[Tig] color

[Russell Lasson]

On May 2, 2007, at 8:34 AM, Bob Friesenhahn wrote:

> Perhaps products like this are the "beginning of the end" for the
> industry as it is known today.  Products like Final Cut Studio allow
> people working in 2nd and 3rd world countries to compete with
> colorists using more specialized equipment in 1st world countries.

2nd and 3rd world countries like Utah? Big expensive tools have their  
place, but there are very few here in Utah because of the low volume.  
Part of our business plan is not to get burned on equipment. That's  
how small companies like us stay in business.

We've invested in Apple for our post production. It's been great for  
us! We have equipment and software that is good enough to do a great  
job with the right talent running it. It might not do it as fast, but  
we can't afford the price increase to get the fastest systems out there.

Two years ago we invested in FinalTouch and it really improved our  
final products. It was great because there really wasn't any place  
for use to take our shows locally to get colored. Now we're looking  
at expanding our post production even more now that we will have Color.

Even though anyone can get their hands on an basic edit system now  
days, I'm still really picky about editor that I higher. I find that  
there are several people who claim to be an editor because they have  
a system and edited some videos on it a couple of times. It will be  
the same with colorists. There will be several people who will color  
some films in Color and then call themselves a colorist. This means  
that people will have to be even more careful about who is coloring  
their film.

I will venture to say that even now there are "colorists" with no  
talent hiding behind an expensive system only because they learn the  
basics of how to run the software. Hopefully, a surge in the interest  
of digital grading will weed some of these people out.

I really don't expect high end houses to drop their Lustre, DaVinci,  
etc systems and replace them with Color. But I do thing they'll set  
up a low end room with Color and expand their market. I also expect a  
really big increase in the market for digital grading everywhere now  
that it is more accessible.

Without FinalTouch, I never would have had a chance to start training  
as a colorist because the price of entry was too high and there is  
hardly anyone around here to learn from. I'm really not claiming to  
be a high end colorist, but FT has really given me a chance to start  
learning the trade.

Sorry if this sounds a little like me rambling, but thanks for the  
great community!

-Russ Lasson
Kaleidoscope Pictures
www.kalpics.com