Blackmagic Design has reduced the price of ATEM Mini Pro and ATEM Pro ISO by $100 each

 Blackmagic Design has dropped the price of the ATEM Mini Pro to $495 abd the ATEM Mino Pro ISO to $795, a $100 price drop on each.Now I think you only need the $295 ATEM mini if you attach it as a web camera to stream your edit live, but if you want your edit to be live on YouTube or to record it you could go for the mini pro.Still the Web Presenter may in fact be a better solution for streaming for me. Since I have the $495 Blackmagic Ultrastudio 4k, I have spare SDI ports and that way I could stream a 4k sequence as the ATEM MINI only accepts up to a 1080 60p sequence while the Web Presenter accepts up UHD 60p sequences though streams out at only 1080 60p. Of course I lose the ability to see me in a picture and picture via a gopro.

Remote File Sync for Editing workflows on Remote Systems

 Since I have been looking at work from home solutions for remote video editing, I have been looking at some solutions for file syncing. This would require media and files at remote and local to start, so that you aren't eating all of your bandwidth copying files, and would of course be easiest with a large single storage solution that you have set to fully sync.With Premiere Pro I would also recommend using Digital Rebellions Post Haste to set up a file structure that you follow for all projects that so that it is the same on all systems.Once you have the project setup on a single system, you should duplicate that onto remote hard drives and then you can use a program to sync the files. Now I wouldn't expect collaboration with the same project files, but this could mean that you sync to a remote file share, and keep your graphics and project files updating not only for backup, but for remote access if necessary.For Mac Backup there is ChronoSync for $49.99 per license. For Mac or Windows (or FreeBSD) you can use Resilio for $59.90 for a single license, $99.90 for a 5 family member license or $30 a month for Business. Or for Windows you could use ViceVersa for $59.95 for one license, going down for 2 or more licenses.Now this would be basic solutions, without file remote project management, and if you made changes to projects on both systems it would cause issues, but could easily help for simple setup and even work with assistants using different project files to transfer things back and forth.

Frame.io’s Lisa McNamara and Zack Arnold ACE on Adopting a Post-Production Workflow from March 2020 is well worth a read

Lisa McNamara has written an article with the help of Zack Arnold ACE on the Best practices for Adopting a Remote Post-Production Workflow at Frame.io, and it is well worth a read. It goes into the challenges and security concerns, managing media, communication, collaboration, and even morale, well being and sanity. It is of course also selling Frame.io, but it is an article by them, and the article is great and very in depth including other companies solutions.Every post supervisor or producer overseeing a team working from home should read this article.

Allan Tépper at ProVideoCoalition does an in depth review of the Blackmagic Web Presenter

 Allan T�épper at the ProVideoCoalition has done a very in depth review of the Blackmagic Web Presenter, and since this is one of the real-time remote streaming solutions and the way Sofi Marshall did her streaming, I thought I would link to this awesome review.I still think that Atem Mini might be the better solution with it's build in picture in picture, but I haven't actually tested it, so I don't know for sure.

Cinemontage from the editors guild has a great article on Parenting, Post-Production and the Pandemic

 Su Fang Tham’s article on Parenting, Post Production and the Pandemic is a must read. It really goes into some of the pitfalls of parenting and working in post from home. I hope it also brings up issues that could be very important in the future of editing. Will work from home be more allowed, what about commute time, because personally I think it should be counted in your work day especially when we are talking 10+ hour workdays, and we are talking hour+ commutes each way.Now we don’t have any children as of yet, but i love working from home and being able to see my wife and dogs. I wouldn’t mind some in person meetings (with proper safety protocols), but am hoping that the future will be much more inclined for work at home, with more ability to write off the expenses that come with it, like broadband, computers and software that is so much harder to write off thanks to bills like AB5.

