tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67918349714326930232024-03-14T01:41:07.958+08:00Kai the FCP EditorSingapore-based Final Cut Pro Editor for TV, TVC, Documentaries, Corporate Videos and Short FilmsKai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-20830944610423507352012-04-20T19:37:00.001+08:002012-04-20T19:39:07.168+08:00CinemaEditor Magazine - Subscribe!Just got informed of a pretty good deal over Twitter - US$5 for a yearly online subscription and US$25 for both online and hardcopy subscription over at CinemaEditor Magazine, the official magazine for the American Cinema Editors (ACE). <br />
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I really like reading about editing (even though in recent months, the Producing side has took more attention from the Editing side... pitfalls of a PrEditor) - both the bits about gear and about the craft. Actually, I like to read more about the craft. And it seems to be quite a niche subject so there's not much reading material out there. <br />
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So of course, I jumped at this opportunity!<br />
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If you'd like to get your hands on the mag, go on to <a href="http://www.cinemaeditormagazine.com/">http://www.cinemaeditormagazine.com</a>Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-64381432236825216362011-10-27T01:26:00.000+08:002011-10-27T01:26:08.488+08:00LOL in the Edit RoomAs an editor, somewhat ironically, I watch very few films and edit very few videos outside of work... guess I love editing a whole bunch but putting some distance between us is a good thing.<br />
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So, on the topic of 'distance', here's my favorite DoP bridging the time-space continuum with me ;)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="250" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UA6NQdQppEI" width="400"></iframe><br />
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Usually, in the edit room, it's me 'talking to' [or ranting at] the actors onscreen or my DoP/Director/Sound Guy/Client/Make-Up Artist off-screen, like a raving lunatic...Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-86396991661227416152011-08-17T00:17:00.000+08:002011-08-17T00:17:16.175+08:00Oiling the Wheels for the Next WaveA little bit of a rest period post-madness, so have managed to upload a few more recent works:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="250" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5aZrrdHCZ2U" width="400"></iframe><br />
<i>Our future nursing professionals! From the NUS Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies (Did you know we have an up-and-coming Nursing Undergrad, Masters AND PhD programme in Singapore?) Very classy piece and good interviews and footage to work with. Wasn't on set for this but I was told by my crew that the selected student-talents really did their homework (the preparation definitely shows in the delivery of the soundbites) and were a joy to work with during re-enactments with their positive attitudes. Kudos! When you have clients who really take ownership of their videos, the editor gets great footage to work with and the videos shine.</i> <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="250" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kAyuyGK7zew" width="400"></iframe><br />
<i>An Opening Video I did for the Singapore Sports Awards. Took me a while to experiment with and come up with the style but once I locked down what I wanted to achieve, making it happen was a smoother affair. Shortlisted the most dramatic stills and went for it. Clients had some footage, mostly news coverage sort, so we felt it would dilute the impact. That's where we boldly suggested going with just the stills and creating the story from there. Had a hand in crafting the pitched concept and this was one of the rarer projects where we managed to run the pitched copy almost 100% (tweaking it slightly to suit the photos we have to play with). Pretty happy with the final result - a "blockbuster movie trailer" of sorts. Kind of ran contrary to the initial brief/what they're used to previously - didn't use any video footage and kept it really short. But hey, clients' feedback post-event was that this really fired up the audience and set the mood - Mission: Accomplished!</i><br />
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With the breathing room created during this downtime, I finally got myself down to my TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) doctor. Was following up for some other issue but with a few pokes and prods, she found out my back was actually too abnormally tense. I'd thought it's because I've been so busy that I've not gotten my weekly dose of gymming/exercise for 2 months running. It turned out that it was due to the long stretches of long/late edits leading to really late dinners, causing poor digestion which led to the pulling of the back muscles.<br />
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And that was how I ended up undergoing my first acupuncture session! Having gone through it, I'd say it looks scarier than it really is. Though there were some really strange and awkward sensations when she poked the needles in to the sorest of spots.<br />
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In any case, I'm glad she identified that problem because I felt better immediately after! No more sore back. Now, THAT'S a big thing for editors who sit in their chairs for more than 10 hours daily. And now, I'm finally restarting my exercising... and hope to get back on some sort of routine. Got to keep the most important piece of "equipment" chugging along nicely.Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-85081355737506135562011-06-22T02:28:00.000+08:002011-06-22T02:28:50.203+08:00X Marks The SpotAhhhh... between my last post and this post, much has happened. Many projects have been completed, many edit hours churned out and I've added a few new clients to my company and freelance list. Haven't had a proper break for more than a year and a half (but finally, a short beach getaway is coming right up) but those edits ain't gonna edit themselves, are they? :)<br />
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In fact, I've been so busy with pre/prod/post that I've not had the chance to upload some of our latest works online. Though I've managed to squeeze two more new videos online - both fun to work with, on shoot and in post:<br />
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<i>TV Commercial for our long-time theater client, Toy Factory, for their "881 - The Musical" production. Heard the musical sold very well and was well-received by the audience - kudos! </i><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="250" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/__OuSSWbLxo" width="400"></iframe> <br />
<i>Something fun for another returning client, OpenNet. Where do you get such nimble and expressive hands? HINT: Editing develops agility and a good sense of rhythm ;)</i><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">BUT, the Biggest, Baddest, most Bombastic Breaking News of all broke a coupla' hours ago:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>FCP X is (finally) here</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">It's only been a few hours and there has been a lot of online chatter about The X. I've seen the official intro video and read about the features, comments and hot-off-the-keyboards reviews (not to forget, the key omissions). Not being an early adopter of technology (but only staying ahead of the news without burning holes in my pockets), I'm going to adopt my usual 'Wait and See' approach.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Afterall, I am running a fairly stable (though sometimes quirky) FCP 6.0 system on 10.5 Leopard on a 2009 Mac Pro and... it works. I am very familiar with & fairly fast on it. I have more than a few current and pending projects - and lots more that I'll need to be able to tap into in case clients come back (a key omission in The X) - and clients have been coming back to update their videos recently.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The lack of OMF exporting feature in FCP X makes it a definite no-go for me as well. BUT from comments made by editors that Apple Dev team consults with, these "pro" features are currently omitted but not forgotten. Which suits me just fine - shall await a more stable and feature-complete package before making the switch. It's a complete rewrite, so surely, I'm not going to bank on it to be The One on first try (even though many people seem pretty upset by having their expectations shattered after waiting so long... as for me, I have too much patience. I can wait.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">In the meantime, I am grateful for the early adopters and FCP fanatics who had already started editing projects with FCP X mere hours after its release! For they will probably be the ones to stress the system and discover the 101 flaws and bugs that Apple will work on for its next update... </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Moving to FCP X would probably be inevitable but does not have to be imminent for my shop. I can see FCP X potentially being very useful around here (once I get up to speed with the new.... almost-everything + the professional features get worked in and stabilized + all my paid plugins get their necessary updates) - we're a small shop and almost all our projects are short-form and not more than 20mins, we work with tapeless formats 70% of the time and deliver tapeless for majority of our clients as well.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I would be lying if I say I'm not equally thrilled AND spooked by the really low price point at US$299.99 - thrilled that for such a low price, I can get a whole buncha bells, whistles, SFX and templates bundled with a spanking new NLE; spooked because now really EVERYBODY can just get an iMac/MacBook Pro and be an editor/run a production house/set up their own internal post-production team. We're already experiencing some sort of stagnation of project prices despite high inflation... so this can be quite disconcerting.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Hardware and software-wise, the barriers to entry have really been dropped low. In terms of experience and expertise? It's probably going to remain difficult to explain the value-add of having an "education" (formal or usually, non-formal and in the "real world", supplemented by copious amounts of good, updated reading/viewing materials online).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">In any case, I think many people are still reeling from the shock of finally coming face-to-face with the much-anticipated, spanking new FCP that looks and behaves so differently from its ancestors... hobbling along more like an iMovie Pro/crippled Final Cut Pro.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The release of the news came a little underwhelming but I guess life (and edits) will go on... to bed, I shall. Regardless of NLE, nothing can replace a clear mind when pressing them JKL keys!</div>Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-25819271942046693092010-10-29T03:08:00.000+08:002010-10-29T03:08:07.995+08:00ReelSpam [or 'What I Was Up To For The Past Few Months']Been a while since I popped in but it's been a busy few months [and months to come]. Highly productive season working with new clients who've come our way. Doing pretty fun videos. Currently in the process of uploading the newly completed ones to our YouTube channel. Meanwhile, here are some of the latest works that I've edited.<br />
