[Nick Griffin]

VERY impressive! Like the rhythm, especially the boxing sequence. As we say here in the states, “tight!”

[Nick Griffin]

[Ned Miller] “Some clients enjoy helping in the search, makes them feel they’re having a creative input.
“

Personally this makes me NUTS and I avoid giving even the chance for this kind of “creative input” whenever and wherever possible. I like the fact that llanca is trying to keep control of the quality.

[Nick Griffin]

Thanx!
I don’t mean to be stupid (which obviously I can be), but I’ve changed Audio Settings and still no ability to pan. Now the music track is in stereo, full left and full right, but the single VO track which had been centered is now panned full left. When I select the entire VO track and go to Clip>Audio>Center Pan it still stays in full left. There must be something extremely obvious that I’m missing, but remain clueless. Is there a fundamentally different way to pan in 8.5 that I’m not aware of?? My project is nearing its deadline and I must solve this quickly.

[Nick Griffin]

I love my 9″ Flanders for its many, many, many features. I especially like its very bold and easy to use Peaking function for showing focus. Display of timecode enables me to know that a camera boomed up above where we can see is in fact recording. Flanders also has more scopes and meters.

BUT it is considerably more money than the monitors you are discussing.

[Nick Griffin]

First, some really nice photography in several places. The people stuff is obviously just kind of run and gun, which may be exactly what you’re looking for.

Second, loose the circle wipes through black. IMHO they look very dated. The white flash transition is better but the key in this kind of editing is keeping your transitions the same, or at least in the same family.

Third, from a story-telling point of view — and this is me saying this to someone formerly with a newspaper — you need to lead with something more emotional, more of a grabber. Why should we care? Tell us at the beginning not toward the end. You might even consider using the last guy as a voice-over during the running close-ups and other footage to clearly establish why this deserves the viewer’s attention. His statements could also be more emotional.

Lastly, and I believe you asked for direct responses, I’m not sure your trailer will stand-up as a longer piece. What else is their to say? Unless you have some really interesting content it’s difficult to pull in and keep an audience. And monetarily speaking, docs are a VERY hard market to get into and seldom pay well, if at all.

[Nick Griffin]

I guess the first and primary piece of information we need to know is what’s your camera? If it’s a big 15-20 pound camcorder with a 5 pound battery hanging off the back of course that won’t work well with a cheaper jib. But if it’s a DSLR that’s a whole different story.

We’ve been very happy with the Libec 30 and now 50 for both our big XDCam rig and for the much lighter Canon C-100. New the 50 is out of your stated range, but there’s a Libec 30 on eBay right now for $849.99. BUT… (and it’s a big but), this and other ones in its price range require that you have a decent tripod to set the jib on and a decent fluid head to move from the tripod to the end of the jib arm.

Hope this helps or at least starts to clarify what anyone else wants to chip in.

[Nick Griffin]

[Mark Suszko] “Insurance company executives will be among the first up against the wall, come the revolution”

And, if you’ve read the cover story in this week’s Bloomberg Business Week, you know that the pharma companies should be standing right there beside them. Or should the lobbyists who got and keep us in this ridiculous situation go first?

Sorry fellow Americans to be part of sharing so much of our dirty laundry in an international public forum. Our European friends have to be wondering how we ever could have let this happen.

[Nick Griffin]

For younger employees you might want to look into establishing Health Savings Accounts, supplemented by a high deductible catastrophic policy. That’s a much less expensive approach that still meets the legal requirements.

But, as we always say, I’m not a lawyer (or a licensed insurance agent) so seek outside advice from a professional.

[Nick Griffin]

Thanks, Ned. Like I need help finding new things to buy to feed my video habit. In all seriousity this servo lens seems like a great addition to the Canon line. My biggest problem putting it on our C-100 is the fact that it costs more than the camera itself is currently worth. Guess I’ll have to get a C-300 MkII. Oh, wait! There I go again.

In response to Oliver’s original post we use several cameras for different tasks. The big rig for the past 8 years (I know a lifetime in camera/dog years) is a Sony XDCAM. Because of the industrial stuff we do we have an ultra-wide lens that’s now worth more on the used market than the camera is, but I love both the camera and the lens. My fingers know right where they’re supposed to be to get what I want.

Because our Canon still camera was aging I figured that a new 5D MkIII could do double duty for both stills and video. The problem is without a shutter I simply didn’t like the “look” of video out of it, especially motion which is the majority of what we shoot in addition to talking heads. I also REALLY hated the options for recording synch-sound with the 5D and that made it all the more difficult to use.

So I bought a used C-100 from a nearby COW buddy. The audio is like a real camera (XLR, phantom powering, limiters (or not). Then Canon came out with the dual pixel upgrade and that opened new worlds of auto-focusing, some good, some not so good. But it’s a HUGE improvement over trying to get a DSLR to do what I want it to do.

Oh, and I almost forgot, the GoPro is an amazing tool for special situations. It’s perfect for getting unique perspectives, especially dangerous ones where you could lose the camera. We’ve put ours through operating machinery. What’s the risk $300? Worth it for the shots!!! The bad thing about the GoPro, at least the 3rd generation one we have, is that it records what it does very well, but try to grade the footage and you quickly learn that it’s set up to get what it gets and when you try to shift that you quickly run to the edge of what it can do. Simple adjustments tend to posterize. (Gee, Ned. Do you think I should look into the new mini-Arri cameras? Thanks for the suggestion.)

So this has been a rambling monologue on my view on cameras. Perhaps it contributes something to the conversation or not.

[Nick Griffin]

OK, just as a follow-up to Todd’s hassle-free experience, what is the size of Lithium battery that’s allowed on flights? Isn’t to something like 80’s are OK, but bigger than that are not allowed?