Tim Wilson
3
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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[Dave LaRonde] “[TImothy Auld] “How much do they owe to what they are now to Final Cut Pro?”
Does this implied calculation include iPods, iPhones, iPads and Macbooks or exclude them?”
Bingo.
[Chris Kenny] “Which is worth commenting on, in the context of the “Apple is abandoning pros” meme….”
The first time we heard the “abandoning pros” meme here at the COW was around 2002, when we heard “Apple cares more about iPods than Mac Pros,” because it was already becoming clear that this was going to make Apple more money than computers possibly could. In these days of iDevices out the wazoo, the fear struck in the hearts of creative pros by iPods seems almost quaint.
The meme resurfaced again when Apple dropped Computer from their name, which by that time, was both redundant and irrelevant anyway.
But it certainly speaks to what I think is partly implied in the thread title…or at least in some of the replies…which is, hey, we had something to do with Apple’s growth since then, so why abandon us after all these years?
I don’t see it that way at all. Apple has made products and technologies that pros like enough to build our businesses on — I owned a Mac-only video production company for a dozen years — but we should consider those “collateral benefits.” Satisfying our needs was never exactly the point.
That is, I doubt that Apple has made choices based on market needs, as much as the opportunities a market represents for Apple.
Market needs might provide some guidance, but by and large, Apple doesn’t respond to markets. Apple moves as it will, and expects markets to respond favorably.
Good for Apple. I don’t mean this to sound cynical on my part or Apple’s part in any way. We should all be so successful with our goals.
So no, I see no evidence that we’ve played a meaningful role in Apple’s growth since 1999, except to the extent that we have paid Apple to do things Apple’s way.
Standard disclaimers and disclosures: Every company in this market whose name starts with the letter A, including Anthro, ARRI and ASSIMILIATE, has spent a lot of money advertising with Creative COW. I speak for myself and the voices in my head only.
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To go down the “motivator” road…
[Dustin Parsons] “I wish I had kept up with 3D modeling and animation…”
Which got hit harder, faster, and longer ago. You don’t even need to know about video formats, cameras, or media management to do that stuff. Here’s my QuickTime movie or TGA or TIFF sequence, rendered to my desktop. The end.
But you make an outstanding point that’s worth coming back to again and again: shooting and editing skills are not enough. There’s too much downward pressure on prices, especially on freelancers, and currently unemployed children don’t need as much money as you do. Diversifying skillsets is critical.
We regularly talk about this in the Business & Marketing forum, which you all should check out if you haven’t. The fact is that post is growing again, really fast, but maybe not in the ways that you expect.
One recent example, a job at FotoKem in the COW jobs forum now, looking for someone with DI experience AND who can help them whip “storage backup and recovery for a multi-OS, multi-terabyte, high-availability NAS/SAN/local storage and computer infrastructure” into shape.
That might sound so technical that it’s out of this business, but once you translate, it’s basically looking for somebody who knows their way around multi-platform shared storage. You’ve maybe been doing that for FREE already. Sharpen up and get paid for something an awful lot like what you’re already doing, while working for one of the world’s most respected houses, because you’ve built something valuable on top of your software skills.
Here’s another one I really like from the COW jobs forum, from Whiskey Tree: yeah, they want years of software experience or school experience, actually favoring work experience OVER school, but also:
 Minimum 3 years of studio or vendor VFX producing experience on major feature film projects
 Equivalent work experience or bachelor’s degree in film, communications, or similar discipline
 Sublime written and verbal communication skills
 Fluent grasp of mathematics and their application to managing projects and personnel
 Outstanding project management skills
 Solid and successful experience leading production teams
 Ability to maintain and encourage calm under pressure
 Thorough knowledge of VFX pipelines, techniques, and disciplines
 Robust experience in MS Office; particular familiarity with ExcelI know that major feature film experience doesn’t apply to all that many people, but look at the rest. To get a job like this, you need people skills, writing, math, using spreadsheets for time and project management, and being able to keep your sh^t together under fire. That’s true for a job like this in Tampa or Tonopah too. It’s exactly the stuff we say SHOULD make a difference when being considered for a job. Nothing from a box or an app is going to let a kid get ahead of you, even if they have a better education. They don’t have a prayer.
(Here’s the sad part to me: for I don’t know how many people – a million? more? – $299 is a step UP in price for the FCP they were ripping off. Being sold through the app store might do more than anything else to cull the FCP herd to people who are “serious” about this “business.” Ahem.)
