HD For Indies

I missed it by a day, but it's official: HD For Indies is a year old.

I shall hoist me a beer (Shiner Bock, naturally) tonight in celebration.

Officially, thanks to Craig Negoescu for getting me started on the "build the Mikey brand" train of thought, thanks to Charlie Wood for suggesting a blog as the way to go about it and helping me get it rolling (Patrick Curry too), thanks to Robert Cope for continuing to host this site out of the kindness of his heart, thanks to reader/contributors like Christopher Barry and Martijn Schroevers (and all the others!) for being some of my best sources of info for links (sorry I don't credit you guys more often), thanks to Brian Flemming and Brian Clark for picking up on and linking to /promoting the site early on, and thanks to the thousands of readers out there who have been reading, and especially to those who write in and contribute.

This blog, and the process of writing it, and talking to/emailing folks, has brought me a long way in a year - I am starting to meet people and get as far as "I'm Mike Curtis, I run a website called..." and they already know who I am. Which rocks. I've met a lot of interesting people, made some great contacts, learned a lot and had a ton of interesting conversations, and for that I'm very grateful. Thanks to all who've been a part of that.

Last year at this time, ironically, one of my very first posts was about HD vs HDV. That would still be a valid and interesting headline for an article to write today, but the game has changed since then with the addition of Sony's 1080i HDV, Final Cut Express HD, the upcoming Final Cut Pro 5 (and other interesting sub $10K cameras at NAB, like the new Panasonic).

So what's next?

SXSW

The SXSW Film Festival & Conference officially kicks off tomorrow with the opening party. I'l be on the Film Blogs panel Sunday, and the Future of Digital Filmmaking panel Monday. Tuesday I'm doing some round table something or other, I'll look that up and post something better about it.

As an aside, maybe I should have some pseudo-official HD For Indies happy hour/get together. If you're coming to SXSW, drop me a line if interested. Or at least we could all hook up at a time and place at another party.

NAB

The annual NAB Conference & Tradeshow is coming up next month, and I'll definitely be there. I'm debating whether to do some podcasting - tradeshows take up so much time, and last year I'd work the floor all day, then spend the entire evening listening to my audio notes and transcribing & condensing the good stuff until late into the night. It was exhausting and not the best way to do it. Interested in NAB podcasts? Let me know. Photos, perhaps via Flickr, might be another thing to include better this year, and especially in a more timely manner.

I'm going to be working the floor, taking in everything interesting I can find, seing all the new toys, and interviewing folks about the best stuff. If work for a company introducing a new product at NAB and want to schedule some interview time, email me with a teaser about it and we'll see if we can set up some time to talk, or at least I'll know where your booth is. If you have a press event, let me know. Confidentiality is assured, I'm looking to build relationships not burn them.

What's Next For The Site

The need for a redesign is getting pretty clear. I think I talked about this last summer but nothing came of it, the need is getting pretty obvious now. Something more akin to headlines and first paragraph on the front page, with links to the rest of the articles makes sense. An FAQ, for God's sake, so new folks will understand all my 720p60, RT CC&FX, and other acronym laced argot. A section with basic recommendations for typical setups to edit with various formats. A section on consulting. A library of "Go To" and "How To" articles I've written in the past. A regularly updated "Get X if you want to do Y" section.

This site and the research that feeds it now takes up essentially a full time job when I don't have projects to work on. The little strip of ads on the side is nice, but in no way supports me financially beyond the occassional stick of RAM or iPod shuffle level of gear.

I've been kicking around ideas for what to do to try to generate some income to justify the insane amount of time I spend on this site. Consulting is obviously one way, if you need help on a project drop me a line. Paul has sugggested an Amazon Affiliate link page, I'm thinking that's not a bad idea at all.

What do you folks think about the possibility of white papers/detailed workflows for sale on the site? I go fairly in depth as is, but for REALLY detailed, step by step, screenshot by screenshot, would that be something you'd be interested in purchasing? Or a nitty gritty analysis of which equipment is appropriate for which kinds of projects and workflows and budgets? My first stab at the breakdown between free content and paid content would along the lines of this: the free stuff keeps you up to date on what's going on, the paid stuff is for when you're ready to make a purchase/work with the gear and need to make crucial decisions & distinctions. I'm getting some pushback from the really starving indies that are telling me they can't afford any consulting time, so perhaps this way this might solve all our needs if these things are fairly cheap, in the $20-$200 range, for simple ("What exact SATA card and drives should I get for the following 5 different kinds of user needs?") to "Exactly what's involved for HDCAM post workflow, at the 'DAMN. That covers it.' level")

I'm also thinking about offering that kind of super analytical results with screen grabs etc. from the 5 camera shoot. Is that something you'd be willing to pay for? Feel free to use the comments link at the end of the page, or email me if you don't want it publicly visible.

I realize the free flow of information is what is drawing folks to the site, but it is simply something that I can't maintain indefinitely without something changing. I gave myself permission to dedicate myself to research for awhile, but I foresee that window of time is fading - this needs to go somewhere more interesting than me and a laptop and a lot of ego gratifying email and pageviews. There are too many interesting things to do, just keeping up on the other news to link to is taking more and more time, and I keep falling behind.

I don't want to flip a switch and go to a paid content model for everything interesting, I realize that would be the death of the site. But some things are going to need to change in the next few months to keep this sustainable, so that I'll still want to do it at the level I have been, and you folks will still want to read it. Feel free to share your thoughts via comments or email.

And with that, thanks, and I'll keep on a goin'.

-mike