3D Creation is (not quite) Consumer
This more of a tech note than dissertation.
JVC, Hyundai, Sony, Panasonic, and the like – are all coming out with 3D monitors. And they’re all flat. And they’re all shiny and sleek. Other subjective features aside, many of the ones you’ve been eyeballing don’t quite cut the mustard when used in the edit bay. Here’s why:
- Frame Rate. Sure, if you’re in the 29.97 / 59.94 world, you’re most likely OK. But if you’re in the 23.98 realm – Be careful! Consumer and pro-sumer 3D monitors often have HDMI input. HDMI is traditionally a consumer and pro-sumer video transport mechanism, so it only stands to reason they would be found on the monitor. Some oddball frame rates – such as 23.98PsF – are not a consumer frame rate. In fact, the HDMI 1.3 spec doesn’t even allow for it. Thus, if you are working in Avid or Final Cut Pro (for example) – and you’re trying to achieve that film look with 3D – that deal you got on your cheap(er) 3D monitor may have served to bite you later. I’ve recent run into this situation with the JVC 463D10U.
Word to the wise: check the spec of the monitor you are buying to ensure it handles any of the frame rates and resolutions you could possibly use.
Solutions / Triage: Cross or down-convert on the output. Avid, for example, can cross convert 1080p 23.98 to 1080i 59.94 or 720p. These are more standard resolutions which a larger variety of monitors can handle. Outboard devices can also handle this, such as the AJA HI5 3G. This unit takes your HD-SDI output (Mojo DX, Nitris DX, Kona3) and does the conversion from 23.98PsF to 23.98p AND converts to HDMI. $690.00 solution. - Type of 3D playback: Passive / Active. I’m not about to launch into the pros and cons of each format but I will tell you what is downwind: Glasses Price. Passive glasses are cheap (in some cases, less than $10, I’ve seen decent paper framed ones – for $1 a piece) Active glasses are over $100 each. So, be aware of the added cost if going active and you have a large viewing audience.
Solutions / Triage: Glasses are probably the least of your concerns – as Active vs Passive is a very old argument – with no clear-cut winner. Decide on what format looks best to you (and the people paying your rate) and find a monitor that handles that. - Flavor of 3D compression. Avid, for example, uses a product called Metafuze to marry left eye and right eye into 1 HD frame size – to constrain to the limits of the Avid software. This yields 2 full frames squashed into 1 full frame, yielding a side by side, over/under, or interlaced image. Aside from losing half the resolution from the get go, this also presents the dilemma “which format should I choose?” Your 3D monitor will tell you. Some monitors only understand, for example, side by side. Thus, if you’ve used Metafuze and encoded into over/under, you now have media that your monitor cannot display properly. That was a waste of time, eh?
Word to the wise: Always verify what you shoot – how you edit – how you view – and how you output – are all the same, or, at least can play together nicely.
Solutions / Triage: Cine-Tal’s Davio, is a hardware based solution utilizing software libraries. One of the libraries handles 3D and can convert inbound baseband 3D video signals into other flavors: side by side can become over/under, for example. You can also split single link to dual link for legacy 3D projection gear. Expect to spend $2500 for the box, and $2500 for the 3D library. DoReMi also has the Dimension-3D box, which reportedly has similar abilities.
- 2D vs. 3D Media. Some 3D monitors easily display a separate 2D image, or a separate 3D image. Taking a 3D image and “muting” one of the eyes – therein lies the challenge. Many monitors cannot eliminate the “combined” 3D image in order to view strictly one eye – 2D. Having this ability is useful in the edit bay, when A) wearing the glasses gives you a headache while you edit B) glasses cut down on light getting to your eye, yielding a darker than usual edit bay and C) you look like damn fool.
Solutions / Triage: Currently, to accomplish this in Avid you would need to keep 2 versions of media – 2D and 3D – and relink to each set of media when wanting to view the appropriate output, or buy extra hardware (see Cine-tal’s Davio, above). Avid’s hardware cannot alter the output of the 3D signal in terms of swapping single frame arrangement or muting eyes (those setting you see in Avid, those are for the Composer Window – Sorry!). I understand Hyundai’s latest 3D monitor has the ability to mute an eye during 3D playback.
