[Ned Miller]

Oh good point! Well, it’s going to take a couple of clients sending me their checks before I pop for a Thunderbolt drive. I have a shelf of about 30 drives of clients’ projects, both 800 and sometimes 400 FW. Are you saying that I need to transfer over to a Thunderbolt before editing?

Also, what do you mean by: make sure that you’re not transcoding TO that drive while reading FROM it.

I did download the FCPX trial version, imported the P2, dropped the whole 30 minute clip into the timeline, used the Share function adn wow, it was done in about 15 minutes! Created a QT of 1.2GB.

Thanks

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Hi John,

Something weird is happening: I started the export in Quick Time Conversion, by the way the media is on an external Lacie 800 firewire drive, I am not going through a hub, the progress bar was about 10% and said it would be another two hours to complete. Then I leave the house for four hours and I come back and it’s at only 20% complete and says it will still be three hours! ugh. Do you think I should have dragged the entire project onto the internal fusion drive and it will be faster? There are no unnecessary programs open.

I will download the X trial but am too involved in the present jobs to try to learn X right now but perhaps that will be faster? And you are saying Compressor is faster for exporting in X and 7 as compared to Quick Time Conversion?

This is a disappointing first step with such a nice machine.

Thanks,

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Well…I just got it set up an imported a continuous 30 min clip shot on P2 at 720/30P AVCIntra 50, dropped it into the time line, and am now exporting it at SD 720 and it says it will take 2 hours. Do you think that’s normal? When I change to FCPX will it be faster? I had been hoping it would just zip through it.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

OP here:

I just bought at the Apple Store the i7 with the 680 card and 1TB Fusion drive and they had it in stock so I can start editing today! Thanks everyone for your advice.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Thanks Michael and John for responding,

John, I thought I would be editing to an external drive, so why get the 3TB fusion internal drive? Also, I do rough editing and give drives to my editors who are better at graphics, text, etc. I hope that is possible in FCPX? So my understanding of what you two are recommending is the highest end iMac and card, minimum ram since I can add it later on my own?

3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2x4GB
3TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2GB GDDR5
Apple Care

OK, that’s $3000. The Apple Rep at Best Buy, who knows his stuff but is not an editor, felt the i5 with the 675 card and external drives would suffice. I am going to the APple Store in four hours and will place the order using the 18 months deal with a teacher’s discount. Being a DP I hate spending so much money on post gear sine it takes forever to break even on it. But I see your points.

Many thanks,

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

My understanding is that if a crew member signs a Work-for-Hire Agreement they give up any rights as a co-copyright holder according to the Copyright Act of 1976, that’s why it’s wise to have them sign it. If they do not sign one they are free to sell the footage, etc. since they also participate in the benefits of the copyright as a co-creator.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

OP here:

Thanks guys! Good advice. Many thanks.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

I have many copies of Work-for-Hire Agreements I have had to sign as a DP for different production companies. If you email me privately I will send you some attachments and you and/or your lawyer can customize them. My email is ned AT nedmiller.com

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com

[Ned Miller]

Aaron, this is a no brainer, it’s Ethics 101. You never discuss your costs with the clients, period. I can’t figure out how this is even a consideration, has this business gone so far downhill that the vendors would even think of discussing prices with the end client?

As a freelance DP for 33 years I have had many end clients trying to “cut out the middleman” producer or production company that hired me. Or, they asked about what I charged because they were in the same pissing match with the client you described. When I was coming up I was taught you never even give them your business card when asked, you say you are available through the client who hired you.

I also produce now and the editors I use are in close contact with my clients and they are instructed to never discuss money with the client, contact me if the client asks for anything that will cost extra. My editors do a lot of the producing functions because I am out making better money shooting. If I ever found out my editor told the client what they billed me the police would never find his body…

Ned
https://www.nedmiller.com

[Ned Miller]

In 1993 I was asked by an up and coming documentarian if I wanted to go into the hood and film in the housing projects every weekend for the next year, no money but they hoped it would amount to something. Shoot some basketball games too. I thought about it for one second and said, “No.”

The project turned out to be Hoop Dreams.

Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com