Rarely do I snark at other publications for their missteps, but this one really caught my attention. In its latest issue, Information Week has an article entitled “Which Video Software Package Should You(Tube) use?”. While it does contain a few tidbits of useful information, the recommendation of Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 as “The Pro’s Choice” displays a lack of knowledge of what the majority of professional editors use to ply their craft.

Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against Premiere Pro, but for starters the CS4 version, which the article refers to, hasn’t even been released yet. This obviously precludes it from having been evaluated by professional editors. What I find more remiss is the failure to mention the real tools of choice for the majority of professional editors such as offerings from Avid Technology and their Media Composer, Sony, with its hugely popular PC editing package Vegas or Apple’s Final Cut Pro.

Anyone with even a peripheral knowledge of the professional editing tools market knows Premiere is not “the pro’s choice”. And while it does offer professional level features, it is certainly not as widely used in professional circles as products from the vendors mentioned above. This is reflected in the reader comments, which turn out to be the most educational and frankly, most entertaining part of the article.

Information Week should stick to subjects it knows best, otherwise it might become known as “Bad Information Week”.

Technorati Tags: Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid, digital video, editing software, Final Cut Pro, Reviews, Sony Vegas

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Today we present Part II of my interview with Dan Lebental, film editor of Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment’s, IRON MAN.

In this segment Dan talks about his experience cutting on the Avid Media Composer, working with the visual effects team (upwards of 800 people) at ILM and the economics and intricacies of cutting a film with nearly 1000 visual effects shots. We go on to discuss the state of, and need for, industry accepted digital post production workflows. Finally, we talk about cutting IRON MAN utilizing the Avid DNX36 codec, and his first experience cutting a studio feature in HD. Enjoy.

Technorati Tags: avid media composer, blockbusters, digital editing, digital film making, Editing, editors, feature films, features, Hollywood, Iron Man, movies, Visual Effects

I started HDFilmTools for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to create a site for both professional and aspiring filmmakers that provided up-to-date, in-depth information about the game changing tools and technologies that are becoming available for our work. The power of these new tools can be awe-inspiring, and when operating as advertised, (wink, wink) they enable us to be more productive, creative and if we choose, independent. Conversely, these products can be highly technical and complex. Many of us were trained in the days when film and video were the primary acquisition media. Digital technologies provide a whole new set of issues that need to be dissected, discussed, solved and documented.

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Technorati Tags: Digital, Film, Production, Tools