A Golden Age of Choices

It often seems that nearly everything I read about the production and post industry today involves some sort of choice. Film vs. digital. PC vs. Mac. Red vs. Arri. Sony vs. Panasonic. Kodak vs. Fuji. Resolve vs. Baselight. Lustre vs. Pablo. Scratch vs. Speedgrade. The list goes on and on. But the very use of the term “versus” is a good indicator of just how far off the mark all of these things are, because the fact is that choice is a good thing, and making a choice based on particular circumstances is something that is done by every producer, cinematographer, and director on every project they undertake.

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Summer Season Wraps

As someone who’s worked in network television for a long time, it seems strange to be wrapping a season of a show – let alone two shows – in September. Throughout the medium’s history, seasons have traditionally begun in September, with production commencing in July. But in recent years, the growth of cable networks as a venue for scripted series has largely changed that model, with many cable shows having production and post cycles that don’t coincide with the traditional network periods at all. With creatively and commercially successful dramas (and comedies, albeit to a lesser extent) now being produced for services like TNT, USA, TBS, FX, AMC, and A&E, not to mention the pay channels like HBO and Showtime, “production season” can begin in July, September, November, March, or anything in between, depending upon the network, show, and proposed time of year for airing. This has allowed them to air shows at times of the year when they don’t have to compete directly with the broadcast networks, for instance, during the summer.

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Beta Blues

Once upon a time, software companies (and some hardware companies, for that matter) had development programs. These development programs were divided into phases – early development, more advanced development, product testing, and finally product release. These phases were often referred to as alpha, beta, release candidate, and release. They all were controlled in order to make them more directly useful to the developers, with the early alpha code being distributed only to the developers themselves as well as some users for early opinions and testing, the beta code to a select group of users for more direct feedback under simulated “real” conditions, and the release candidate to a slightly wider group for testing under actual conditions with the understanding that bugs might be encountered along the way. Over time, this proved to be a good methodology for developing complex software without costing customers time, money, or embarassment, but giving the developers feedback that can really only be obtained from experienced users outside the development lab, in actual conditions. All participants in these programs (alpha, beta, and release candidate) were required to sign NDA’s (Non Disclosure Agreements) in order to keep them as a control group and not light the fires of expectation under the non-participating users. In this way, new features could be tested and perfected prior to product announcements and trade show unveilings.  Read the rest of this entry »

The First Six Months

Postworld went live on November 23, 2009, which means that it’s now a bit over six months old. I suppose that’s enough of a milestone to take some stock of what it’s meant both to me as your host, and to you as my guests. For me, this blog has been an outlet for me to both learn and educate, and I very much enjoy doing both. I learn from your comments and from the research that I do to fact check the things I write about here, and I hope I educate by sharing that newfound knowledge with all of you in at least a mildly entertaining manner. All of us have our own unique perspectives that we develop through our personal experiences in work and in life, and if there’s one thing that the Web and blogs allow us to do, it’s to share those perspectives and enlighten ourselves and each other in the process. Hopefully Postworld has helped to do that for you, I know it has for me. Read the rest of this entry »

So, About That DaVinci Thing…

Due to my work schedule, I did not attend the NAB convention in Las Vegas this year. Which, as it turns out, is a pity, because it was probably one of the most interesting gatherings in quite some time. Lots of interesting announcements on various fronts, involving some of the more significant players in our business, including Arri (with the Alexa camera line), Aaton (showing the proposed digital back for the Penelope camera), Assimilate (showing a new version of Assimilate Scratch working with Arri RAW files in real time), Filmlight (some very interesting new things coming, including integrated Red Rocket support, and support for Sony’s new software version of the SR codec, allowing for some very efficient file based workflow enhancements), and Avid (Media Composer 5, one of the most significant upgrades of that software in years). And I’ll be writing about all of these things in time. But perhaps the most significant – and potentially disruptive – announcements came from Blackmagic Design regarding their newly acquired DaVinci product line.  Read the rest of this entry »

