Summertime Sadness: You Don't Know What You got Till It's Gone

I learned something about myself this summer. I spent the past 3 months in Alaska working as a fly-fishing guide at a lodge accessible only via float plane, living off the grid with no real connection to the outside world. While I easily had the most spectacular summer of my life so far, there was one thing missing in my life: television. As a TVR student, it's obvious that I enjoy consuming and creating media in various forms. However, I didn't realize just how big a part media consumption was in my life until it was out of my reach entirely. 

I left for the summer with only two episodes left in the fifth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones. After spending a few days in Anchorage preparing for my journey into the bush, I was casually talking with another guide I would be working with about streaming the last two episodes so that I could see how the season ended. The guide shot me a confused look and told me that there would be no possible way for me to watch any shows, let alone the last two episodes of an HBO series. At first, I was dumbfounded. I spent my entire life with immediate access to television and other media; I had no reason to believe that Alaska would be any different. I began to reason that surely the lodge had a satellite internet service or something that could fulfill my TV needs. The other guide, who had spent previous summers in the bush, quickly shot down any hopes I had left. I had to accept that this would be my first summer without TV or movies EVER.

I'm not going to lie to you, it wasn't easy. 

I never realized how much I relied on television and movies to help get me through a day. I soon discovered that consuming media acted as a very important tool to help me decompress and unwind from my day; I will often come back from a long day of classes and meetings and sit in my recliner for an hour or so and simply do nothing but watch a show. No contact with the outside world, no activity, just me and my show. I love getting lost in the narrative of a program, wether it is a critically acclaimed film or just another Seinfeld rerun. The ability to get lost in the fictional world provides a respite from the stresses of the day and allows me to rest and recuperate my mind. 

All of that was absent this past summer. I was forced to find other methods of relaxation to wrap up my long days of work. It was difficult at first; I tried to scheme up ways to fulfill my need for media consumption, but by the end of the summer I had taken the old fashion route and settled with a good book. While not as visual as I was used to, it still permitted me access to another, less stressful world. 

 I am happy to say that upon my return to the lower 48 just last week I immediately attempted to make up for all of my lost time, catching up on all of my shows that I had so painfully been torn away from all summer. I went and saw Jurassic World (meh) and am currently taking full advantage of the cable in my room. Now that is all said and done, I am actually glad that I had this media-less experience this summer. While it was hard, it also reaffirmed my love for all things TV and film and made me realize what I like most about media and how it impacts my life specifically, which I believe will make me a better creator of media in the long run.  

Prelude Workflow: Really I Love Bread Eating

A Prelude can be described as, “Something that comes before and leads to something else.” When it comes to naming programs, Adobe seems to have it right. While many are familiar with the editing software, “Adobe Premiere Pro,” just as many are unfamiliar with it’s lesser known brother, “Adobe Prelude.” Designed specifically to work in conjunction with Premiere Pro, Prelude is designed to speed the review, ingest, logging, selection, and export of tapeless media.

 In short, Prelude helps speed up the arduous naming, reviewing, and selection of footage. Furthermore, by transcoding your clips to a more manageable file type you’ll eliminate the headaches when trying to export your film. Specifically, Prelude allows one person to review and capture all footage, build a selects reel, and INSTANTLY export it into Premiere Pro CS6, or Final Cut Pro, so that the editor can begin editing immediately.

Can you imagine? You only have to export your film once. Nothing dropped, no errors, NO MESS! And you thought it could only happen in your dreams.  

All those student editors out there, I have even more good news. If you’re a competent editor and aren’t horrible to be around you’ll probably end up with a job. The cool thing about having a job is that you earn money. This news isn’t so great for producers though.

“Someone using Prelude is not editing, they are collecting and organizing clips, and putting them all into one spot for the editor.” -Larry Jordan, Author of "Edit Smarter"

If you don’t need an editor to use Prelude, then why pay someone $40 an hour when you could pay a Production Assistant $7.64 to go through the Prelude process and save some bucks where you can. Now I have some bad news for you student editors out there. I just lost us some easy money. Now the production assistants are going to take our jobs. Sorry about that. 

So hopefully by now I’ve convinced you that Prelude could, potentially, increase the efficiency of the editing team. But how does one go about actually using the software? In order to understand Prelude’s workflow, one *must remember the acronym: RILBE.

