Reducing The Load With Proxies

How proxies can help with playback

Michael Guncheon

I’ve gone through several posts on various ways to use proxies and how to make sure that workflow is successful. But, I haven’t talked about using proxies side-by-side with your original footage on an edit workstation. You might ask, “Why use proxies if the real files are available?” As camera resolution has increased, the load on edit computers... Read more

An Archeological Expedition

Much like a modern-day Indiana Jones, join me as I dig through the relics and remnants of production laying around our office

Daniel Brockett

Much like a modern-day Indiana Jones, join me as I dig through the relics and remnants of production laying around our office. I’ve been doing some straightening and organizing around the office lately. Upon excavating several storage boxes that I haven’t looked through for quite a while, some of them it’s been even years since I have gone... Read more

Proxy Assumption

Making sure proxies work

Michael Guncheon

Previously, I talked about creating proxies to use for remote editing. The original footage remains in one location—not linked to the project—and only the proxies are used. I emphasized that you should make sure that the proxy files are created in such a way that they easily and faultlessly link up with the original footage. You can’t just assume... Read more

The Camera Business Case

A lot of your decisions about when to buy a new camera and which camera to buy should center on the business case

Daniel Brockett

Over the past six months, it’s been a season of new camera releases, each more tempting than the last. The latest crop of mirrorless hybrids and digital cinema cameras present some compelling new features and innovations designed to make shooting more efficient and the output, to me, more impressive. The past few months have seen several new cameras... Read more

Wireless Video In Production

The costs for wireless video systems have steadily fallen while the quality and features have just as steadily climbed

Daniel Brockett

Wireless video has become the latest must-have? Not sure if you’ve felt that distant or perhaps not-so-distant call yet, the siren song of wireless video? What exactly do we mean when we say wireless video? It’s a somewhat amorphous term in the production world but generally, wireless video transmission is used by either: A. Assistant Camera... Read more

Post Hoc Ergo Proxy Hoc

What about proxies for post?

Michael Guncheon

As I mentioned previously, there are lots of uses for proxies: dailies/client viewing, transcriptions and more. But they’re also used for editing. I’m an editor so proxies for post is what I care most about, and I’ve had both successes and failures with them. There are several reasons to use proxies in editing. For example, when you don’t... Read more

Proxy Matters, Part 2

The end justifies the proxy

Michael Guncheon

Previously, I wrote about what can happen when someone asks for proxies without talking about what they’d be used for. In my example, the proxies were to be used by a transcription service. The issue was file size. With all the uploading and downloading, very small files would have been helpful instead of the 1920×1080 mp4s provided. However,... Read more

Proxy Matters

Getting the right proxy in the first place

Michael Guncheon

I’ve recently written about proxies and how at times they’re treated like a one-size-fits-all panacea. As capture resolutions keep increasing, file sizes grow, too. Proxies become a way to tackle the enormous amount of data that has to wend its way through the post-production workflow. But simply asking to “create proxies” without care oftentimes... Read more

Proxies For Everyone

Proxies aren’t one size fits all

Michael Guncheon

The term proxy gets thrown around a lot in this industry. For many, the term is a panacea for everything. “We’ll generate proxies during the shoot…”, “I’ll give you a drive with the proxies…” and “Can they just use the proxies?” are all commonly heard. It appears people mistakenly think that when they say “I need proxies” they... Read more

A Post IBC 2019 Hangover

The end-of-the-year pro video/digital cinema convention held in Amsterdam was where the action was for new product announcements in 2019

Daniel Brockett

IBC 2019 is the end-of-the-year pro video/digital cinema convention held in Amsterdam. Whenever we think we have the media cycle down for the announcements of new cameras and gear, it seems as if we get thrown for a loop. This year, the disruptor was IBC 2019. The convention takes place in Amsterdam and over the past few years, it felt as if IBC would... Read more

The Boring Detector Is Anything But Boring

Do we really need a boring detector?

Michael Guncheon

A recent beta release of Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve introduced a boring detector. By detecting long shots in your sequence, it can help highlight all the yawn-inducing scenes in your project. I imagine it would light up like crazy if you edited “2001: A Space Odyssey” or “Rope” or “Birdman.” Maybe the next beta release will give... Read more

Stocking Up, Part 2

Fixing a common mistake when you use stock footage

Michael Guncheon

Previously, I posted about a common mistake that occurs when you use stock footage. I gave the example of inserting a slo-mo 24 fps stock clip into a montage of 30 fps footage. The sequence was natively 30 fps. (I’ve rounded 23.976 fps to 24 fps and 29.97 fps to 30 fps for clarity.) It turns out that edit software is so obliging when it inserts... Read more