This business is about making content that people want to see. But I believe the key to all of it is relationships.

Making it Happen

When I was NAB, I’d made it a point to put relationships over exhibits I wanted to see or workshops I wanted to attend. That’s hard to do with all that gear candy. But I maintained that commitment and came away with a few simple thoughts: there are people I met or knew a little bit online that I would call and trust with my budget, vision and project. There are others that are a level deeper and will remain friends for life. Then there is the sector of people who I will never work with; I was disregarded, blown off, and otherwise ignored.

The best part of it? Those that are cool, I WANT to work with them. And even if their work isn’t as great as the other guy’s work, because they’re cool, invested in people more than product, and fun to be around; I’ll hire ‘em.

Take away? You never know what kind of vibe your sending. That vibe speaks way louder than the level or amount of work you have.

Getting it Watched

I believe relationships are at the core of the non-fiction stuff I do. If an audience can connect not just with the story, but with the character in the story then it’s accomplished. If they can walk away feeling connected to the character they’ll feel connected to the story. More often than not, the what IS the who. The story, the location, the cuts, the color, the sound; all just tools to help you reveal who the character is and keep the pacing going. But the relationship between the audience and your subject is where the connection with the content really happens.

Take Away: Connection is people to people- that’s always gonna sell more than pretty shots.

Tags: philosophy, Production

Occasionally, I want you to get to know me a little bit. Well, my wife posted this on her blog:

And now, a story for you inspired by Addie’s post on the 4th of July fireworks: I was at a work-related BBQ last night and a man from the middle of Wyoming was telling us about the Independence Day celebrations where he’s from. “It’s got the highest rate of fireworks purchases per capita in the country!” he said. (I’m not sure if this was conjecture or an actual statistic.) “Everybody buys hundreds of dollars work of big fireworks — and the policemen buy twice as much because the fireworks stands give them a discount — and starting at about 11:00 in the morning, they’re blowing them off. And there’s no ‘open container law’ on the 4th, so people are wandering around in the streets with their open containers all day.”

Now, where I’m from (the nexus of MT/WY culture), cultural commentary like this would go unspoken: it would be like a fish trying to describe water. Of course you buy big fireworks. Of course you, um, imbibe all day while blowing them off. Why the big eyes while I’m telling you this?

“You’re not a Wyoming native, are you?” I queried. Nope, he’s from Oregon.

I knew it! I love my roots

And I love my wife! I thought that was so cool, I had to share it.

Tags: imbibe

This is only really part of the workflow, but I just tested it on a small project tonight and it works! Cineform put up this post a couple days ago about conforming selects from FCP via XML using ReMaster. I saw it and thought, well, Premiere exports an FCP XML…

I’m VERY excited to say that it works! I had a 5 minute nested project that I edited in its native HDV .M2T form. I exported the project to an FCP XML then using the instructions on Cineform’s site, imported the XML into ReMaster.

What does this mean?

The currently accepted professional format for VFX (so I’ve read) is .DPX. This is also the preferred format for Davinci’s upcoming Resolve (so they told me at NAB). This now means you can edit in FCP, Avid, and Premiere and conform your files directly from your timeline to Cineform .DPX files for use in your VFX application or Resolve. A side benefit is being able to utilize First Light to adjust any bad white balances or lighting issues and during the process apply any looks as desired.

It also means you have Cineform’s damn good telecine and pulldown removal for your multi-format/frame rate files. Those nasty little projects you take on that make you pull your hair out. I’ve talked with many editors that have said, “yeah, I can edit this 60 stuff in my 24 timeline. But now what?” Well, this is your answer.

It also means you’ll save transcoding time of ALL clips prior to onlining by allowing only the files used only in the edit to be conformed and also saves time by being able to edit natively in your NLE (take note Premiere DSLR users).

Avid users I suspect will skip the pre-Resolve conform step as Resolve will more than likely take the .MXF files straight from Avid. But there are a whole crop or Premiere and FCP users that can really benefit from this. The caveat is that you need at least Neo4K for .DPX output. But I can do it for you as well And even grade it if you want.

Now, I’m surmising this will work based on how Cineform files already interact with every application and how Resolve specs out. Once I get a copy, I’ll test forthwith.

Tags: cineform, color correction, resolve, tech, workflow