David Freedman and the AJA Ki Pro Mini recorders used to produce “Just Seen It”
LOS ANGELES—When I was a film school student at the University of Southern California, watching Siskel and Ebert’s “At The Movies” review show was one of the big highlights of my week. When it finally ended its run, some of my fellow USC companions and I decided to channel our talents to fill the void created by launching “Just Seen It,” a weekly review show that pays tribute to that famous duo.
GREW FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Since we began producing “Just Seen It” in 2011, the show has grown from a very modest beginning in my living room to what is now a full-fledged studio production that airs on 246 public TV stations nationwide and is also available on the Web via Hulu.
To create the episodes, we use four cameras backed up by separate AJA Ki Pro Mini recorders. These recorders allow us to operate more efficiently by providing easy access to files that are immediately ready to edit, thus speeding up the show’s workflow.
The Ki Pro’s small form factor allows us to easily mount them onto our cameras and record the footage in ProRes 422 which provides fast tracking of this content from camera to the editorial process. We are easily able to upload the ProRes 422 files to our Mac Pro work stations using Sonnet QIO CF cards and bring them smoothly and easily into Final Cut for editing.
GOODBYE TO TIME-CONSUMING TRANSCODING
Before we started using the Ki Pro Minis, we’d been using P2 cameras for recording. This required us to first transcode all of the footage captured to DVCPRO-100 and then repeat the process to take in into ProRes 422 for editing. As you can imagine, that was very time consuming, especially for a small production crew such as ours.
The Ki Pro Minis have radically improved our production and post processes. We can shoot on all four cameras simultaneously without having to do the laborious transcoding of footage, and the 10-bit ProRes that the Ki Pro Minis deliver gives us very high-quality, yet manageable, files that are easy to work with and look fantastic. And this is possible without requiring a lot of storage capacity. The transfer process is enhanced significantly also, as downloading a full 32 GB compact flash card takes only one-quarter of the time previously required, and our digital transfer processing time is some 400 percent faster than before.
Since we moved to the Ki Pro Mini recorders we’ve managed to significantly reduce turnaround time to edit, while also making the show look really amazing. The AJA Ki Pro has allowed us to quickly deliver quality entertainment programming that resonates with passionate movies and the TV show fans that are looking for smart, honest and funny reviews of the latest entertainment releases.
David Freedman is creator and show-runner behind the original weekly review show “Just Seen It.” He may be contacted atdavidf@justseenit.com.
For additional information, contact AJA at 530-274-2048 or visitwww.aja.com.
