the fxphd deans blog

As we have just posted our 100th podcast on fxguide.com, and this is our production blog, I figured I would give you guys some facts and figures Jimmy and I worked out before recording this week’s podcast.

This week alone we had 1 major and 6 minor shoots, - covering 35mm lens Adaptors, DOPs, dogs in parks, RED, Cocktail hour etc. We also took some time to count up just how many classes and podcasts we have done between the two sites.

Leaving aside the hundreds of stories and tips we have posted over the years we have posted (as of yesterday)

• 100 fxpodcasts

• 80 fxphDODs

• 544 unique classes* in fxphd (plus 10 bonus classes) NB: * all video, most HD.

• The first fxguide podcast was 7.1M (published Jun 27, 2005 ) with Scott Dougherty and David Lingenfelser about the company’s work on Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

• Our latest fxguideTv episode is 4.5 Gig compressed to 100+ Megabyte for download.

• Since podcast 5 : The fxpodcast theme music is “Perfect Yet”, an original composition by Darrin Hanley. Hanley is an both a musician and an experienced designer, flame and AE artist. You can hear more of Daz’s music at www.manyarehere.com

• Every podcast except on (1st April 2006) had an intro by one of the founders.

• Paul Franklin has been on the most episodes (3)

• To produce these we have:
- 24 procs in the Sydney office alone
- with 18 terrabytes of storage,
- 4 video camera, 5 stills cameras and a RED One camera,
- 4 mixers,
- 7 tripods,
and some 30 microphones (8 wireless).

Thanks for all your support - we love doing this but we could not do it without you guys so to you our supporters-
Thank you!

Mike

I’d like to add to Mike’s post a bit because what we love about our workflow is our P2 camera — and not really P2 per se. To be fair, we don’t use P2 files that much in our workflow due to some of the insufficiencies that Barry has documented quite well. What we do love is the combination of the HVX-200 and Focus Enhancement’s FireStore FS-100. We record DVCPROHD QuickTime movies to a the small portable hard drive via the firewire out of our HVX-200. We simply then transfer the files from our FireStore onto the XRAID or our MacBook Pro and we’re good to go. It is absolutely brilliant.
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Production continues with fxguidetv - Ep 18 is out and we record Ep 19 on Monday. The next ep will cover Beowulf. We had a great chat the other day with Barry from DVXUser. We both use the P2 in vastly different ways - but I think it is safe to say we are both big fans of the format.Actually the main difference in how we use them is in post. We use the Firestore drive to allow a really clean and easy FCP workflow. It is also safe to say this works brilliantly for us. Barry pointed out that for more general P2 card use, he thinks users should demand more from Apple, but we’ll let Barry articulate his point. We really respect Barry, and so while we might have a great Apple workflow the point he makes about demanding more from key manufacturers is a good one. (more…)

The production courses are going brilliantly at fxphd - they are some of the most popular courses this term. We have continued to filming to produce material for the courses. A recent shoot for fxphd took over the backlot at Fox Studios - thanks to our friends at Animal Logic and the ACS. The RED is working out well, we have now done demos and test shoots in Sydney, LA, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane, and we are now letting it loose for others to use.