Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

DITs : What, happens if you go ill?

I think that's a brilliant idea.

In the same way that clapper/loaders or continuity people have their own standardized log sheets, I think it would be advantageous if some kind of standard were established for keeping a record of data workflow on REDs. And also a standardized workflow structure and file/folder naming conventions. The idea being that anyone with appropriate training/experience could simply step into another shoes in an emergency, pick up the log sheets and know immediately what's going on.

Would also be good for the folks handling post too. Producers would love it.

And in theory, if adopted, it would ease the transition to other cameras if they used the same conventions.


EDIT Maybe RED should consider doing this themselves and making such documents available for download..?
 
Last edited:
True would be great though I know many sound guys that print their own paper work. I think as long as there is an agreement on the details included in the standardized data sheets we can all print our own. In time post will learn to recognize the details they need and the preferred format for data sheets will reveal itself then.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
Jay, I feel your pain, buddy... I've got a bunch of RED related stories like that to share too.

My favorite one is a production that wanted me to transcode about 9 hours of footage to ProRes using the RED Rocket so they could have it the next day. They sent a courier over and delivered me a 4GB USB flash drive that contained just the QT pointer files. So after a few phone call attempts and a producer yelling at me, saying I was incompetent and all that, they finally figured it out on their end. Their "DIT", or "Dumbass In Training" had pulled all the QT pointers and deleted all the R3D files.... I never heard back from them. I still have their 4GB Flash drive and I've sent a couple emails and left a couple voice mails asking if they would like to come pick it up. I'm guessing that production didn't end well.
Click to expand...

Incredible! What a shocking story! Just shows that it is good to double check that people know what they are doing.
 
Seems incredible, but yes, sadly, it happened. Looks like Jay Gannon encountered the same thing on a production he was called to. The one where they deleted the R3D's because they were too big! Hehehe.

This is what happens when you have people who don't know what they're doing... Never mind RED workflow, some of these people shouldn't be allowed to operate a computer. I guess I can kinda understand the logic on the base level. For the production I talked about, it was roughly 9 hours of footage to be cut into one, maybe two, TVC's. They reviewed the QT proxies and felt the 2K H proxies were just perfect for their needs at the time. So they figured all they needed were those QuickTime files. You would think the incredibly small size of those files would have given them some sort of clue, but I guess not. Anyway, I don't know if they actually deleted the R3Ds for the shoot or not. They never got back to me about doing the transcode, so I'm guessing the worst probably happened.

I'm very picky about the DIT if I'm picking one for a shoot. I have high expectations and high standards. Most of my time spent on RED shoots (if it's not my own production) is as either DIT or operator/1AC. The last time I hired a DIT for a shoot, the guy came with with a great reputation and a lot of good referrals. He really knew his stuff as far as the software went, working with the image, offloading media to multiple drives, etc.. However, he suffered a hard drive crash about mid-way through the shoot and was not prepared for such an event. No other system to work off of, no way to boot his system, etc.. I've talked about this one on the forums before. Getting the guy back up and running involved a few hours of epic failure, ending with me swapping out the HDD on his MBP while he took notes. Yes, really, he took notes. We did the swap during some down-time between setups when I should have been doing other things.

We ended up finishing the shoot on my Macbook Pro and a combination of my hardware and his... The lesson learned here is that a DIT must not only be proficient in the software tools, data management, etc.. But they must also fully understand their hardware and be capable of troubleshooting and repairing their hardware while on the job. Always have an alternative means of booting your DIT workstation and running your apps. Hard drives love to crash at the most inopportune moments. If I bring a full cart with Mac Pro, RAID, etc.. onto a shoot, I always have a spare boot drive. And I always have my mobile DIT setup (Macbook Pro, etc..) as a back-up. If the mobile set-up is what I'm working off of, I always have a spare boot/applications drive and another smaller SSD unit with bootable clean OS and diagnostic tools. I always bring enough extra gear to cover my ass and the right tools in case I gotta take everything apart. If I can't fixe something in a few minutes, I set it aside and go to plan-B and I make sure if there are any hold-ups, it's not me that they're waiting on.

Professional DIT tip of the day: Don't be afraid to to have some additional camera media on-hand. I've saved more than one shoot having extra media to fall back on. Once it saved my ass and bought me more time when I was having issues with an eSATA card. Another time the production had a failed RED-Drive and not enough other media to keep going...
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
Professional DIT tip of the day: Don't be afraid to to have some additional camera media on-hand. I've saved more than one shoot having extra media to fall back on. Once it saved my ass and bought me more time when I was having issues with an eSATA card. Another time the production had a failed RED-Drive and not enough other media to keep going...
Click to expand...

