late for me. I’ve bought Windows machines, Pr and it all works fine. Adobe tech support has been excellent.
There have been some interesting threads lately on the Adobe boards about workflow issues on feature length films, especially in teams, with problems in relinking original footage. I haven’t experienced that, but it would make me a bit concerned if you had two or three editors working on the same footage in multiple locations. You might want to talk to peers to the size of your team to see how they are doing on it. I do a slightly different workflow than they do, in that I “export to MXF” out of the card,rather than simply just copy the cards. This allows me to rename all footage to something that makes sense in tracking the files. But shops with multicams seem to simply have their data wranglers back the card up in it’s entirety. This leads to some interesting file naming issues when you are dealing with the same footage across more than one editor.
I think that adobe is still needing professional workflow tools for larger teams, only my opinion, but I would at this time, seriously also look at AVID as they seem to be the choice of a lot of top flight editors in LA. There’s likely some good reasons for it. I’ve not played with it, so only assume they are doing a better job of workflow for the larger teams.
With either you can still you existing Apple hardware if needed, or shift to Windows. The jump to Windows 8 is a problem from what I’ve heard, but you can still demand and buy Windows 7 from the major players like HP and Dell. You need to go through their professional sales outlets, not the consumer shops.
Al
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Did you have a contract? If so, is there an out?
If not, can you demand a rework of the relationship based on radical scope explosion?
If not, be up front in saying that the project scope has radically changed since you accepted it, and you can’t afford to do the project on an agreed upon scope that no longer exists.
You might want to suggest someone else to take over. But no gaurantee that they will do it for the same price.
Or maybe you can explain you have run far over the anticipated project timeline and can no longer commit to the project due to other priorities.
Either way, your reputation with this client is likely hosed.
Protect yourself in the future with a contract that defines scope, time and pay. It can just be an email, but do it. Define what happens when significant changes gets made that are client driven. Walk away from clients who won’t agree to that.
For example, get a project plan up front that says that given a 3 to 5 minute film about x, you will define a script and expect to shoot 3 days and edit 5. If the client decdes to shoot for ten days, you have legitimate reasons to either demand more money, or walk away. If they decide to redo the editing and you run 10 days, either eat the loss, because you need the project more than the money, or demand the extra editing costs or bail. It all depends on your need for a relationship with the client, now and in the future. It’s standard project management stuff. Clients, like the government do it all the time. Not to exceed contracts protect them from you, no reason not to protect you from them.
Next time, perhaps take a project like this in phases. It gives you time to decide what to do if the concept is not fully thought through. At the end of phase one, you can rework based on known decisions made together.Good luck!
Al
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I had a similar problem at one point. It was my graphics card drivers. I updated the driver and the problem went away. It didn’t happen every time, but did occasionally happen. Now it doesn’t. Good luck!
Al
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You might want to investigate moving to CS6, as it’s been my experience that the multicam-editing has been improved in it. Not sure exactly your problems with it (I think I do) and it might help.
From your post, it appears that you want to do editing to the mcam sequence. Why not strip out the audio tracks first, after creating the sync points, then create the sequence, and add back in the audio tracks afterwards? I’ve not tried this, but it’s just an idea. It would then be no different than if you were using a totally separate set of audio recordings. You could export into Audition, and create the soundtrack, then import it back in.
Also, in moving to 6 I’ve seemingly lost many of my issues. I don’t have nearly as many problems. It’s still more complex than using some competing products, but it is very stable, and does a pretty good job. I’d like to see them re=engineer it at some point, as it’s still way too hard to do, as a workflow, IMHO.
Al
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Well Bill, I hadn’t but just did. I’m not really spending much time in the debate between them, as I’ve pretty much made my bed with Canon and stick with them. Just added the M to my collection.
The comparison you make, while interesting, is really hard to say anything about but that they both take equally nice footage. And this kind of comparison often has too many variables that can be off to make it much more than an interesting few minutes of break in my day. There are so many variables in the 5D Mkiii. I follow the advice of Philip Bloom on softening the image in camera, and then sharpening it ever so slightly on the edit. After spending a lot of time with the 7D, the 5DMkiii is a much better image. But then again, I’m adding better glass to it than the 7D.
The bottom line for me is that the high end camcorders seem to do a superb job of pulling it all together (speaking about xf30x and competitors), and the DSLRs are just a different tool for a different look. I try to be agnostic about tools, beyond using ones that make me look as good as I can for the budget.
My real work next is to spend next year fine tuning my colour grading skills. There is so much to learn there. There’s only so many cameras you can carry at once!
Al
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Yes, That makes sense. I tried looking up the specs on the xf305, and they don’t list anywhere the lines of resolution but mention that it resolves true 1920×1080, which is likely the same spec stated differently (?). And like the OP stated, the quality off the sensors, when enough light is available, is superb. Often it is better than anything I get, even with my new 5DMkiii. But the benefit of shooting DSLR with DOF and low light abilities, plus portability, puts the 5D in my hands far more than the 305. They are very different tools.
But the new 5D Mkiii images, for anything short of theatrical sized (Which I’ve not tried yet), is really wonderful. While I like the look of the GH2, I prefer the 5D with L series lenses. It has a very unique look that I don’t get with the xf305 or have seen on a GH2 without some kind of color manipulation.
Al
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SS: is there a list anywhere you’ve seen of cameras that resolve 1080 lines? I’m thinking about xf305, c100, and c300 for example.
Al
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Very nice work! I agree that it’s unlikely to make much money, given that most smaller playhouses are poor.might be a fun way to build a portfolio and find good actors, which might lead to some work for their portfolios.
I recently did one as well. Very different approach though. It was needed in a couple of days.
https://vimeo.com/51802271Al
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Right you are. It’s an industrial facility, so there were background noises. Especially pumps. That’s why close mic’ed.
Al
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Maybe continue to shoot stills with your nikon, and checkout the Panasonic tm90x series. A great camcorder with ext headphone and mic jack. Manual focusing if desired. You can buy a quality wide angle lens adapter from schneider, It takes ok stills. Low light is just ok, but this buys you a highly portable camera capable of running for hours with no fuss. I use mine as a b cam on occassion. DOF is standard cam corder. Nonexistant except at telephoto. There is at great forum for them on a competing board.
You might need to upgrade Adobe,as i am unsure of it’s ability to handle modern hd codecs. Which then calls into question your Mac. Just sayin.
Nothing wrong with GH2, or newer Nikons, if you go that way,peter’s thoughts are on the money, though.
Al