[Tim Wilson]

Thanks for the heads up! I totally missed it – something about ignoring anything with my name on it, I think. 🙂

Here ya go.

[Tim Wilson]

Great to meet you, Dailey! I’m not even going to complain about the lighting. (That place really was incredibly dim, wasn’t it???)

I AM going to complain that you didn’t post this at reels.creativecow.net. 🙂 So listen up you kids, if you have a video to post, post it here!

Thanks for the clip, though, and a pleasure to meet….

Best,
Tim

Tim Wilson
Associate Publisher, Editor-in-Chief
Creative COW Magazine

My Blog: “Is this thing on? Oh it’s on!”

Don’t forget to rate your favorite posts!

[Tim Wilson]

I remember that the comedian Dave Barry said that they oughta have a dumpster outside the door of every electronics store. On the way out the door, you can just throw your brand new computer in the dumpster – it’s already obsolete, and this will save you the trouble of loading it in your car and unpacking when you get home, before you throw it out anyhow.

Now maybe somebody will have something actually HELPFUL to say. 🙂

[Tim Wilson]

[eric pautsch] “I imagine %95 of the seasoned editors on the Cow would be able to do this gig easily”

I agree! I was also struck by the fact that they’re only looking for an associate’s degree – that’s a 2-year degree at any community college. Not even an expensive trade school.

The only “adjacent” software besides Camtasia et al that isn’t a core part of Final Cut Studio, the Adobe Production Suite, Sony Vegas, Avid Media Composer, etc. is Adobe Captivate, a drag and drop tool for creating Flash-based ePresentations. In other words, PowerPoint made of Flash.

Frankly, it’s a great tool for creating animations that explain things in your video. A lot easier than learning Illustrator and After Effects.

You have the editing/DVD software. You can use the free PPT equivalent in Open Office to learn – intentionally similar to to the MSFT Office original. There’s plenty of free or inexpensive screen capture software that isn’t Camtasia…although that one’s best. Captivate has a free 30-day trial that, along with a tutorial or two, will be enough to get started.

Here’s the thing. You don’t need 100% knowledge of all of this at once. Show some skills in areas that are critical to the position. Show that you’re a fast study. As Bob Zelin has shown again and again, you CAN learn on the job. You HAVE to learn on the job.

Not to pick on John, who started this thread, or anyone else who is disturbed by the job posting, the days of Final Cut and After Effects being enough to land a job are way, way over. Not that those are easy programs to master – but after that, all of this other stuff is walk in the park.

[Rick Turners] “Whenever I see a company that wants someone to use LiveType for anything, I get up and kindly walk away.”

I would consider this an opportunity to blow them away with your superior skills and industry knowledge.

Part of every employee’s job is to manage their boss’s expectations, and to teach them things that they don’t know. There’s actually a name for this in business circles, “managing up.” There’s absolutely no way you can survive long term if you can’t do this, regardless of your field.

The concept of “managing up” is based in the reality that, as the new guy, your knowledge is fresher. In this field, it also means that it’s your actual job to teach bosses about the right tool for the job. You’re the one doing the job, something that the boss may never have done, or may not have done for years.

This too is well-understood in business circles. Bosses actually LOOK for this in employees, because you can help your boss look good in front of HIS boss – and every boss likes looking good.

If you only consider working for knowledgeable bosses/clients, get out of this industry now. You are doomed. If you’re working for such a person now, pray that you keep that job forever.

All kidding aside, it comes back to the same thing we speak about again and again here – if all you have are production skills, forget it. You’ll be stuck with monkey work forever, if you’re even lucky enough to get that. Among many other things, you NEED management skills, if for nothing else, to manage up.

[Tim Wilson]

[Bob Zelin] “Perfect post. 2010 post of the year.”

Agreed entirely. Be sure to rate the post – I did with both “Like” and a green checkmark for “Solution.”

Kids, be sure to rate EVERY post you like. This is how to direct other people to the very best stuff.

Like this.

