Digital Video - February 2009 - (Page 34)

PRODUCTION DIARY BY STEFAN SARGENT THREE FEET UNDER IT WAS WORKING UNTIL I FIXED IT HUH? WHERE’S THE PICTURE GONE? But what’s this? My Sony HD monitor, fed from a Blackmagic card, has no picture. I’ve got my Dolby 3.0 going like a dream but no video. Da little red lights on the monitor say that the signal has gone AWOL. I check the usual culprits. No dice. It should be working but it ain’t. Nada. Maybe I’ve pulled a wire out. Oh well, Phuket (Thailand’s largest island). I’d better sort out the mess. It’s grim down here under the table. Lots of cat fluff. She likes the heat of the MacPro fans. What a mess. Two Sonnet enclosures with five drives each. An OWC eSATA case with two x 1TBs. A Drobo box with 5TBs. The two Apple Cinema Displays, on the desk up above, have spare USB and FW wires going… nowhere. The breakout from the Blackmagic card has an incredible 14 separate wires and connectors. Fourteen! I use only three; the other 11 are wrapped around a jumble of wires. Nothing for it — I rip everything out and start again. Wires, cat fluff, redundant power leads, my lost USB microphone… out, out, out! Twin 1978 Ampex VPR2 1" machines at Sargent’s London facility back when, and (inset) Sargent and Scout under the table in his lifeless edit suite. S AN RAFAEL, CA. DECEMBER 2008. THOSE WERE THE DAYS In the old days when I had neat and tidy video facility companies in London, I’d pick up the phone and call the engineering department. “Martin, it’s Studio B, we need the Dolby 5.1 working.” “Yes boss, I’m on my way.” I’d wander off to a Soho tapas and wine bar knowing that Martin and his team would sort it all out. Back to 2008 and Chaos Manor. About six months ago, my precious M-Audio 410 FireWire toy stopped for no reason at all. I pulled it out, put it on a shelf and went back to old-fashioned stereo. In the corporate video world, no one gives a rat’s tooth about 5.1, so why bother? I power it up and bingo, dialogue works again. Damn, I can’t move my dialog to Ch. 3, the center track. I create a new timeline. Yeah, that has all six channels. Copy and paste my old timeline on to it. Move dialogue to Ch. 3. Success! I have 5.1 or, let’s be honest — I have left, right and center. That’s Dolby 3.0. I had a client coming in at 10 a.m. today. It’s now 11. I phone. Nope — just an answering machine. “Hi Peter, where are you?” I e-mail. “Did you think it was at YOUR place?” Zilch. What to do? I know, I’ll fix the M-Audio thingy that lets me monitor 5.1 audio. I spent a small fortune on the three Event Studio Precision 6 active monitors and the middle one is just sitting there unused — an embarrassment. Dolby 5.1 here I come! I met Ray at NAB, maybe in 1978: “Ray, what are you doing here by yourself?” “Someone has to be here — they’re all at lunch,” he said. “I just bought six of your units for our new Ampex 1" VPR2 machines — they really need noise reduction.” “Bad?” “No, unacceptable.” “My guys should get onto to that — thanks for the tip. Ampex VPR2, is that right?” “My pleasure, Ray.” As a result, Dolby noise reduction was built in to all future 1" C-format machines. SCOUT TO THE RESCUE The downstairs tenant’s dog, Scout, arrives. The owner’s gone to work; I’m wirer-upper and dog sitter. My wife’s friend, Carolyn, takes my photo. They both go out to lunch, laughing. Big joke. I’m left alone on the floor with Scout. Whaaaa! Come back, Martin. Scout barks. Someone at the door. Oh, no! My 10 a.m. client. Sheeeet! “Hi, Peter, I thought you were coming in at 10?” “No; 12 noon. Didn’t you get my phone message?” “No. My edit suite is Phuketed. I can’t show you anything.” “How come?” “Don’t ask.” “Come back tomorrow?” “Flying to London. I’m back on December 20.” “That’s the day I’m going to New York.” “Adios, amigo.” He leaves. I knew I shouldn’t have got up this morning. It’s 12:30 and I need a drink. DV 34 dv February 2009 www.dv.com http://www.dv.com

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Digital Video - February 2009 Contents Stasis Flex Black Diamond Essentials Instant Expert Close-Up: Larry Blamire They Like to Rock the Party Close-Up: Gregg Kita Click to Play DV101 Production Diary

Digital Video - February 2009

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