[Bob Cole]

[Timothy Kurkoski] “Use small amounts of blurring”

Right, and if you have access to Directional Blur, use it in the vertical direction.

btw — does anyone know whether this is a problem with HDTV?

— BC

[Bob Cole]

There is a post on the FCP forum here which raises an issue which is probably better handled by youse guys (and gals).

The question: how come my audio mix which sounds great on my system is not so great on my customers’ home DVD/tv setups? The music drowns out the dialog, for example.

One answer was a particular set of headphones, but is there a set of speakers which would “represent” the typical household audio setup?

— BC

[Bob Cole]

excellent point about downtime, debe. One of the only things I don’t like about this business is the fear that a mechanical problem will cause me to miss a tight deadline. But the only solution to that is probably a backup system, which is not actually such a bad idea. Even AppleCare with a local store would take too long in many cases.

Another thing to consider is: how good is the AppleCare in your specific locality? I will try to find out if there is a local FCP users group and find out what they say.

Thanks, as always, to everybody who gave me such good advice — a great group here. I’m hoping that MacExpo will include the announcement of a big price drop… on the quad…. (I know, dream on.)

— BC

[Bob Cole]

Looking at Apple’s refurbs — is buying the AppleCare plan ($249) worth it?

It covers the hardware and the consumer software, but not, I imagine, FCP support.

[Bob Cole]

I’ve heard that “after” the annual Mac show (coming up soon) you can get better deals on Macs because new models are introduced. I’m not so sure that this will be true this year due to the mid-year Intel switchover.

True? If so, how long after?

— BC

[Bob Cole]

Thanks for the info. I appreciate your explaining the advice as well as giving it.

[Jeff Carpenter] “Think about upgrading the video card a bit if you think you’ll ever use Motion or you have a large monitor.”

I’ll probably be using the Dell 2405.

— BC

[Bob Cole]

Sonic eDVD4

[Bob Cole]

He may sound alarmist, but shooter’s absolutely right, esp. about SA. (I’ve never been, but a friend who shot there had to hand over every dollar he had to the authorities, in order to get out with equipment and film.) I even had trouble getting into Scotland, where they specifically asked about the work angle, which hadn’t even occurred to me. When I told them the nature of the project (low-budget historical doc) and that I was hiring a Scottish assistant, that seemed to help. But I was naive to think I could just sashay in with my four cases of gear.

I would really like to learn more about this from other U.S. citizens who’ve traveled and shot abroad. I imagine it varies tremendously from place to place. But once you’re in the Eurozone, there doesn’t seem to be any border control at all.

otoh… it’s great shooting in a new place.

— BC

[Bob Cole]

[debe] “A bad editor (or one not allowed to edit, just made to push buttons…) can make a decent script and well-shot film utter trash!”

Debe, of course you’re right, and there are bound to be some films where the bad editing is obvious. But in most cases, how can you tell whether it was bad editing, or bad material?

conversely…

Haven’t you ever had a project that you saved by using every last shred of decent material? And afterwards, if you did your job right, probably nobody noticed that you had done a brilliant edit.

[Bob Cole]

Thanks Jean. Please send to Bob at rcole dot com. I really appreciate it and am looking forward to finding out the answer.

— BC