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This is a highlights reel containing footage from the 20 short vignettes I've cut for the 1-Altitude Gallery. Beautiful footage shot on the 5D. It was great fun cutting these 20 videos and giving each of them a unique theme/mood/rhythm. A little bummed I wasn't able to be on shoot since my crew had so much fun running about like tourists - but those videos weren't gonna edit themselves!<br />
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<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/U-osnvkVsYE?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/U-osnvkVsYE?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <br />
Client came back to us after we did a good job for them on our first collaboration - the first video really made the APAC office stand out among their global counterparts. So, they decided to take our concept further and commission a Part Deux using the same actor, animation style and premise. This one is on Cloud Computing and we worked with our animation partner to create something fun.<br />
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<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/33S8cEk44q4?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/33S8cEk44q4?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
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<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HWqcpwAhlgs?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HWqcpwAhlgs?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
Finally uploaded the other Youth Olympic Games videos I've edited. I guess you could call these 'mini narrative-documentaries'. Worked with our regular freelance director on these and we pieced together the stories, while setting a specific mood for each piece. Because all these videos were screened at the same Olympic exhibition venue in Suntec Convention Centre, the last thing we want is all of them having the same generic treatment and style. Somewhat bucking convention, these videos were not LOUD and "MTV-ish" - as some might have readily associated with youths and sports. Instead, they're dignified and contemplative.<br />
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We're currently juggling 7 projects [and more KIV ones to come] through 2010 and into early 2011. Just wrapping up one for Sentosa... moving onto an overseas shoot next week... working with some old clients, clients who came back to us after moving to another company and new clients from new markets. A mix of branding, marketing, corporates, pro bono and TVCs; private, agency and government. Plate's getting pretty full... but we'll make it work. Somehow ;)<br />
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Also started working with PluralEyes on a recent project which we shot on the 5D, with audio coming from the Zoom H4N. Apart from some small workarounds that were needed, I was pretty impressed with the ease of syncing. We had more than 6 hours of interview footage, which was synced quite beautifully using PluralEyes. Kudos! Deep appreciation for that tool - good stuff at very reasonable price. Check it out at <a href="http://www.singularsoftware.com/pluraleyes.html">http://www.singularsoftware.com/pluraleyes.html</a><br />
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Meanwhile, I've also taken up small freelance gigs for a Microsoft vendor producing customer testimonials. Currently, it's been subtitling work - taking local versions and adding English subtitles for the international market. But as with ALL edit jobs, it's never "just" a "simple subtitling job". I've learnt a few new things along the way when it comes to versioning things since I had to work around updating text information on graphics and videos which are already mashed together, as they come to me in .WMV or equivalent files. Every video is different and requires its own set of troubleshooting. I'm a devout MacHead... but hey, like many others, I got my start in Microsoft. I just found something better and am sticking to it ;) Besides, this is strictly business!<br />
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Talking about professionalism, I came across an article which I thought was really good for professionals who are doing videos... professionally. Looking through the list, I think we've discovered all these points for ourselves through the years but this guy really covered it in a clear and succinct manner. Recommended Read for everyone who's in the business and is involved in any level of client servicing: <br />
<a href="http://www.productionapprentice.com/tutorials/general/this-is-your-work-not-your-art-tips-for-working-with-clients-on-creative-projects/">http://www.productionapprentice.com/tutorials/general/this-is-your-work-not-your-art-tips-for-working-with-clients-on-creative-projects/</a>Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-55377188213896920082010-08-21T13:39:00.000+08:002010-08-21T13:39:14.154+08:00Y to the O to the G - Creating [for] the Youth Olympic GamesFinally delivered a big project for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, held in Singapore from 14 to 26 August. We were responsible for all the audio-visuals in the Youth Olympic Village at NTU as well as the 'Blazing the Trail' Olympic Gallery at Suntec International Convention Centre [which is also a competition venue].<br />
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All in all, we completed... 3 single-screen AVs [of 4 videos - because one of the screens had 2 stories] and 2 x panoramic AV.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_txBR4_8qfB0/TG9irTkNccI/AAAAAAAAAMs/sBH7rR0axL4/s1600/Suntec_Blazing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_txBR4_8qfB0/TG9irTkNccI/AAAAAAAAAMs/sBH7rR0axL4/s320/Suntec_Blazing.JPG" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>KAPOW! The Phantom high-speed piece we have over at Suntec Convention Centre - a centerpiece that greets visitors to the exhibition and competitions.</i></div><br />
Pretty happy with all the AVs, especially the panoramic AV for Suntec - because it was a fairly epic project: 8m-wide screen consisting of purely Phantom high-speed footage which was composited into a custom canvas and also required masking and grading. We also worked with a sound designer to create an original 5.1 soundscape to further enhance the panoramic action. First time working with all these elements [Phantom, custom superwide canvas, DataOn Watchout system, 5.1 audio] - but happy to have worked out some kind of workflow that, well, worked!<br />
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Spent many nights transcoding the Phantom footage from .CINE to .MOV [Cinepak] and finally to .MOV [ProRes(HQ)] - but the footage [which I believe went from 12-bit to 10-bit] was really good for grading. So much latitude to work with! Worked especially well for the first Phantom sequence we shot - which we were still figuring out some of the settings - since I was able to correct some of the lighting/hue issues in post.<br />
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Here's an excerpt:<br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EW97h4jXyo4?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EW97h4jXyo4?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
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Quite bummed about the lack of publicity for the Suntec Olympic Gallery and any mention of this panorama - because I believe it's not something you get to see a lot. Was down at the site to finally take a look at the piece and was happy to see a pair of parents and their young child being mesmerized. After staring at each shot for more than a 100 times while editing, the 'WHOA' factor does wear off fairly fast. So it's really nice to see fresh pairs of eyes being lit up by the piece.<br />
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As for the other AVs, had quite a fun time with a pure editing piece: cutting footage of various Olympic Opening Ceremonies and the lighting of the flame. We had access to footage dating back to 1960 [Rome, I believe], right up to Beijing 2008. The footage from Tokyo 1964 was surreal, though... intercutting shots of the released birds with faces of freaked out athletes and having an ominous soundtrack underneath the shot of a wailing baby...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_txBR4_8qfB0/TG9h7KYj9YI/AAAAAAAAAMk/RuuWRc3QyXM/s1600/Suntec_Torch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_txBR4_8qfB0/TG9h7KYj9YI/AAAAAAAAAMk/RuuWRc3QyXM/s320/Suntec_Torch.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The Flame video, flanked by actual Olympic Torches from the past Games.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>[having bright display panels shining onto the glossy HD TV isn't really a good idea...] </i></div><br />
