[John Davidson]

I don’t know if it actually messes up the source clips, or just adjusts metadata on the clip. That merely popped up as a recent topic in the support forum so I copy/pasted it for the herd.

John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.

[John Davidson]

I do. I keep scrubbing on the timeline for fun – it’s silky smooth. Also, the inspector is nice. I like it – needs a .1 or .2 update, but we all knew that would be the case.
Gotta learn the quick keys though….

John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.

[John Davidson]

Oh man. Was it that bad?

John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.

[John Davidson]

I’m going to see if we can build our own effects and transition combinations to save as presets. I wouldn’t need half my plugin sets if I can build my own layered transitions easily. I might play with the color correction thing next.

John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.

[John Davidson]

It’s The last gasp before the plunge.

John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.

[John Davidson]

Pete – wait. Don’t buy anything. I’d put good money on a new Mac Pro refresh coming with Thunderbolt in August/September. The rumor sites are awash with hints that new hardware is being withheld until after Lion’s release in July. A little wait time can save you lots of money.

You’re right – big times are coming for Apple products across the board.

John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.

[John Davidson]

I’m sorry, but I’m not gonna make you feel better about buying Avid and upending your whole production workflow a week before X is out, based off nothing but a 2 month old 45 minute presentation. Avid people may get a temporary little pleasure reading posts like yours, but I can’t imagine they feel much other than a complete sense of impending doom from the lack of information regarding X.

As users the lack of information is frustrating, but as a competitor it’s like waiting to be attacked by a much larger army with all kinds of weapons you’ve never even seen before. Something akin to aliens attacking cave men.

[John Davidson]

In Cupertino they have a saying, “Don’t let the screen door hit you”.

[John Davidson]

Just dangling bacon in front of starving children. Argh! I can’t way to start working with this, learning it’s secrets, planning how to efficiently organize projects for it, etc. Want!

John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.

[John Davidson]

I like to get ideas from watching other trailers from similar genres. Comedy trailers are difficult, especially ones with blue material. Movies like Superbad, Bridesmaids, etc were all fantastic, but the trailers just didn’t sell them well in my opinion. There are ways to get the implication of profanity without feeling censored – if the line ends in a curse, have the it play out all the way up to the curse with a reverse cymbal washing into a hit – then have the hit cover the offending word. That’s just one trick – watch lots of trailers for more ideas.
The director needs to understand that marketing is censorship. You’re editing out all the crappy or dull parts in a production to elicit the largest audience. When putting blue material in a trailer, you run the risk of offending the viewer with out-of-context material that would otherwise be accepted.
I personally don’t know how money is made from short films, but if you have any marketing budget at all I suggest consulting a professional agency to get the best possible trailer. The production crew may have done a fantastic job with the film, but often they’re too close to the project to make the best trailer – that is a bit of a universal constant.

John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.