[Jon Frost]

This sounds like a pretty serious undertaking from the get go. It would likely become a marriage of sorts, with everyone learning by doing. I would certainly be considering whether the client has the funding for this projected series first and foremost. None of the footage has been shot yet and the client wants to be viewing this series on their home theatre system in 2017??? Good luck with that.

Is there funding for even one part of the series yet?
Is there even a script written for part one? What is the plan for shooting the first part as far as timeline, locations, crewing, feeding and housing the ‘crew’? If you are thinking about doing this series alone for post production, then I would think long and hard… Seems like there are too many unanswered questions even before the project gets off the ground.

I have worked with a number of ‘producers, directors, etc. who had grandiose ideas while having no idea about how much it costs in real hard dollars to house, feed, manage a cast & crew of 25 people for 3 weeks in a remote location.

You might be able to use your workflow in the past on smaller projects and scale things up to a 1 hour long documentary. The workflow will be similar from pre-production, scripting, shooting and posting a smaller project, but things like HDD capacity, rendering, exporting are going to be exponentially larger/longer.

I think you are going to learn very quickly that you will need to leverage the talent and expertise of others during the post-production phase for things like After Effects, graphics, color grading, etc. This level of production/post-production over six 1-hour episodes is not something that I would take on alone. I would figure something like 3-6 months from receipt of the original media for editing, audio sweetening and things like After Effects and color grading for each episode. You have to coordinate with the client on a regular basis and if they are located across the country, there is a whole other level of logistics to keep everyone in the loop and obtain client approval at regular stages during post.

Jon Frost
Easthampton MA

[Jon Frost]

Max out the RAM on your machine to the maximum (32GB. 64 GB, etc.)

Your OS and APPs should be maintained on a SSD – 250 to 500GB,

Your media drive could be another SSD, but most likely will be a HDD – 7,200rpm, eSATA, USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt.

I would purchase another SSD or 7,200rpm drive for your dedicated Scratch Disk.

Can you upgrade the amount of memory in your GPU card, or buy a newer CUDA capable GPU card?

Jon Frost
Easthampton MA

[Jon Frost]

Upgrade your RAM to the maximum your machine can handle. The faster memory sticks are better and they should all be the same speed and capacity.

Are you able to check Project Settings/General/Mercury Playback Engine and click on the top option instead of Software only option.

Can you add more GPU memory to your card??? Install the maximum you can. Also check the INVIDIA site for the latest drivers for your particular GPU card.

Best,

Jon Frost
Easthampton MA

[Jon Frost]

I have been using G-Technology drives and RAID arrays since 2008 and they have been working without issues since then. On an older MACPro tower, I decided to go with eSATA connectivity and depending on the need and capacity, I would purchase something like a 3TB G-SAFE or G-Speed ES 4 drive arrays formatted for eFAT and any flavor of RAID from RAID 0, 1, 5 or 10.

Jon Frost
Easthampton MA

[Jon Frost]

Check out the RED forum on Creative COW and other RED related sites. You will find a wealth of info about system requirements for editing 4K native footage.

Basically, you want to think big, very BIG for 4K editing. Everything from processors to RAM to GPU needs to be supercharged and then some.

You might be better off with a PC platform to edit 4K files on Premiere Pro CS6 or CC 2014. PCs allow you to get much more for your $$$ over the MAC. I would recommend checking out the RED Rocket Accelerator card or the NVIDIA GPU offerings.

I worked with an editor on a 48 hour film contest couple of years ago and he had a PC tower that was like 2.5ft tall and almost as deep. Water cooled processors (lots of them). He had spent something like $10K but this machine could render 4K files in native mode without stuttering.

Good luck,

Jon Frost
Easthampton MA

[Jon Frost]

If you want to build a new machine from the ground up , your money will go much farther with a PC over a MAC. The same rules apply for both platforms.

