Tim Kolb
Forum Replies Created
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All good input.
As for the number of disciplines I maintain…it’s too many. Living in Neenah, WI (Green Bay market)…Madison is a metro area…though Green Bay is a larger DMA overall.
I light, shoot, edit, 2d graphics, compositing, some 3d. I stay clear of writing and sound. I probably peak at editing and AE 2d stuff, but I can do relatively straight forward 3d stuff, but I contract the sophisticated 3d work…and based on my exposure to other crews around the country, I think I hold my own lighting and shooting.
My problem is that I like it all and enjoy it all. I also end up with some very good project continuity since I do so many of the steps myself.
My draw to this other company is that they have a superior shooter to myself…he shoots film and video and I think that would be a great spot to plant my HD/2K CineForm Prospect Editing system.
Part of my thought with the “shacking up” scenario is that it keeps me from hiring employees as we have mutual sub-contracting available. I understand about plan B and hear that…I have been working with these guys for a while and we’re very familiar with each other, so it’s not a first-date thing.
Nick, hopefully I have now reached the level of knowledge that you have and I’ll finally figure this out…because writing checks for $8K month for health insurance on ten people is just scary…
TimK,
Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net -
Oh, I don’t know… I was actually thinking it would just be a good topic to banty around a bit.
Most of my decisions are made at this point logistically, so it would take a really good suggestion to change one…but that could happen. I’ve made so many mistakes that I’m smarter than I was 16 years ago, but there are plenty more mistakes to make…
The other thing is the additional office space that I’ll need. It’s available in the building, but needs some work. I’m thinking it would be great to just trade some of the rent for us doing our own contracting on it… Any creative lease suggestions are also welcome.
…and other thoughts. I’m sure there are always those who lurk here starting their own business…
TimK,
Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net -
I’m actually not positive I agree that the equipment has to be learned before the brain can do creative thinking…I think it’s a matter of priority.
I had a young guy just out of college come in for his second interview with his project reel and all that and we sat down and talked a bit and we were none-too-stealthily working toward me making an offer when the subject of our equipment came up. I answered his question and told him we had two Media 100 suites (this was the mid-late 90s) and he turned white… He said very quietly “oh…I learned…Avid…” I could tell he figured that would put a stop to things…repressing my urge to laugh, I added…”but…I am concerned about one thing…what sort of a car do you drive?”
He looked at me strangely and said “a Volkswagen” and I put on my best concerned look and said “well you know, editors assist on shoots quite often and we have Chrysler vans…have you ever driven a Chrysler van?”
He looked at me some more and trying to be as sincere as possible he said “well…driving is pretty much driving once you learn where the controls are…”. I smiled and said “yes, it is and in two weeks, you’ll be driving these Media 100s wondering what you were worried about.”
And he did, and in two weeks I stepped into the B suite where he was and reminded him of it.
To be perfectly honest, editing systems aren’t that difficult to learn in my opinion, -editing- IS however.
While eschewing convention is always in style, understanding how a person receives the message we put in front of them will always make your work effective. I always laugh when I work with someone who breaks the “180 rule” on a shoot and then implies that my adherence to such rules is a bit archaic. I think that the difference between “breaking” a rule and ignoring it is that you do the first one intentionally, understanding what the rule’s purpose is and breaking it to serve your vision, those who are ignorant of the 180 rule aren’t doing anything innovative…they’re just sloppy and a viewer’s directional disorientation probably won’t serve their purpose.
I see way to much emphasis on technology, stealing attention from technique in training courses these days. Your expertise in technique determines whether you create flowers or feces…the technology just helps you create more, faster…
TimK,
Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net -
First, I’d start small. I realize that the small projects don’t build the “sex appeal” that you might be hoping for, but people need to get used to the idea of doing videos and it is easiest to take on a small budget project as a risk than a large one.
I might start approaching departments and asking what their biggest problem is…and see if you can figure out a way to solve it with video. After all, that’s what the objective is with Corporate Media…
TimK,
Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net -
[Chris Holland] “That’s too bad though. I am looking at a new Axio System and the ability to blend the frames, add border darkening and do color correction all in realtime with the Storm 2 Card is my favorite part of the card”
Yeah, I hear you. That Old Movie filter without all the pollution turned on really does a pretty nice job of frame blending…particularly considering it’s real-time…I’ve told Canopus several times that they could release these filters as plugs for other software and sell it easily, but I think they want to preserve those capabilities as premium features that draw users to their products.
…hard to hold that against them really…
TimK,
Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net -
[Aanarav Sareen] “Just out of curiosity, is anyone using a 5400 rpm or a 4200rpm laptop drive? I had a 5400rpm drive just a few weeks ago and decided to upgrade to the 7200 rpm drive and didn’t really see a big difference.”
Aanarav,
If you are storing media on the C: drive, two streams of DV (a key preview or opacity reduction would work for this) should demonstrate the difference. A 5400 can do one stream of DV, but two with an effect, particularly with PPro should choke it a little…
TimK,
Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net -
The only things I know of are Magic Bullet (full version for AE) and maybe CineLook has something that will create the “hotspot” like that…I’m not sure.
Otherwise…I typically throw stuff into Edius to get those effects…it’s worth it to run it for that and really long timelines sometimes…
TimK,
Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net -
I think what was meant was some of the throughput requirements for I/O can get hairy with a laptop…and yes, for many mainstream laptops I think that is true. Many of the newer processors, even the mobiles, can function quite well once the footage is inside, but not all laptops can capture and output flawlessly if there are a lot of external peripherals attached.
The big issues now that the processors are up to snuff is the drive speed of the targeted media drive (7200 is advisable for any drive you plan on storing and editing video on) and how the FW/USB path is designed. I’ve had some laptops that can use both the FW port and an added FW card in the PCMIA card slot at the same time with no issues…others…not so much.
It all depends on what combination of components are used…
TimK,
Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net -
[R303] “I want at least a cirtyfied REFERENCE monitor. Not a broadcast monitor “that is ok for grading”. I want to be sure that when things are “to dark” or “to pink” on a clients monitor, that the error is with him and not me.”
You may run into difficulty with matching a true reference monitor to your price range…
Most broadcast monitors are pretty accurate with calibration.
TimK,
Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net -
I wonder if there is some obscure incompatibility with only that camera? Do you have any friends with PPro on a desktop system that you could ask to try to duplicate your problem? Or friends with other camcorders that you could try on your system? Or both?
It sounds as if you’ve tried a lot of options, but one important thing to note is that PPro will not see a FW device that was connected and/or powered “on” AFTER it is launched. The FW device needs to be present and powered up when you launch PPro as PPro only looks for devices when it opens.
TimK,
Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net