Loader Software Review
www.digital-heaven.co.uk/loader/
$49.00
By Matthew Jeppsen

As a freelancer who prefers to use Final Cut Pro for most of my editing projects, I’m fully involved in all levels of the post-production process. Without an assistant editor, I alone am responsible for importing and organizing media and assets. I suspect that a rather large percentage of FreshDV readers are in the same situation.

My organization workflow is fairly rigid. Using Finder I’ll create a master project folder, and store all the project media and assets in subfolders; Video, Audio, Music, Images, etc. I then import those folders and assets into FCP and keep a similar bin structure, essentially mirroring the hierarchy at the Finder level. This organization is almost never completed before I begin cutting the project, I’m always bouncing back and forth between iTunes, Finder, and FCP as I import additional media and revised assets. Audio and music imports require an extra step, converting everything to 48kHz 16-bit AIF files to avoid audio rendering and glitchy playback in FCP. Some people use Compressor droplets to simplify this, some convert in iTunes and use it to manage audio assets, some do the mp3 > aif conversion manually with Quicktime. However you choose to do it, I think you’ll agree that converting everything to 48k aif files is a pain.

For the past several weeks I’ve been beta testing a new app from Digital Heaven, called Loader. A helper app for FCP, this program essentially consists of a tiny slate-patterned wedge or tab that sits on the left side of your screen. Loader hovers over any open windows, including FCP. It can be situated vertically anywhere on the left edhe of the screen by CMD-dragging the widget. Clicking on Loader reveals a slide-out tray that contains the names of all open FCP projects.

Now comes the cool part; lets say you want to import several assets into to your project; an MP3 audio voiceover track, a jpg image, and a video clip. Simply drag those files over the Loader tab to expand the tray. This reveals all your open project files. Now just drop the files onto the appropriate project file in the list. If this is the first time you’ve used Loader with this project, you’ll be asked to specify the master directory where assets are to be stored. This prompt won’t appear the next time you use Loader with that project. After selecting the asset folder, the tray collapses back into a tab and Loader goes to work.

It copies over the image and video clip to Graphics and Movies subfolders, respectively. Those directories will be created if they don’t already exist. The MP3 is converted to a 48/16 AIF file before being copied into an Audio subfolder. This all happens in the background, you can continue editing with FCP while Loader churns away. The app’s widget turns red to indicate it is processing files. After all the assets are copied and/or converted, a timestamped bin automagically appears in the FCP project window, containing the files you dropped on Loader. You can now quickly move these files to whatever bins you need them in, and they are immediately available for editing. Very cool, and extremely efficient!

For instance, let’s say a client brings in assets stored on a data DVD. Simply insert the drive, drag the assets over to Loader, and keep on editing while they are copied and organized on your media drives. Dragging files and CD tracks directly from the iTunes window works also. And if you’ve got a particular folder structure that you prefer to organize by, that can be quickly specified in Loader’s preferences, including defining which filetypes should be stored in each. By default, Loader offers the following folder and filetype settings.

Graphics - .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .pct, .pdf, .png, .psd, .tif, .tiff, .tga
Movies - .mov
Audio - .aif, .aiff, .bwf, .wav

These destination folders and filetypes can be modified and customized in the Preferences as needed. By default, Loader installs with the option to auto-start and stop as FCP is loaded and quit. So there’s no need to remember to load it up, it just piggybacks along with FCP after the initial install is completed. Another preference option ticked by default automatically checks for updates to the app. The whole auto-update process is implemented perfectly, the app downloads and installs the new version, and prompts for a restart (of the app, not the computer). Done. That’s one more example of the time and effort spent by Martin Baker over at Digital Heaven in designing and polishing this program.

There are a few prerequisites that must be in place for Loader to function properly. First, it requires Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 or it flat out won’t work. Might want to ensure you are up to date with FCP before you go off and purchase the app. Due to how FCP handles XML data, only open project files that have been previously saved will show up in the Loader tray, so remember that when you don’t see your unsaved projects in the Loader tray. Finally, like in any other app, DRM protected audio files cannot be converted to AIF’s by Loader.