- 3D Editing Support. As of this writing (early July, 2010), ONLY Avid has a complete end to end 3D editiorial and finishing solution. While there are other solutions that can trick editorial softs into pseudo 3d editing, or to simply finish 3D after editorial Avid is the only complete end to end solution.
Solutions / Triage: How much time do you want to waste attempting to Rube Goldberg a 3D workflow, only to have the kluge be unsupported when it blows up? If you’re doing a complete project – editing and finishing – stick with the most solid solution.
Final Cut Pro 8: A Wish List
On the heels of the recent uncharacteristically Apple statement about the future of Final Cut Pro, and then a fantastic post by a fellow Hollywood Tech Neighbor Philip Hodgetts, speculation has one again fanned the flames of excitement within the collective Final Cut Pro Kool-Aid drinkers. Thus, I thought I would examine the current gaps I see in the product. A wish list, as it were. And no, not minor keyboard shortcuts and the like, but fundamental features which I believe are needed to kick ass and chew bubblegum. Admittedly, many of these keep the “Pro” in “Pro Apps.”
Unfortunately, this *needs* to be said: None of the views expressed within this entry constitute any advanced product knowledge nor anything more than an educated guess. It’s Apple, you should know this by now. If I knew anything, I’d be shot.
Here are my top 20:
- 64-bit. Yeah, we all know it’s happening. Good.
- Stereoscopic Built in. FCP needs a filter – much like 3D toolbox – which allows for a video track to have a second video track overlayed and locked to it at the same time. This filter needs various flavors of 3D (side by side, over/under, interlaced, anaglyph, etc.) convergence, sync points, and basic color controls – all keyframeable. These “tweaks” and timecode (plus other metadata) needs to be exportable via XML or EDL for use with other systems.Yes, I know 3D Toolbox and Cineform do this, but native support is, of course, welcomed. This is a massive feature that Avid has and FCP doesn’t, and I don’t expect Mr. Jobs to ignore the fact that Hollywood uses Avid for this fact – and not FCP.
- blah blah blah send to mobile me which sends to Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, grandma’s rotary phone with one click blah blah blah also send to iTunes cloud for sharing your video and video playlists with friends blah blah blah.
- Unlimited RT was cool for a couple years, but now, c’mon – just support more native formats in the timeline. Log & Transfer has still has some good uses when you don’t want to edit in the native camera codec, but realistically, every other NLE supports more and more native camera formats in the timeline. If Apple wants to continue to make their apps more geared towards consumers, then support what consumers are generating. That being said, native DPX and image sequence support would be very, very, very nice.
- Add mixing of frame rates, frame sizes, and audio sample rates without needing Unlimited RT.
- Shared projects. FCP has always been a single user environment. Aside from XML exchanges, (which – let’s face it – bloat your project quickly) FCP really needs some kind of shared project environment, a la Avid Unity. I concede I can see where this may be rolled into an XSan environment, but collaboration is being stifled by this limitation.
- Break the large frame size restriction. Large graphics and frame sizes will bring FCP to it’s knees. I’m sure 64-bit will help to remedy this.
- More efficient round tripping without exporting. The Motion roundtrip is great. The Soundtrack Pro is not.
- More efficient Compressor CPU utilization (have you seen how bad it is?) and a more reliable QMaster for distributed rendering. QMaster breaks or loses track of nodes way to often and is not nearly as efficient as it could be. I’d love to see a PC verison of QMaster to add PC’s into the mix (Hey, Apple *has* made a few Windows apps)
- Distributed Rendering – not just Compressor encode based. Maybe even background rendering whenever the mouse isn’t moving. (i.e. the system is never idling – always rendering)
- Better support for uber high powered video cards (NVidia 4800, 5600, 5800, etc) with or without SDI, plus better leveraging of the card’s GPU. I’d love to get a high end video card and have the option of using SDI for output instead of a Kona or Blackmagic card.