Sofi Marshall’s Ultimate Real Time Remote Editing Workflow and how I am considering adapting it to my workflow

  Sofi Marshall, Editor, Writer and Workflow Expert has an awesome post on the Ultimate Real Time Remote Editing Worklflow. You can check out her IMDB page to see her experience, which is extensive. Now I talked a bit about this in my recent post on Work from Home thanks to the Covid-19 Pandemic. And I have been thinking about getting a workflow working because I would like to be able to work from home as much as possible. And I too loved iChat theater in Final Cut Pro 7. It was amazing technology that worked really well when the entire Internet was so much slower. As for the Workflow, obviously the BlackMagic Web Presenter has been updated to the Web Presenter HD to include the front panel, but there is another option as well that is either the ATEM Mini or the ATEM Mini Pro which are switchers and include picture in picture abilities. Now the Mini Pro includes the ability to stream directly to YouTube, FaceBook or Twitch (or I guess you program some others like Vimeo but it isn't easy, nor is that going to be all that secure) but the Mini for $295 seems like a viable alternative as it has the USB port to act as a web cam and it has multiple sources possible, so if you have a camera with an HDMI port and I have an old GoPro Hero 2 which has mini USB out and a usb for power. Personally since I have an BlackMagic Ultrastudio 4k, I would hook this up to the ATEM Mini as my main source, and the GoPro as my personal camera, and then I would hook up the ATEM Mini to my Windows Surface and run Zoom on there to save resources on my editing Mac. The one issue is the single HDMI out on my Ultrastudio 4k, so to get it to my monitor, I would have to take the HDMi out of the switcher which will likely put it on more of a delay from what I am editing, but this would only be necessary when live streaming. And because of the Ultrastudio I would not be streaming any of my desktop, but the direct output from my editing system, though I would still uncheck disable video output when I background, so the output signal remains as a source. Now with using my Windows Tablet as the zoom machine, I will have to use it as the audio monitor as well (though that precludes all the setup with Rouge Amoeba's LOOPBACK which makes things easier) though not sure how great it will sound through the headphone port and have to check audio levels using the ATEM Software Control (which should work fine on Windows). Best would be to cut off audio to the gopro and use a good mic through the switcher's microphone ports, but that is of course an extra expense. And honestly I should probably run the audio out headphone port…

Should post continue it’s work at home policies put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic or return to edit bays?

 OK this post is a little different, and not directly about using Premiere, instead I want to talk a little about work at home. Most editors have switched to working at home during the covid-19 pandemic because it just isn’t safe to work in an office.Personally, I have absolutely loved it. I am married and I own a house, and have dogs, so I love being home as I can see my wife and dogs, I can start laundry at lunch, and most off no commute.The commute in Los Angeles is always brutal, I would say it averages an hour each way a day, but can be much worse. I worked a job in Long Beach and it was 2 hours each way, every day, and the day it started there were fires and my drive took 4 and a half hours to get there and 3 and a half to get home. I don’t mind never commuting again. Hell on The Hobbit behind the scenes, where we forced into 12 hour days, I started at 5 am so at least my morning commute was better.I hate the commute, but also getting ready for work. Now I can just wear sweatpants, which is so much more comfortable, but it is also the time getting my ice and water bottles and ice tea. And even more so it is being able to spend that time with my wife and my dogs and sit on my couch. And when work is done, to be able to go right to making dinner. Or even starting some dinner early so you can eat bot longer after finishing dinner. Maybe some of it comes down to being married and having a house and loving being home.What I was surprised about, was a thread on a post production Facebook group about the topic, where I would say 2/3 of people hate work at home or would prefer to return to an edit bay (at least half), while the rest loved work at home. This blew my mind as if I had a choice I would never return to an office.Most said social interaction was what they missed, others thought editing went better in real time in a bay, less versions, others wanted to get out if their home as there were too many distractions, and people also said not having a powerful enough machine or fast enough internet at home.OK so I have loved worked at home forever, my first real editing job was on the Lord of the Rings behind the scenes and I did all those from home and it was wonderful, just went in tor screenings.Honestly when at home, I get more work done, I don’t get distracted by people at work, and I spend less time surfing the net, and can focus better without being distracted.And my home computer is better than most computers I have run into at work, and even if the machine was more powerful, it is not as…