With Loader, menial and repetitive tasks are reduced to a quick drag and drop, and this works from virtually anywhere in the OS. In short, I’ve been very pleased with how it simplifies my media management. Loader is the intern/assistant editor I don’t have (and probably couldn’t afford). But priced at a reasonable $49.00, I believe that many editors can and will afford Loader. You can learn more about Loader at www.digital-heaven.co.uk/loader/. Download the 14-day free trial while you are there and see for yourself how helpful Loader can be. It’s been very useful to me, and I recommend the application highly.

If you were to ask me what the difference between an amateur and a professional was, I would have to say the biggest determining factor is consistency in producing stellar results, regardless of the occupation.  For example, in our industry it is possible that over the course of an Indie film project, a budding director would have several brilliant scenes most often interspersed with some dismal failures. A truly professional director would have much higher degree of consistency in achieving those same results.

Lets look at the job of an assistant cameraman. Who is more professional in your opinion, the AC who can consistently perform his job in any set of variable and challenges routinely hitting marks and pulling focus? Or the AC who is pretty good occasionally blowing focus and getting thrown by challenging shots, and dolly moves? How about the makeup artist, do you want someone who can do good makeup regardless of face, skin tone and effects required of them? How about DPs; do you want someone who can light any of the sets you throw at them, and technically handle any camera system required? For me, these are areas I look for in whether someone is worth their pay scale on my crew.

1) Consistency and Promptness Pays
If you have a large crew working on a budget, you can’t have individual crew members performing their jobs inconsistently. One crew member mis-staffed can blow an entire shoot and derail the project from day one. I recall an instance where a makeup artist on a particular project I was on nearly cost us the project. We were on a one day commercial shoot that was tightly scheduled, we had allocated half an hour for a makeup artist to do some touch up. After showing up late, she took around 45 mins to do the same job, throwing our already tight schedule off by nearly an hour we absolutely didn’t have. This leads me to another area of consistency, promptness on set. A professional will be consistent in arriving on time. They realize their job description is a part of a larger machine that requires them being on time and ready to work. Showing up late one or two days and being on time the rest of the time is one of the most frustrating things. I will not hire crew I cannot count on to show up on time consistently, there is too much potential for problems. Learning the discipline of being prompt and consistent is one easy way to set yourself apart from the crowd.

2) The Well: Drawing from Experience
Whether you have ever thought of it this way or not, consistency in producing stellar results is a major trademark of a true professional. In my opinion this is true for several reasons. First, a professional has a deeper well of experience to draw from in solving problems on set. When a problem is encountered, rather than guessing and trying multiple solutions that eventually lead to stumbling upon a solution that works, a professional can cross-reference the problem with a library of solutions that they have already proven to work in the past and immediately choose a workable solution. Experience in and of itself gives a working professional a vast headstart in creating consistency.

3) Learn to Learn, and Do Your Homework
The second thing true professionals do is homework. No experience level can be comprehensive, especially in our creative field. A professional will seek to expand their areas of consistency by filling in their experience gaps and doing their homework. For example, a DP unfamiliar with a particular film stock will probably shoot several tests to flesh out his experience level in order to know how to work with the stock on set. An actor or actress, who really needs to be consistent on set, may perform extensive character research to know exactly how to pull off a performance consistently throughout a range of scenes. It is always amazing to me that the people with the least experience to draw from often seem the most reluctant to do their homework. You would think it would be the other way around, seeing as their library for problem solving isn’t as deep.

4) Know Your Role and Be Aware
Consistency in performance can be increased by knowing your job description and learning to listen on set. No director or department head enjoys constantly giving orders, reminding someone of what their job is. A true professional learns how to hear what is going on, and realizes what his or her job in the big picture is. For example a DP may mention to the camera op that the next shot is moving to a dolly. A good dolly grip would hear that and immediately begin moving the dolly into position. Meanwhile the AC overhearing the same comment would begin to move the camera off the sticks. There is nothing more refreshing than turning to call for a piece of gear only to have it placed in your hand by an attentive crew member who knew their job and was listening. A career AC once told me you can tell a seasoned crew by watching them on short breaks; they always face into the set so they can still see what’s going and be immediately ready to move quickly.