- Blah blah FCP project blah blah iPad blah blah look at what I’m doing to this video in real time blah blah blah get video from iPhone too blah blah blah roundtrip video from apple mobile devices along with comments blah blah blah
- Initial deployment of cloud based editing. C’mon, the writing is on the wall. It may not be ready for primetime, but there has got to be some hooks to edit material already sitting in the cloud.
- Email notifications for everything. Renders, exports, media moving, FTPing, etc.
- Skinnable and/or color scheme changes, and more control over ALL text and button sizes – not just Browser and Timeline text.
- Versioning, not just incremental autosaves.
- Facial and verbal recognition and tagging of this in FCP, which populates the metadata fields in the browser, with markers. Couple this with a form of Script Sync, and we now have a way to associate searchable media and text for faster usage. Facial recognition has been out for a few years with iPhoto, many applications out there have decent verbal recognition, and Script Sync…well, the other “A” company has had it for many, many years.
- Edit while live capturing of the same footage. Several other plug-ins have already been doing it for years.
- R3D native support. Wavelets got FCP on the map with RED users, but the hand tieing because of the extractions made it a pain.
- Real Time LUT based filters. Apply a filter that reads LUTs and BOOM, instant RT “looks” for the Editor. Maybe even applying a LUT while capturing or during Log & Transfer for permanent bake-in….?
Avid 5.0, ProRes, and You
I’ve been getting massive web traffic and emails from people looking to use ProRes within Avid, as well as outputting ProRes from Avid. With Avid Media Composer 5.0 due to be released next month, the two playing nice with one another will be paramount. I drew up this short Q&A for fellow coworkers at Key Code Media, and I thought I’d share it here.
- Can Avid 5.0 on Mac or PC play Pro Res?
Yes, provided you have a recent version of Quicktime (free) installed. This is required by Avid for installation. - Can Avid 5.0 EXPORT into ProRes?
Mac: Not Natively, but yes. Apple allows for any machine (Mac or PC) to PLAY ProRes with a current version of Quicktime, or with the free ProRes decode codecs from apple.com. However, ENCODING into ProRes is limited to the OS having certain software(s) installed.This includes 1 of the following:
- Final Cut Pro
- Final Cut Server
- Logic Pro
- Compressor
These apps install the proper ProRes component, which is needed for ProRes encoding. There are sneaky ways around this without installing one of the 4 apps, however they all violate Apples EULA and are illegal, and can also be unreliable.…thus, don’t do it.
PC: No. Apple has not made it possible for any software manufacturer to do a software ProRes encode on a PC platform.
- If I have ProRes in my timeline (Mac or PC) and create an effect, how does it render?
Good Question. On both Mac and PC – even if you have one of the 4 apps above installed, Avid 5.0 will NOT render into ProRes. If you look in your media creation settings, Avid will default to another codec. - Then, how do I get my Avid project to FCP and vice versa?
Wes Plate at Automatic Duck has you covered. Automatic Duck provides for both of these scenarios.- Avid to FCP: http://automaticduck.com/products/pifcp/
- FCP to Avid: http://automaticduck.com/products/pefcp/
Keep in mind, these are NOT yet (as of 5/20/10) qualified for Avid 5.0. Usage of Automatic Duck with legacy media (OMF, MXF) may require some transcoding to work within the other editing system. Depending on the workflow, the Automatic Duck software may be able to handle the transcoding for you. See the README for each plugin.
Remember, all of this is based on an Avid 5.0 Beta – at least 30 days from release. Features are of course, subject to change. However, I do not forsee anything changing, due to Apple’s licensing.
On a side note, I am really, really excited about Avid 5.0. NAB 2010 had me geeked, the beta has me jazzed, and I think this is one of the best steps Avid has taken in many years.
Conceptual: Eliminating Bleeping of Words During Broadcast
Problem:
My viewing experience is tainted by the “cleansing” of perceived foul language and/or content by network and cable censors.
Issues to consider:
- No station is going to simulcast 2 streams of video and/or audio just for language. This will eat up satellite bandwidth and cost millions.
- You don’t fuck with the FCC.
