RSS icon Bullet (black)
  • Better Late Than Never: Fearless Forecast 2012 Pt 1, A Look Back

    Posted on March 4th, 2012 Mike No comments

    Well, first I have to cop to being a bad boy and remaining absent from the blog for far too long. Haven’t really had a lot to say that I haven’t already said in various posts in various places, but I didn’t mean to stay away quite this long. And that said, the first order of business in these forecasts is to examine how I did last time. And as always, I got a few things right, a number of things wrong, and a number of things that were so far off the mark it’s not even funny. Read the rest of this entry »

  • Pilot Season – A Survival Guide

    Posted on May 15th, 2011 Mike 4 comments

    With the 2011 pilot season now completed (network pickup and schedule announcements will happen this week), it seems a fitting time to talk a bit about television pilot season, how it works, how it doesn’t work, how things have changed in the last few years, and how those of us who are involved get through it.

    Read the rest of this entry »

  • All About ACES

    Posted on March 14th, 2011 Mike 7 comments

    There has been a good deal of talk about the IIF/ACES system, but there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding as to exactly what it is. A lot of the early talk centered around the proposed file format to contain ACES information, but the file format is only a very small part of what the system is intended to be, and one of the least significant.

    Read the rest of this entry »

  • Fearless Forecast v2.0 – 2011 Edition, Part 2

    Posted on January 8th, 2011 Mike 4 comments

    In Part 1 of this year’s forecast, we looked at cameras and production trends. In Part 2, we’ll concentrate on post production, distribution, and technology.

    In 2010, the appearance of Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve on the Mac at an unheard of price point was probably the single most significant event in a year that also saw Autodesk release a Mac based version of their Smoke finishing software at a very attractive price point. In some ways, both releases were attempts by their manufacturers to determine exactly where the market sweet spot was going to be for the customer base they were attempting to create and attract. In Blackmagic’s case, they clearly felt that the growing popularity of Red, and perhaps to a lesser degree the Canon DSLR’s as video cameras, was potentially opening up something of a mass market for a category of software that had previously only appealed to the professional end of the post production market. By almost giving the software away (in the professional world, $1000 for a program that formerly cost 100 times that is essentially giving it away), they were attempting to corner a market that they had no proof actually existed. To date, I think the results of that gamble have been mixed. Read the rest of this entry »

  • Grading the Graders: The Long Awaited Part 2

    Posted on November 12th, 2010 Mike 12 comments

    In reviewing Part 1 of this article, I did notice that I left out one of the more important “pros” of the Baselight system, and that is its directly integrated support for the Truelight color management system. Truelight, like Baselight, is a Filmlight product, and  Baselight is designed around the use of that technology for all color management functions, a great advantage. Now…..

    Continuing right along where we left off…..

    Read the rest of this entry »

  • Summer Season Wraps

    Posted on September 19th, 2010 Mike 1 comment

    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.

    Read the rest of this entry »

  • The First Six Months

    Posted on May 30th, 2010 Mike No comments

    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…

    Posted on May 16th, 2010 Mike 4 comments

    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 »

  • Got RAW If You Want It

    Posted on April 11th, 2010 Mike 3 comments

    With the NAB convention taking place in Las Vegas this week, there are going to be quite a few announcements about all kinds of products. This being NAB, it should always be remembered that an announcement does not a product make, and most certainly, an announcement does not a ship date make. Product announcements are, first and foremost, tools to keep current customers interested and engaged, and potential customers intrigued. I’ll have a lot more to say about NAB announcements after I visit Las Vegas later this week, but one very significant announcement did not wait for NAB. The introduction of the Arri Alexa digital camera line took place in Los Angeles last week, in part to allow the many industry people who are working on television pilots at the moment to participate (why NAB always takes place smack in the middle of pilot season is something I’ve never understood), and probably in part to get some direct attention prior to the rather mad, free for all atmosphere that NAB represents. At any rate, the event was very well attended and very well presented, and illustrated the clear differences between Arri – a well established, well regarded and well known industry player for many years – and their primary competitor in the digital cinema camera arena at the moment, which would be Red – a company with a much shorter history, but a lot of interest, a lot of buzz, a very significant product line, and some big sales numbers. Read the rest of this entry »

  • SAG and AFTRA: Together Again

    Posted on February 28th, 2010 Mike 1 comment

    Late this past week, announcements were made by SAG and AFTRA that stated their intention to negotiate jointly for their next Film and Primetime Television deal. These negotiations are slated to begin this fall, although the current contracts – signed by AFTRA in 2008 and SAG many months later, in 2009 – don’t expire until June of 2011. These early negotiations were part of the settlement agreed to by SAG when they finally accepted the current contract. The announcement was not unexpected, especially given the upheaval SAG has gone through in the last 2 years, and the stated intentions of their new leadership under their new President, Ken Howard. But make no mistake. SAG is fighting to maintain relevancy, particularly in television, where their antics of the last year and a half have severely reduced their ability to maintain their representation. Read the rest of this entry »