Tim Wilson
Associate Publisher, Editor-in-Chief
Creative COW Magazine

My Blog: “Is this thing on? Oh it’s on!”

Don’t forget to rate your favorite posts!

[Tim Wilson]

[Mark Raudonis] “I think Mr. Zelin may be a bit harsh on the “tech schools” and the kind of students they turn out. My personal experience with graduates from a famous institution in Mr. Zelin’s backyard has been VERY POSITIVE”

I was going to say the same thing. The advantage of these schools is that their programs are VERY job-oriented, complete with internships and placements. These programs are not the problem. Nor are focused programs like those at AFI, which are primarily graduate-level, and which require a significantly challenging application process. No wannabes getting in here.

The more interesting challenge is traditional liberal arts schools. I worked with a number of these in another job, and several of them were quite blunt: they built media programs and facilities to meet the demand of their prospective students. With so many students wanting this kind of education, schools haven’t had the option of NOT meeting those demands.

Not that you can blame them. They have a product to sell. Their customers are telling them what they want. And it’s not like there’s any downward pricing pressure from these customers. If the money truck wants to back up to your door, you’ll build a loading dock if you have to.

And not that they’re the problem. I graduated from a traditional liberal arts school, with all of THREE WEEKS of production training, yet managed to make a fine living in the field, because of all the OTHER stuff I learned. (BTW, there are other folks here at the COW who graduated from the same school at the same time I did. One I can think of got a degree in anthropology, yet has been a very, very high-profile producer in his area for a very long time.)

So what’s the problem? Kids who show up expecting something for nothing. Cheap software. Cheap cameras. Cheap computers.

Our inability to adapt.

Education…good!

[Tim Wilson]

Mileage will vary of course, but we use YSI quite a bit, and find it to download rather significantly faster than FTP. Certainly easier to manage for folks on the other end of what you send. They click a secure link in an email, and save the file wherever they want to.

Not that you won’t have to get them on the phone and walk them through figuring out where they saved the dang file.

The 2GB limit can be a pain for sure, but boy howdy, is it easy to use.

[Tim Wilson]

I beg to differ.

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/17/871302

Re: Following up re: digital delivery
by Bob Zelin on Aug 4, 2010 at 12:53:35 pm

Hey, are we starting a NEW FORUM for digital delivery ?

Bob Zelin

I simply agreed. 🙂

Tim Wilson
Associate Publisher, Editor-in-Chief
Creative COW Magazine

My Blog: “Is this thing on? Oh it’s on!”

Don’t forget to rate your favorite posts!

[Tim Wilson]

We’re definitely up for it. I started with this forum since I’d seen the issue come up before, but I’m still trying to evaluate the extent to which it might be more than something that warrants some juicy threads now and again.

I’m also hopeful that, as I start putting together some of these discussions into an overview article, it will get the conversation rolling even more. Goodness knows, we agree that this is among the big issues that’s coming, and very much worthy of the spotlight.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear more about the formats you guys are delivering for distribution. It sounds like ProRes is coming on stronger, but it sounds like there’s a lot more as well.

To restate an earlier question about MediaBatch, what software are you using to prepare your files – Compressor? Sorenson? Direct output from the NLE?

And of course, happy to hear any more about the specifics of your experiences with any vendors.

I know that that’s a lot of questions to kick around, but guys, this is really, really helping.

Tim

Tim Wilson
Associate Publisher, Editor-in-Chief
Creative COW Magazine

My Blog: “Is this thing on? Oh it’s on!”

Don’t forget to rate your favorite posts!

[Tim Wilson]

[Alex Elkins] “I’m in the UK”

Nice! Thanks! I was hoping for some folks outside the US to chime in on this.

Not that the US contingent should be done just yet. 🙂 I simply mean to say that I’m actively soliciting input from the entire world…

Thanks again,
Tim

Tim Wilson
Associate Publisher, Editor-in-Chief
Creative COW Magazine

My Blog: “Is this thing on? Oh it’s on!”

Don’t forget to rate your favorite posts!