Thus, we are left to find a way to selectively filter out content using existing technology and infrastructure.
Here is my spitball concept:
During Editorial – within Avid or Final Cut Pro – a marker could be placed in the timeline at the start of the offensive word / and or phrase. These markers, when exported, could easily become metadata within that exported file. As that file gets transcoded, moved, and subsequently broadcast, this metadata “flag” could trigger a process within the end user cable box to replace the offensive audio with a bleep. This keeps the censorship on a per household and per TV set basis – i.e. the adults make the call on what’s acceptable; not the station. As an added bonus, there could be parameters for types of markers: language, violence, religion, etc…think of a V Chip on steroids.
A modification could also be made to this workflow to have the “flag” be automatic.
How?
Closed Captioning requires transcription of the spoken word. This is the encoded into the video signal and timed intervals. A filter added to the broadcast center gear would allow any closed captioning word or phrase that is equal to a set of parameters, to effectively be censored. Closed Captioning also has other “hidden” metadata, that could also be used to trigger the censor, if the text is not deemed accurate enough. (Remember, closed captioning text is not always in sync with the audio – and closed captioning can always be turned off by the user.)
What problems this does present is:
- What if the system ever fails? Broadcast outlets could face steep FCC fines if someone tripped a power cord and Pulp Fiction was broadcast sans bleeps.
- What if people are using over-the-air HD sets? No cable box would force the brodcasters to have the security in place – not the end user.
Penny for your thoughts?
When a soft whisper becomes a loud echo – Digidesign
Mixing, June 2009: Celebrating 13 years since my first Pro Tools session.
Unfortunately folks, the post will not be back up.
Despite my best attempts to keep a clear cut delineation between my fantastic day job at Key Code Media and Michael Kammes dot com; my post appears to have blurred that line and ruffled some feathers. Therefore, the post is down to keep the peace.
I appreciate the support and keep reading!
DIGITAL PRODUCTION BUZZ: NAB 2010: Blu-ray
Listen to the report from the NAB BuZZ: nabbuzzshow.com; Thursday, 10am show. (apparently I’m unflappable!)
Transcript:
I’ve always been a huge proponent of the optical disc format, even after my ill fated investment in DVD-RAM back in the late 90’s. However, as of late, my interest was beginning to wane, after not getting nearly as much client interest in Blu-ray as I thought I would.
After 2 days of searching, I was beginning to feel a bit let down. Was Apple right? Was disc dead – and streaming video was the wave of the future? Had I not gotten the memo?
Then, off in the distance in the South Hall, I felt a relief as my disc heart became pacified: I give you Net Blender.
Net Blenders DoStudio 2.0, announced at NAB, offers Blu-ray authoring. To those familiar with DVD creation, DoStudio has all of the features you’d expect: tree based layout, timeline views, Photoshop support for menus and graphics, and drag and drop functionality. DoStudio also offers the first commercially available 3D authoring, whose specification was finalized just last December. Yes – you now can convert those 3D movies we know you’re shooting of your kid’s t-ball game to Blu-ray. Nothing like Billy’s line drive to dads groin for Americas Funniest Home videos IN 3D!
DoStudio authors in the newer and more feature rich BD-J format, as well as providing BD Touch : which allows for rich media access and the ability to download cool extras to your iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Do Studio also offers it’s own AVC encoder – to ensure compatibility with your Blu-ray encoded project.
Net Blender has a free trial of DoStudio online at NetBlender.com.
DIGITAL PRODUCTION BUZZ: Trends at NAB 2010: Openness
Listen to the report from the NAB BuZZ: nabbuzzshow.com; Tuesday, 5pm show.
or
See my article from POST Magazine here.
Transcript:
There’s been an emerging trend in the post realm over the past few years and it’s not surprising that this year at NAB continues this trend…the trend of openness. While companies and their technology proved to be much more initially lucrative when they were a closed ecosystem – the backlash from dead bolting ones product proved not only to be a revenue suck, but also caused the perception of arrogance or even ignorance. The collective grumbling from the user communities of these products seems to have finally fallen on sympathetic ears, and a whole host of cross-armed, head shaking entrenched old world practices are now replaced and subsequently embrace the notion of collaboration and not confrontation.
