Greg Ondera
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COW Coin
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That being said, there was a viral video going out on YouTube several years ago, the “Battle at Kruger” <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM> which is still up. Its camcorder footage capturing an unbelievable event. Nonetheless, because of the narrative unfolding and the continuous tension built into the story, Discovery assigned one of their producers to complete a whole story around it and they made a full hour long one-up about this footage. So they milked it for an hour with all this other additional footage and reiteration of the youTube footage. Essentially they broke their own broadcast standard principles for this one because it was that valuable.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
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I had a friend who was a pro-diver as well as an outstanding cameraman and he got some fantastic footage of an area of the ocean that no one visited before and it was truly unique and he took it to Discovery and they would not let him in. He caused some kind of small ruckus in the lobby and just sat there and said he would wait for the appropriate guy to talk to. The Discovery guy caved in, looked at his footage and basically told him that they always use so-n-so to do the programs for them, which was a team of 5 different producers. Although the footage was good, they had no place for him.
I knew another guy that was a fantastic cameraman who worked on programs for many Discovery channels, and the only way he could get it on with them was to attach himself to an approved producer with Discovery–letting the Producer produce, and he was essentially the cameraman. This is really the only way to do this. Don’t go to Discovery, but go to the Producers that work for Discovery. You might get the list of attendees that go to the RealScreen Summit in Winter in Wash DC. Don’t waist your time with Discovery. They are not really the people you want to go to first.
Also, the first guy I mentioned created his own DVD. Not that this helped any, but you might also try creating your own program. If you load it up on your own website, then Discovery will still want to come out and shoot their own stuff. That footage will be considered “tainted” like the publishers don’t want you to show your work online, where there are rights issues. Notice that Discovery does not do this. So assume they have reasons.
You might think about attending RealScreen Summit if you are really ambitious about this, but I would try to contact various producers first. And I am no expert. I tried something similar to no avail several years ago.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
The problem with Blue-Ray discs is that with one scratch you’re dead.
A few cameramen have been advocating DLT tape, whereby you can even store all the other data around the project as well, and it will last 50 years (I will believe that when I see it, but I will be dead by that time) and is one of the cheapest per gig solutions.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
I want to add some more to this: First of all the best means for archiving XDCam footage is still not so easily set, in my opinion. DLT tape which is an old means of backing up MFX footage is looking pretty good. The XDCam discs seem very expensive to me, and they have the same life cycle as DLT according to the pundits. However, you need the DLT recorder that will handle XDCAM.
Also Discovery Channel is no easy nut to crack for a cameraman alone, even though they may be the only cameraman for miles in a simply fabulous location. Discovery and Nat Geo only want to deal with incorporated producers for multiple reasons other than liability, so that they are assured of getting a program in the event of that cameraman passing away or getting hurt on the job. Therefore they will likely listen to your ideas and go ask a producer that they have worked with before about doing your idea. So watch out.
And yes, they own every bit of your footage once you start work on the project. But above all, they look for a track record over ideas. And if you have something interesting in your area to shoot, they would rather send someone than you, unless possibly, you already have the footage.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
Thanks, Ed for your ample response. I was away in the mountains this weekend.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
Do not under any circumstances alter the BPAV folders, although you can rename them, but as long as they still contain “BPAV” in the name.
Use Sony XDCam Transfer to convert the MFX files of a BPAV folder or folders into Quicktimes for FCP. I mapped this out in this post: https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/142/867472#867474
So there is also a plugin for Final Cut Pro you can get to edit those stand-alone mp4 files: https://www.calibratedsoftware.com/MP4EXImport_Mac.asp Its from Calibrated Software and they actually have a plugin that will allow Final Cut Express to see Sony XDCam as well.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
The fanless drives are however a great way of transferring footage.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
One other piece of advice is to never edit on an external hard drive that does not have a built in fan. You will eventually kill those small hard drives that are fanless.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
I would recommend testing this before you actually shoot the footage that you know you will need.
In my opinion Sony could have made a simplified workflow the centerpiece of their marketing, but at this time, I think it is a bit lacking. I gained much more knowledge from Doug Jensen’s Vortex media DVDs. I transfer all my EX footage by way of the SxS cards using the Sony XDCam Browser, not XDCam Transfer, then after those files and folders are secured, I use XDCam Transfer to take it into Final Cut Pro.
That being said, the most important piece of advice is to create a set of Folders labeled Chip A, Chip B, and so on, however many you shoot. Make sure when you dump your BPAV folder into “Chip A” for example, since it is labeled “BPAV” do not dump the next BPAV folder from the next chip into that folder, because it will overwrite it. So you have a BPAV folder for each chip folder. Do not think that you can just dump contents from the BPAV folder, as you need all those files and folders within the BPAV folder. Important, important! I do this using XDCam Browser by navigating to the shot footage in the upper windows and dragging it to the folder labeled Chip A in the lower left column, by selecting all the clips (shift key stuff). It will ask if you want to do this, so say yes, but notice after it is done, there is a beige rectangle that shows you that you already have a BPAV folder in that folder, which is convenient.
After you bring all your footage onto your drive, then you can erase the cards. Test it though, by looking to see if indeed there is a BPAV folder there.
Then if you want to use FCP, use Sony XDCam Transfer and load all Chip A, Chip B, and so on into the left column, go to preferences>Import tab and choose your import location–I typically set up a folder labeled appropriately in Capture Scratch for this. Then after you added all folders go File>Import All Clips, and if you do this from FCP the clips will show up there, but if not, then you will have to import them into FCP.
That’s the workflow in a nutshell. The most important two words of advice is do not overwrite a BPAV folder and do not take the contents out of the BPAV folder. You can however label the BPAV folder “BPAV – Sunset Shots” or so forth, but you always want to keep BPAV in the label.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
Yes, and my understanding is that the Discovery channel has given it a silver status for broadcast, which isn’t the best, but it works well.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org