Tuesday Dec 13 Shoot out at the Golden Gate Hotel
Ingredients for the event:
3 HP Elitebook 8760W 17”notebooks – all with 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD + 750GB SATA + Quadro3000M GPU with Display port to HDMI adaptors
3 x AJA HA5 HDMI – SDI converters
1 HDV camera with HDMI to SDI conversion
1 Newtek Tricaster 850Extreme for isorecording all 3 screens and live camera source to switch live onto 2 projectors supplied inhouse with limited resolution of 1024x768 – one connected via DVI/VGA, the other by Composite cable. Live switch managed by Simon Fenton
3 NLE packages, Avid MC 6, Adobe Premiere Pro 5.5 and Lightworks 10.0JJ + USB console
3 Editors to drive the s/ware
MC Adam McKenzie
Prizes to give away
110 Guest registered for the event
Over 80 turned up to see how this would pan out.
The best turn out for an event we have had all year!
Food + Alcohol to help everyone celebrate Christmas
lots of lively debate to follow!!
Avid winner Stephen Rampling and Cindy Clarkson
What was the premise?
With FCP fading off into the distance, we thought that it would be good to show how each application would handle editing processes in an entertaining way.
Each application is vying for the attention of FCP’ers to migrate to them and what better way to do this than to show them on stage.
Ambitious yes, but the reality is each product is wanting a piece of the FCP pie and they are focusing on making the products more accessible to the editors currently on FCP.
We setup the systems with content supplied by ASE members in many formats.
We included AVCHD, DSLR, XDCAM, P2, DVCPro 50, RED 2K, 3K and 5K, ProRes HD 422, ProRes 2K
Each machine had exactly the same content in the same folder structure.
Each product is expanding on native format support to cater for this request in editing package. Whether it’s a standard process to work with is subjective to the type of editor you are of course.
Lightworks keyboard winner Patrick McCabe
How we went about it
As part of the theatrics of the night, the editors were given no prewarning about the type of workflow to be put to the test. They were handed envelopes with the instructions on each challenge etc. then they were given 5 minutes to get through as much of the challenge possible. Once completed the MC would review how they went, what they did and what issues they had if any.
It was a challenge working out what we should put them through to see how each product would fair on the night and we tried to make sure everything we set was a process that most people would be familiar with or would like to see how each product would handle.
Being the first event of its kind done in Australia, there were bound to be some issues and some unexpected results of the challenges ensued.
Synology NAS winner Shaun Smith
How did it go?
The event kicked off at the Golden Gate with guest arriving on time and with an air of excitement about seeing all three products being put through their paces.
It was great to see such a broad mix of people from all parts of the media industry there.
We wanted it to be a fun night for the audience and the editors all did a great job of keeping the event light, even when things didn’t go according to plan. The 3 editors did an amazing job of keeping it entertaining for the crowd, even when the workflow in the challenge was out of their comfortzone.
About the workflow and the editors…
We were very fortunate to have the three very skilled and respected editors volunteered their time to do the shoot out – even without knowing what was expected of them.
I have to make a huge apology to the Avid and Lightworks editors in particular.
Both were long form editors thrown in the deep end with areas they never really touch on in their day to day practice.
This made the challenges almost impossible to deal with, but showed their metal by doing them anyway.
If they had of known what type of challenges were planned, we could have changed things for the better.
It was unfair to put them in this position when it was outside of their specialisation.
"Rematch!" I hear you cry...more of that idea later.
I have certainly learnt a lot about the differences since, let me tell you!!
In hindsight, we should have approached it differently to make sure that all editors were comfortable with the type of workflow we wanted to show.
It certainly was not the intention to make them feel uncomfortable in front of their peers and I wish we had been more aware of the consequences of running it this way beforehand..
It was in no way planned to show one product better than the other, more to show how it handled particular situations in post production in an entertaining way.
What were the outcomes?
The majority of people had a great time at the event, good fun, good food and plenty of drinks!
We had a few issues with sound at the back, feedback caused it to ring if turned up too loud, making it hard for people to hear everything.
Some people felt that it should have been a more serious shoot out, but it was never the intention to be one in a pub just before Christmas – might have been a challenge!!
Call for a rematch with a focus on more narrative longform workflows was bandied about a bit too.
The next one to be run in Sydney too - if there is going to be another... We all know everything happens in Melbourne first, but we should give them a go ;-)
We had some great feedback to help improve things if we were to run this type of event again.
More focus on the long form narrative was one of the biggest requests.
Make sure each editor has the same skill sets was the other
People loved the prizes, especially the s/ware from Avid and Adobe – thanks to both vendors for being such good sports!
Peter Brownstein Adam McKenzie with Rotolight prize
A round of thanks
So a big thankyou to all the ASE committee members for being part of this, helping organize and market the event, the awesome editors for volunteering their time.
AVID, Adobe, Lightworks, Rotolight, Synology, AJA and Nutcase Helmets for sponsoring with giveways
HP for supplying the three fantastic Elitebooks to run on the night.
Simon Fenton for driving the AV gear on the night.
Adam McKenzie for being the fantastic MC
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Well done to all the prize winners - have fun with your new toys.
Have a great Christmas everyone. Be safe and see you in the new year!
Pete Brownstein
Southern Regional Manager
Digistor Pty Ltd