For some reason, I’ve spent a lot of time perusing the Pro-App discussion forums on Apple as well as the AE forum on Creative COW. Many people on these boards are very, very helpful. When I get the chance, I try to pitch in as well to help someone through a problem.
Lately, though, I’ve noticed two possibly (probably) related trends, mainly on Apple:
Senior users responding with the air of “why are you wasting my time?” or “your wrong/that was stupid”
Novice users posting questions along the lines of “I was hired to cut this commercial and I don’t know anything about broadcast!”
I’m guessing after seeing too many of #2, you get the attitude of #1. But no one is forcing that person to post or respond. As far as #2 is concerned, I’ve gotten in over my head, too; however, there seem to be more and more of these posts.
While this seems to be a relatively new trend for video, it’s old news for designers and audio engineers. Got a copy of Photoshop? You’re a designer! Pro Tools? Hey, now you’re an audio engineer! Have FCP? You’re now an editor. Gonna by that new Scarlet for $2,500. That makes you a DP!
I made a similar observation on Slashdot back when Apple lowered the price of Shake in June, 20061:
When powerful software gets into the hands of the untrained, the trend seems to be that it lowers the value of the services of people who do know what they are doing. [...] I’m not saying the price drop in Shake is entirely bad, just that it will bring in more people who think they know what they’re doing, when really they have no idea.
Recently, I discovered this thread on FCP-L. The general consensus is that apprenticeship seems to be dead, at least in the video/indie-film world.
I don’t knock people for wanting to get into the biz, and learning a few things the hard way. I did too. But there is, more and more, a trend of people NOT starting out as assistants or apprentices…learning the craft while on the job and watching how it is done. People will just buy the equipment and without any knowledge go off and shoot something. [...] What gets me is when these people now go “I have a client and am making a commercial for broadcast…how do I do this[?]”
I know many, many people (especially some with me in film school) who just decided since they had a camera and computer, that made them a DP/editor/director. I’ve seen sophomores at UWM drop of their “DP” reels expecting to get jobs shooting commercials. Now learning something along the way is one thing. You fall. You get back up and try again, learning something along the way. Only these don’t appear to be falls, but rather willfully walking off a cliff and asking for a parachute on the way down.
Though, those of us who have run the gauntlet2 really should try and help those who need it. And especially those who ask for it. Mark Raudonis later notes that apprenticeship is not dead in his shop:
We make it a point to teach, encourage, and give people an chance to contribute to the team effort. The first mistake they make would be my fault… I didn’t teach them. The second mistake is their fault… they didn’t learn. The third mistake is their last one… at our shop.
If you come across those that seem to have gotten in over their head, be willing to help out. It may be our only chance to keep apprenticeship alive. Just be weary of those that get into these situations who then refuse to think or learn, but instead wish to have others do the work for them. They won’t learn. They don’t want to.
And I’ll also note that some people called me out on it. If you go up two levels, I did make a rather snide remark which made me sound like an elitist prick. ↩
I’ll fully admit, I’m still in that process. I’m pretty sure it never ends. ↩
So, it’s 11 months late, but I’ve finally started to get some pieces up on the portfolio section of the site.
I’ve got one issue with it though (aside from it not being complete). Shadowbox, the media viewer I’m using, seems to have an issue with Firefox 3 and Adblock. It prevents any plugin media (including flash & quicktime) from loading in the viewer. If anyone has any ideas, I’m open to them. Right now, though, I think my best bet is to just provide a different view option for those users who may be affected. Are there any special firefox-only functions that can be used to detect plugins? I’d want this to be as automated as possible.
I voted. Did you?
Please, no matter your party or political affiliation, vote. There’s no reason to complain about long lines or the inconvenience. If you don’t vote and don’t like the way the election turns out, you have no reason to complain. Period.
Now vote!
Slam poet Rives tells a short tale through typography. While I’m usually one to denounce what IM and text messages have done to writing skills, this is a creative use.
I’ve often toyed with the idea of referring to myself as a Motion Designer, though this post is mainly referring to the actual product or service itself.
(At the time of the posting, Motion Design is winning with 54% of the vote, Motion Graphics at 33%, and Neither at 11%.)
Recently, I bagan the migration to a different invoicing system. One of the apps that caught my eye was Billings 3. While perusing their Anatomy of an Invoice page, I noticed something interesting. One of the bullet points:
5. It is best to use alternating row colors for the line items area. Make it easy for the client to follow each line item from left to right.
That’s good advice. But this is the image that accompanies the page:
Hmm… Well, it’s a little light, maybe we just can’t see the alternating row colors. Let’s darken it and up the contrast:
Maybe they should take their own advise?
(As an aside, it also seems this functionality is lacking from the software itself, not just the example image.)
A company called Redrock Micro is introducing a DSLR kit to allow for rail mounted lenses and follow focus knobs. At first glance, it looks like a typical rail system, until you notice a 5D Mark II attached. I have to admit, despite my initial skepticism, I’m getting a little more excited to see what people do with a kit like this.
Granted, there are already options on the table to attach 35mm lenses to traditional video cameras, but using a DSLR will make this much more portable (and prevent loss of light through ground glass). I do have to wonder, though. If you’re already going through the trouble of using a system like this, why aren’t you using a camera that offers more control over and less compression of the image?
No. Fish are not, nor will they ever be referred to as “Sea Kittens.” Actually, don’t clikc on that link. Peta doesn’t need the page hits. Here’s what it says:
People don’t seem to like fish. They’re slithery and slimy, and they have eyes on either side of their pointy little heads—which is weird, to say the least. Plus, the small ones nibble at your feet when you’re swimming, and the big ones—well, the big ones will bite your face off if Jaws is anything to go by.
Of course, if you look at it another way, what all this really means is that fish need to fire their PR guy—stat. Whoever was in charge of creating a positive image for fish needs to go right back to working on the Britney Spears account and leave our scaly little friends alone. You’ve done enough damage, buddy. We’ve got it from here. And we’re going to start by retiring the old name for good. When your name can also be used as a verb that means driving a hook through your head, it’s time for a serious image makeover. And who could possibly want to put a hook through a sea kitten?
What’s even better are their “facts” such as “Contrary to popular belief, the technical term for sea kitten offspring is ‘baby sea kitties,’ not ‘caviar.’”