We also had 2 pieces profiling local YOG athletes: one which followed a day in the life of a Triathlete and another focused on the sport of Male Artistic Gymnastics and Equestrian. Nice little vignettes that give audiences a little peek into the lives of these young Olympians. Also the first time I worked with DSLR footage and it mixed pretty well when cut with our HDV footage. My director had [too much!] fun overcranking with the DSLR - but it did give a very nice mood to the two pieces.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_txBR4_8qfB0/TG9jxrdyAYI/AAAAAAAAAM0/psg4TdN-_2k/s1600/Suntec_Equestrian.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_txBR4_8qfB0/TG9jxrdyAYI/AAAAAAAAAM0/psg4TdN-_2k/s320/Suntec_Equestrian.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_txBR4_8qfB0/TG9j_93UPkI/AAAAAAAAAM8/T8QeAv11ryw/s1600/Suntec_Tri.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_txBR4_8qfB0/TG9j_93UPkI/AAAAAAAAAM8/T8QeAv11ryw/s320/Suntec_Tri.JPG" /><i></i></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<i>The 2 AVs are enclosed in their own 'booths' which are shaped like the Olympic rings.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Didn't have the chance to see our works in the Youth Olympic Village though - somehow our accreditation passes weren't processed and so, we can't enter the restricted lands. Ah, bummer - I was looking forward to having some sort of special YOG souvenir.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Moving on, I'm currently working on a series of 20 x 1-min vignettes shot on the 5D for an upcoming tourist spot. Working with really nice visuals coming out from the 5D. We've also just finished a stopmotion piece... with the 5D. As I'm blogging here on a Saturday afternoon, I'm also monitoring the transcoding of 5D footage back on the work Mac Pro - through LogMeIn. This part, I like - since I don't miss inputting timecodes and popping in tapes!</div>Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-60722268428055743222010-04-21T11:47:00.000+08:002010-04-21T11:47:23.696+08:00A Good Read: Final Cut Pro Power SkillsPicked up this awesome FCP book from the library [we also have an awesome library, too - whoever is doing the purchasing knows his/her stuff when it comes to keeping updated with editing books!]:<br />
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<IMG SRC="http://www.larryjordan.biz/app_bin/Store/catalog/images/product_125_power_skills.png"><br />
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Written by Larry Jordan, whose monthly newsletter I subscribe to [and you should, too - very informative and up to date with the latest happenings and solutions].<br />
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I'm only 11 pages into the book and am liking the simplicity and directness. Very useful nuggets of information. Highly recommended for all working editors. <br />
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Check out Larry's site here: <a href="http://www.larryjordan.biz/" TARGET="_BLANK">http://www.larryjordan.biz/</a> and don't forget to sign up for his newsletter!<br />
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He has an online store as well and you could pick up the book from here: <a href="http://www.larryjordan.biz/app_bin/Store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=146" TARGET="_BLANK">http://www.larryjordan.biz/app_bin/Store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=146</a>Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-75107165051715540812010-03-21T01:07:00.001+08:002010-03-21T01:08:18.569+08:00Colorful Corporate CutsLatest TVC I've cut & graded is up on our YouTube channel [and being viralized + broadcasted]:<br />
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Was also on set as the EX-3 media wrangler. Between offloads, I was also the 'runner' [quite literally] plus 'waterboy' [drawing sea water using a rope & bucket to flood the ground - hardest & most awesome practical workout I've ever had]. Had a great tan, too, under the blazing sun from dawn till dusk.<br />
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Just finished a rough cut of a teen pregnancy drama this week. Good to be cutting something that's not a mish-mash of montage shots and 'archival' footage ripped from some stashed-away DVD from years gone by for a change. Well, those projects have their own place and time but it's a refreshing change to be cutting a dramatic piece with emotions... lots and LOTS of emotions.<br />
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Was quite pleasantly surprised by how quickly I got into the material. Guess my mind was happily stimulated, which makes for a nice session. Another nice change from the many mechanical post tasks I had to complete in the past weeks [lots of tiny tweaks to almost-complete cuts, .MOV & .WMV encoding and DVD authoring for final deliverables].<br />
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The drama consists of 5 vignettes & a prologue which show the possible consequences of teen pregnancy for teenage girls and will be used in facilitation sessions by our client for at-risk girls. It's not meant to be all didactic and preachy, so the message is communicated through empathy, storytelling and emotions.<br />
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By the 2nd vignette, I was feeling quite sad for our protagonist. There is a fair share of crying but this is neither a Taiwanese soap opera nor a Hong Kong soap weepie, so it's not all out flood of tears and bawling of eyes. There is much more power [and realism] in showing restraint.<br />
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At the same time, I'm cutting a 12-webisode project for a corporate client, who is using it as training material for their service staff through the entire year. Sounds boring? Not quite, since we've made them into mini sitcoms. Our protagonist in this one is quite an earnest goofball, so I find myself having my 'duh' face on when editing him.<br />
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Other things on my editing plate this month and next are a graduation video [this one requires I dig up my youthful enthusiasm], a project that has been more commonly referred to as 'sex skit' rather than its title [nothing scandalous; another facilitation video, this time done in comedy vignettes style] and an interview-led piece on teen smoking [a cause I personally support: be smoke-free, kids and adults alike].<br />
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Who said 'corporates' must be boring? ;]Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-10682476211486169262010-02-27T01:14:00.000+08:002010-02-27T01:14:01.304+08:00I Heart EditingBeen on an editing frenzy, working on a few different videos at the same time. Was [and still am] juggling a 12-ep mini sitcom for service training, interview-based recruitment video, 4 versions of a TVC for an upcoming musical, 7-min interview-based internal sales video & a short turnaround 2.5-min launch video.<br />
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I'm lovin' it!<br />
[Despite clocking an average of 12 hours per day this week... but the fatigue only sets in when I step out of my suite; am revvin' & ready to go once I'm back in my chair]<br />
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I always like to think through my edits - because every edit is different and needs to be approached differently, whether slightly or significantly. <br />
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There are differences in organization [had to think through how I was going to manage the 12-ep mini sitcom because the eps and scenes are being shot out of sequence, with staggered delivery], differences in grading [setting the 'look'], differences in cutting [the TVC was mainly cuts/dissolves/gradient wipes - which I like; the launch video was an exercise in patience & attention to detail - tons of keyframing] etc...<br />
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That is why I find myself actually thinking of my edits during the commute to and from work - because it means once I get my butt into my chair, I've already visualized what I'm going to try and do.<br />
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As a preditor, I almost always meet the clients and jot down notes on my edits personally. It also gives me the chance to clarify what they REALLY want, because often, comments can be vague and if passed from one person to another, the 'broken telephone effect' takes place.<br />
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I don't reckon getting editors so involved is a common phenomenon... at least we're not talking about projects of epic proportions, like editors who are committed to a big-budget feature film during pre-production itself.<br />
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But, I got to admit, sometimes the lack of distance between the 'client' and the 'editor' side of things creates much tension and struggle. There's definitely value in having a separate 'producer' to mediate and negotiate. But we're talking about a competent & experienced producer, not any random warm body you pick up and stick in front of the clients. Indeed, producing is an art, too. <br />
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Anyhow, as someone who likes variety [like dim sum & buffets - yum!], I'm enjoying tackling the different projects which are, in essence, communication tools. That's something we work a lot on: how to deliver an effective message through video. Oftentimes, we get approached by clients who want to 'make a video' and it's up to us to really dig deep to find out what they want the video to do for them. Some clients are more savvy with their communication objectives while others need more advising or digging. There's always this through-line we need to keep to, from the types of words we use in the script down to the kinds of shots selected [the shot sizes, the emotions, the colors, the music, the rhythm of cuts...] <br />
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You can have the fanciest graphics [which I will admit: we don't] or snazziest gimmicks - but without a sound communication concept, you're basically gonna end up with a glorified high-tech picture flipbook.<br />
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Guess I'm putting my Communications degree to work here :P Not all "corporate videos" are made equal!Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-91708868046161567602010-02-18T00:27:00.000+08:002010-02-18T00:27:23.818+08:00It's Tiger Time!2009 segued into 2010 without much of a fanfare. I was fairly busy back in December *quickly clicks through iCal to refresh my memory* We had some shoots to settle before everyone disappeared for the year-end holidays and we were on the lookout for an AP to join us since we were booked for more than a few projects due in first quarter of 2010.<br />