^^ This is awesome. ^^
 
Jeff, as usual, has it right. I would never have less than 3 Red Drives on a one camera gig, its just asking for trouble. If I have a little time, I can fix most things or go to plan B. As long as I have enough media no one but me will ever know :biggrin5:

Peace - #19
 
Birth of the Ninjas

Birth of the Ninjas

One of the original reasons that Brook, Evin, Steve, Sam, Tonaci and I (Bobby, Sherri and Zak came later) started the (now with more 4K) Ninjas was so we could cover each other. Especially handy on a long feature shoot. :conehead:

Cheers - #19
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
Professional DIT tip of the day: Don't be afraid to to have some additional camera media on-hand. I've saved more than one shoot having extra media to fall back on. Once it saved my ass and bought me more time when I was having issues with an eSATA card. Another time the production had a failed RED-Drive and not enough other media to keep going...
Click to expand...

Agreed.

Pro Tip of the Day:
While expensive, bringing your own spare Drive and LCD cables can sometimes save a production thousands and make you their very very best friend.
 
Computer equipment failure?

Reminds me of the early days of computer based playback. The PVAP had just been introduced (you ever see this State-side?)

PVAP_3.jpg


It was way ahead of its time. So ahead, it kept crashing. I remember phoning a guy called Steve at Panavision, hoping he'd tell me what the magic wand was. Instead he said: "But that's what computers do, crash." His exact words.
The producer was watching me, and asked: "What did he say?"
"You don't really want to know."

Eventually I had it all figured out. I almost miss it now. :blink: Here's a couple of data sheets
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j126/Karel_Bata/Blog/PVAP_1.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j126/Karel_Bata/Blog/PVAP_2.jpg
Looking quaint these days. I'll make a blog about it one day. It used a 233MHz Pentium MMX. That thing on the left was a Zip drive. The 'SamCineWare' and 'SamHancer' software were a throwback to the days when the thing was being developed by a company Panavison bought out, Sammy's. Love the cat.

Really, it was a very cool machine. So much better than tape based systems. I was able to tweak the 'look'. In fact some clients even asked if we were watching the rushes! "How? We only shot that twenty minutes ago."

I understand Steve bought them all up. They're probably in his garage now. His little baby.
 
Would any of you guys be willing to share what your backup logs that you are discussing here, look like? I mean template-wise? I'm all for the "Be the Best You can Be" so it would be great to get some more experienced DITs to share their stuff, to learn from. I understand if you think its "trade secret" or whatever, but thought it is worth asking. I'll share mine if anyone would like to see my handy OpenOffice spreadsheet for keeping track.
 
@Nir... I just saw you attached something to your post...I'll take a look, thanks!

Anyone else?
 
Jay Gannon said:
Agreed.

Pro Tip of the Day:
While expensive, bringing your own spare Drive and LCD cables can sometimes save a production thousands and make you their very very best friend.
Click to expand...

Absolutely.

Additionally, I always keep a rolls of quality coax, CAT-6e and XLR cables in the truck along with plenty of connectors and tools to terminate and test them. It's not typically the DIT's job to do on-set cabling, but a DIT is still typically responsible for their own cabling needs. And you never know when you'll show up and there's no WiFi on set and you need an ethernet drop when the closest connection point to where you want to work is 350ft away...

I have a bag full of all sorts of cables on me -- USB2, Firewire, SATA, RED drive and LCD cables, XLR to various LEMOs. I tend to always have spare RED cables and media on a RED job, even if the production doesn't ask for it or is not using my camera. If they're not renting my camera, mine (if available), is on-call as a backup.
 
"This is what happens when you have people who don't know what they're doing... Never mind RED workflow, some of these people shouldn't be allowed to operate a computer. You would think the incredibly small size of those files would have given them some sort of clue, but I guess not.
...Getting the guy back up and running involved a few hours of epic failure, ending with me swapping out the HDD on his MBP while he took notes. Yes, really, he took notes. We did the swap during some down-time between setups when I should have been doing other things.
...Don't be afraid to to have some additional camera media on-hand. I've saved more than one shoot having extra media to fall back on."

Thanks for sharing. See you at jeffkilgroerocks.com
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
Jay,Their "DIT", or "Dumbass In Training" had pulled all the QT pointers and deleted all the R3D files.... I never heard back from them. ---- I'm guessing that production didn't end well.
Click to expand...

Where there are humans there are cock-ups. I recall a shoot where the engineer was lambasted and ridiculed because a tape went missing on a studio shoot. The director was adamant that he had not been given the tape.

A reshoot was organised (the only crew genrated reshoot in my career) where all the crew felt the pain of the engineer and production team and worked extra hard to make things match. As the day progressed the director was very sanguine about matching shots, wardrobe or set. Looks fine he kept saying.
Under the pressure he couldn't keep up the charade and revealed that he had found the missing tape on the way to the reshoot!
It was in a box of office props that had, err, found its way into his car after the shoot!

A short time later he tried to make things up with the production company by helping the senior producer's girlfriend get pregnant.


Mike Brennan
 
Michael Brennan said:
A short time later he tried to make things up with the production company by helping the senior producer's girlfriend get pregnant.
Click to expand...

What a guy! :thumbsup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top