[Mark Suszko]

Sure, I’ll download a strange zip file from a guy I’ve never met before… posted in a forum that has nothing to do with the topic.

Can you see how that might look suspicious? Especially when we have a means to post images right inside this web site?

[Mark Suszko]

Well, maybe they’re smart… but yes, they can often be “flakey”.

First peeve that comes to mind is, I can’t count how often I have busted my (redacted) to deliver something really good to a client, really fast… only to have them spend literally weeks before they respond, and that, only after some polite reminders.

Other peeves: people who are phoning it in. We played a music gig this weekend, and the venue’s sound man was absolutely checked-out in terms of commitment to doing his job. First, he complains that he doesn’t have enough inputs on his board to handle us, so couldn’t we just all huddle around his five mics (with 8 people, two speaker cabs for electric instruments, and 6 acoustic instruments). I showed him that I’d brought an extra 5 mics, cables, and stands, all set up and ready to go, plus I’d brought a 4-channel sub-mixer, so he really only needs to worry about one more input on his board. He stopped working the board and started playing with his phone for over half the set…. and he’s supposed to be mixing ten mics where every song has someone else doing lead solos. We show up early and there’s nobody on stage ahead of us, the audience is waiting, so we ask if we can start early.

“I don’t care”, says the guy. And it showed.

Whether it’s video or music performance, your team can work like demons to get it perfect, but it all goes to heck if one key person outside your team doesn’t bring their “A” game to the job.

If I ever get like that, somebody please shoot me, …then tell me.

[Mark Suszko]

“Render, render, render, mor’n I can remember, keep them frames a rendering, RAW files!….”

Watching lack-of-progress-bars is a daily thing for me, and I know that it can waste up to two hours a day of my time.

The part that irks me most is that most of that time is caused by having to compress everything I make to make it squeeze thru the 2-gig limit of our FTP system and get to clients for approvals. I try to beg the IT people to raise the cap, but no luck. Far as I can tell, the limit is arbitrary, makes it all the more maddening.

[Mark Suszko]

I went thru the preferences pane for Prem CC and couldn’t find a sub-menu for drivers or the graphics cards… I must be looking in the wrong place.

[Mark Suszko]

Best wishes, Bob! Your success helps everybody.

[Mark Suszko]

That seems like a lot of gak in-between the camera-out and the switcher-input to me. Each stop or inter-connect along the way gives an opportunity for signal loss and delay.

The next thing I would do, personally, is run an SDI cable direct out from the camera, into the switcher, then test the chromakey. If you don’t have a long run of SDI cable handy, bring the camera closer to the switcher and use the longest you DO have, you could grab a bright green poster-board from Walgreens and make a tabletop chromakey test area in the control room if necessary. (though I’d just order a long-enough cable from Monoprice for this).

And you know in your heart, the right and manly thing to do *is* to document and diagram the system. Like insurance and writing out your living will, people put it off because it’s boring and tedious, and regret it very much, later.

[Mark Suszko]

Adding some “posterize motion” stutter to the video will help sell a period look, as will adding a heavier than normal vignette effect and the “film damage” effect, adjusted to taste to add some gate weave and dust/scratches.

[Mark Suszko]

“find edges” and “posterize” or try the new cartoon effects.

These can also be accessed in Apple Motion.

[Mark Suszko]

Detail the signal chain from the camera out to the switcher, and from the switcher out to the recorder and monitors. What cables, connectors, etc.

Are you using SDI cables or regular coax?

[Mark Suszko]

We kid ’cause we love, and because every one of us becomes an insufferable nerd when “civilians” get a fact wrong related to what we do.