JKLIO

I've talked to many in the business who are up on the latest tricks and trends, and when it comes to NLE software most (if not all) tout the benefits and advantages of the biggest and best - meaning Avid, Final Cut, and to a lesser extent Media 100, Vegas, Edius, etc. But mention to them the names, "Windows Movie Maker," "Premiere Elements," etc., and they roll their eyes like you're asking them to trade their SUV in for a Radio Flyer wagon.

Nothing could be further from the truth - well, okay, the analogy is sound for WMM at least. But there are several products out there that provide near professional level results for a small investment. I recently realized this when I was asked to put together a promotional (and totally spec) video for a small non-profit organization in the Houston area.

When I say totally spec, I don't know how much more "free" this video could get. The head of the organization (who also happens to be my sister-in-law) shot the footage herself, with absolutely no idea of what to do with it. She asked me, and (not knowing any better) suggested I could try and cut something together using WMM. Silly me.

Now, don't get me wrong - there are lots of folks out there who swear by WMM, and there's even a forum for devotees to learn the latest tips, tricks, and links for downloading new effects and the like. I'm not denigrating the package at all. But I will say that it's woefully inadequate for anything approaching "real" non-linear editing. (Is that denigrating?)

I discovered this painful fact after struggling with what, ordinarily, would be simple editing tasks. Titles, transitions, voice-overs, etc. I quickly discovered WMM's limits and re-discovered my own unlimited frustration. I work with Final Cut Pro on a daily basis at work, and not having similar tools at home is, to say the least, aggravating.

Along comes Adobe to the rescue. I decided to see if Premiere Elements would be an option. (Premiere Pro was out of the question due to cost, and I'm not a student, so this was my only other legal course.) I downloaded the 30-day trial and quickly discovered that, despite how people may feel about it, this thing can really edit!

I didn't intend for this to be a review of the software, but I will say that among PREL's many attributes is - ready for this? - the JKLIO key sequence. Yes, you can shuttle forward and back with the J and L keys, pause with the K key, and set in and out points with the I and O keys. I'm already likin' this, because it's familiar. (It'll also work with HDV and AVCHD footage. Sweet.) So, after a modest $100 investment, I discovered I can move much faster because of PREL's similarity (on a small scale) to other NLE's, including Premiere Pro and FCP. As a result, and to make a long story short, I'm flyin' on this thing.

Which brings me to my overall point: For those of us in the industry, a certain complacency about our tools is an occupational hazard. We get used to using tools that are among the best in the industry - in fact, we tend to take them for granted. But for those of us who don't have the thousands of dollars to spend on those same tools for personal/freelance use, it's eye-opening and humbling to discover that there are tools out there that can accomplish a reasonably professional-looking result for far less cost. And you look like a hero, to boot.

The other day, our facility engineer was telling me about his experience booking a hotel room in Vegas for NAB this year. Apparently, the hotels and casinos in Sin City are hurting. He told me he was able to book a hotel room through our corporate travel system at the MGM Grand for less than $100 a night.

That, coupled with the fact that Apple and Avid stayed away last year, and who knows who's staying away this year, leads me to believe that (1) NAB is going to start dwindling away into irrelevance, or (2) those of us not in broadcasting are finding better uses for our money. Or, and probably more accurate, (3) Vegas is desperate.

I've traveled to Vegas numerous times, three times for NAB and the rest for video assignments, and it always amazed me how willing people were to part with more of their hard-earned cash than seemed appropriate. And I'm not talking about the casinos. Who in their right mind would pay $10 for a Quarter-Pounder with Cheese combo? (Well, apparently I did, but does that mean I was in my right mind?)

In addition, after each NAB show that I attended, I usually came away with perhaps a half-dozen little gadgets that would help in terms of workflow, storage, or archiving - but very little in terms of actual production. And perhaps that's because the Avid, Apple, and Sony booths were always so crowded. Maybe that's because I didn't look hard enough, but anybody who has fought 50,000 people on the convention center floor just to peer over somebody else's shoulder and catch every fourth word of a presentation knows what I'm talking about.

Although our new facility is finalized, our engineer is still going to NAB, perhaps to try and discern the next new trend, or stay ahead of things digital-video-wise. But I'm wondering if it's even worth going, because a lot of what can be discerned at NAB can be found on the web, and for so much less cost. If you're a broadcaster, there's probably still reason to go, to find the latest Gentner products, or new sat trucks, or Yagi antennas, or the like. But with those exceptions, I question whether NAB will continue to be relevant in the new, tapeless, digital future.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had this type of experience. You're editing along merrily on your Final Cut system when, suddenly, the dreaded "beach ball of death" appears, and after a few seconds, you get the dialog box telling you that "Final Cut Pro has quit unexpectedly," and usually due to some plug-in or another that you're using. It seems random, and as the dialog box so beautifully put it, unexpected.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason why something like this would happen. It can be due to a Boris plug-in, or an AJA driver, or an unknown cause. The good thing: Unlike Windows, you can simply re-start the application (keeping your fingers crossed that it doesn't happen again), or as I do, just restart the computer.

I'm wondering if there's not some sort of memory leak happening. I remember in the early days of Avid on the Mac, when it would simply grind to a halt and you'd have to restart. The same thing happened on Windows-based Avids much later. Anybody else had any experience with this phenomenon, and what can be done to stop it?