R: REVIEW clips from camera, card, or hard disk

I: INGEST just the clips, or portions of the clips that you need

L: LOG clips to add comments, and select the good clips

B: BUILD a rough-cut of selected clips to send to the editor

E: EXPORT the rough-cut to Premiere Pro (technically you could also export to Final Cut 7 but that’s not our focus for today)

I came up with a great phrase to remember the acronym: “Really I Love Bread Eating.” This works for me because, well, I really love eating bread. But you all can use it too if you want. Or you can create your own fun way to remember the correct sequence of the Prelude workflow. The ball is in your court. 

Let’s start with the R— Review clips from camera, card or disk.

When you first open Adobe Prelude, you’ll notice that it possesses that classic Adobe aesthetic. 

I feel at home already. Once you create a project, you’ll find that you’ve landed in the INGEST workplace. I know what you’re thinking— “Wait, Erin, the ingest workspace? But Ingest is the SECOND letter in the RILBE acronym.” Good catch! But actually, dear reader, the Ingest workspace is exactly where we need to be. This workspace allows you to review clips before you capture and transfer them to your hard disk from the camera, card, or hard disk where the source masters are stored. While revising the clips are important, I find this particular workspace the best place to label all of my clips.

Let’s move on to the second letter of the Prelude workflow acronym, INGEST. 

When Adobe says “ingest” they really just mean “transcode.” When you ingest an apple you change the composition of the apple. And when your body is done editing out all of the nutritious pieces of the apple, you end up “exporting” something completely different altogether. The benefit of ingesting clips is that you can transform the footage to a myriad of more manageable file types. This will save you the hassle of running into exporting errors later. Would you want to eat an apple without chewing it first? Prelude “chews” the clips before they seriously mess up your editing timeline. But what clips to chew? It’s common knowledge that transcoding large video files can take hours, days, even years to complete. Adobe offers several solutions to this. 

Solution number 1:

Clear your schedule for the week and ingest every damn clip

Solution number 2:

Clear an hour of your schedule and ingest all of the clips you know, or think that you may use in your final edit. 

Solution number 3:

Adobe allows you to pre-select portions of clips to ingest. Technically, you could select all of the in and out points of each clip and only ingest those specific clip bits. I caution you against doing this, however, because not importing the entire clip makes it fairly difficult to change your mind about things like length when they’re exported into the editing timeline.

I’m not going to tell you which solution is the BEST one, but it’s 2. Solution 2 is most likely the one that you’re going to want to go with. Ingesting clips is as simple as clicking the checkbox on the lower right corner of the thumbnail, selecting the format you want said clip transcoded to, and proceeding to push the big Ingest button in the lower right corner of the Ingest Workspace. The formats that are understood by editing softwares best (Apple ProRes, DNxHD, CineForm etc.) all require you to create a custom transcoding preset within Prelude. Once complete, the Adobe Media Composer will pop up and ingesting ensues. 

Here’s a great video on how to create custom presets in Adobe Prelude:

A GREAT VIDEO ON HOW TO CREATE CUSTOM PRESETS IN ADOBE PRELUDE

(thanks Arturo)

Reviewing footage and transcoding files into entirely different formats is not the only things that the ingest page is good for. Prelude is designed so that you can provide a link to the media (for tagging, and searching purposes) and you can copy media/ save your work to an unlimited number of destinations. That means you can save it to ALL of your hard drives. At this point I’m sure that you feel quite overwhelmed with the number of dreams Prelude is making come true for you. 

Now comes the 3rd step in our Prelude workflow— LOGGING

Logging is my favorite RILBE action because it involves the use of colorful markers. Each colored marker indicates something different when used on a clip so it’s very important that you become familiar with each marker’s use. Imagine if Van Gogh didn’t know what the blue marker did? 

“Starry Night you call it? By golly that could be a picture of anything Vanny old chap!” < This quote is fictitious in content as well as inaccurate in terms of culture, time-period, and vernacular. 

Prelude is no Crayola, but it offers six distinctly different types of markers as illustrated here:

While each color marker has its place, the most useful (in my opinion) is the blue “sub clip” marker. You can create sub clips, also known as clips within clips, by selecting in and out points with the blue marker. The sub clips will then be saved and marked (Command+S) when you end up importing the re-furbished footage into Premiere. 

See, even Vincent Van Gogh likes blue best.

