[Chris Demi]

Hi Walter,

Firstly, congratulations and best of luck with the new facility build! I especially like the addition of 1/2 court b-ball. Secondly, nice work on the Foul Water trailer. Coincidently, I met Jimmy Carter during his decent (my ascent) of Mt Kilimanjaro in 1988.
==

Thanks for expert guidance here… and let me be clear about my situation.
I am not to be “the” editor or storyteller – I am the documentarian-exec producer.

The creative storytelling and editing is best left to pros, and NOT best use of my talents. Therefore, my task is foundational (quality capture, log, and EDL mostly) and preliminary to the work of expert storytellers. I want to be sure my naivety does not handcuff future production value/flexibility.

Because mine is likely a one-time use, I have been advised by a local consultant (perhaps erroneously) to purchase the equipment I’ve listed. Budget plays a part. Also, an Apple FCP cust. service rep. advised that FCE would be fine… go figure!?

Regardless, if this system won’t suffice, then I have a problem. Hardware arrived 2 weeks ago and I’m in process of set-up and software decision for capture, log, & EDL now.

My goal is to complete “first pass” rough-cut to reduce hrs of footage to be transferred to pro editors:
1. initially to create a promo piece for sponsors/investors
2. depending upon funding and/or timing, I may post some interviews and “backstory” footage online (not my preference).
3. I’m also anticipating online streaming of new “live” interviews/TV and on-demand feeds
(investigating Telestream – Wirecast w/Wowza “Unified Streaming for iPhone, Web and TV”) https://www.telestream.net/pdfs/whitepapers/wp-Telestream-Wowza.pdf

Some background will help:
I am an entrepreneur turned social entrepreneur (on a mission). Insights 15 yrs ago prompted complete transparency as a means to build brand trust and credibility necessary to fulfill the vision. Video a key component for educational and entertaining engagement. I’ve chronicled the journey, and expert interviews, with attention to sound quality and competency with visuals (framing/light). Content always outpaced budget/technology/production value. We intend this will change within next 4-6 months.

– Shall I send these computers back to Apple, or can my set-up work?
– I must keep it as simple as possible, not too deep in tech, etc… as such, purchasing another 4GB ram, Kona LHi, ProRes, etc scares me for this one-time use. Plus, I do not currently have the budget for all of these.
– Will the camera/player/deck I use affect capture quality?

Forever grateful,
Christopher

[walter biscardi] “Mac Pro with 8GB RAM is your minimum machine you should have purchased with this much material to handle. You should also have a Kona LHi in there to assist with ProRes capture. ProRes will yield a cleaner final product over DV and that will give you better quality compressed video for the web.

Software should be Final Cut Pro.

Capture to ProRes via the Kona board or one of the Matrox products.

No need wasting time with any other software / workflows. you do NOT want to capture in FCE as you are limited in your codecs. “