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We also had two launch videos for the same client, both with short but hard deadlines to meet. Project was awarded mid-December and delivery was January - right after we crossed over the calendar. Which meant the X'mas season was a <I>terrible</I> inconvenience!<br />
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Quite a fair bit of prep was needed. Casting was the main task during prep as it was a simple concept which hinged heavily on performance. Both videos required effects finishing as well. Here's an excerpt from one of the videos:<br />
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That said, the project went rather smoothly and I managed to spend some time indulging in the festive spirit with some friends - late night suppers, hotpot, BBQ and karaoke!<br />
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Once we entered the new year, we had a TVC shoot for Toy Factory, a local theater company. One of our long-term clients, since we also produced the TVCs for their previous annual productions. We were blessed with amazingly bright and sunny weather, which was exceptionally helpful since it was an entirely outdoor shoot and we didn't have the luxury of postponing it to any other day since we were working with a bunch of very busy actors. What if it had rained? Well... we would've had to work out something.<br />
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*One lesson learnt during the shoot: If you're shooting with the Letus adaptor, bring enough spare AA batteries! Better yet, always change into a fresh pair of AAs at the start of the shoot, especially if it's rental gear.*<br />
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The TVC was shot on a Sony EX3, with a Letus adaptor. Shots came out really nice. Love the colors. I was doing SxS card wrangling on the set. Compared to my previous wrangling experience with Panasonic P2 cards, I find the workflow for ingesting SxS cards much more intuitive and straightforward. Bonus was that the SxS cards plug right into the Expresscard slot in my MacBook Pro. Secure and fast transfer.<br />
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Fast forwarding from then on, my iCal has been packed with edits, edits and more edits. Guess my wish is finally coming true! A lot of shifting of schedules, since I plan my own edit schedules around shifting delivery deadlines and various other factors. As always, as a preditor, there is never enough time to edit when the producing minutiae swarms around you.<br />
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Had a fairly productive session today, though. It's only the day after the long Chinese New Year break and if not for my backed up edit schedule, I'd have taken it easy [or the day off!]. But duty beckoned and I went in for an overdue color grading. It was also the first project I've fully color graded using <a href="http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/categories/product-suites/magic-bullet-suite/" TARGET="_BLANK">http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/categories/product-suites/magic-bullet-suite/</a> - we bought it at an awesome deal during X'mas [50% off, if I remember correctly]. <br />
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We've previously used Magic Bullet Editors but I find Colorista and Looks much faster and easier to use. The only thing I wish I had was a 3-knob control panel of some sort for Colorista. But alas, I am by no means a professional colorist and the clientele we service do not demand such level of color precision. But nonetheless, color grading is such a value-adding step, that as much as possible [budget and schedule permitting], I'll do it.<br />
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Managed to finish the 6-min video in about 4 hours - with the help of absolute silence, minimum disturbances [or breaks] and intense concentration. Since the theme & tone for the video was pink, everything else in real-life looked too blue once I got my eyes off the monitor!<br />
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The next video to get the Magic Bullet Looks treatment would be the musical TVC. The footage that came out of the EX3 is already quite close to the look we're going for, so it's more a matter of enhancing and bringing out some of the colors.Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-82620175039167038102009-11-14T01:57:00.001+08:002009-11-14T01:59:32.680+08:00Preditor AlertNot much on the editing front as I've been busy with the producing side of things. Ahh, such is the life of a Preditor. Though with each project we pitch for and get, it means a few months down the road, there will be an edit waiting to happen. <br />
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We've currently got a few interesting projects in the scripting stage. A few even more interesting ones that are pending. Even though our main business has been in the corporate video realm, looking at our reel, we don't exactly stick to the 'corporate' corporate style. Our USP has always been in communication and storytelling. <br />
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Sometimes it's a little demoralizing when fancy graphics easily overshadow what should be achieved with solid scripting and editing. I reckon it's not easy to pimp something that works most beautifully when it's somewhat invisible and subtle. In fact, it gets tiring trying to WRITE about how you could achieve so much with strong scripting and editing in proposals because it's so hard to convey something so abstract at that stage. In contrast, a jazzy comp/storyboard is just pure bling that excites people more easily.<br />
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But at the same time, I have much respect for motion graphics artists and their craft. They produce such visually stunning visuals that I frankly can't achieve. That is definitely something I should brush up on along the way [like how I need to find that window of opportunity to break open the AVID Media Composer free trial and have a crash course familiarization with it].<br />
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With that, here are some more interesting writing to share. Have a read!<br />
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<a href="http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/freshdv/story/production_jobs_and_responsibilities_of_crew/" TARGET="_BLANK">Production Jobs and Responsibilities of Crew</a><br />
Just realized this is a 2-year old article but it's still relevant. Depending on the scale of the project and budget, you could add or minus the number of people and roles involved. This is something we have to explain to clients often: because production costs can indeed vary quite a bit. Yes, there will always be the one-man-shows who charge a package rate from pre to post for the cost of 2-3 days of filming that others might charge.<br />
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A very common question over at the <a href="http://creativecow.net/" TARGET="_BLANK">Creative Cow</a> forums: How much should I charge? Here are some answers. Not exact-figure answers but guiding questions to help one along:<br />
<a href="http://www.thedvshow.com/typical-hourly-rate-for-production-editing/" TARGET="_BLANK">Typical Hourly Rate For Production & Editing?</a><br />
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Someone else also wrote about the same issue on their blog:<br />
<a href="http://paulzadie.com/2009/09/19/how-much-should-i-charge-to-edit-this-video/" TARGET="_BLANK">How much should I charge to edit this video?</a><br />
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Last but definitely not least, I've uploaded some of our recent works on our YouTube channel: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/intuitivefilms" TARGET="_BLANK">http://www.youtube.com/user/intuitivefilms</a>. New works include a docu-drama for the Singapore Sports Council [quite extensive grading on the footage], a short TVC for Skin Inc [working with a 3D graphics and animation company] and a two-TVC campaign for the Tote Board [which I've not been able to catch on TV even though it's supposed to screen alongside quite a few sponsored programs].Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-78274618925955084712009-08-22T15:29:00.002+08:002009-08-22T16:00:00.644+08:00Auteurs vs CollaborationThoughtful essays on the auteur theory and the role of collaboration & discussion between directors and editors:<br /><br /><A HREF="http://normanhollyn.com/2009/08/21/real-collaboration-–-editors-and-directors-editors-and-editors/" TARGET=_BLANK>http://normanhollyn.com/2009/08/21/real-collaboration-–-editors-and-directors-editors-and-editors/</A><br /><br /><A HREF="http://filmindustrybloggers.com/theeditor/2009/08/21/collaboration-and-why-the-auteur-theory-is-bull/" TARGET=_BLANK>http://filmindustrybloggers.com/theeditor/2009/08/21/collaboration-and-why-the-auteur-theory-is-bull/</A><br /><br />Personally, I enjoy the to-and-fro that does on during editing sessions. In fact, I find that once I've had enough time to go through the material on my own and managed to make a first cut [but only after a fairly thorough briefing/Q&A with the director about the direction, style and messaging], it's beneficial to have the director sit down with me to hone the next cut. It's more efficient, as well, since I spend less time second-guessing certain edit decisions I would've made.<br /><br />The need for a certain amount of time to experiment, discuss & explore during the edit is something we sometimes find difficult to explain to clients. Yes, it's indeed possible to give a cut 2 days after we wrap BUT it will not be the best cut possible. As I recall a quote "A film is never 'complete', it just gets abandoned (due to the arrival of deadline)", it also doesn't necessarily mean more time = 'perfect' film.<br /><br />That one time when I freelanced on a kids' reality/infotainment TV program edit, it was quite appalling that there wasn't any log, script or director involvement in the edit process. I was given a whole bunch of tapes, told we needed to cover these 3 activities... and that's that. Being a young upstart then and happy to have snagged such an opportunity [considering I had never edited any TV program by then... though it seemed they were so stretched, they had only one director-producer-writer and was willing to use me on the project... possibly because I was, ah, 'not very expensive'], I poured a lot of effort into the edit. Apart from my day job as a producer-writer on a corporate video project, I was working graveyard shifts on the kids' program.