[Bob Bonniol]

“yeah, it’s prolly somtimes best to say “perfect! rockin on!”

Yeah… How often does THAT happen with the client (or their minions) in the room though Grin ? I never seem to get away with first takes no matter how good.

Happy Holidays all you Bovines…

Bob Bonniol

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
Art of the Edit Forum Leader
Live & Stage Event Forum Leader
HD Forum Leader

[Bob Bonniol]

Well, if you are talking about a shooting stage they are generally black (to cut down on uncontrolled light and reflection), when they are treated at all. Many sound stages are fairly generic, come-as-they-are big warehouse type spaces. More established ones tend to be finish out more. In those cases ceilings tend to be black.

If you are talking about an editing room, they vary according to taste. We have ours painted dark to cut down on ambient light glare on the monitors. There are varying, strong opinions about edit suite paint schemes and how they affect the subjective judgement of color balance and luminance values.

Cheers,
Bob Bonniol

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
Art of the Edit Forum Leader
Live & Stage Event Forum Leader
HD Forum Leader

[Bob Bonniol]

There are some other products that can do this, but I have to tell you, the Magenta Systems stuff is the BEST way to go. We’ve used all of the other products out there (KVM, Extron, Alcorn), and to put it absolutely bluntly: If you want to be endlessly trouble shooting, and don’t mind rampant noise, signal degradation, artifacting, and scan rate issues, then go with something other than Magenta.

If, on the other hand, you want to just plug it in, have it work, and have it look absolutely terrific, then buy Magenta.

This from the experience of running distributed video in more stadiums, arenas, and concert halls than I can count.

GO MAGENTA.

Did I come across a bit strong there ? Sorry…

Best,
Bob Bonniol

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
Art of the Edit Forum Leader
Live & Stage Event Forum Leader
HD Forum Leader

[Bob Bonniol]

Have you considered a move to the client side ? If we think about the kind of clients that video postproduction has, it’s pretty varied, and there is a need on that side for expertise.

If you also have a knack for writing copy or conceiving good production ideas, you might consider mutating into a producer, copy editor, or other ad agency function. You experience in production might count for a bun ch in that world.

The world of corporate communications and marketing leaps out too… Most of the majors, and plenty of the minors are trying to expand on ‘experiential’ branding… This is manifesting in big video installs in retail, trade show stuff, etc… SO looking at the marketing levels in local companies might pay off, OR looking into positions with companies that produce or serve as outsource for corporate meeting and communication production might serve.

Architecture is another field that is increasingly using video technologies. This is two fold. On the pitch and design side, architectural firms are trying to win clients and sell ideas by producing slick previsual videos. On the actual build side (and tieing into the comments above), more and more buildings are utilizing video technologies as decorative details, or as informational sources. Architecture firms are driving alot of this business, and many are taking on internal production departments.

There’s more client side out there…

Good Luck,
Bob

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
Art of the Edit Forum Leader
Live & Stage Event Forum Leader
HD Forum Leader

[Bob Bonniol]

Not an owner, but a power user of Barco iLite, DLite, etc, and curious about the B-10… We are looking at deploying two on a tour design… Do you have any feedback ?

Very Best,

Bob Bonniol

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
Art of the Edit Forum Leader
Live & Stage Event Forum Leader
HD Forum Leader

[Bob Bonniol]

I feel pretty confident for you that it is a standard 16:9 monitor. Anybody that would invest the money to do truly custom arrangements of LED is going to be advised by the installing company regarding the people and companies that are expert in formatting media for it, and will be strongly advised to use those companies. I mean it as no insult at all ! Monitors like that are heinously expensive, so people tend to gravitate to known experts…

But the 16:9 monitors on there side are becoming very common in retail, and there’s no real secret to making content for them, other than the usual secrets of skill, artistry, and technical knowledge.

Good luck, and have fun. It’s a blast when you make things in unusual shapes.

Cheers,
Bob

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
Art of the Edit Forum Leader
Live & Stage Event Forum Leader
HD Forum Leader

[Bob Bonniol]

Auguste,

You might tackle this from an art solution standpoint. What if the content designed for the multiple monitors (and say, played off DVD), were envisioned and created so that sync isn’t totally necessary ? i.e. perhaps you could have 4 or 5 signals that are complementary and whose interaction seems interesting and tied together, but it’s not neccessary for them to be any closer than within a minute or so ? In low budge circumstances I’ve had some good luck in getting DVD players to all go within several seconds of each other… Hell, I’ve had them all go pretty much simultaneously, but it was just a happy accident…

If the content were just crossfading stills you could do it off one computer with Keynote, or as we previously discussed you might use QC. It’s just the 5 full frame movies that’s killing you a bit. Can you compose this thing so that it’s a bit of stills, a bit of motion, etc, so that it is runnable via QC or a presentation program like Powerpoint or Keynote ?

Just trying to think outside your particular ‘box’…

Good Luck,
Bob

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
Art of the Edit Forum Leader
Live & Stage Event Forum Leader
HD Forum Leader

[Bob Bonniol]

Thomas,

LOL, LOL, LOL… I LOVE the comment about keeping the client impressed with the interface ! You are right at so many levels… And oh so wrong at all the ‘wickedest’ ! I’m with you man. Clients start thinking it all comes from some magical simple place.

No doubt that Wings has a much slicker looking interface, with more bells and whistles.

Cheers,
Bob

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
Art of the Edit Forum Leader
Live & Stage Event Forum Leader
HD Forum Leader

[Bob Bonniol]

Arson, have you ever used Mokey, Motor, or Monet ?

It is not a simple app. It is NOT an app that I would ever recommend to someone who hasn’t roto’d before. It’s extraordinary cost aside, the complexities of actually using Mokey/Motor/Monet are not inconsiderable. It is very powerful software, and like alot of very powerful software it’s learning curve to use it correctly can be steep, and it can be a finicky beast. We have used Mokey extensively on high profile projects. I can personally recommend it, and I think those guys at Imagineer System are very attentive, helpful, and ready to assist, but it is not easy. It is not necessarily fast. Roto takes patience, and pass after pass to get perfect no matter what the application.

So if you have an extra $8k to $15k by all means check it out. You may also want to look into the very flexible roto-splines and tracking available in Shake, as well as checking out the very powerful Silouette Roto (which is also quite cheap comparatively).

Roto is one of those things that when you get involved with it, and begin to calculate your hours in, you find you might very well have saved money by hiring a company that does it all the time.

My .02

Best,
Bob Bonniol

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
Art of the Edit Forum Leader
Live & Stage Event Forum Leader
HD Forum Leader

[Bob Bonniol]

Are you making media for those monitors ?

At the point where you are talking about formatting for custom arranged and arrayed Barco iLite tiles, you are unfortunately, working in a sphere of knowledge that makes my company competitive in the market. Generally you have to hire us to find that out.

Let’s just say it’s a good deal more difficult than what we have been discussing. And we haven’t even talked about the encoding stage or the show control/device control programming aspect.

Don’t mean to be sour grapes. If you are working for that client (LV), you will have to contact the end client or the system integrator to see if they will give you a spec.

Best,
Bob Bonniol

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
Art of the Edit Forum Leader
Live & Stage Event Forum Leader
HD Forum Leader