Kim Krause
Forum Replies Created
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thanks for the endorsement joe….and darin, i really appreciate your feedback and opinions. i have been waiting for davinci to give me the functionality i always had with color and as i’ve mentioned in previous posts, i am unfortunately tied into a very strict economic reality down here in south africa. our budgets are a fraction of north american productions and as a result the money put aside for post reflects that reality. added to the fact that hardware costs us nearly twice as much and you can see why i have been draggin my heels. i would really love to have a tangent but the cost for me would be over 1 months salary. and i still manage to crank out about 100 shows a year……i’m now just waiting for the free davinci lite to be released so i can test drive it and make sure my hardware will support it.
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we are all affected by apple right now…it’s gonna cost me big time to switch to davinci after using color exclusively for many years. not to mention how we’re all gonna convince our clients that the reasons for switching are valid!
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i didnt think i was being very negative at the time. resolve, in its older version, wouldn’t do a few of the things that i liked in color. there was no multi layer time line and curves were not really there yet. and roundtripping (xml import and export) from fcp to davinci was a painful experience. plus it cost more than the whole fcp studio together. now that it has become more “color like” and the hardware requirements have also been lowered i can truly consider giving up color. the release of fcpx was just the push i needed. i still love color and i was really hoping apple would have blown the doors off davinci but i can finally see that is not going to happen anytime soon. i just hope the new version of resolve will work with my ipad or i’ll have to go out and spend even more money on a tangent controller…… guess i better just breathe in and jump!
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i’m not crying…actually i enjoy my work and love to face the challenges. i was only stating that sometimes certain people seem to think that we all have access to the same tools and that their way is the only way. i am privileged to be working in the industry in a country i love. i just want people to know that it is not so easy for some of us to just go out and spend money we dont have on tools we dont really need.if i could i would have a huge plasma screen and a big office with free internet and cappuccino machine. i wold love to be able to charge more for my services as well but budgets here don’t allow that luxury. same goes for a tangent wave. i just dont have the money to buy it and after trying one out i discovered that most of the functions i use arent supported directly. trying drawing curves or user shapes with a tangent and you’ll soon go back to your wacom tablet. i’ve had to make many compromises in my setup in order to be able to provide what i think is a great service for a modest fee. my clients would agree as i am constantly booked on jobs. i would love to drive a ferrari but i am happy with my little hyundai! and i wouldnt buy a hackintosh because thats like building a mercedes from cheap chines car parts. if i want a mac i buy a mac not some frankenstein monster of a fake machine……oh and i decided to spoil myself and buy an iphone anyway from a local supplier. i also believe in supporting my local economy even if it si sometimes more expensive!
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easier said than done i’m afraid. as i mentioned in some earlier posts, the cost of equipment in south africa is quite high over here and the budgets are quite low. for instance the same mac pro you would pay $3000 for in the states costs us over $4500…the tangent wave is over $3500 here and that thousand dollar software can coast up to 2000 bucks because of import duties and who knows what else. we get really screwed for imported goods over here. add to that the fact that the average post production budget is around 1/6 of a similar budget in the states and you can see how important it is for us to improvise. i recently found out that a colorist in london was charging 250 pounds per hour for grading in his color suite. i’m extremely lucky if i can make that much in a day!!! thats why i was asking about the virtual trackballs in the first place. i wasnt interested in people’s replies who are using a control surface as that’s out of the question for me. i recently got an iphone 4 from the local phone shop here. it was nearly twice the price of the same one in america. and dont even get me started on cars…that crappy chevy that you guys get for $12,000 interest free will cost over 20 grand here and the interest rate is over 10% with a 15% deposit!
so count your blessing all my fat cat american comrades. you definitely should appreciate how easy you have it over there….oh and i almost for to mention the minimum wage over in good old south africa…around $2.50/ hour..if anyone is throwing out a used tangent wave please let me know…will pay for delivery! hahaha -
yeah they do…i got a 1 hour training from one of the pros and i’m gonna pilot the next shuttle mission….nothing like taking the easy way out….why bother taking all that time to learn something if you can just walk in and ask a few questions and become an expert?
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i hope this isn’t the case. in south africa internet useage is extremely expensive and very slow. for example a 5 gig per month capped service costs us around $60 usd a month. downloading fcp studio would use my whole monthly allocation of data and i wouldn’t have hardly anything left of my data bundle for normal monthly use! and at the price we pay it adds another 60 bucks to the price of the software. i wish apple would consider the rest of the world when it comes time to making software only downloadable. unlike america and canada and a few other countries, the internet is still a luxury for many! living in the cloud is not a reality for most of the world! we still don’t even have a proper itunes store available over here yet. actually there is a portal for downloading apps through itunes but not a real music and video and all that stuff itunes store……
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this whole thread reminds me of what happened when fcp first started to really take off. i can remember one editor that i know who just spent a fortune on an avid suite with a beta sp tape machine and all the goodies only to find that he could get the same functionality and better quality for around 1/10th of the price a few months later by using fcp and a firewire controlled dvcam deck. it is a shame that the technology can sometimes enable many people with little money or experience to get in on the act, but the fact is that we as colorists no longer have the market to ourselves. it’s all about change. how many of us would have cars if it wasnt for henry ford figuring out a better way to build and sell to the masses. we just gonna have to get over the fact that we are no longer the gods of post production and if we wanna keep working we just have to do the best we can. try and keep the clients you have and treat them fairly and honestly and maybe get out there and see what other people are doing. our castles have been invaded and we just gonna have to join the rest of the world…as sad as that might seem to some. those old days of worshipping at the feet of the colorist are long long over. i have seen my income cut in half in the last 2 years because anyone with a mac and fcp studio can also be a colorist and comepletley undersell you! and how can you can compete with a guy who does jobs for free because he is new and hungry and out to make a name for himself? think i’m gonna start gardening!
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it’s all about evolution. in the days before davinci and the like you had to do all your grading in the film lab. colorists didnt exist and good film timers were an important part of the production. now that almost anyone can do color correction, it would foolish and arrogant to think that as colorists we are the only ones with the power and ability to do a professional job. i hate that my livelihood is under attack and that after 30 years in the industry i am probably gonna get replaced by fancy algorithms. already i have to compete with people half my age with 1/10th of the experience who will work for next to nothing, but i just see it as a challenge.maybe we have all become to used of being the choir masters and forgotten how to actually sing ourselves. if it wasnt for this evolution i would still be working for some horrible boss in a heartless post house doing thankless film and telecine rushes in the wee hours of the night. it is very empowering to be able to sit at home in my very own space and just do what i do best. sure i miss the big salary and the prestige of being part of a world class facility, but in the end i have never been happier just doing a job that i love so much! i feel i am blessed to be still doing what i do 30 years later but on my own terms. it has forced me to rethink my path in life and maybe even possibly my career goals. i wouldn’t trade the freedom for a paycheque and i have also discovered that sharing my knowledge through teaching has its own rewards. give it up and let it go. we all have to evolve and thats what makes life interesting…..
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well i live in south africa and over here it’s nearly bedtime so i guess i won’t know anything until tomoro morning my time…..i’m sure not getting up at 4 a.m. just to see what all the fuss is about. i’ll first make myself a nice cup of coffee then plop my ass down in the chair to read all the hype and horror. or maybe i’ll just go off to class and then read about it when i get later in the day. either way i’m sure the world won’t end by me not being in the loop.
looking forward to all the cray bitching that will go on before anyone even gets their hands on a copy…which will be when?