[Nick Griffin]

Thanx, guys! Makes sense now. Up until this project everything I’ve been working with has been footage from my own camera. This week is my annual ‘from hell’ project wherein I have to combine contest entrants’ footage that can range from horrible to barely tolerable, but virtually never in a decent looking format. (One entrant even wanted us to pull video from what he had on YouTube.) Again, thanx for the education. I’m sure I have only a few more thousand things to learn about Avid.

[Nick Griffin]

Now we have proof that I am an idiot. Thank you, Kevin! I can’t believe I tried soooo many things and it was something as simple as the fact that I must have inadvertently hit this button. Jeeezzz! Again, THANK YOU, Kevin!!

[Nick Griffin]

Does the driver for the Kona 3G support the older Kona 3?

[Nick Griffin]

Ned-

Try Mark Everson at Lifeline Language in the UK.

They’ve done lots of work for me in many, many languages with nothing but great results.

011 44 1 772 558 858

Mark@LifelineLanguageServices.co.uk

Tell Mark I sent you.

[Nick Griffin]

[Tim Wilson] “the radio guys in my department had better and more lucrative job prospects than TV and film guys”

OMG! You mean there was a GOOD reason that I started in radio? In all seriousity though… editing in the audio environment taught me more about editing in the video environment than I ever realized. It was years later when I started to figure out that I had developed deep-seated instincts in the audio production studio that helped me know when to the cut should occur. Oh, and that whole playing music thing, too. HUGE help on a very subconscious level.

But…if I could go back and do it all over again I’d spend a LOT more time taking every variety of writing course available. An overwhelming number of producers came up through writing and ultimately they’re the ones who rise to the top.

[Nick Griffin]

[Chuck Obernesser] “what if we recored a local band playing that song. Can we use that?”

NO. The song is still the property of its composer and/or music publisher.

[Nick Griffin]

Andy-

Stupid question: If you are so soured on the video production business and have, in fact, gotten out of it, WHY are you still hanging around here spreading your negativity? Just because you found yourself in a commodity position and unable (or unwilling) to compete doesn’t mean that everyone else is doomed.

Many people here in the COW, as well as those few who don’t even use the COW’s resources, have special skills and unique talents. They get work.

People like Todd Terry are exceptionally good at what they do, but choose to do it in a section of the economy which allows him and his people to stand out as the superstars they are. Walter Biscardi is enormously talented AND he’s also a near continual self-promoter — and here’s the important part — he’s a self-promoter on multiple fronts. Bob Zelin, harsh as he may be around here about the realities of the world, is an over-the-top, ardent sales go-getter. He doesn’t stop knocking on the door until they let him in, even if it takes years. Me? I’ve specialized in technical/industrial niche markets where the fact a) that we know a LOT about the businesses our clients are in and b) that we can offer an array of allied services besides video makes us a better overall choice than our competitors. So, for a great many of us, our world is not bleak at all.

Now I’ll spend some time formulating an answer for Peter’s original post.

[Nick Griffin]

First, I’m not sure how doing 3 point lighting would be any different in a studio than any other room. If anything the studio should have a higher ceiling giving you much more flexibility than a normal room with an 8-10-12 foot ceiling height. The big advantage to a studio, under typical circumstances, would be that you would have many, many more lights so you could get a very broad, shadowless look.

As to three 800 watt Redheads, you ideally would have some sort of diffusion on the key light and a reflector for fill on the opposite side. Having 800 watts for a hairlight or side kicker is somewhat problematic because it’s considerably more light than you need in balance to the key. If you can live with the orange cast you can use a dimmer to bring this light down. If not add a full stop or more scrim. Additionally a very tight pattern with the barn doors can eat up a lot of light.

The back light is also problematic because you may not have enough light to fill the background and because the sweep is white you run the risk of getting a very dull and ugly grayish look. Or you could use the barn doors to create a slice or some other pattern across the background. Any chance of getting a black background? Aesthetically that could look nicer and free up that third light for putting another rim, perhaps giving you both a hairlight AND a side kick.

Anyway, that’s my two cents. It will be interesting to see the suggestions you get from others, especially those on the Lighting Design Pros forum.

[Nick Griffin]

I’m in the “forever” camp, too even though we do technical/industrials rather than commercial spots. Forever, but I am extremely thankful that with tech it’s very seldom that anyone asks for anything very old. With ONE major exception.

We have a show that we shot and posted in early 2001 that keeps… coming… back… once or more a year, for additional DVDs.

Finally last year the client determined that a few scenes had to be replaced so we shot them in HD and down-sized and roughed up the footage so it would fit with the original SD show. The problem came when one of the graphics needed to be updated. I’d never seen this in AfterEffects before, but it was a dialog to that basically said “You cannot open this file with your current version you must go back to a version closer to the original.” Great. We don’t even have a machine that could run the AfterEffects that was in use 12 years ago. So I try to save and archive everything, but not the software (and machine) that created it.

To the original question, back in the days when large post houses ruled, many had a policy that they would hold materials in their temperature/humidity controlled storage area for a couple to a few years gratis, but after that you were requested to take it OR start paying a storage fee. One of the more memorable parts of removing anything from their care was the paperwork clearly spelling out that because you were removing the originals they therefore were absolved from everything and anything. They maintained written proof that you had taken the stuff and couldn’t come back and blame them if you’d lost it. Then when they were going out of business a few years later the message to clients was to the effect, “you have XX days to retrieve your stuff or we will dumpster it.”

[Nick Griffin]

I’m with Todd on this one. Granted there are only two of us in my company, but we have a very nice Blue Cross policy that has fairly robust coverage, costs more than $47,000 a year for the 7 people covered, AND the company pays 100%. As the employer I feel responsible for the well being of two families, not just my own.

And not to get political, but when I hear that the founder of the Papa John’s Pizza organization has complained that he’s opposed to the US’ new health care law because it will mean his company may have to raise the price of a pizza a few cents… well let’s just say WTF?!?! Who would you rather have making and handling your food: someone who’s unhappy and potentially ill or happy and healthy?

Not exactly on the opposite side of this, but more in the very realistic middle of what’s going on is the recognition that the US healthcare system is seriously broken. It’s also unlikely to be fixed anytime soon by politicians who take campaign contributions from lobbyists whose job is to perpetuate a system that puts profits and executive salaries ahead of all else. Or is there another explanation for why a Tylenol which sells for $2.99 for a bottle of 100 in any drugstore becomes a $10 fee for a single pill when its on a hospital bill?

I’d say, “Don’t get me started,” but apparently I already have.