Many examples can be found from some of the juggernauts at this years NAB. As reported here on BuZZ, Avid is now warmly welcoming several other players. With the adoption of Matrox’s MX02 Mini, editors now have an inexpensive, yet high quality output device from Media Composer – something users have been clamoring for since day one. Until now, this functionality was only available on Avid hardware at 10X the cost. Plus, the opening of Avid’s AMA to QuickTime, ensures that just about any video file that you may come across can now play natively within your timeline, thus negating the need to exclusively use Avids MXF or OMF file structure. Yes, this does mean that Avid’s biggest competitors video du jour ProRes, can be now be played within Avid.
Many examples can be found from some of the juggernauts at this years NAB. As reported here on the NAB BuZZ, Avid is now warmly welcoming several other players. With the adoption of the Matrox MX02 Mini, editors now have an inexpensive, yet high quality output device from Media Composer – something users have been clamoring for since day one. Until now, this functionality was only available on Avid hardware at 10X the cost. Plus, the opening of Avid’s AMA to QuickTime, ensures that just about any video file that you may come across can now play natively within your timeline, thus negating the need to exclusively use Avid’s MXF or OMF file structure. Yes, this does mean that its biggest competitors video du jour Pro Res, can be now be played within Avid.
Next, we have Squarebox’s CatDV – a fantastically robust digital asset management solution. CatDV not only organizes, catalogs and manages data, but also has the ability to utilize the video data by creating Final Cut Pro sequences from collections of clips within it’s database. It also can generate Avid compatible files and sequences. This allows for an extremely easy interop between your NLE of choice and the asset management system. As an added bonus, its database can utilize databases created from other asset management solutions.
Root6’s Content Agent – which is an intelligent node based encoding solution, announced the new ability to partner with and even utilize one of it’s competitors products - Telestream’s Episode Engine. This powerful combination allows for the Windows based Content Agent to encode into ProRes. With the Apple imposed limitation of only being able to decode ProRes on a PC, Content Agent becomes the first OS agnostic transcoding platform. All with help from its market share rival.
These are just a handful of examples hopefully paving the way for the future of the industry: collaboration for the benefit of your user base.
Hear that Apple?
POST Magazine: NAB 2010: Making Legacy Gear Future Friendly
Listen to the report from the NAB BuZZ: nabbuzzshow.com; Thursday, 9am show.
See my article from POST Magazine here.
Transcript:
There are several reasons to attend NAB.
1) See where your co-workers and clients work now – because most likely they’re with some other company, doing the exact same thing.
2) Be a geek, and yet be able to party like a rockstar – because everyone else is also a geek and also trying to party like a rockstar, so it’s OK.
3) See what the latest and greatest is, and what you need to mortgage your house to buy.
While the first 2 will never change a small but very important portion of the “new” gear you’re here to see is aimed at making sure you DON’T have to sell your organs on the black market to afford. They make your legacy gear future friendly.
Camera technology is probably the worst offender in terms of obsolescence. Tapeless is becoming the status quo, but the cameras of yesteryear – and often only a year or so ago – lack the functionality most new shooters demand – which is the ability to interface with an editing system easily. Your camera may be tapeless, but it may shoot in a format that is difficult for your editing system to understand without jumping through hoops. Quite possibly, you may just love the glass on that old betacam and refuse to give it up for a new run and gun solution. Whatever your reason, there is hope.
Convergent Designs nanoFlash device is a camera accessory that takes your cameras SD & HD SDI or HDMI output and encodes it on the fly into Sony’s XDCAM HD codec. You have the ability to select bitrates for quality, as well as what file format the video is saved in – QuickTime, MXF and MPG – to ensure it will play in your NLE. Instant tapeless for your beloved boat anchor, I mean, livelihood.