For a MACPro cylindrical system, get the most powerful processor your can afford and then stuff the case with all the DDR5 ECC memory you can afford. You will need an external PCIe 3 chassis in order to use the more popular GPU cards with the newest MACPro that tis the size of a coffee can. fortunately you can leverage the Thunderbolt I/O connectivity for both graphics and HDDs/RAID setups.

Processor (speed and number of cores)
RAM Memory (speed and capacity need to be matched) “More is always better…”
SSD for OS and APPS…
Separate HDDs or even a RAID Array for project media, clips, audio, sequences, etc. 7,200rpm drives. RAID 5 or RAID 10 on a four drive chassis. If you work on both platforms, format the drives as eFAT which will open on both PC and MAC.
Graphics card – If you can leverage your GPU to help with processor intensive tasks like rendering, exporting, etc. CUDA GPUs with at least 4GB of memory and the most CUDA cores you can afford here. e.g. NVIDIA Quadro 4000, GTX style cards that are approved by Adobe will offer the best performance and price. You don’t need the latest and greatest here and there are some great buys online for used cards… Caveat Emptor.

Namaste,

Jon Frost
Easthampton MA

[Jon Frost]

Top your list for improvements should be a solid media storage & backup system. If you lose your original media and don’t have frequent backups as you work on a project… then you have a huge problem. When I was working as a DIT tech, I was surprised at the number of people who want to shoot their first project out of college on a RED or ARRI ALEXA or whatever the latest and greatest technology might be, but haven’t given a moments thought to a plan for backup of audio, video, etc. during a shoot, or even after the project is completed.

Anything you can do to boost the speed and throughput of data & graphics is well worth it.

Upgrade your RAM to the maximum your machine will accept. Minimum 32GB to —? Remember to purchase the fastest RAM your machine will accept – Both Speed and Capacity need to be matched.

If you can use CUDA – Mercury Playback Engine Processing on your graphics card, then that will help you out with rendering time.

Next would be upgrading your HDDs / RAID array and use the fastest connection possible (USB 2.0, 3.0, Firewire 400 or 800, eSATA, etc.)

Jon Frost
Easthampton MA

[Jon Frost]

What is your plan for BACKUP of your media and sequences?

I like to add metadata, markers, I/O points and confirm that I have a decent folder/bin arrangement as I log my original footage.

Are you more a mouse or keyboard based editor? Keyboard shortcuts are great no matter which platform and software you are using. There are some Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 and CC keyboards out there for about $125 US.

Did you use Plural Eyes for syncing audio to video clips??? Once a clip was sunc did you make a copy of all your sunc media. This step in the workflow is the most important point to back up your media. At this point, I always delete any bad takes, trash and other media that will only use up drive space.

No matter whether your project is 30 seconds or 3 hours, if you follow the same procedures/workflow on each project, you will save tons of time and be able to find that errant clip in the wee hours on your deadline day…

Best of luck to you on your project.

Jon Frost
Easthampton MA

[Jon Frost]

I just bought a 2012 5,1 MAC Pro tower to replace the MAC Pro 2,1 I bought in 2008. Remember that you can’t upgrade the MAC OS X on your prospective computer above 10.7.5…

I would max out the RAM on your machine to at least 32GB if not all the way to 64GB. Find the fastest DDR3 ECC memory you can.

I would look into one of the NVIDIA GTX graphics cards… They are all over Ebay and Craigslist for reasonable prices used. Remember that your prospective machine doesn’t need the latest/greatest GPU card… I just bought a GTX 660Ti card for $100 on E-bay… for my 2012, MACPro 5,1 tower.

as far as the software is concerned, it has to be pirated or bootlegged and if you don’t have the original packaging, disks, serial numbers, etc. you are screwed of something stops working… let alone being able to upgrade a software item if you don’t have the original purchase info.

Good luck and Caveat Emptor…

Jon Frost
Easthampton MA

[Jon Frost]

EMC Retrospect is popular for PC platforms. I prefer G-TEch drives and RAID arrays running either FW800 or eSATA connections.

Jon Frost
Easthampton MA