Clint Wardlow
Forum Replies Created
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[Mark Suszko] “How well does a water-cooled camera’s plumbing stand up to travel in unpressurized aircraft cargo sections, and shooting at extreme altitudes, or in the cold?”
I think if the cooling system breaks, it exposes the core and causes a chain reaction. Everything with-in 40 miles of your camera is rendered unlivable for 1,000 years.
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[Bill Davis] “For all the talk about how Apple is a hardware firm that gives short shrift to software, the history of their biggest successes – from iTunes to the iPhone to yes, FCP-X – is one of working exceptionally hard to do the best work they can in BOTH realms.”
I wasn’t saying Apple necessarily gives the “short shrift” to its software. I was mainly bringing up the hardware point as reason why I don’t think Apple will move over to a subscription model. Because it doesn’t have to. Hardware is what brings in the majority of its cash. In a way this could work to the advantage of software development because said software does not have to meet the profit margin of a software-only company. It is subsidized by hardware sales. In a way it gives software developers more freedom in taking big risky steps.
I am curious, Bill. Do you think Apple would have handed Final Cut such a massive overhaul and change for FCP X if that software was its main source of income?
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[Craig Alan] “If the above is correct, I suspect that Apple is transitioning into a subscription model.”
It is just my opinion, but I don’t see Apple moving to subscription, mainly because they don’t have to.
Software is ancillary to Apple. Hardware is what they do and where they make money. Apple created software is mainly just to aid in the sales of this hardware. And I Bet they are more than willing to maintain a low profit margin in software sales and development as long as it boosts imac, macmini, macbook, and macpro sales.
For Adobe, on the other hand, software is their bread and butter. The maturity of many of their best-selling apps did hurt their bottom line. Folks just weren’t keeping up with all the updates. Subscription guarantees a steady cash flow.
Subscription for apple could hurt their bottom line if it adversely affects hardware sales. So I could be wrong here, but I don’t really see Apple embracing that model.
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[Bob Zelin] “One thing for sure (except for the elite feature market) – today, you have to know EVERYTHING to be able to have value to a company. The days of “Im just an editor, I don’t do – audio – graphics – encoding – streaming – delivery – etc.” are over.”
And not just in the editing world. I have a still photographer friend who was complaining that he had to learn video because his clients (lots of wedding stuff) are now expecting it.
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[Andrew Kimery] “The producers and distributors are making money, the cast and crew? Not so much. A few of my friends have worked on films for production companies that specialize in direct-to-video horribleness and it’s pretty much a meat grinder. You work on two or three as a young buck to pad your resume and then hopefully find a a gig that pays real money.”
You are right about Troll 2. It was shot in Utah in the 1990s with Italian money. I have some friends that crewed on that puppy. They got paid their meager rate and went onto better things (some inside and some outside the film industry).
Troll 2 really doesn’t count in what Gary and I were discussing. It was shot with a professional crew that did get paid. I’m sure the crew and actors of the Blue Mountain movie probably didn’t see a dime. I guess it was sort of disingenuous of me to site it.
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[Gary Huff] “Given that production is my day job, I can’t be interested in niche so much.”
Nor should you. And despite the glut of digital media by micro-budget guys with cheap equipment and marginal skills, I don’t think your job is going away anytime soon. There will always be a need for professional production.
Little upstart guys like me and The Blue Mountain guy will never crack that nut.
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[Gary Huff] “And catering to you isn’t exactly a big enough market to keep yourself from having to have a day job.
Given that production is my day job, I can’t be interested in niche so much.”
Well somebody is making money off that niche. Both Troll 2 and the documentary about that film did quite well a few years ago. Also outlets like The Alamo Drafthouse and Grindhouse releasing don’t seem to be hurting much on profit making side of things.
As to my day job. Well, that was a conscious decision not to tie myself into something as volatile as the film industry in Utah. I worked as a grip and boom operator back in the 1990s and hated the feast or famine nature of getting jobs. My partner and friend stuck with it and works as scenic. Right now he is sweating the load because it has been several months since his last job.
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[Gary Huff] “And some people enjoyed the Lone Ranger. Not everything can be a great movie, but there is a problem with acting like this, or Transformers, or Battleship or whatever isn’t any better than, say, The Devil of Blue Mountain. And that’s not the case.
There are people who would lump Pacific Rim in with those as well, but, well, we have an example of someone who actually went out and purchased the Blu-ray of it because of how much they enjoyed it.”
Hey, I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t folks that would be willing to pay cash for a Devil of Blue Mountain Blu-Ray. Something Weird video built its success on folks purchasing movies by guys like Hershal Gordon Lewis or Andy Milligan. Are those films any less technically inept?
I would say the only difference is that even the most bargain basement guys like Andy Milligan had to come up with $10,000 or more to make their sleazy little flicks (in 1960s dollars). Currently the entry fee to make a crapola movie is much less, so the market is glutted.
Also, and it may be a niche market, there are folks that would rather watch a video oddity like Devil of Blue Mountain than the next overblown Transformers flick. I am kind of in that crowd myself. Esthetically, I enjoy a movie like Troll 2 that wears its shortcoming on its sleeve much more than some polished hollywood-produced crap fest. But that’s just me.
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That is the big downside of the digital revolution — any idiot with a camera can make a movie.
However, is it any worse than a Hollywood Studio spending $215 million for a souless, made-by-committee flick like The Lone Ranger?
I guess at least the Lone Ranger employed a lot of people.
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Been shooting a project the past year that uses an old Super8 camera, old VHS camera, an old Sony HDV camera, and a new Sony Nex. With all these formats my biggest bottleneck is just getting the footage off the cameras and onto the computer. And sadly, I don’t think it is going away.