<br /><br />It was fulfilling to see that most of my edits made it to air but it was unsatisfying that there was no 'process' involved. It felt like a factory assembly line. Which possibly is not an isolated incident, considering that TV budgets here are extremely stretched.<br /><br />As for the 'auteur theory is bull' idea... it seems like 'auteur theory' is very much alive here. More often than not, in the local filmmaking realm, directors are also writers. And producers, sometimes DPs and maybe editors, too. However, it might be partly attributed to the whole 'lack of budget' issue, again. In addition, there might also be the idea that there is a lack of good screenwriters, which is why directors take it upon themselves to write material they would like to produce. Which is kind of sad, as the film would not be able to benefit from the collaborative process, especially in the editing stage. <br /><br />Though judging from the way the media/film authorities have been formulating their policies/funding, they seem to prefer the 'auteur theory': hype up a few high-profile directors and send them for overseas film festivals/markets. And films are often marketed with 'a film by so-and-so-known-name'. Through these years, it just doesn't feel like there's much attention or importance placed in developing the other film professionals like DPs and editors.Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-70194528693837271692009-08-02T15:02:00.001+08:002009-08-02T16:06:06.561+08:00Hocus-FocusBeen busy working on a few corporate, launch, campaign videos as well as TVCs. As usual, as a preditor, the producing side takes up so much more energy than the actual creative. I think I still prefer to deal with my humans when they're right in front of me, on my screen and subjected to my J, K and L keys.<br /><br />I've also just finished reading a book called 'Ten Thoughts About Time: How To Make More Of The Time In Your Life' by Bodil Jonsson. The title might seen like one of those run-off-the-mill self-help books, but the interesting thing is, the author is a Swedish physicist. So combining theoretical physics and her own experience with philosophy, she came up with quite an interesting read.<br /><br />So what has this got to do with editing? Perhaps not on the technical side but there were some nifty tips that could help an editor think about the process behind the button-mashing. Some interesting thought I've bookmarked:<br /><br /><I><B>SET-UP TIME AND BEING AVAILABLE</B><br /><br />There are times when I'm sure I'm fitting in set-up time without quite realizing it myself. This is how it can look: a significant deadline is approaching and I know in my heart that I should have started the job long ago. Instead, I seem to focus on less productive things. I do nothing, effectively, and become preoccupied with pointless minor chores like washing up and mending and pottering in the garden and so on, even though I don't particularly want to do these things. I don't start attacking the real job until absolutely necessary, and usually a little later still. What a miracle that I meet the deadline after all - yet again! Or maybe it's not a miracle. I believe that by that late stage my mental workshop had already dealt with the task. Thinking and planning had been going on all the time my conscious self had been preoccupied with simple things. When the deadline loomed really large, very little was left for me to do.<br /><br />Concentrated intellectual work demands a set-up time too, which might last only hours and days, or drag on into weeks and months. Once that time has been set aside, it must be properly used. You must be available within that timeframe only. To lock yourself within a certain task in this way is utterly contrary to the way we nowadays prioritize being available to all comers, be it by instant travel, mobile phone, email or whatever. <br /><br />I tackled my relationship with the telephone some fifteen years ago, starting with my office phone. How was I to silence it? I could programme it to say that I was at a meeting of away on business or teaching or out to lunch or had left for the day. But the list did not let me say anything about the task I was primarily hired to do, like: 'I'm in my office/at my computer/in the laboratory - thinking' or 'with my students or colleagues - talking'. I discussed my problem with a couple of switchboard operators and they told me that the message 'Bodil Johnson is not available, she's thinking' would probably provoke an angry response. The caller would feel 'If she's only thinking, she might as well answer the phone.' That wasn't how I felt, though.<br /><br /><B>DARING TO BE A HERMIT</B><br /><br />Working in seclusion is often important for good results. I have learnt this important lesson by now, and am quite capable of defending my need to live like a hermit occasionally. Trying to be truly present wherever I am is crucial not only to me, but to the people I work with. They should feel convinced that I'm <U>there</U>, with them. No telephone calls must be allowed to interrupt us. If it is your professional responsibility to think, it is indefensible to give in to either real or apparent demands and accept other, irrelevant measures of your worth. It is your fault if hackneyed and ill thought-out research and teaching comes to dominate your output.</I><br /><br />Hey, so there's some justification for my dilly-dallying before starting on the first cut! I would take my time to create folders, convert audio, label files, organize my desktop, remove unusable footage [usually when capturing full tapes via Firewire, with start-stop, on HDV>ProRes]... since I'm usually involved from pre to production, right into post, which includes logging & capturing. Back to back processes. So by the time I'm ready to do my first cut, I usually feel... over-exposed to the project. A little distance to prep my set-up time usually helps get my mind into editing gear.<br /><br />Once I start on my edit, I really don't like to be disturbed because it takes time to get [back] into the 'mode'. Unless, of course, I'm just doing an edit which doesn't require much brainwork - like selecting and grabbing highlights from event coverage - which works well on an 'instinct' mode, with selected parameters already programmed into my mind as I scrub past hours upon hours of footage.<br /><br />We'd worked with one cameraman who was always on the phone between shots. Apart from being a cameraman, he also runs a service of providing crew. So throughout our shoot, he would be checking on or arranging the other crews. That was the first and only time we've worked with him. Being so distracted seemed to have taken away the focus he should've put into the shoot. We usually work with DPs who are fully present and because of that, are able to observe, suggest and be creative.<br /><br />Got spurred on to post [procrastination got hold of me] after reading a similar topic over at CreativeCow:<br /><B>"Maker's" vs. "Manager's" schedules</B>: <A HREF="http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/17/866107" TARGET="_BLANK">http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/17/866107</A><br /><br />Which is a discussion spun off from this article:<br /><A HREF="http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html" TARGET="_BLANK">http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html</A><br /><br />An excerpt:<br /><I>"One reason programmers dislike meetings so much is that they're on a different type of schedule from other people. Meetings cost them more.<br /><br />There are two types of schedule, which I'll call the manager's schedule and the maker's schedule. The manager's schedule is for bosses. It's embodied in the traditional appointment book, with each day cut into one hour intervals. You can block off several hours for a single task if you need to, but by default you change what you're doing every hour.<br /><br />When you use time that way, it's merely a practical problem to meet with someone. Find an open slot in your schedule, book them, and you're done.<br /><br />Most powerful people are on the manager's schedule. It's the schedule of command. But there's another way of using time that's common among people who make things, like programmers and writers. They generally prefer to use time in units of half a day at least. You can't write or program well in units of an hour. That's barely enough time to get started.<br /><br />When you're operating on the maker's schedule, meetings are a disaster. A single meeting can blow a whole afternoon, by breaking it into two pieces each too small to do anything hard in. Plus you have to remember to go to the meeting. That's no problem for someone on the manager's schedule. There's always something coming on the next hour; the only question is what. But when someone on the maker's schedule has a meeting, they have to think about it.<br /><br />For someone on the maker's schedule, having a meeting is like throwing an exception. It doesn't merely cause you to switch from one task to another; it changes the mode in which you work.<br /><br />I find one meeting can sometimes affect a whole day. A meeting commonly blows at least half a day, by breaking up a morning or afternoon. But in addition there's sometimes a cascading effect. If I know the afternoon is going to be broken up, I'm slightly less likely to start something ambitious in the morning. I know this may sound oversensitive, but if you're a maker, think of your own case. Don't your spirits rise at the thought of having an entire day free to work, with no appointments at all? Well, that means your spirits are correspondingly depressed when you don't. And ambitious projects are by definition close to the limits of your capacity. A small decrease in morale is enough to kill them off."</I>Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-63935652755205245872009-02-23T02:14:00.004+08:002009-02-23T02:31:13.916+08:00Corporate Videos: Redux [or how YOU can work with US effectively]This is on a related note to the previous post about corporate videos. And also sparked off by some recent encounters of the <I>le sigh</I> kind.<br /><br /><I>'How good a corporate video is [or could be] does have quite a lot to do with the capabilities and attitude of the client [and not just the production team]'</I><br /><br />As a content producer serving a client, we do need the clients to know what they want - or at least be able to work with us actively so that we could help them realize what exactly they want to say with the video.