Which brings us to the 4th letter in the RILBE Prelude workflow acronym— Building a Rough Cut. 

This step of the Prelude is optional especially if you’re giving the job to production assistants rather than your editor. However, you can create a rough cut by double clicking the rough-cut icon and opening the rough-cut workspace. In a circumstance where the editor is not the person working in Prelude, the stand-in may take on the responsibility of assembling the good takes in one place so the editor wastes less time reviewing each and every take. If you do decide to make a rough-cut in Prelude, be sure to select File > Save before going on to the very last step of RILBE.

EXPORTING:

One of Prelude’s greatest attributes is it’s ability to transfer files to Premiere Pro unbelievably quickly. By selecting, File > Send to Premiere Pro, a  new timeline will appear in Premiere and your clips will be transferred almost instantaneously. (This knowledge makes the transcoding process much more bearable to sit through.)

So that’s the end of this Prelude. Don’t you worry, there will be much, much more to come. Until then, Really I Love Bread Eating. Cheers!

The Super Not So Secret Gathering of the Technologically Savvy: The National Association of Broadcasters' Convention

Recently, my dad invited me to go to the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas this April. Every year, the NAB (Not to be confused with the NBA), holds a convention dedicated to introducing new technology, techniques, and ideas related to the field of broadcast media.

 < < < <  National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)

National Basketball Association (NBA)   > > > >








Every year, over 100,000 industry professionals flock to Las Vegas to participate in the interactive exhibits, on-floor education sessions, and hundreds of product introductions. Apparently, the participation is so great that the size of the show floor is equivalent to that of 19 American football fields.

Here's the "sizzle reel" to get you pumped up about the convention:




Last year, attendees of the 2013 NAB Show got a behind the scenes look at the production of both "Oblivion (2013 film)" and "Oz the Great and Powerful." The Television Luncheon, hosted byNancy O'Dell, featured the induction of American Idol into the Television Hall of Fame with an appearance by Randy Jackson and a live performance by Chris Daughtry. Furthermore, there was a sneak peak presentation of Adobe's (then not yet released) Premiere Pro CS6 editing software and so much more.

The NAB convention not only was the first place to successfully hold a HDTV broadcast, it was also where the Red Digital Cinema Camera was first presented. Representatives from companies worldwide gather in Los Vegas to learn about the newest technologies. Some of the most famous companies with booths include:

Although from the photos below of the event, you can see that these are just a few of the hundreds of companies packed into the convention center. 

 The National Association of Broadcasters, or NAB, is an organization that acts as the voice of the nation's radio and television broadcasters. As the premier trade association for broadcasters, NAB advances the interests of members in the federal government; improves the quality and profitability of broadcasting; encourages content and technology innovation; and spotlights the important and unique ways stations serve their communities. They deal a lot with the law and work to inform policy makers of the primary issues affecting the radio and television broadcast business.

Gordon H. Smith is the current CEO of the NAB as well as a former Oregon Senator. I just want everyone to see how nice and handsome he looks in this picture.

Gordon H. Smith CEO of the NAB

All in all, I'm pretty excited to get a chance to take a look at all the latest industry gadgets as well as do my fair share of networking. I might even get myself a suit.

Vice Media

For as long as I have been watching TV I have always had a dislike for news stories. Fictional stories just have always appealed to me more. I feel entertainment should be a way to escape from reality, and news just brings all of the troubles of the world right into your living room. However regarding news there is one magazine that I can stand and that is, Vice. Vice is a magazine company which puts an entirely different spin on the news. I am a big fan of the videos that Vice Media produces and puts on their YouTube Channel. The type of videos that are produced are features about a lot of different, risqué material. There are a lot of different stories about drugs, violence, even cannibalism. What I like about Vice so much is the fact that the staff really puts themselves out there to be able to tell the story in the best way possible. For example one video I watched was an interview with a Hitman for hire. The interview consisted of the staff from Vice filming the Hitman in the back seat of a car and asking him questions about why he kills people for a living. To be in the same car as a professional killer must not be the most comfortable situation one could put themselves in, but Vice did to cover the story not matter how unsettling it is. I really suggest you watch this, it is much different then what you see on CNN every night.

