[Nick Griffin]

[Mark Suszko] “I’m going to argue against my friend Nick’s opinion on the computers however…If my choice was one tower or two imacs and shared storage between them, THAT is what I’d prefer.”

This discussion kind of reminds me of the whole “platform wars” argument — no real right or wrong just a depth of personal beliefs and preferences. I do have to admit that my thinking was limited by the idea of a single, vastly expandable computer and, given the power and Thunderbolt connectivity of the current iMacs, perhaps Mark is right. Just maybe not in the way he was describing their use.

While the idea of a second workstation for a second person is good, perhaps a better approach is the idea of a second computer for one operator. Between renders, compression, disk-burning and other tasks I find myself far more efficient when able to hop between two computers. The basic idea is that the computers should be waiting for you, not the other way around.

So between computers, monitors, peripherals, the camera, tripod/support, mics/audio gear, lighting, backgrounds and on and on we are certainly having a lot of fun telling Alan how to spend money. Hopefully his hospital’s pockets are as deep as our ideas on what’s needed to launch a video department.

[Nick Griffin]

[Alan Balch] “a lot of doctor interviews and patient testimonials against a green screen”

Okay, I’ll bite. Why green screen? Is your concept that all of the interviews will be able to look alike? If it were me I’d look for multiple places around the hospital where you can get an interesting background, thereby making a variety of looks. Green screen can also be problematic with a 4-2-0 camera, which I believe the HPX170 is. (Not positive, though.)

Also, if your background is news you’ll also find that you’re now in a position to do a LOT more with softlights, reflectors, hairlights, etc. than you may be used to. Budget accordingly for this stuff.

[Alan Balch] “would I be better suited to go with an iMac”

Purely personal opinion, but no. The MacPro tower has room for up to 4 internal drives, a second removable bay which can have a BluRay writer, MUCH easier access to RAM and lots of slots for cards. However,, as discussed in my previous post, at this point in time I would NOT spring for the cost of a brand new MacPro since it will plummet in value once the new ones start shipping. Buy reconditioned with a warranty from Apple or from any number of other sources, but don’t be one of the last to pay full price for 5 year old technology. (IMHO.)

[Nick Griffin]

[Craig Seeman] “The MacPro you describe is End of Life.”

[Craig Seeman] “you might consider the up coming MacPro Tube”

My thoughts exactly. As a devout Mac user I’d want to wait for the release of the tube. From its description it sounds like it’s going to be incredibly powerful. Then again, waiting may not be practical as its fall release could be delayed for any number of unforeseen reasons. It should also be noted that its radical re-design may mean that it will be a while until add-ons like I/O cards and RAID interfaces catch-up.

So, if it were me I’d try to find a used MacPro tower — of which there are many — match it with a Level 5 RAID, get a 30″ monitor and at least a 24″ second monitor and set aside some money to make the jump to the MacPro Tube and peripherals six months from now.

This also brings up the need for an on-going budget. Ask for and plan for one now. Don’t get stuck in a situation wherein you requests for anything new are turned down for the next few years because a “manager” determines that you had your chance to buy everything in the beginning. This is a business of change and, if the last few years have shown us anything, it’s that the pace of change is increasing.

As to the camera, the answers to Craig’s questions are a great start. In the interest of simplicity though, (and IMHO) you’ll probably be happier in the long run with a conventional video camera than you would be with a DSLR with its limited audio capabilities.

[Nick Griffin]

[Fernando Mol] “What do you think it’s the best way to proceed?”

Spot on, Fernando! This simple question is the right way to approach the client to solve the problem. It throws the decision to them rather than seeming like one of your “dumb rules.” You may also want to preface it with something to the effect of, “Given that on just a few hours notice I can’t instantly schedule replacement work…”

I also agree with the consensus that you can’t be too hard nosed on this with an existing long term client at the risk of jeopardizing future business.

[Nick Griffin]

If this is targeted at investors then the primary concern of the potential audience is the soundness of the investment and the favorable odds that they’ll get a decent or better return.

Therefore I think you should use the kitchen, etc. as B-roll, the renowned chef as a brief cameo and the majority of video as interview clips of many, many, many potential end user customers talking about how unique these products will be and how they can’t find anything like them anywhere else. Let them establish the huge sales potential. (In my experience interview enough people and you can get someone saying virtually anything. You may, for legal safety have to add a super that states that this is a “Consumer Opinion.”)

As for the potential for going viral I don’t have any good ideas on that besides tapping into the glutten-free community so they make this one of their causes.

Best of luck and let us know how the project works out.