<br /><br />From there, then can we craft their message[s] for them. Only when there is some meat and direction to the content, then could [or perhaps, should] we talk about the fancier details like treatment, talents and storyboards. <br /><br />All this should really be done before we even switch on the camera and roll a single frame!<br /><br />I believe this is how clients can best utilize the capabilities of the production team they engage for their video projects. <br /><br />Yes, by the demands of circumstances and nature of production, we production folks have been forced to evolve into miracle workers - fighting the good fight against the impossible odds of deadlines, budgets and 1001 constraints.<br /><br />Unfortunately, despite our capabilities as creative consultants who could possibly spin a beauuuutiful story about a client's message... we do not possess the skill of 'mind-reading'. So if despite all our efforts to guide our clients through the process of pre-production, in order to excavate the precise message[s] they're trying to convey, and we're still not getting anywhere close to having a non-fuzzy picture... then the road ahead is going to be a bumpy one for all involved.<br /><br />Sink or swim together, man.Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-48293783514317782412009-01-13T23:28:00.000+08:002009-01-13T23:30:15.173+08:00Don’t be dissin’ on 'em corporate videos !Spent the day jazzing up a corporate video for a client. At this second cut, offline stage, we already have to work in music [not temp tracks], text effects [with motion backgrounds] and keyframed motion on photoshopped stills because otherwise, the video won’t fly with the clients - they’ll panic and we’ll not get the approval on the cut that we need to move on.<br /><br />In an ideal world, clients would approve a rough cut based on content, with the understanding that text effects, fancy transitions and pumping music would come in AFTER that. But hey, we know we ain’t living in a perfect world!<br /><br />Gripes aside, I guess it’s a common scenario many working editors have to face. Clients have come to expect more polished looking drafts/comps/”rough” cuts and in all honesty, with digital editing, such finesse could be achieved at an earlier stage of post. It’s all about keeping the workflow flowing, man – approval processes included.<br /><br />Also, as a working editor coming from a background where ‘I edit corporate videos’ is usually met with ‘man, that sucks’ / ‘when are you moving to TV/drama/film’, I do think that the ‘hierarchy’ is not always justified.<br /><br />Yes, there are MANY horrendous corporate videos [still] being produced. The ones with the gratuitous ‘3D Transitions’, music library from the 80s, washed out colors, loose cuts… I watch them and I get physically queasy [truth!]. Yet, like a train wreck, I can’t avert my eyes and would sit through them, perhaps as a reminder that ‘thou shalt not let thyself languish’. <br /><br />It’s quite the challenge to make a corporate video exciting, entertaining, informative, comprehensive, pleasing to the clients [and their superiors, bosses and bosses’ bosses]. And when you work with archival footage and photos provided by the clients – it’s a whole new ‘bonus’ level!<br /><br />It’s been said that it’s not always possible to judge how good an editor is by the final cut. Like teachers grooming students of different caliber for a final standardized exam, editors who start off with excellent footage [great performance, abundance of coverage, interesting angles] already have a leg up. Whereas editors who manage to piece together something pretty nifty from bits and pieces of not-the-best footage probably had to sweat it out much more.<br /><br />As if the art of editing is not invisible enough, the art of rummaging and repairing is possibly even more invisible!<br /><br />Just as TV and films aren’t necessarily creative or entertaining [please refer to local media for case studies], corporate videos aren’t always dull or cringe-worthy. There’s always a lot of experimenting, exploration and jazzing up to do - or at least that’s the ‘horror’ I’ve been subjected to! [Well, helps that I’m a masochist]. My timeline usually looks like a patchwork quilt [but a neatly organized one] by the second cut. <br /><br />Corporate videos aren’t the most fun things in the world to edit but as a working editor… you gotta do what you gotta do!Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-17808303881734852832008-12-20T23:50:00.004+08:002008-12-21T00:34:01.637+08:00Color-graded TVC campaign with snazzy text on a corporate video budget? It's possible!Recently completed the post-production on a series of 3 x 30s TVCs for a local polytechnic's recruitment drive. As with most projects, this one had its share of constraints.<br /><br />First, we were working with a tight timeline, from being awarded the project to delivery, as the client had already bought the media and had a firm deadline. Plus, the open house was in January 2009, so in order to maximize the reach of the TVCs, they had brought forward the air dates. <br /><br />Secondly, we were producing a set of three TVCs but we were working on more of a corporate video than a full-blown advertising budget.<br /><br />Thirdly, right in the middle of production, an unfortunate news/current affairs incident occurred [not related to this production and no, not the financial debacle], which hit us closer than we had imagined.<br /><br />Nevertheless, we soldiered on and I'm pretty happy with how all three TVCs turned out, since we really put out so as to give the client a solid product. <br /><br />It started off on the right foot as the client picked our favorite concept, of the three pitched to them. This was the bolder, more creative and more conceptual one. <br /><br />With a short pre-production period, we had quite a few props to prep. This included getting our hands on a photogenic goldfish, which I'm happy to report has been successfully adopted by the client, having survived the harsh hours and conditions of production! We weren't quite sure it would make it...<br /><br />To our client's credit, they managed to provide photogenic and lively talents with character within a tight timeline as well. Since this series of TVCs is quite stylish, this certainly helped a lot.<br /><br />The assembly cut was made pretty quickly, since the shots were storyboarded and they were snappy pieces cut to a snappy beat. We did have to drop a few shots and move some shots around but that didn't affect the general feel of the TVCs. <br /><br />In order make the TVCs stand out even more, we pulled out all stops and threw in some more goodies. We got our motion graphics artist to do up a set of playful, dynamic fonts. Then, it was my turn to give the shots an extra 'oomph' through grading.<br /><br />I had to make sure we had enough lead time to color grade every single shot. I'm by no means a colorist but the Magic Bullet Editors Look Suite certainly helped provide quite a few jumping points. After doing a primary grading with FCP's 3-way Color Corrector [crushing the blacks a little and making sure the whites are within limits], I was able to treat each shot with a different look and texture.<br /><br />In fact, I was already grading the shots before we presented the final cut to the client because we were cutting it close to the deadline. Thankfully for all involved, with only a few minor tweaks, the TVCs were good to go.<br /><br />Due to budgetary and time constraints, I don't usually have the luxury of color grading every video that goes out. It does make so much difference though. The ability to really fine tune the colors and cuts [down to the frame] is making me enjoy editing TVCs, especially after a spell of longer corporate videos. Not to mention the chance to work entirely with professionally-shot footage, as opposed to *cough* 'archival' *cough* footage. <br /><br />The first delivery [in DVD format] of the 3 TVCs [6 in total, since there are 2 versions of the end slates] has already been made to the media owners of the plasma TV screens in McDonald's islandwide. It's slated to run for 3 weeks and I'm tempted to just go sit in a McD's to see how things look on their screens. The last time we delivered a TVC to be shown at DBS banks, I was quite appalled when they vertically stretched my 16:9 video, when I had supplied them with a 4:3 AND 16:9 version!<br /><br />Next delivery for the TVCs would be on DigiBeta and headed for TV Mobile. I'm not a fan of TV Mobile and my usual commute doesn't involve me coming in contact with it... but as usual, I'd like to see how things turn out on there as well.<br /><br />Haven't uploaded the TVCs to our YouTube page yet, since we shouldn't be stealing the thunder from our client's campaign ;]Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-81107835912688418052008-10-27T18:26:00.002+08:002008-10-27T18:32:43.348+08:00Karaoke time with Trekkie Monster from Avenue Q<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8v0P18kp9FE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8v0P18kp9FE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Special bonus edit given to the client - even though what they needed was a suitable-for-free-to-air-local-TV TVC. We felt this would have been a more effective TVC since it really captures the essence of the musical... BUT due to 'circumstances', we had to go for the more standard-issue one below:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/C_3T7Pyx34w&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/C_3T7Pyx34w&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />But we're trying to pimp the Trekkie Monster Karaoke online - where there aren't any pesky censorship rules to navigate ;]Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-34217190767080018102008-09-23T00:32:00.003+08:002008-09-23T00:53:58.784+08:00What Makes a Mac?A client of ours asked me for software recommendations for the new Mac they've gotten. They're in the financial education and consulting business and reach out to their clients using web, print and video. They're PC all the way, since they usually outsource their video & audio work. <br /><br />Not able to find out what kind of Mac they've gotten [Mac Pro? iMac? MacBook Pro?], I emailed them a generic list based on what have worked for me over the years. They don't have an in-house production/media department, so I'd reckoned something not too fancy, since the Mac would probably me a multi-purpose media machine.