David Johnson
Forum Replies Created
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Re: off-topic
by Alex Udell on Aug 18, 2010 at 9:45:30 amDavid…
Nice to know that there are some out there that share my thoughts on the industry. I think in the current climate there are a lot of people who think it….but may not be willing to discuss it openly, at least not right now.
Gosh….I did give a lot of edit* training, and I do live in FL. So it might have been me.
Funny, a couple of years ago, I helped out a legacy client/friend get his edit* system running after a drive failure. Muscle memory being what it is, I mused at how fast I was able to sit down at the box and edit without even having to think about it.
Hands down….a feature I miss so much is to simply be able to select the source viewer empty and just type a timecode. Edit* would just load the fist clip that matched that timecode into the viewer and park you on the frame. If there was more than one match you could quickly cycle through them all, until you were on the right clip.
Of course this was the tape era…so in productions consisting of multiple tape shoots, good videographers would increment the hour number on the reel, making it easy to identify the right clip.
Things get a little more cumbersome in the file based world we are in. I find we seem to collect a lot of automated metadata….but people seem to have less time to do it in a disciplined setup to make it useful for post….plus the fact that the whole post process from offline to finish is lumped into one blurry continuous cycle now. Maybe ipads and iphones wirelessly connected to our cameras will make this more convenient to set up and track in while in production…..one can only hope, eh?
Well…..waaaaaaayyyyy off topic here so…why don’t we continue this chat in in a fresh thread. 🙂
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off-topic
by David Johnson on Aug 17, 2010 at 8:32:01 pmAlex,
I just stumbled upon this string long after it occurred, but after reading through it, still felt compelled to tell you two things …
Edit* was the first NLE I really worked on (after brief Avid stints) and I still consider it the best. As someone else mentioned, to this day, it’s sometimes a struggle to get FCP to do things edit* did easily (or Speed Razor for that matter). By the way, for all I know/recall, it may even have been you who gave me and a couple others our introductory crash course on edit* at TV16 in Tampa.
That said, the main thing I wanted to mention is actually how much your “tangent” struck a chord. In my opinion, it really indicates keen observation of the state of our industry, rather than just a tangent. I often think to myself literally everything you said … in almost the exact same terms. From the effects of “making not much more than I made when I left college almost 20 years ago” on “those that use the craft … as a survival mechanism” due to being forced to “do as much, as quickly as possible” while only “as an aside, if you can….making the content good would be a plus” … all the way through to the primary cause being the elimination of all “barrier[s] of entry”. Even the “You want fries with that?” is a phrase I use regularly to amuse myself and retain some semblance of sanity in dealing with the cumulative effects of those issues.
It bothers me that I so often think the way I do about the craft I was once so passionate about, but it’s also refreshing to hear others express similar thoughts. In other words, thanks so much for sharing your “tangent”. Cheers!
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David Johnson
Note that I’ve only copied over the parts of these previous posts that seem most relevant to the topic at hand.Re: Lightworks
by Alex Udell on Jul 1, 2010 at 9:40:10 amSorry for the tangent….
One of the side effects of having no barrier of entry (at least by way of cost) is that suddenly, everyone is an editor. (just like everyone was a desktop publisher). Although it’s not true, the appearance of cheaper tools and presets, gives the impression that the craft is somehow less valuable. Last year’s hot design effect, is this year’s preset or plug-in. The waves and havoc it creates for those that use the craft not for the craft alone, but as a survival mechanism is painful. The reduction cycles are so condensed now. There is no “normal,” no “plateau,” just a slope down. It really does feel like a race to the bottom.
Visually, I feel like I’m doing some of my best work ever now. I’ve matured in knowledge, experience, speed, and creative capacity, yet in terms of compensation, I’m making not much more than I made when I left college almost 20 years ago and have fewer benefits. I’m no slacker either, I’m not waiting for anyone to do anything for me, I get out there and make things happen for myself.
I suppose the saving grace is that the number of outlets for content has also grown exponentially. So I suppose the game is about about quantity now. To try to be as efficient and do as much, as quickly as possible. Oh and as an aside, if you can….making the content good would be a plus.
You want fries with that?
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Hunter,
I happened to be having a conversation in a different forum that relates to the issues you’re wisely considering early in your career. It’s with another person who has been in the business a long time (Alex Udell) and he suggested we continue in a different thread since our conversation started in an old thread and is also off-topic for the forum it started in, but directly relates to your questions. So, in order to continue our conversation, but also because I think seeing it may help you understand better what your professors mean with “the industry is dead and dying”, I’m going to copy over our last few posts before I reply to you more directly.
By the way, as you’ll see when I do reply directly, I somewhat agree that “the industry is dead and dying”. However, I also believe there will always be room for talented, driven people so I’m not mentioning that I somewhat agree with that sentiment to discourage you … only because I think it’s important to consider all angles when making an important decision.
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Glen Montgomery, I didn’t quote you because my comment refers to your entire post … very well said. To me, you sound precisely like the type of young person we all wish there were more of. One of my points in my previous post was that, at least in my experience, you are part of the minority group in that regard … but that’s ok … it’s always been that way and it’s probably supposed to be that way. So, having to weed through the majority is unavoidable, which makes for a lot of frustration.
By the way, in my opinion, that seems to also apply to the other young guys who have chimed in like David Sikes and Rob Grauert … just by taking the initiative to intelligently participate in these types of discussions, you seem to show that you’re not part of the majority we grumpy old men refer to when we rant about the younger generations’ common character flaws.