Again, I’m not saying that any job I’ve mentioned here is for you. I’m making a broader point about skills. It’s good news that facilities (salaries! benefits!) are among the places doing the most hiring right now. It’s good news that no kid is qualified for the best jobs.
Which is why the key to one’s next step up the ladder is almost certainly not in software chops alone. Hopefully getting a software slap upside the head will inspire you to look in a more fruitful direction.
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[Craig Seeman] “[Jeff Bernstein] “Similarly, I am investigating the possibility of purchasing the Brooklyn Bridge.”
To build an Apple Retail Store on site of course.”
I happen to be the seller of this very bridge, and can offer you very special pricing.
Please note:
The Brooklyn Bridge now connects Manhattan to Queens rather than Brooklyn.
While it does not any longer allow gas-powered automobiles, there are electrical outlets at 100-meter intervals. Don’t know what a meter is? Keep moving, jacka**.
It has also been resurfaced with an impact-resistant sheet of glass. We recognize that some people will find it difficult to drive or walk on, but it doesn’t need to be repaved, and just looking at it, you’ll feel much better about how you yourself look.
Craig, there is no Apple store on the bridge. That could be hazardous. Instead, there is built-in, end-to-end wireless so that you can use Face Time while you drive. On a sheet of glass. To Queens. In an electric car.
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“This will make a great reel piece” tells you how much you’d be getting paid…but you knew that already….
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Putting the “zen” in “Zelin” – can you steal a product that doesn’t exist?
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[Dennis Radeke] “I agree Tim – this should be a hit with users all over. I spoke to Blackmagic about the details and for a ‘free’ product, it should be downright amazing.”
Not that Adobe couldn’t create a marvelous standalone color grading application if that was on the agenda. 🙂
It’s just my opinion that Apple Color is most emphatically not it.
I also suspect that buying it and trying to turn it into something that meets contemporary standards would cause more trouble, and make vastly less money, than it would be worth — even for a company like Adobe that has made a couple of clever acquisitions this century….
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[Owen Wexler] “high-end color grading will be available once again at the entry level”
You already have that with DaVinci Resolve Lite. It’s free. It’s “limited” to 1920×1080 (which is what Cameron shot Avatar at) and “only” one Red Rocket card….but if you need much more than that, you’re not entry level, and the full version of Resolve is still only $995. A better choice than Adobe taking over Color (no disrespect intended) in every way.
Disclosure: Blackmagic advertises here. Adobe advertises here. The COW has sold a lot of Color training. We have forums for both, and love our members who use every product they choose. I’m speaking only for myself…but I’m just saying.
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[Rick Lang] “I have no knowledge of Apple’s roadmap other than the speculation in the public domain.
“Nobody does. 🙂 Based on the events and non-events of the past few weeks, we can assume that few of Apple’s partners do either….
I assume that FCPX will be on iPad as soon as humanly possible, pedal to the metal, but money talks. The quarter ending in March (Apple’s FY Q2) is traditionally kinda pokey, but it was actually Apple’s biggest Q2 for Mac sales in history, up 28% from the year before.
That includes iMacs and the various flavors of MacBooks of course, but compare to iPad unit sales of a little over 4 million. More than Macs, yes, but not crazily so — and in fact under Wall St. expectations of 6 million — and with a much lower ASP, and, I’m guessing, margin.
Apple said in their Q2 call that they believe iPad to be having a halo effect on Mac sales…well, iMacs anyway…so if iPad sales are *driving* Mac sales, and not cannibalizing them, then why on earth would Apple consider dropping Macs? That’s not just leaving money on the table. That’s throwing money OFF the table.
In the new tradition of disclosures here at Creative COW, in addition to the usual disclaimer that I am speaking only for myself, I disclose the following: not only do I have zero inside information, I have based everything I have said in this post on the assumption that Apple means what it says in public. Insert your own punchline here.
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[Brendan Gibbons] “It seems you misspelt colour as well ;)”
Even worse, you misspelled “mispelled!”
🙂
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Me too. We’ve really been scratching our heads about how to deal with so much great content going up, and getting buried in the amount of traffic we’re getting. Traffic is good. Losing wonderful stuff, not so much.
While we’re ruminating….cows being ruminants and all….feel free to toss out some ideas.
One thing I’ll note for now — people with tutorials: stop posting on YouTube and Vimeo. We’ll pay you for this stuff, so get in touch.
Thanks,
Yr. pal Timmy from Creative COW