I’m Back

I’ve been a bit busy lately, both personally and professionally, which has resulted in a bit of time between posts. Personally, I moved (from Woodland Hills, in the San Fernando Valley, to Playa Vista, near Marina Del Rey) about 3 weeks ago. This represents a kind of homecoming for me, only a year after coming home from a few years in Florida, as I lived in the Marina on and off for almost 10 years. I’ve always loved living near the beach, especially here in Los Angeles during the summer months, as during the day, it’s almost always at least 20-30 degrees cooler than it is in the Valley (yes, you read that right: it can be 105 degrees in the Valley, while at the beach – less than 10 miles away if you’re in Woodland Hills – it’s only in the mid 70’s). Professionally, I’m now working for a digital intermediate and post facility called Next Element by Deluxe, in Burbank. Next Element has been a working digital intermediate facility for the last 7 years (it was previously known as Hollywood Intermediate), and was recently acquired by Deluxe Digital Media. The company has expanded its focus into television post production, and that’s in part where I come in. My actual title is Senior Colorist (along with Julius Friede, whom I’ve known for many years), although as with most smaller facilities, I’ll also be involved in helping to solve some workflow and technical issues along the way. The people at Next Element are top notch, from the management team, to the producers, to the technical staff, and I’m very happy to be with them. It also represents a reunion of sorts for me with an old friend, Bruce Long, who’s come in as President of Next Element, and is someone I’ve known for almost 20 years and worked with previously during my time at Encore Video. He’s also a very close friend, and the opportunity to work together again is something I’ve looked forward to for a long time. In addition, Next Element is one of the first of what I would consider a “new age” post facility, one that is almost entirely file based, with no use of videotape other than for ingest and delivery. The combination of a custom built Linux based infrastructure, Baselight color grading systems, and some very, very smart people makes for a rather unique atmosphere. I think (and hope) the industry will be hearing quite a bit about us in the near future.

That’s enough about me. We now return you to our regularly scheduled blog posts, already in progress….

Greetings from Mumbai

This week I’m in Mumbai, India, doing some demos for my friends at Assimilate (makers of Assimilate Scratch, a digital intermediate system – among other things – that I’ve used for a few years now, both in Miami and back home in Los Angeles). This is my first visit to this part of the world, and that being the case, I’m still a bit overwhelmed, even after 4 days here. What I do know is that I’ve met a lot of interesting, talented, and for lack of a better term, wonderful people that I’m very happy to call new friends. I’ve seen a lot and learned a lot, as is usually the case when one travels to places with cultures and living circumstances very different from their own. Read the rest of this entry »

New Design

Welcome to The New Postworld.

Postworld is created using the WordPress platform. WordPress allows the use of Themes to quickly design and modify the appearance of an individual site. Postworld is now using a theme designed by SRS Solutions called Arjuna. I’ve only slightly modified it for my use here. Since Postworld is primarily a blog, and primarily text based, I felt this particular theme allows it to be read a bit easier than the previous design. At any rate, I hope you enjoy the new look and find it a bit easier to get around.

iPad – Give it Time

Apple iPad

Apple has always been one of the most interesting of technology companies, especially when it comes to new product introductions. They have proven themselves to be so innovative and original that when they don’t hit stratospheric heights right out of the box, it’s a major disappointment. They have also been so responsive to vastly different market segments (consumers, high end professional media folks, and everyone in between) that it’s sometimes difficult to see them as they actually are – which, to me, is a very successful consumer electronics company that also does some products for specialized market segments. And it is from that perspective that I look at their latest product, the iPad.

The iPad is not a desktop computer. And it is not a laptop, which in itself has become a physically smaller and more portable version of a desktop computer. It is, for lack of a better description, primarily an Internet portal, plain and simple. Connectivity is its primary purpose in life. And that connectivity is provided in a physically small package with a not so physically small screen. Since there is no keyboard or pointing device (it uses a virtual keyboard, like the iPhone, but it can attach to an external keyboard as well), it is a single piece that does essentially all of its user interaction via a touch screen. For many, it seems that the iPad is nothing more than a much bigger iPod Touch. And to some degree, this is true. It even uses the same operating system and runs the same applications. But to judge what the iPad is by its first incarnation is to overlook the history of Apple as a company, and how it both introduces and evolves its products.

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Welcome!

Welcome to Postworld, the personal blog of Mike Most. Here you’ll find my views on all things related to the film and television industry (and maybe even some other stuff..), but particularly regarding post production. There’s a lot going on in our industry these days, and a lot of claims being made, and sorting through the hype to find the truth is a big part of what I hope to accomplish here. If you’ve got any questions you’d like me to touch on, feel free to send me an email and I’ll try to answer them. In the meantime, enjoy.