[Bob Cole] “I think the problem is one of expectations.” “With the ease of entry today, the field has attracted people who don’t have to work that hard to obtain results. They expect to obtain results without much effort.”
Very good point. That’s what I was getting at with my “EZ-button generation” comment. In my opinion, this “ease of entry” issue primarily results from technology advances, which are obviously beneficial to all, but also inherently come with this major drawback.
[Bob Cole] “your bad experiences may also have something to do with the kind of work you do (corporate, right?)”
While I understand your point there, I respectfully disagree somewhat. The initial topic refers to things like reliability, work ethic, drive, etc., which in my opinion, are entirely reasonable expectations whether in corporate or Hollywood. I know you weren’t referring specifically to my comments, but even so, this is what I mean … I do work in corporate now, but spent about two-thirds of my total career in the ‘real’ production world and have found the same issues to be equally prevalent in both. I understand that most don’t aspire to work in corporate production, but at the same time, if someone feels a particular assignment is beneath them, perhaps they shouldn’t accept it, rather than accept it and not show or show only to do a poor job (the two initial issues).
Personally, the conclusion I drew on this subject long ago is this…
Lack of integrity, work ethic, etc. definitely exists in people of all ages since young people inevitably get older and core character flaws generally don’t change much. At the same time, my experience has been that those issues are ever-increasingly more prevalent in younger generations (likely due to that “ease of entry” issue). Even so, I for one by no means have given up on any entire generation or suggest that anyone else do that … only that we accept that it has always been difficult (and probably will continue to be increasingly difficult) to weed through the majority to find the minority above-average individuals. -
[Chris Blair] “Unfortunately, that will NEVER end.”
You made very good points, Chris. That one was part of my point … from what I’ve seen, that’s gotten much worse in recent years. So, especially straight out of school, perhaps emphasis shouldn’t be put on resumes or reels, but on exhibiting things like ethics, reliability, drive and trustworthiness (i.e., in a business where people deal with hundreds of thousands or millions in equipment). Those attributes can’t be gleaned from a resume or reel, but fluffed resumes and/or reels can prove all of those things severely lacking.
[Chris Blair] “got a reel from a college student that was fair at best. But he was a great kid, with a super work-ethic”
Again, I couldn’t agree more and that’s been my experience too. I wasn’t saying I look for whizz-bang reels or resumes … when I said all that matters is the work and proof that it’s their work, I meant in terms of evaluating [1] the attributes mentioned above (i.e., by the integrity of the resume and reel, not necessarily quality) and [2] potential (i.e., the mechanics of shooting or editing can be taught, but it’s hard to teach things like “a good eye”, yet that can often be seen from even an otherwise unimpressive reel).
David Sikes “the variety of posts has given me some confusion of the importance of a reel”
I’m sure my post was one of those so I apologize and will try to clarify further. Especially straight from school, in my opinion, neither the resume nor reel is particularly important since there usually isn’t much to draw from for either and everyone knows that. So, either can cause more harm than good if you focus too much on them and start fluffing, which is very common. In other words, there are people I’ve gotten resumes and/or reels from 10 years ago that I wouldn’t hire to this day because the amount and/or degree of outright lies on either or both told me more than enough about their character. In my opinion, a person’s character doesn’t change as time goes on, but their skills and experience do.
And, of course, all of these issues vary to some degree depending on the position a person is going for … neither a resume or reel is that important for a PA job, but personally, I wouldn’t hire someone with a fluffed resume or reel even as a PA since the idea isn’t for them to be a PA forever. I’d much prefer a PA who is ethical, reliable, driven, trustworthy, etc. so he/she will eventually be a Producer with those same attributes, rather than one with an impressive resume or reel and nothing to back any of it up.
I hope my two cents is helpful.
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My understanding of the Adobe license agreement, which I’m fairly certain is accurate, is that it allows us to legally install one license on two machines only for the purpose of a single user being able to use the software they own either on their desktop or laptop (not both simultaneously or for multiple users).
What the Adobe rep you talked to may have been getting at by saying it’s “impossible” to do anything other than that is technology in their newer software versions may have made that more enforceable by detecting a license that has already been installed twice and/or whether it is currently in use on another machine.
I don’t know that Adobe has implemented that, but I do know it’s possible since other software developers are doing it. And, I’d be surprised if Adobe isn’t since they probably have more software piracy problems than any other developer except Microsoft and Apple. At the very least, I wouldn’t expect the same licensing technology with CS5 as is found in CS2.
The bottom line is it sounds like you need to buy 3 licenses for 3 users.
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Oh, be nice, Bob.
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I’ve extremely rarely worked with GIFs in AE and it’s been quite a while too so just one thought I’ll throw out there … have you considered doing what you need in Photoshop? It seems that would be easier/faster.
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Yes, good point, Walter.
I was speaking in more simplistic terms of the only file format I can think of that’s usable in any video software and many non-video programs, yet without as much headache as similar file formats like AVI, and with far more control … particularly valuable attributes in the cross-platform world I’ve always preferred.
True, the QuickTime format isn’t perfect, although it probably could be if [1] there were a Chief Codec Officer, along with the CGO, to get them all to play nicely together and [2] it’s development team hadn’t all but abandoned the pro video market that made QT dominant in the first place and redirected attention to the iTunes market.
Unfortunately, it’s been years now since I’ve done anything other than watch others work with programs like Smoke … and rarely even get that close anymore so I can’t speak on the DPX workflow.