Would like advice for the next steps please...

I

ironman1

Hello all. Just finished my first Short June 9th, and it was for a class assignment and the goal was achieved; I got an "A". Got the Grade based on HOW I finished with only a week to go; the Group I was assigned got behind and I asked for and got permission to do my Independent project, as fear set in of failing the class.

At any rate, I would like some advice for the following Q's please....

1) An external hard drive has been sugested. Reccomendations?

2) Pay: I paid the Actors $55 for that one day shoot, they worked for 5 hours, fed them of course, but for my next one, if I have rehearsals, do I pay the Actors?

3) Was that $55 fair?

4) External hard drive, Imac, then should I get the Avid Student edition, or FCP, or both?

5) I used the camera from Community Access, as I am a Member. Should I get my own camera? If yes, which one to start with?

6) Should I invest in a monitor to check out footage?


Any advice will be read and ppreciated.

Ironman1
 
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ironman1 said:
1) An external hard drive has been sugested. Reccomendations?
Click to expand...
For what purpose? Backing up/storing files? Editing from?

2) Pay: I paid the Actors $55 for that one day shoot, they worked for 5 hours, fed them of course, but for my next one, if I have rehearsals, do I pay the Actors?
3) Was that $55 fair?
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Fair is relative. I've worked on productions where the actors have been paid 0. I've also worked on productions where actors have been paid standard rates. I've worked on indies where actors have made comments about how it 'wasn't worth it' for the $100/day they were getting paid. I've also worked on indies where actors have been paid nothing and at the end complimented the filmmakers and said they'd be more than happy to work for free again with the same people.
Considering you're not going to be paying union rates, I think fair is up to you, and whether you pay them for rehearsals is up to you. I think a good set with good food, and focussed, collaborative, great filmmaking makes an actor more happy than $50 in their pocket at the end of the day. Of course both would make them even happier ;)

4) External hard drive, Imac, then should I get the Avid Student edition, or FCP, or both?
Click to expand...
Personally, I edit on Avid and I'd suggest Avid more than FCP. Professionally, Avid is used a lot more. Plus, the student pricing on Avid is practically a steal, especially with the free upgrades for however many years.

5) I used the camera from Community Access, as I am a Member. Should I get my own camera? If yes, which one to start with?
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I don't know what Community Access is. But I would say, no you don't necessarily need your own camera, especially if you have access to cameras. If the cameras they can give you are better than what you can afford, what sense would it make to buy your own?

6) Should I invest in a monitor to check out footage?
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On set or in post?
 
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jax_rox said:
For what purpose? Backing up/storing files? Editing from?

To store digital camera film files...


Fair is relative. I've worked on productions where the actors have been paid 0. I've also worked on productions where actors have been paid standard rates. I've worked on indies where actors have made comments about how it 'wasn't worth it' for the $100/day they were getting paid. I've also worked on indies where actors have been paid nothing and at the end complimented the filmmakers and said they'd be more than happy to work for free again with the same people.
Considering you're not going to be paying union rates, I think fair is up to you, and whether you pay them for rehearsals is up to you. I think a good set with good food, and focussed, collaborative, great filmmaking makes an actor more happy than $50 in their pocket at the end of the day. Of course both would make them even happier ;)


Personally, I edit on Avid and I'd suggest Avid more than FCP. Professionally, Avid is used a lot more. Plus, the student pricing on Avid is practically a steal, especially with the free upgrades for however many years.

I am going to learn both Avid and FCP.


I don't know what Community Access is. But I would say, no you don't necessarily need your own camera, especially if you have access to cameras. If the cameras they can give you are better than what you can afford, what sense would it make to buy your own?


Community Access is what the local TV channels are, and I have been a member for almost 4 years. Just been so busy, have not had the time to do the things needed to do.



On set or in post?
Click to expand...


On set.
 
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ironman1 said:
For what purpose? Backing up/storing files? Editing from?

Import digital camera footage.

Ironman1
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i Believe you are in need of a Raid HDD, i don't know much about them, but you will want two different HDD, one to store data on, the other to work with data on, disk failure is always a risk so *Edit on Raid drive->Save to storage HDD*

in pounds this would cost me around £3-400 with most money being spent on a good Raid drive, i would personally just get a cheap 2tb HDD to store it all on.
 
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If you're using an external hard drive to edit from, you're going to need a whole different type of drive - if you're just storing footage, there's a whole bunch of options, and I'd rather buy 3 cheaper hard drives and back everything up on to all of them, than buy one super expensive one if all I was doing was storing the footage.

On the topic of a monitor, it really depends. I don't think you need it, personally - you should trust your DP.
A lot of Directors like to use them, but it depends what you're checking out. I actually don't like having Director monitors on set (though they've become pretty much commonplace) as 3/4 of the time you have to constantly remind them that what they see on the screen is not what they're actually goign to end up getting in the final film.
 
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my work flow as pertains to disks usage:

I have a raid 0 (no redundancy faster performance) of 2tb.
I do all my editing, importing and VFX work on that drive.
Every night I back that 2tb drive to a non raid SATA disk (swappable bay)
When Im done with a project I will swap out the back up disk with a project archive disks,
I copy the entire project working directory to that disks, take it out and store it in the file cabinet.
I put the backup disk back in the swappable bay
Do one last backup
I delete that project from my working disks. NOTE: Its still on the backup disk as well as the project archive disk. My backup program only copies new\updated files it does not REMOVE files.

The plan for when the backup disk gets full, is that I will replace it with a new disk, and store the old one. Since Iv been deleting projects as I finish them from the working drive when I replace the backup drive only the current projects will be on the working drive and the new backup disk will have plenty of room. Remember the old one filled up because I don't DELETE from the backup drive.

I also do a backup when I import new footage, Im paranoid that way..
 
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wheatgrinder said:
my work flow as pertains to disks usage:

I have a raid 0 (no redundancy faster performance) of 2tb.
I do all my editing, importing and VFX work on that drive.
Every night I back that 2tb drive to a non raid SATA disk (swappable bay)
When Im done with a project I will swap out the back up disk with a project archive disks,
I copy the entire project working directory to that disks, take it out and store it in the file cabinet.
I put the backup disk back in the swappable bay
Do one last backup
I delete that project from my working disks. NOTE: Its still on the backup disk as well as the project archive disk. My backup program only copies new\updated files it does not REMOVE files.

The plan for when the backup disk gets full, is that I will replace it with a new disk, and store the old one. Since Iv been deleting projects as I finish them from the working drive when I replace the backup drive only the current projects will be on the working drive and the new backup disk will have plenty of room. Remember the old one filled up because I don't DELETE from the backup drive.

I also do a backup when I import new footage, Im paranoid that way..
Click to expand...

Cool! Thanks. What size are the swapable backup and archive drives?
 
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As far as hard drives go. I personally don't worry to much about the quality of the hard drives. I've had some high end hard drives fail faster than the crappy cheap drives. So in my opinion the biggest thing to remember is to have you back ups in two places.

I always have my internal drive with my current project I'm working on and every night I have it to auto backup to a second internal. Then when I'm done with the project I put it on two separate drives the delete it from my internal main drive.
 
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Thanks for the replies. It is well-appreciated, and I continually am amazed on how this Forum's members try to help each other out.

I am not the best in communicating, understand the need to master communicating quickly, so the Forum might be better served if I let this Thread die, and start over in another Thread, and make myself more understandable.

Ironman1
 
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