AJA’s Ki Pro – like the nanoFlash, takes the SD and HD SDI output of your camera and encodes into a digital video file. The Ki Pro records into Apple’s Pro Res codec, from Pro Res Proxy up to Pro Res 422 HQ –on the fly. This unit has a more robust feature set, including removable storage that can be transported and used with your NLE, plus a web interface for management and control options. Announced at NAB is the new ability to communicate with other Ki Pros for gang recording as well as RS422 support. It even has a camera mount so it can mount between your tripod and camera.
A new device, which I am very geeked about, is the Cinedeck. Not only is it a location encoder, like Ki Pro and the nanoFlash, but it comes with a crapload of I/O. Yes, Crapload is the technical term. It sort of resembles a Garmin GPS for your car in appearance. Cinedecks I/O includes component and composite video, SD & HD SDI and Dual Link via 3G and HDMI, as well as digital and analog audio, and with storage encodes into an edit ready 10 bit 422 or 12 bit 444 CineForm DI codec in MOV or AVI format. But wait, there’s more! MXF, uncompressed and DPX file formats are also included – all the way up to 2K frame sizes.
There’s also a LAN port as well as USB ports for loading LUTs and an Esata with port multiplier and RAID support. Its touch screen allows for menu navigation and video playback. All in the same size and weight as your 7” on camera focus monitor.
I’m not a shooter, but I think I want a camera, just to play with this.
So save your money. Go tapeless and keep your beloved shoulder steel.
DIGITAL PRODUCTION BUZZ: NAB 2010: Day One Home Runs
Listen to the report from the NAB BuZZ: nabbuzzshow.com; Wednesday, 3pm show.
Transcript:
I came to NAB to submerge myself in all that is geek, and thus far I have not been disappointed. I thought I’d share the things that have really piqued my interest and if you haven’t yet checked them out yet– do so!
1) Cineform. I recently spent an evening demoing this software for a few hundred people and it was definitely the belle of the ball. Cineform has been a fantastic DI codec for years, but their product Neo3D takes that to a whole new level, allowing users to do stereoscopic within Final Cut Pro with RT convergence and color adjustments per eye via what they term active metadata. With an AJA Kona3 card, users can output Full Frame left and full frame Right Eye – no rendering needed. Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve seen in FCP in a long time.
2) Telestream has been any industry leader for years with their line of consumer, prosumer and enterprise encoding and automation solutions. Their latest product announcement is no exception. Its called Vantage – and it’s built on their Flip Factory encoding engine. Vantage allows for node based decisions and intelligent encoding. This means that Vantage can analyze a file and perform encoding operations based on the parameters of that file. A logic based tree – from a drag and drop interface – allow for complex workflows to be easily created based on any file it may encounter.
3) NewTek. Newtek may sound familiar to some of you, as they struck pay dirt many years ago with Video Toaster. In the not to distant past, they introduced TriCaster – a broadcast truck in a box – a small form factor computer with a broadcast switcher like interface, enabling users to produce a professional looking TV show with graphics, lower thirds, with DDRs…AND stream it to the web. Their HD unit, announced at the 2009 NAB show offered the same fantastic product, but limited with only 3 inputs. This year, they announced the XD850 – an 8 input full HD TriCaster. I could talk about this for hours. Trust me – check out newtek.com -the XD850 TriCaster is by far tops on my want list.
4) StorageDNA. This product has been around for a few years, but I think it’s finally hit its stride. StorageDNA’s DNASync 3.0 offers scaleable peer-to-peer content synchronization, WAN and LAN acceleration, and the ability to delta sync – that is, only move or copy data that is changed. Two major workflows involve SAN backup and sync. #1 Large storage solutions need backup – and using DNASync, less expensive storage can be used for disaster recovery. #2 –, which I love – is peer-to-peer file sharing. Forget slow FTP. I can now send and sync files from one user to another, faster than FTP. I recently used this for a film I was working on – the editor had to get me QT files and cuts, and we had no time for FTP or shipping a hard drive. The editor in Chicago dropped the collateral in a folder, and it instantly started copying to my hard drive – in LA.
And this is all just in the South Hall Lower Level. There’s a ton more to come!