<br /><br /><CENTER>------</CENTER><br /><br /><I>Congrats on moving to the Mac world! What did your company get? Is it a MacPro/iMac or a MacBook Pro?<br /><br />Not sure what you have in mind for it, but I assume you would want something to handle graphics and some video editing? Here are some software I'd recommend:<br /><br />Editing:<br />1) Final Cut Studio 2 [http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/] - around $2588. You can do video editing, motion graphics, DVD authoring, soundtrack, encoding to various file formats <br /><br />Motion graphics & Graphics:<br />*Adobe has a whole range of products and bundles [http://www.adobe.com/products/] - depending on your needs*<br />2) Adobe AfterEffects is very good for motion graphics but you do need to be well-trained to use it fully<br />3) Adobe Photoshop should be more familiar and very useful for a lot of things - including video work<br />4) Adobe Premiere is also a video-editing software - can't comment since I haven't used it personally<br />5) Adobe Dreamweaver does web-building<br />6) Adobe InDesign does page layout for publishing<br />7) Adobe Flash for, well, creating and encoding Flash videos/files/sites<br />8) Adobe Encore for DVD authoring<br /><br />Utilities<br />1) Toast Titanium - for CD/VCD/DVD burning <br />2) Diskwarrior - for checking and repairing of hard disks when things get buggy<br />3) iShowU - if you need to record videos of things happening on your screen [eg. simulation, tutorials]<br />4) Microsoft Office - Mac version produces documents that work well with Windows<br />5) iWork - similar to Office - but more stylish [http://www.apple.com/iwork/] <br /><br />Useful freeware<br />1) MPEG Streamclip - for converting non-protected DVDs into file formats you can use<br />2) Cyberduck - easy to use FTP<br />3) Flip4Mac - allows you to view .WMV files / pay a small fee to allow you to convert videos into .WMV files<br />4) SuperDuper / Carbon Copy Cloner - allows you to clone your startup disk into an external hard drive so you can easily reboot when the Mac crashes<br />5) Tomato Torrent - if you need to access the Bitorrent network for file transfer<br /><br />And some hardware add-ons:<br /><br />1) Upgrade to at least 4GB RAM [that's the max for the MacBook Pro - but the MacPro can go higher]. 2 x 2GB RAM for MacBook Pro costs about $120 at Sim Lim.<br />2) An external Hard Disk to back up your files regularly. Highly recommended. A 7200rpm 1TB drive costs about $198 now and a casing with at least 2 x Firewire ports [very important for speed if you want to do video editing; USB 2.0 is not stable enough] is about $60-$80. <br /><br />AppleCare<br />1) Not sure if you've bought the extended warranty - but it's quite handy when certain crucial parts malfunction. The original warranty only lasts for a year but for a few hundred dollars more, it's extended to 3 years in total. You can find a lot of offers off eBay at much better prices than Singapore retail prices.<br /><br />Hope that helps!</I><br /><br /><CENTER>------</CENTER><br /><br />Not exactly 'consultancy-level' advice, but hopefully it's good enough for new Mac converts!Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-41075810916771680752008-09-20T00:43:00.004+08:002008-09-20T01:05:17.468+08:00The External HDDs are going DOWN!A quick company shopping trip to Sim Lim Square revealed that the price of external HDD has dropped again.<br /><br />A 1TB 7200rpm 32MB 3.5" Seagate external HDD now costs only $198. A casing with FW400, USB 2.0 and eSATA ports costs about $80 the last time we bought one.<br /><br />Tempted to buy and build a set for myself now. Well, perhaps when I next secure a biggish freelance job - since prices will surely continue to drop.<br /><br />At the moment, we're also checking out external monitors for on-location use. Currently waiting on more information for the Ikan V-series 7"/8"/9" LCD Monitors: <a href="http://www.ikancorp.com/pages/monitors/index.htm">http://www.ikancorp.com/pages/monitors/index.htm</a><br />In order to maximize its usage, we're thinking of using it as an additional monitor for editing. Though we'll probably make a decision only after we get to hold and touch a unit for ourselves. <br /><br />Meanwhile, here's something I've finished the edit on not long ago: <br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PXlJ08kLPaE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PXlJ08kLPaE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />[I have a quick cameo IN it as well - I don't think I like editing myself]<br /><br />Mixed DV with HDV footage [with a whole lot of time remapping]. Color graded. Final delivery was on 16:9 SD DVD, for a 42" LCD screen, playing on loop inside an exhibition gallery.Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-44962126201957497172008-08-18T23:37:00.003+08:002008-08-18T23:54:27.066+08:00Rough Cut, Lady!<i>*Fast<br />*Cheap<br />*Good</i><br /><br />It's pretty true - clients always ask for all three when the reality is: you can almost always only get two of them. One of 'em Universal Truths in Production. <br /><br />No cake and eat it, I'm afraid. <br /><br />Today's post 'inspired' by meeting someone whom this jingle was written for, fo' real:<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4MNg3sSZ9F8&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4MNg3sSZ9F8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />After working on industrials/corporates for the past few years, I think this client has won the right to this jingle/song.<br /><br />And said client has cemented the fact that my favorite emoticon is now:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" > >_></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><br /><br />---<br /><br />Meanwhile, in Editing Land, it has been a test of endurance pulling a 9-hour and 11-hour weekend edit for said R.C.L. When pre-production gets cramped due to circumstances, production and post-production gets seriously shaken AND stirred.<br /><br />For now, we are aiming to deliver something that is:<br /><br /><I>*Fast<br />*Cheap</I><br /><br />AND<br /><br /><I>*Good</i><br /><br />... because we're badass like that ;]Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-14611768528803301212008-07-08T23:29:00.005+08:002008-07-08T23:55:43.482+08:00Choppy/Stuttery audio on MacBookPro after plugging out headphones? A solution!More of a MacBook Pro tip than an FCP one, even though it was the choppy audio playback on my FCP timeline that alerted me to the problem.<br /><br />So, it was the first time I'm experiencing choppy audio playback from my timeline - never had any problems with DV25 or DVCPro50 [or even HDV] footage running off an external 7200RPM Firewire HDD via FW400.<br /><br />Trashed FCP preferences. Unmounted and remounted my external Firewire HDD, where my media and project files are stored. Restarted the MBP. Reset PRAM [the startup chime sounded! But oh... that didn't solve the problem...]<br /><br />Was going to repair permissions using Disk Utility but didn't have the patience to twiddle my thumbs for 15 mins. Besides, it didn't feel like a permissions problem... for a moment, I was afraid the sound card/logic board has gone all funky.<br /><br />A quick google shows that it might be some weird MBP-headphones quirk. This morning, I was watching a movie on the MBP while commuting to work, with headphones plugged in, naturally. <br /><br />I don't remember yanking out the headphones after I put the MBP to sleep... but the solution googled worked nevertheless: Plug in a pair of headphones, restart your MBP and once the Mac starts up, pull out the headphones. <br /><br />Voila - works! Even though it took a few tries since I didn't pull out the headphones early enough. The key really was to pull 'em out immediately after the Mac boots up.<br /><br />The page with the tip [which dates back to 2007] is:<br /><a href="http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/macbookpro/topic4078.html">http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/macbookpro/topic4078.html</a><br /><br />A few minutes ago, I experienced a similar problem: the red optical light in the line in jack was on, which also meant only the 'digital out' audio was on... and I couldn't get any sound out from the internal speakers. Plugged in the headphones a few times and that seems to solve it for now...<br /><br />Moments like this are made less jittery because I've got AppleCare on this machine. But definitely NOT looking forward to having to send the bugger away for a week.Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-28596805648667566962008-06-18T23:29:00.002+08:002008-06-19T00:25:34.695+08:00Thoughts on the Final Cut World Tour (Singapore): post-show review<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Kai.Cheong/KaiTheFCPEditor/photo?authkey=w74c-g0jXmw#5213165710778856034"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/Kai.Cheong/SFjil-o4cmI/AAAAAAAAADA/RWyNH9fHF9o/s288/Photo003.jpg" /></a><br /><br />The Final Cut World Tour finally landed in Singapore, at the Raffles City Convention Centre. Event was packed and they ran out of seats, so a bunch of people had to stand throughout the presentations. I suspect it’s because they didn’t limit the number of registrations, since on a whim, I decided to do a dummy registration yesterday and it still went through.<br /><br />I remember when Adobe had their CS3 demo session, seats ran out very early even though they held it at a bigger venue [Suntec Convention Hall], which was easily 2.5x Apple’s venue. Then again, Adobe was demonstrating a range of products that targeted print people, designers, illustrators, web developers, Flash developers, video professionals, motion graphics artists and the new market of medical/industrial professionals. So, not a fair comparison. <br /><br />The Final Cut World Tour felt more… familiar, kinda warm and fuzzy, since even when your big post-production and Hollywood movie studios are using Final Cut for their post, they are still essentially using the same FCP interface [of course, their systems are… "very high end"]. The Adobe event felt more exciting, a lot more showmanship, as compared to the marketing/sales pitch [shareholders’ meeting?!] feel of the World Tour. <br /><br />Other big difference is that there was more interaction during the Adobe event, plus a Q&A session – both of which were not present at the World Tour. Then again, the World Tour took about 3.5 hours, the Adobe event was full day.<br /><br />Enough of random comparisons. Back to the main event – the Final Cut World Tour.