Walter Schoenknecht

Dead air thoroughly disturbs broadcasters... sends a chill down the spine. It begs questions about potential unfulfilled, about loss, about trouble. Is there a problem? Is everything all right? What happened?

I can’t believe how shocked I was when I watched that episode of “The Sopranos.”

Nobody likes off-the-shelf. And shooters are no exception.

I've never been one to chalk up much to fate. Usually, hard work and talent are rewarded, and sloppiness and mediocrity ignored.

Particularly ironic is the notion that this most crucial part of the digital content chain--storage--is left to the one remaining mechanical device in a modern computer, the hard drive.

Over the period of time I've been privileged to fill this space, I've noticed that some of the columns I've written could easily be classified into one of several categories.

I used to worry that I couldn't be in two places at once; now I find that I can't even be in one place at once.

It's in every content creator's best interests to add yet another specialty to his or her list of marketable skills: Compressionist.

I can tell you that last year was a good year for us, because we were asked to do at least one job the right way... our way.

But the simple fact is that since the infamous events of September 2001, business -- all business -- has been bad. Not "so-so," not "could be better," just downright bad.

Historically, most humans have seemed as instinctively afraid of the limelight as they are of snakes—from the great and mighty CEO down to the most reclusive retail clerk.

At our house, the kids seem to want the picture to touch all four corners of the 16:9 screen at all times, regardless of whether the content's formatted that way or not. And it makes me crazy.

Problematic content of all kinds was severely restricted for dozens of very valid technical reasons—until the advent of solid-state imagers and automatic camera circuitry.

There are several forces at work which have bolstered the rise of the microstock houses. Simple economics are the most obvious.

Last year, I successfully tracked down John Vrba, a man I've never met but whom I'd known vicariously for more than 25 years.

My earliest recollections of the use of stock footage conjure up three descriptions: expensive, difficult, ugly.