-
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POST Magazine: What everyone starting out should know
Posted by Michael Kammes on April 22, 2010 · 5 Comments
I penned a tongue in cheek article for a blog post for Post Magazine, and they decided to print it. Since I can’t seem to find it on their website, I present it here:
I’m actually in a very unique position. I have the privilege of meeting editors and seeing facilities which run the gamut in terms of post production. TV, film, and new media; both back in the Midwest and here in Southern California. I was able to work as both a Creative and as a companion to the Creatives. And through all of these projects, meet and greets, consultations and chats over a beer, I’ve compiled a list of things I think everyone breaking into the industry should know.
I know many of these observations come as second nature to some people, others may be things we’ve been told, but never absorbed consciously. Perhaps repeating them here may help “hit it home”.
1. Be on time or early. I am absolutely amazed at how little this is followed. Yes, I know there is traffic. Yes I know there is rain. But that means nothing to the person who has 5 meetings after the one with you. Show respect to them and their project. Be on time or early.
2. Speak so you are understood. I still fall victim to this. Slow down, contain your excitement and/or eagerness to blurt out your notions on the Universe. Speak in a clear and concise voice. Not to loud, not to soft or a mumble. Until you know where you stand with the person, do not give the whole sorid story – only give the black and white facts.
3. Double check your work. You may finish a task sooner than anticipated. That probably means you’ve messed something up or forgotten something – hence the reason you were given more time.
4. We know you’re using some cracked software. Don’t mention it. It’s not cool when facilities have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for software to be legal, and you got it via a torrent. Oh yeah, and don’t take or use their stuff without asking.
5. Do not – I repeat – do NOT use your first foot in the door as a way to get “discovered”. Do not push your demo reel or band’s demo CD onto a client.
Found on post facility coffee tables everywhere.
6. Turn your damn cell phone off.
7. Carry a notepad. Or a voice recorder. Something to remember the instructions you were given. A co-worker once told me (and still tells me to this day) “The one thing I hate most is having to repeat myself.” If you have a record of the chat, there is no repeating.
8. George Santayana once wrote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” For over 100 years, people have been working in post. Study how they worked, the problems they overcame, and learn from that. I cannot tell you how much it has helped to understand how things “used to” work when relating to my peers or staples in the industry. It gives you credibility and a respect for the medium.
9. Don’t drop names. There really isn’t a good way to do it unless you yourself are a name.
10. You do not know more than the people who are hiring you. If you did, you would not need a job. Technical proficiency or the latest plug-in or keyboard shortcut, in post, does not yield higher intelligence. Personality, personability, experience, and seeing post as whole process yield post intelligence.
11. Speaking of, understand the processes outside of your concentration. What you work with is a direct result of what the previous department did; just as the next step in the post process relies on you doing things correctly. Someone will mess a step up – and you need to be able to track it down.
12. You will do stuff you think is beneath you. Whether it’s a coffee run, or logging hours of clips, we all had to do it. All of that prepares you for the Big Time. These menial tasks not only demonstrate your ability to listen and follow through, but your effectiveness down the stretch. Think of it as the minor leagues – only in this game, you have to be the waterboy first. Save your hotshot techniques for your indie projects off of craigslist.
13. You often learn as much from the people around the creative space as you do the creatives themselves. For example, the engineer can teach you signal flow. The receptionist can tell you about the clients personalities.
14. You are in a unique position, as well: you bring a fresh view on things to the table. While it may be uninformed, it does have something the jaded people at the facility may not have: fresh eyes. When (and if!) you feel comfortable (and in private), bring these up. But do it in such a way that you are attempting to help the company. Do not point out fault or blame. You haven’t earned that ability yet. This is extraordinarily difficult, and it may take several months – if at all – to have the respect of the company to accept what you have to say as helpful, and not the ramblings of some snot nosed intern.
15. I know you’re a creative at heart. And you work in a creative space. And you feel your dress should reflect that. But, for god sakes, pull up your pants. Take a shower. Look like you care about how you are perceived, even if you really don’t. Why? Because you are being judged. It’s a fact of life – especially in the entertainment industry. Be outwardly unique on your own time.
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