<br /><br />Much of the first half was spent on the features of Final Cut Server and how it helps your workflow. Quite cool, especially if you run a shop that has editors, colorists and artists working with FCS applications. The main selling point is that it’s highly customizable for your workflow, which they demonstrated using the case study of a post-production facility that did a reality program on the Beijing Olympics, with post-production setups in USA and China.<br /><br />We’re not doing anything of THAT scale, but the idea of having transcribers and translators working concurrently on the footage and exporting XML which can be brought in as subtitles delighted me. The ability to automate the review workflow [eg: auto export to H.264 – upload onto a web page – email notification – client/producer can make notes based on timecode – comments feed back to editor] is very neat as well. Not enough reasons for us to buy the Server though.<br /><br />The price of the Server itself is quite accessible – around $1,500 for the 10-seat license and around $3,500 for an unlimited version. But obviously you’ll need a solid hardware system to support it and someone who is able develop a workflow that works for your projects.<br /><br />Ran intp the technical manager of my alma mater after the event and he said they’re gonna get a visit from the Final Cut Server guys to talk about the system. Sounds good, especially since they have upgraded to FCS2. There are 4 AVID Adrenalines in school, but I remember fondly the time I spent in the less glamorous Final Cut lab [only fluorescent light!] when I was doing up my graduation short film. I was one of those rare people who went straight for the FCP option – didn’t even bother with balloting for the AVID, heh.<br /><br />The rest of the afternoon was spent showing how FCS2 integrates Motion, Soundtrack Pro and Color together with FCP, so you can port your footage and project to and fro easily, with instant updates when changes are made in any of the applications. The one thing I really got out of the session was: time to start playing around with Motion. <br /><br />My feeble ‘motion graphics background’ is based on Adobe AfterEffects – because I had a really good trainer back in school. But a motion graphics artist is not created over one final semester [I <S>blame</S> attribute it to the school curriculum for not starting us earlier in motion graphics, since we wasted an entire Year 3 ‘Advanced Multimedia’ curriculum on Flash]. I have done fairly simple motion work in AE [when trying to animate 30+ layers in FCP proved to be a lesson in madness], though I have done quite some bit of keyframing and compositing in FCP as well. <br /><br />From the demonstration, Motion’s principles seem fairly similar to AE, especially when he was demonstrating the use of 3D space.<br /><br />There was extensive demo [twice, in fact] of Color – which was quite exciting to look at, since it doesn’t look THAT imposing anymore, even though you can most definitely achieve a lot more if you know how to work the advanced details. For a marketing event, surely you don’t talk about the drawbacks, since I remember one of the main complaints about Color is that it still can’t handle nested sequences properly.<br /><br />The case study they used for Color was a Jaguar TVC – a lot of masking, isolating and tracking of the grading. Looks like fun! The grading really defined the TVC, since we also got to see the raw footage… zzzz! Reminds me of the fun we had grading our latest TVC, even though in comparison, ours was extremely rough and applied with a very broad stroke. Different budgets/parameters, different strokes :P<br /><br />In comparison, there wasn’t much talk about Final Cut Pro itself. No mention of the cool Smoothcam feature I read a lot about when it first came out. The feeling I got was that this was not about selling the FCP that many editors had grown to love but to push for those who haven't upgraded to FCS2 to seriously consider doing it [ProRes 422 is something they mentioned quite a bit]. Plus, to see the value-add in the other applications neatly integrated into the workflow. <br /><br />I had a moment of Deja Vu [which I couldn't trace back, as Deja Vu moments tend to be; was it during the Adobe event? Read off some editing site/forum/newsletter?], when the seemingly most simple of features turned out to be A Very Big Thing.<br /><br />The loudest applause and maddest props were given to this particular demo of Soundtrack Pro 2 where the presenter showed how, with a simple step or two, you could easily remove ambient noise AND audible audio clicks/pops – which you tend to get when you boom a shot in the great outdoors. The really neat thing is that you see the waveform itself morph into ‘what it should be’. All this applied on a clip from a real-world project [stamp of authenticity there]. On playback, the audio was remarkably clean. <br /><br />Simple solution to your everyday problem = most appreciated.<br /><br />There were a few supporting vendors outside the venue, notably the Matrox MXO, BlackMagic and... The RED Camera [the Panasonics in the other end of the space didn't seem to get the same level of interest]. After seeing many variations of glossy photos of the RED camera online [plus footage], it's hard to be wow-ed by the actual camera, especially since I don't remember seeing any demo footage being played alongside it. <br /><br />Superficial Sidenote: end of the seminar, there was a lucky draw, with the awesome and exclusive [read: 'one'] prize of... an iPod <I>nano</I>. Meh :P C'mon, show us FCP groupies some [more] love! I remember Adobe gave away... three Production/Extended Suites during their presentation! Couldn't hurt if Apple gave away a nice set of FCS2... right?<br /><br />I wish, I wish. Still running FCS1 now. Works great for our current needs, though since we also shoot on HDV, ProRes422 is something that would help with our workflow.Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-34332319951887220302008-06-18T18:16:00.003+08:002008-06-18T18:26:52.976+08:00Final Cut World Tour - Singapore<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_txBR4_8qfB0/SFjil-o4cmI/AAAAAAAAADA/PeX0xdRi5Ho/s1600-h/Photo003.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_txBR4_8qfB0/SFjil-o4cmI/AAAAAAAAADA/PeX0xdRi5Ho/s320/Photo003.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213165710778856034" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_txBR4_8qfB0/SFjil83iljI/AAAAAAAAADI/sw4wauoOHmk/s1600-h/Photo008.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_txBR4_8qfB0/SFjil83iljI/AAAAAAAAADI/sw4wauoOHmk/s320/Photo008.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213165710303467058" /></a><br />'Live' from [post] Final Cut World Tour.<br /><br />More text and post-show thoughts to come.Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-17600605744698332482008-06-13T01:20:00.003+08:002008-06-13T01:48:02.743+08:00Latest Work: Superhero Diaries TVC<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ymIhqQvtVJ4&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ymIhqQvtVJ4&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><I>If you could, watch it on High Quality on YouTube itself :D</I><br /><br />Had the TVC up on YouTube for 2 weeks now - but didn't want to dilute the traffic to our company blog [<a href="http://intuitive-films.blogspot.com">http://intuitive-films.blogspot.com</a>] - so posting it here only now. <br /><br />Had quite some fun cutting this one. I was on the set when it was shot [on a soundstage] since I helped in the producing. Also helped to make sure the fireball compositing shot [the frame in the video thumbnail] had enough good takes to work with.<br /><br />It turned out to be my favorite shot for 2 reasons:<br /><br />1) The fireball came out really nicely [the cinematographer made a very nifty suggestion to use a dimmer on the key light when he shot so that the fireball > full explosion gives more impact].<br /><br />2) The actress [for those bopping to the tunes of the 80s, that's Debbie Gibson] held on to her 'look' long enough and with enough intensity, the shot was a good one to hold, with the fireball on a translucent 'add' composite mode.<br /><br />2b) Extra: the fireball scene then dissolves into a snow scene... ooh, thematic contrast - I likey!<br /><br />Though I am not entirely happy with the masking on the reveal... still a little rough. And that shot alone probably had 3-4 layers of nesting - ow.<br /><br />Did quite extensive color grading on this one - using Magic Bullet Editors. Helps that the costumes and make-up were very dramatic and the style was to have rich, saturated colors. Mmm, colors, yes, I likey that, too. Apart from color grading, also slapped on a few filters to get a little bit of the glow and vignetting going. Not to forget the ballistics [and SFX] and a very subtle sound texture which bridged the fireball scene and the snow scene.<br /><br />Entire TVC was cut, composited and graded in FCP :] Well, the end logos were done up in Photoshop and the music track came from the client's music guy.<br /><br />Delivered a DigiBeta with 2 x :30 version to the TV station last week... hope to see it on the air soon - all that tweaking is wasted when you only get to see it either as a tiny streaming .flv on the official website or a highly compressed YouTube video!Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791834971432693023.post-207270300183528392008-06-13T00:58:00.004+08:002008-06-13T01:16:05.201+08:002008 FCPUG SuperMag - 100 pages of pure goodness!A whole motherload of tips and tricks, written by industry professionals who have been very generous in sharing their experiences and solutions.<br /><br />All 100 of them, now available for just a low, low price of: an email address!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lafcpug.org/nab_supermag_08.html" TARGET="_BLANK">http://www.lafcpug.org/nab_supermag_08.html</a><br /><br />Downloading it as I type - but there's no doubt I believe that this is some real solid stuff.<br /><br />Link courtesy of Shane Ross @ <a href="http://lfhd.blogspot.com/">http://lfhd.blogspot.com</a>, who contributed an article as well.<br /><br />Oh yay, downloaded and 'flipped' [or finger-scrolled] through it - I am definitely a big FCP fanboy :P <br /><br />Something for me to savor and devour as I await the arrival of the Final Cut World Tour next week - ETA 18 June!Kai Cheonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07404927628889783857noreply@blogger.com0