It's been a couple weeks since graduation, so I've decided to catch you
up with my plans for the coming year. I've got some additional podcasts
in the works as well as ideas for this show. you can look forward to
more interviews in the near future.
This is an unusually long
show and I'm loading a lot of news on the front end, so if you want to
skip that, jump to 10:40 where I start my eval of Avid.
My film,
Handmade in America is still in process. I'm screening it with a number
of people at school over the next few weeks, to find out how I can make
a good film look and play better. I'm conscious that meeting the
graduation deadline required me to skimp on some quality features, and
while I don't want to dedicate the rest of my life to this story, I do
want to look back on it knowing I did the best I could given my current
abilities. I already see the need to do some pick-up shooting.
Even
though I'm out of school, CDIA has a very open approach towards it's
alumni, encouraging continuing connections and mentoring between former
students and faculty.
I can spend a lot of time validating the
time I spent in school, learning this craft, but I'll put that off for
another time. I do want to bring to your attention a series of articles
by Mike Jones of Digital Basin
about whether it's worth your money to go film school at all. His first
post was dated Monday Sept. 08, 2008 and continued for 4 more posts up to
Wednesday Sep 17, 2008.
In the show, I mention a video host called Vimeo that I'm considering using to post screencasts. Blip TV is similar one that comes to mind. Anyone had experience with either of those, or recommendations of others?
And as far as a host for future sites and blogs, I've committed to BlueHost,
a name I've heard other podcasters refer to positively. I've looked at
a lot of different hosts, read comparative reviews and I feel that, at
least on the basic level, they're more or less the same in terms of
features offered. So, in the absence of any clear direction, I'm going
with what's appeared on my radar.
Check out the Ruff Cutz
Film Festival. I submitted and have recently been added to the films
screened at this event, taking place at the Center for Digital Imaging
Arts at Boston University in Waltham Massachusetts, in the middle of
November. I don't know much except that CDIA is a sponsor, they're
encouraging films that are rough, which mine is, and it's inexpensive
to enter. I'll be there and let you know about it.
The remainder of the show is spent sharing my thoughts about the pros and cons about using Avid.
Bear
in mind, I'm approaching this from a beginner's perspective. As far as
I'm concerned, I'm standing on the edge of the learning prairie, the
mountains are nowhere in sight and I have no idea if I'll reach the sea
on the other side.
So a lot of my concerns and ideas are limited
by my exposure and use of this program. I don't think this negates the
usefulness of what I've got to say though. I think this program is
really, really weak for the beginning user. There was a time when the
only way you could learn this software was from the cocoon of the
production company that had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for
each Avid workstation. Anyone who was chosen to learn this tool had the
benefit of a seasoned professional editor, as well as their own years
as assistant editors, watching in the shadows.
Experiences like
that can still be had, but they aren't the norm anymore. At the
midpoint on the user curve are people such as myself, people who want
to produce their own independent films with a small team of people.
Bootstrap filmmaking. This is where Final Cut Pro and Premiere have
taken the lead and Avid is lagging behind. I think Avid has a lot to
offer today's independent filmmaker, but I think they're shutting
people out by raising the learning bar too high at the point of entry.
I'm going to check out the book by Diana Weynand, Final Cut Pro for Avid Editors.
I haven't been able to find any books for people who use Final Cut Pro
and want to use what they know to learn Avid, but I have found a few
sites. Avid's site has video tutorials geared towards FCP users, Editing Organazized has a useful blog post about how specific editing actions are invoked in either program, Final Cut Pro to Avid and the Avid Community site also has tips and tutorials.
I'm
committed to this course regardless of wolves, snowstorms or bandits,
so any helping hand you can lend would be kindly appreciated. Thankye.
