Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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I think Mark and Ned are indeed looking at things from two sides of the fence, and I can completely grasp both arguments.
I myself radically fear change but have learned through the years that is a hopeless position to be in our industry.
[Ned Miller] “I hear you saying that one should welcome and embrace that change? Really?”
I don’t think you have to be happy about it. But I do think one has to deal with it, as it is inevitable.
I’ve tried to welcome some of it. A few days ago I had to pull some footage from a Beta tape from a project that was pushing 20 years old (and I worried about a rain of oxide when I opened the case, but fortunately everything was fine). As I was popping the tape in, I realized that in a rack of Beta machines I hadn’t even as much as turned on a single one of the decks in years. Years. We used to send dubs by the hundreds every month to TV stations all over, and those days are gone. And even though we charged for them, if I never have to make anther Beta dub as long as I live it will be too soon. Digital uploads have freed me and the others at my place from a mundane job that took up time better spent doing more interesting, creative, and profitable work. Just one example.
Conversely, we have indeed seen a corporate client or two go away because they suddenly have an in-house “video department” which is some newbie grad with a DSLR and Final Cut. I would grumble about that a bit, especially because one of them was quite the cash cow in its day. But looking back on each of those jobs, I can ask myself “Was the work I was doing for them really what I wanted to be doing?” The answer is invariably “Nah,” it was all trained-monkey work. And in hindsight if the newbie with his 5D or GoPro is doing work that is “good enough” for that client, then that’s not work I care about doing anyway.
For years we were just about the only production company in our area that truly delivered a filmic cinematic look… for the simple reason that we shot film. Hardly anyone else did, and those that did shot 16mm, I most always shot 35mm. Now everybody and their brother has a big-sensor camera and can claim to do so… although our stuff still looks better, because as my friend Tim Knox once reminded me “Talent comes before technology in the dictionary,” and it should in our daily work, too. (and speaking of, where IS Tim? Haven’t seen him here in ages)
The winds of change don’t stop blowing. I don’t always like it either, but I also know no amount of complaining or being frustrated about it is going to stop that.
Indeed, part of my slightly positive attitude toward the Mevo is probably due to the fact that I’m unlikely to be a customer. That’s not the kind of work we do, I can’t think of a single instance in the past 19 years here where I (or one of my customers) would have used it had it been available, nor can I think of an upcoming one… so I can look at it without the “They took our jerbs!” filter. If it was putting me out of work I would no doubt feel differently. But love it or hate it, you have to admit it’s kinda cool technology.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Should be taken care of.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Could not agree more.
Still, it made me say “Dang, that’s cool…..dammit”
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Thanks Ned, I’ll give those a lot.
I’ve looked at a dozen or so VOD platform providers today, I don’t think I’ve seen either of those yet, though.
Thanks!
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I refuse to admit that anything that takes away from what traditional production has been doing well for years…and finds a new/easier way to do it, poorer… is cool.
But…
That’s pretty cool.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Thanks, Ned.
I’ve been trying to educate myself about it. Some is pretty straightforward, some is a little overwhelming.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Well we are just in the beginnings of figuring out what all it needs to be… but…
We are basically talking about embedded videos on her own website that viewers have to pay to watch. Either such that a viewer pays for a specific video, and then has access to view it for a set period of time (say, 30 or 60 days). Or… in another potential scenario maybe they become a “member” of the site and have access to all available videos… again, for a specific membership duration.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I’ve only ever used internal recording with the C300, recording to dual slots. I’ve never run across any reason to use an external recorder with it… at least not yet.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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As a general rule, I think most people would say they get the best results getting a very cinematic filmic look by shooting with the CINEMA preset, which will record using the Canon Log setting. This will give you a very flat looking (and frankly ugly) low-contrast image, but it will be the one with the very most dynamic range and you’ll be able to take that footage in post, apply a LUT if you like, and have the widest range of possible color grading so you can do all of your cinematic voodoo in post. To keep the picture from looking so horribly awful while you are shooting, you can turn on the Viewfinder Assist, which will help the viewfinders simulate what the footage would look like after a LUT was applied in post.
If you don’t want to do that and would prefer a “baked in” cinematic look, AbleCine had some C300 presets available for download on their website. Or, at least they used to… I imagine they are still there.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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As one of my favorite lines from Seinfeld attests… “People… they’re the worst.”
I can attest firsthand that there are probably different levels of ransomware. I’ve never had it happen on any of the work computers, thankfully, but twice I’ve had it happen on personal laptops. Each would freeze with some ominous warning screen, completely locking the computer, and urging me to call the displayed number to pay a fee to unlock it.
In both instances I got around it in about five minutes. I was able to hard crash the computer (just power off) and re-start it in safe mode. Then I just restored the computer to a restore point that was prior to the infection. With both computers I never had a lick of trouble after that.
Now, that’s probably not the right way to do it, and I know the offending stuff is still there somewhere, and if I was ever doing anything sensitive on these computers I would worry about it more… but I wasn’t, and it got me back up and running so I was fine with that.
I’m sure there are much more advanced levels of ransomware though that would take a great deal more scrubbing.
If I haven’t mentioned it already, people… they’re the worst.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
