Best of a Backlot: A Veteran AD Tests Top Tech From Cine Gear Expo 2018 So You Don’t Have To

Post Hardware and Software

Now that you’ve shot it by land or sea or air, you’ve got to get your footage into post, and sometimes that is a very tricky situation—especially when you’re shooting on locations where there isn’t the power to run a laptop DIT station, or it’s just risky as hell. From a production point of view, may see post as the end of the journey—write it, cast it, shoot it, done. But post really is just the start of an entirely new odyssey from editorial, VFX, sound design through to color grade, titles, and delivery.

The LaCie DJI Copilot is a portable 2 TB hard drive designed for camera drone use, but I think it’s an awesome piece of gear. I’ve had to drag my laptop out on safari with download cards in the back of a truck bouncing down an interconnected series of potholes laughingly referred to as a “road,” and I wish that the LaCie DJI Copilot had existed then. While $350 for 2TB seems expensive these days, consider that there is an integrated screen for capacity, status, power, and battery. It feels solid, has the the LaCie rubber casing that makes it drop- and splash-resistant. There is a companion app, which allows you to use your smart phone as a monitor, so you can review footage directly and charge your cellphone. Depending on codex, a DJI Copilot 2TB can store about 60 hours of 4k footage. Two of these in your kit will allow you a level of security with out having to drag
expensive laptops, monitors, and power into the field.

By far, the most indie friendly piece of gear I saw all day was DaVinci Resolve 15. Resolve became my platform of choice a while ago, but as a producer I still work in Avid, Premiere, and even Final Cut environments, so when I played with the new version it became even harder for me to understand why an indie moviemaker would even consider any other choice. DaVinci Resolve 15 is the industry gold standard of finishing software, plus a full-blown editor with built-in Fusion VFX and compositing tools, Fairlight Audio FX, ADR, and mixing capabilities.

Priced at $299, the Studio version is a one-time, no-subscription, no-hassle investment. Or, if your workflow is 4K or less, Resolve 15 is free. As an indie moviemaker, there are a lot of tough choices you’ll have to make based on time, budget, and a million other annoying details. Over the course of a fun weekend playing with new stuff and seeing old friends, Cine Gear Expo 2018 did a lot to bring those choices into focus. MM

This article appears in MovieMaker‘s Summer 2018 issue.

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