5) Taking it All Personally: Advice for Indies
“Well,” you say, “That’s great! I would die to work with a crew like that, but I’m on a tight budget and I can’t afford to hire professionals on set. So I guess I’m stuck working with non-professionals.” Okay so let’s figure out what we can do to work most efficiently with non-professionals. The first thing is to realize that working with non-professionals will undoubtedly equal inconsistency in job performance. This is not by itself a bad thing, it just means you have to plan accordingly. When scheduling, you must schedule time for errors and mistakes. It’s that simple, inconsistency doesn’t mean something cannot be accomplished, it often just takes significantly longer to reach the end goal. Don’t put a professional schedule and demands on a non-professional crew. You will start your project by setting them up for failure, which erodes trust and creates all sorts of crew issues. Instead, start by compensating for lack of experience by giving ample time for your crew to work. If it’s your first time scheduling, I would say figure the longest time you could see a shot taking and add 20%. Ironically this will also help compensate with your lack of experience in the scheduling department. This goes for crew call times as well; assume some people will show up late and plan for it accordingly.

6) Say What?
Another consequence of working with non-professionals is that people tend to not know their jobs and responsibilities on set. In addition Indie productions are often forced to have crew members cross departments and work in multiple roles. The director has to make even more of an effort to be a great communicator on set. Assume nothing, make sure orders are given clearly and often, provide the guidance needed to facilitate the lack of experience on set. To facilitate communication on set when people are crossing department lines, try to communicate through clear channels from the top down.  If orders are given from just anyone and people are crossing departments you wind up very quickly given the same person multiple jobs. Few things are more frustrating then being given multiple jobs on a short staffed crew, only to be dressed down for overlooking something you had to drop to do something else for another department. Try and establish a chain of command and a priority for departments and try and stick with this throughout the production as much as possible.

It is even more important that you to do your homework and prepare yourself. The tone for a production is set from the top down. If the director is unprepared and not communicating clearly, those problems will often ripple down to the rest of the crew. This is especially true with a less experienced crew. They will all be looking to you to help guide them so your level of preparedness is critical in successfully completing the project. You owe to yourself, your cast, and your crew to be the as prepared as you can possibly be.

Whether you are managing a production set or working on one, I hope the aforementioned tips will help you avoid common pitfalls and help you achieve your goals. And if you enjoyed this article, please take a moment and pass it on to a few friends. Thanks for reading.

Last month at the IBC show in Amsterdam, a small Swedish company named Ikonoskop launched an exciting new digital cinema camera called the A-Cam dII. The dII offers nearly 2K resolution from a 16mm-sized CCD imager, records uncompressed DNG sequences to high-speed solid-state media, and can be overcranked up to 60fps. With a number of lens mount options that include PL, C-mount, and still image lenses (via the IMS mount), the dII has a lot to offer to those with an existing lens investment. Perhaps one of the greatest attractions of the dII is it’s compact, integrated design that thoughtfully includes a viewfinder tucked into the side of the body.

I wrote 1200 words on this new camera shortly after it was announced, comparing it to the Red One and Red Scarlet. You can read that article over at ProVideoCoalition. It’s an intriguing offering from both a price and performance standpoint, and since the announcement I’ve heard more speculation and questions about the dII than answers. So we got in touch with the Ikonoskop crew to try to get some of these burning questions answered.

The following 30-minute podcast is a frank and open discussion about the dII that should clear the air about what it does, and doesn’t offer. If you’ve got questions about this new camera, we hope this interview will answer them. Listen to the podcast by subscribing to our podcast feed.

 Ikonoskop A-cam dII Interview [30:21m]: Download