Guerrilla independents: thanks to today's affordable tools, pros can work anywhere

Post, March, 2005 by Christine Bunish

For season two, Braun switched to a G5 "for power and speed" but basically followed the same procedure. "The beauty of Xpress Pro is that it's all software based so you're mobile and not locked into a studio situation like you are with the Media Composers we have at Dream Street. In 18 months I was able to learn the whole system. I'd never used a Mac before but it seemed like a good fit for me."

Braun likes the multicamera capability of Xpress Pro and says "the color correction has come in handy. We were shooting on the Connecticut River, and I didn't white balance correctly so I got yellow video. But I corrected it with a few mouse clicks in Xpress Pro." He uses Apple Motion, Boris FX and Boris FX Continuum for titling and compositing, and Apple DVD Studio Pro for authoring.

The laptop-based editing system also enables Braun to visit clients with disabilities for other projects. "Repeat clients keep their own hard drives so I can digitize their footage and bring it back to Dream Street," he notes. One such client is the producer of the local public access series New Canaan Roundtable. "We produce the entire show with him," says Braun. "We shoot in the Cablevision studios in Norwalk and post with him on his premises."

Braun is interested in seeing the new HD formats that are being unveiled. "We'll be upgrading Dream Street to HD," he reports. "Avid just rolled out its Xpress Pro HD for PC, and I'm looking forward to its release for Mac since we're thinking about producing Northeast Angling in HD."

ATTENTION-GRABBING SHORTS

When Randy DeFord made a music video to showcase his music, little did he know what a life-changing act it would be. "I got a Fast Multimedia card for my computer and changed from doing audio only to video, which I found much more fulfilling and interesting," he recalls. "Now I do at least one film project every year, always trying to outdo the last one."

DeFord's Monticello, IN-based Oak Road MultiMedia (www.sugardog.com/~randyd) does corporate work for hire from his home and serves as a platform for his award-winning independent films. Although DeFord has made two features, he's found "shorts get as much attention," so he has concentrated on the art of shortform storytelling. His most recent production is the 27-minute Guardian, a fantasy about domestic abuse and revenge, which was co-directed by lead actress Cassandra Schomer. It was shot in Sony's Digital 8 format.

DeFord has used Ulead's MediaStudio Pro editing software for all his film projects. "I've never found anything I couldn't do with it," he reports. "There are no transitions, no effects I can't find in MediaStudio Pro, and every time I turn around there's a new version so it keeps getting more and more powerful. It can output just about any kind of end product, too." DeFord runs Media-Studio Pro on a Dell Dimension 4600C.

He likes the software's multiple audio lines, which he uses "a lot for music, effects and dialogue." He also taps Screen Blast Sound Forge 7.0 audio editor, which enables him to go from analog to digital and take music or an effect, import it, create an effect and export it back to the editor. DeFord also employs Ulead's Cool 3D Studio as needed for titling and realtime smoke, lightning and rain effects, plus Ulead's DVD Workshop 2 software for DVD authoring.