[Nick Griffin]

I’ll contribute to the conversation by re-posting something I wrote here almost 3 years ago:

I think I’m done
Aug 19, 2010

I have now officially become disgusted with twenty-somethings and think I’m done giving them any consideration ever again.

1) Very talented art director wannabee whose work I was introduced to while judging a student design competition sponsored by one of my clients. Wow! I’ll bet this kid would jump at the chance to do real work and with summer vacation coming who wouldn’t want to earn about 12 times per hour what McDonalds pays. Not even through the first project and he’d rather fight about suggestions than accept them. AND he was being paid the whole time! And the work he was doing made me wonder if he’d actually submitted someone else’s stuff in the competition because it was MUCH better than what he was showing me.

2) In looking for someone to grip for a two day shoot I gave a twenty-something kid, who said he was very anxious to learn and a real “go-getter”, a chance rather than going with any of the older pros who also responded to my post. Despite detailed instructions on time and place — and phone confirmation before the shoot — a NO SHOW. Wouldn’t even answer his cell phone.

3) A “working professional” who posted here bemoaning his current work situation and how he was being taken advantage of by his first employer out of college. (Scroll down, you’ll find it.) Told him that we could use someone with his motivation and skill set but that I like to get to know people with a freelance project or two first. Called cell a few days later with job ready to go. No answer, no returned call. Called the next day with same result. Sent an email asking “WTF?” No response.

I’m done. Sorry Gen Y. I’d blame it on your age, but I (and almost everyone I know) was NOTHING like that at your age. We wanted to work, wanted to get started and would even work for free to do stuff with people doing what we wanted to do for a living. Guess things have changed.

What a pity that at least one of the three examples above didn’t have the attitude that Patrick describes having. But, the fact of the matter is, as has been discussed here many times, as employers we may have to interview 10, 20 or more of the twenty-something job candidates to find the one who is capable, talented and has a decent attitude and work ethic. So, Patrick, perhaps this will work out well for you because you’ll be a stand-out among your peers.

[Nick Griffin]

Andy-

Sorry about your circumstances and experiences but, while that may be the case for you and some others, there are a WHOLE BUNCH of us here who are NOT living your life. Negativity rarely results in success so perhaps you’ve created a self-fulfilling prophesy. Or, and forgive me for being blunt, perhaps the skills you were offering in the marketplace weren’t broad enough or deep enough to keep the digital amateurs from taking away your business. And/or, maybe your it was your sales skills.

Todd Terry put it best last month in a post which said:
I think a couple of the tricks to being successful in the production business are to 1) find an underserved or niche market, and 2) be hands-down better than anyone else.

The production business is not for everyone. Neither is self-employment. Sorry, but it’s not technology’s fault.

Again, forgive me for being blunt, but based on your recent posts I felt this needed to be said.

[Nick Griffin]

I fully agree with Bill’s recommendations and will amplify (pun intended) the idea of needing a decent, line of sight and wide-awake board operator. One of our clients does two conferences a year, always in different cities, as such we seldom see the same A/V crew and the variations in skill and overall awareness can be alarming.

Personal pet peeve: I’ve had to instruct camera operators to set and lock their iris for the value of the flesh tone and NOT for the overall shot which typically involves a black background, resulting in the speakers looks like a blown-out ghost.

As to audio, something that was recently in one of the trade magazines, and NOT anything I had thought of before, is to take a very small omni lav mic and tape it to the main podium mic, but facing in the opposite direction. Then when you have a speaker attempting to “eat the microphone” the board op simply switches to the omni lav mic for much better audio. Like I said, not my idea but brilliant in its simplicity.

When it comes to coaching your speakers, any chance of getting a brief period before the sessions start to have them go to the podium for a quick sound check? That would be the ideal time to offer suggestions.

[Nick Griffin]

I’ve just done what I assumed to be the norm. Up-rez the SD and add pillars. This then inter-cuts quite nicely with the HD material.

The best looking method I’ve found so far for the up-rez is to play out the material from one editing system into the other via SDI and then have the receiving machine (in this case an AJA Kona 3) perform the up-rez conversion.

For the pillars I’ve used Digital Juice JumpBacks with the 4×3 hole cut in After Effects. I’ve selected a few JumpBacks for their coloration, relative to the SD clips and for their simplicity. I’ve then de-saturated and darkened them so there’s some motion going on, but nothing that will distract from the SD shows.

[Nick Griffin]

Shoot me now.

“Chicago Sun-Times will train reporters on ‘iPhone photography basics”

https://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/214954/sun-times-will-train-reporters-on-iphone-photography-basics/

(Oh… wait a minute. This is Chicago we’re talking about. Just kidding about the “Shoot me now” part.)