In this third episode Terence and Philip discuss what went wrong with Matchframe Video – where Terence was employee one – and what business lessons can be applied to any production or post production business. They compare the trends in video post with other industries. The discussion continues as to what they’d do if starting out now. And, of course, discussion of Apple’s direction with Final Cut Pro gets included.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:58 — 6.9MB)
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Gents,
I finally had a free morning to catch up on your new show. Well done! And it’s short. Leave them wanting more, eh?
I’ll be adding this to my iTunes feed.
Great discussion on MatchFrame and business models. And Terry is spot-on about Philip’s book. If we’re not thinking about our business / careers the way Philip lays it out, we’ll end up making very costly mistakes.
Keep up the good work.
– pi
Thanks Patrick. Good to see you here. Don’t forget to suggest any topics you want to hear us munch on. 😉
Hey great podcast, this had some really good insight into how a company went wrong. I think, though, that Terence might need to get a button he can push that gives Philip a little electric shock every time he strays off topic and starts talking about final cut again. I know it’s an interesting subject, but it was a non-sequitur tangent for this episode.
looking forward to more, maybe specifically about the new macs and if their lack of built-in connectivity (esata, 10G ethernet, etc) is really a problem.
HA! I heard Philip say it….no worries.
BTW, you need to transcode the H.264 in Avid MC5 to. People say you don’t, but just like FCP, after you add more and more footage, the system really gets bogged down. I guess we need iMovie to edit the Canon DSLR footage native, to appease the “masses” who want that. And Avid to make a consumer editor to do that too.
Oh, wait…wasn’t this about MatchFrame?
I remember when they converted the telecine bays to HD. In fact, I know one of the guys who worked on it. He too thought that they’d never make a profit off them, but, did what he was told. He left shortly after that. Interesting that the lowly minions, who are in the trenches, can see this. I mean, they are the ones with the pulse on the street. But when they try to tell the managers, do they listen? No.
BTW Shane, iMovie 09 does not allow h.264 native editing as far as I can tell from Apple’s details and forums.
Some people should not be in management. Smart management does listen to the folks in the trenches.
Hey guys great show,
Takes me right back Terry because I was working at Unitel in 89. It was’nt just the Telecine bays the Online bays were not cheap either. GVG switcher, K-scope, A62, Chyron, and 5 1″ machines. They were getting insane hourly rates back then.
But in todays market If you are really paying things off in 6 months you are doing very well. I think 1 to 2 years is more the new normal, but it sounds like I really need to read Philips book.
My suggestion for discussion would be the Specialist vs the multi system/Software artist. When does it become too much or too little.
Thanks,
Erik
Eric,
If you purchased a daVinci Resolve 6 months ago, could you pay it off in the next 1.5 years? You know what is going to happen to those room rates any day now when the 995. daVinci for the Mac ships…
That’s why I started figuring I needed to pay off gear in 6 months or it doesn’t make sense anymore. The playing field changes too fast and prices keep dropping.
Enjoyed the episode.
Hopefully you pay for the “room” in 6 months and get at least a year to make money before you have to upgrade or replace.
You are absolutely right about prices changing Fast. This also makes me shake my head when I see a Post Facility pay top dollar for realtime performance hardware and storage when the client base willing to pay top dollar is shrinking just as fast or faster.
Intersting times for sure.