 Vice recently also started to make what are called "Vice Shorts." Vice shorts are more on the side of fiction rather than non-fiction. Like the news that Vice covers these videos are a little bizarre but are put together well and very interesting. The first short that I saw was called "The Ellington Kid." The first thing I saw was that at the beginning of this short it says based on a true story (sort of). I thought this was very cool considering what we are doing in class. I believe that this video was inspired by a new story/urban legend. It not only sparked some ideas but it is also an interesting story. Please take some time to watch this video, and also subscribe to Vice, the company produces some really awesome things.

MoVI: May Your Shots Forever be Stable

A large part of what separates the amateurs from the professionals in the visual media industry is how smooth the shots look. When you think about it; it makes sense. As of now, steadicams, (currently the easiest way to achieve these seductive, sweeping shots) go anywhere from $150 to over $10,000. Your average Joe isn't about to dish out a thousand dollars for smooth shots when he's got a built in stabilizer on his T3i. However, in the future we might see a steady drop in the price of steadicams with the introduction of the Freefly MoVI rig.

So you may be thinking, "What's so revolutionary about the MoVI?" This video will clear up any questions you may have:

One thing I found particularly intriguing about the MoVI rig is it's ability to not only be operated by one person, but also operated dually. Much like how a follow focus could be focusing a camera from another room, the MoVI allows one person to follow the action with the camera while another sits somewhere else concentrating entirely on framing. 

Secondly, even those looking for that, shaky, running with the camera look can find the MoVI rig useful. For example,  the MoVI M10 offers a user adjusted shakey cam that allows the operator to shoot with consistent, realistic movement. Who would have thought that a device could be so good at being smooth that a shakey camera would be considered a feature?

Below I attached the link that directs you to Laforet's finished video. Keep in mind, the short was made for the purpose of displaying the MoVI's abilities. Therefore, the plot of the video is fairly lacking and in itself not so interesting. However, when focusing on the shots one can easily see the upgrade in production quality the MoVI brings to the table. As of now, a MoVI rig goes for about $15000. However, I doubt it will be long before similar rigs aimed towards consumers come unto the market. Knowing this, one must question how much longer the line separating amateur productions from professional productions will remain in tact.

http://www.freeflysystems.com/media/videos.php

The "Last Kiss" Photo

The other day I came across an interesting article involving spontaneous inspiration and the hassle of release forms and other annoying but necessary things to get done when trying to make a film. With the conclusion of our one shot projects, I thought this article was particularly interesting. The story involves a man named Mo Gelber, an audio engineer by day and occasional photographer who happened to follow a crowd of reporters outside a courthouse, not even knowing who they were following. Amongst the commotion, Gelber saw something he found more interesting: a young couple sharing a last kiss getting escorted by police officers on each side of them. He ended up snapping this shot.

Gelber was pleased and ended up entering it into a contest called "Project Imaginat10n," a collaboration between Canon and Ron Howard. The contest called for people to send in their photographs with the potential of one being turned into a film. Gelber's shot ended up winning. However, the judges gave Gelber only a few days to get all the release forms signed, leading Gelber on a wild goose hunt, since he had no idea who any of these people were or where to find them.

Gelber called the police station and tracked down the cops pretty easily, who had no problem signing the forms. The hard part came when trying to find the couple in the photo. Gelber ended up turning to his Facebook friends, who put him in contact with a popular photography blogger who ended up putting Gelber's photograph on his blog, asking if anyone knew where to find the couple. A few hours later (pretty much up until the last minute of the deadline) the woman in the photo contacted Gelber, telling him that she and her boyfriend (who were arrested for graffiti) would be happy to sign the release and help him win the contest.

Mo Gelber faced another problem when it came to working out the details of the contract with Canon with his photo subjects. The problem was that the release states that for the rest of their lives, only Canon or the contest representatives could photograph them. Long story short, Canon and the couple's lawyers tried to negotiate the terms of the release but were unable to reach an agreement and Gelber's shot was disqualified. However, a positive to come out of this story is that now Gelber's photography has gained much more media attention.

I think this story is quite interesting because it highlights all of the legal stuff involved in making films that we often forget about. Unfortunately, it is a necessary part of the filmmaking process and could potentially force the artist to compromise the project. Of course, Gelber's situation is a bit more difficult because everything was being done through the Canon company, but these kinds of issues are still things that filmmakers commonly face.

Read the full interview with Mo Gelber here: http://good.is/posts/how-this-last-kiss-photo-sparked-a-facebook-manhunt/