Starting on the cusp of a revolution, well, maybe that's a bit of an overstatement

So, in starting this blog, I thought needed an event. one which I say as a beginning. There have been a couple of these over my not too long career. Firstly, the introduction of FCP and the emergence of Apple as a serious contender in the video post production market.
Two years ago, when i signed on to help launch one of the first FCP facilities in London, it came at an exciting time. Apple said their software could cut HD out of the box and across the industry there were cries of delight and anguish. The biggest grumblers were the resellers whose high-end systems traditionally came with high price tags and margins to match. However, FCP was to pave the way for a new era of competition within the industry. From my perspective this came at a much needed point. The explosion of multi-channel broadcast in the UK lead to the spreading of advertisement funds added onto ever-growing internet advertising simply equalled less money to make the majority of projects. This is a much discussed topic which I am briefly touching on now, but it importantly lead to a market for small, economically minded facilities with major reductions in equipment costs being able to offer cost effective post solutions. Targeting Pogo Films at this market we were able to ride a development wave of Apple technology which has lead to this point. Now on a Mac, we can work with all resolutions DV to 2K and all formats including HD to 35. I have since parted company with the boyz and girlz at Pogo, but keep in close touch. funny enough I find myself at BBC Post Production where we are just installing a Final Touch suite.
This brings me to the beginning which is a bit of an end. Apple's World Wide Developers Conference sees the end of the Power PC and wraps up Apple's transition to Intel. These new towers signify a specific step to finishing high end productions in a new way. As Mike Curtis of HD For Indies said this week of Red Camera:

"...future film school students will be shown a graph with a time scale with a dramatic bend and point of inflection on the chart, and the professor will point at that sharp break in the line with his laser doohickey and say "...and this is when Red came out."

So, now is an exciting time and I feel it is an appropriate time to start a discussion on all things HD to 35.