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Movie Production Relies on iChat
by , 10:30 AM EDT, April 16th, 2008
While many people might expect to find movie makers praising MacBook Pros or Final Cut Pro, at least one production team has found iChat to be the killer app they can't do without. In his Apple a Day column for the Baltimore Sun, David Zeiler tells the story of how iChat holds the editing process together for one film production team, helps with additional dialog recording (ADR), and keeps families separated by thousands of miles connected.
Mr. Zeiler was originally chasing down a photo of Generation Kill writer David Simon using a Mac, and found the iChat connection when talking to Greg Spence, who is managing the post-production process for the mini-series.
"We use iChat religiously in our cutting rooms, as do most sound and picture editors and assistants," Mr. Spence told the Sun. "Sometimes it is as short-range as a person in an intense screening or editorial meeting sending messages to someone just outside the door, or it can be as distant as across the globe."
Even more interesting is the use of iChat to manage the ADR process. "We sign on iChat, set up cameras, the director talks to the talent, they record the line," Mr. Spence said. "After each line the recordist simply drops it into the iChat window and we pull it down in Los Angeles. Lots of low-budget shows do this now and save up to $1,200 per hour."
Less surprising is that Mr. Spence personally uses iChat to keep in touch with his family when separated by work. Read more in the current Apple a Day column at the Sun.
Observer Comments
Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:44 pm Subject: Wish it was that easy
iChat promised a lot but so far, it has not delivered as good as it should. I donʼt know if it is because I am in Europe or what, but it seems like iChat works in some cases and in others not. Sometimes one gets sound to work, sometimes video and sometimes not. Text works all the time, at least! But aside from that, it seems like it depends on the internet service provider or the router and/or the firewall and what not, but it is too much of a hazard to rely on, alas.
It has been like that since I first used iChat - was that on Panther? It has been like that on Tiger and it is still like that in Leopard and it has been like that when I lived in Portugal and it is like this when I live in Norway. It was like this on my old G4 and the same on my iMac G5 and my iBook and now on my Intel iMac. Now it works for me, but then my sister in Sydney has problems. Some of them I have managed to solve, but other persist.
When it works, it is the best out there, but unlike Skype and unlike Yahoo Messenger and aMSN and whatever instant messenger supporting video and/or audio, iChat doesnʼt work all the time.
Why it is like this, is beyond me and I have tried every trick in the book and taught some of them to others.
People at Apple, do you read this? Hope you can do something about it. It should be plugʼnʼplay but too often it is not - and I am not the only one having problems. Go to Apple Discussions to see...
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