| What is a videographer/editor in Boise, Idaho doing producing video for The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, H.J. Heinz/Ore-Ida Foods, and Oprah?
Erich Korte of Laughing Dog Productions has been in the business for 25 years, so he has the talent and the contacts. All he needed when he decided to pursue his dream of being able to run his business from a chairlift at a ski resort was an editing system he could afford without a huge corporate budget or being tied down by technology. One that other freelance editors could easily adopt, and a system that provided the high production quality his clients expect. What he chose was Pinnacle Systems’ Liquid silver.
A lot of my national accounts need mostly just shooting, said Korte. I can give a producer the tapes on the spot. Or, I can keep them one extra day and do all the color shading and format conversions for them. Their editors don’t necessarily know what color the world-famous Idaho sagebrush really is or just how blue our northern sky can be or even the subtle colors on the side of a 20-pound Steelhead trout. I give them a virtually lossless product that’s color-perfect, sounds great and it puts some extra dollars in my pocket too. An editor once commented on the fact that the color balance of my Ikegami camera was the finest he had ever seen. I told him that it was a combo of Ike, Liquid silver and my eyes.
Among Liquid silver’s latest enhancements is a highly advanced CX color corrector option that includes primary color correction with RGB and luminance values separately controlled for Gain, Gamma and Black-level. CX also includes secondary or selective color correction. This enables the editor to define color areas with a Color Picker or color vectors and then manipulate those areas at will. All work can be monitored using a selection of full frame adjustable vectorscopes.
 Korte’s national work has included segments for the History Channel’s Modern Marvels about wilderness runways and women fighter pilots, a seven-part health and safety series for Heinz/Ore-Ida Foods and a feature for Dr. Phil on Oprah. Korte shot the Dr. Phil segment and used Liquid silver to color balance it so that the tape he sent met the show’s high quality standards.
Liquid silver is really great for the outfit that is small but wants to remain competitive. That’s a very significant side of it, said Korte. There is more to life than work 24-7. When I’m doing other things my freelancers can polish my projects using Liquid silver. I can pretty much have my cake and eat it too!
Korte uses freelancers to polish the work once he has edited the framework of the project. He moves onto other activities while the freelancers complete the work on Liquid silver, allowing him to keep the business coming in and the projects flowing smoothly. Liquid’s customizability makes it easy for any editor to step in and feel comfortable with the system.
Korte explained, The ability to have various editors come drop by and have the system set up way they want to use it is really nice. Everyone has their own way of setting the system up. Editors can come right in and work on the assignment in the editing style they like. I have skilled backup editors and that’s very important to me.
The fact that he keeps his prestigious clients happy is proof that the Liquid silver is doing its job. His network of editors has also provided confirmation that he made the right choice when he chose Liquid silver.
Freelancers work on both Liquid and Avid platforms. Each platform has its own particular advantage, said Korte. But, when I asked them what they would buy if they were to go out on their own in this market, every one of them said they’d buy the Pinnacle product because of the price point and the editing horsepower of the system.
For his part, Korte initially chose the product because the video quality and the turnkey package were so good. There were also other features that made the silver particularly attractive.
I liked the integration of the character generator into the product as well as the ability to take non-video materials like Photoshop files and incorporate them, recalled Korte. And its ability to do other things such as CDs and DVDs enable me to offer clients value-added support that to me is money and to them it’s more products that they can use.
Liquid silver offers full DVD authoring capabilities including direct MPEG-2 IBP capture, integrated DVD image creation and DVD burning from within the application. The included Pinnacle Impression software augments the built-in tools for authoring advanced titles, chapter points and interactivity.
By choosing to live where he does while maintaining a top-notch client list, he can keep his business small yet still stand out against a few, good, local competitors. Being a big frog in a little pond can be pretty nice.
He also says that he can’t stress enough the importance of his local vendor in helping him make the decision to go with Liquid silver and in helping him ensure that his system, and, therefore, his business, runs without a hitch. Paul Franklin at Custom Recording and Sound goes way beyond the call of duty and understands the system like nobody I know, said Korte. The only down side is that we no longer get those fruit baskets at Christmas from him. I guess he figures we can buy our own with the money we make off the system.
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