[Kai Cheong]

Funny you’d mention badminton, as I was just going to reply to Tim that squats used to feature quite a bit in my routine – until I sprained my ankle (quite badly) playing badminton… On location… With my director.

‘A Different Kind Of Editing Exercise’ – or something along that line sounds like a great idea for an article!

I remember reading about our favorite editor, Walter Murch, who said that when he’s editing a film, he leads quite a simple and healthy lifestyle. Exact quotes are vague to me as it’s been some time since I’ve read The Conversations. But I believe it is also good professionalism to keep your mind & body in good shape because to a certain extent, so much of the work an editor does is in their head & made through a certain process – it will take some time to find a replacement & get the ball rolling again if you fall suddenly.
body

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
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Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.2

[Kai Cheong]

Great topic!

I hit the gym at least once a week and always work on my back, with deadlifts and pull-ups. Mostly functional exercises, rather than those designed to pump up the vanity muscles. From anecdotal accounts over the Internet, some people who worked out their backs often managed to bounce back quickly from car crashes. So I’m sure for people like us who sit around for hours on end, a strong back could do wonders for our overall health.

We’ve recently gotten some new chairs which are similar to the fancy ergonomic chairs being talked about… at first, I was somewhat skeptical about such high prices for ‘just a chair?’. But now that I’ve moulded myself into my chair, I could feel the difference.

So strong back + ergo chair = good stuff.

I’m also smoke-free and drink only very occasionally [a drink every few months]. Since we’re a small shop, we don’t have the ‘privilege’ of having unlimited supply of coffee/soda/junk food… in fact, we’re a pretty health-conscious bunch [including many of the freelancers we work with]. In an industry where it’s common that at least one person in the crew goes off for a smoke break every so often, we don’t really see that happening on our shoots/edits.

I don’t miss not having the ‘perks’ of unlimited caffeine/booze/candies at my disposable ;] It’s always just water at my bay.

Granted I’m only in my mid-twenties and I feel like such a non-groovy monk at times, but I hope to keep at this for long time to come.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.2

[Kai Cheong]

If you’re actual sequence is not too long, perhaps you could consider exporting your video from Final Cut and finishing in AfterEffects?

In this case, I would suggest using a better setting in AfterEffects than DV. Even DVCPro50 would be better for effects/text rendering.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.2

[Kai Cheong]

I believe Tom was referring to this:
https://www.mediafire.com/

There’s also YouSendit.com which I use quite a lot. Or if you’re file is bigger than 100MB, Sendspace.com

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.2

[Kai Cheong]

We have a pair of 24″ 2409 Dells and they’re great & affordable. Yes, the frame is glossy/shiny but they don’t seem to catch much glare [I edit in a room with natural sunlight coming in].

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.2

[Kai Cheong]

Hey Kurt,

I can’t really advise you on the best way to get your footage to DVD without knowing more details about how much footage and what applications you’re using. But generally speaking, if you want to author DVDs, you need to get familiar with Compressor and DVD Studio Pro – which comes bundled in Final Cut Studio. It’s not too difficult if you read the help documentation for them – especially since the presets in Compressor are good enough for most tasks.

Anyhow, unless you’re authoring to a HD or Blu-Ray DVD [which means you need an additional HD/Blu-Ray DVD burner since the stock burner that comes with the Mac Pro does not support these formats] – you are essentially authoring SD DVDs, regardless of your source footage.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.2

[Kai Cheong]

Hey Kurt,

Now that you have your Super Mac, what are you intending to edit? Are you going to be working in HD? Or a mix of SD/DV and HD? Looking at how much RAM you loaded up on your Mac Pro, are you doing heavy-duty compositing or 3D renderings?

I’d say that getting a souped up Mac is only half the deal – your media storage solution makes up the other half that gives you the speed & reliability that you need for your editing needs. So don’t scrimp on that or else it’ll just drag down the performance of your Mac.

I work on an 8-core Mac Pro at work with a modest 8GB of RAM and only 1 internal HDD that is my systems drive. But I’m using a CalDigit VR 3TB RAID 0 solution for my media storage. Blazing speed for the Apple ProRes, HDV & DVDProHD footage we’ve been working with.

Have fun with your new Mac – and with shopping for a new hard drive! Depending on your needs, you might not need to invest in an external RAID. Maybe adding 1 more internal hard drive & striping it would give you the speed you need. Or even just a FW800 drive.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.2

[Kai Cheong]

I’m with Mark on the ‘things to do when you’re not working on a project’ – I like to break out of the filmmaking/editing/media sphere & go do/see some something different.

Personally, I find that the inspiration I get from observing random things that go on out there works itself in on my next projects. Some sort of interdisciplinary learning going on there.

Since I’m not exactly musically-inclined, I play Tap Tap Revenge on my iPhone to develop my rhythm. Uh-huh 😛

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.2

[Kai Cheong]

Hi Jerry,

The ‘current settings’ QT doesn’t have to be self-contained – though I do that because I always keep a highest quality copy of the finished edit in QT format for archival.

From my experience, it’s faster to compress from an exported QT. Besides, it frees up my FCP while Compressor does its work.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.2

[Kai Cheong]

Perhaps you might consider doing the de-interlacing/progressive for web output only when you’re at the outputting stage?

So just edit as HDV1080i50 [or ProRes] then when you’re done, send the Quicktime file to Compressor and turn on frame controls. Set the ‘Output fields’ to ‘Progressive’ and choose one of the deinterlace settings. Maybe test out your settings on a small portion with a lot of movement first. Once you’re happy with the settings, send the entire movie through Compressor with your nicely-tweaked settings.

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
—
Now ‘LIVE’! Check Out The Intuitive Films Blog @ https://intuitive-films.blogspot.com
At Intuitive Films, We Create: TV Commercials, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Feature Films
Visit us @ https://www.intuitivefilms.com
—
MacBook Pro 2.4GHz | 4GB RAM | FCP 5.1.4 | Mac OS X 10.5.2