Outpost Digital built its business upon FireWire and DVCAM, as well as Apple products, including Final Cut Pro. It’s a subsidiary of Radical Media, a leader in “branded programming” and the largest commercial production facility in the world.
Outpost Digital offers a post production facility, consulting, and tech support. Radical Media produces about 200 commercials a year. Some of the commercial work and all of the programming is done at Outpost.
Evan Schechtman, principal of Outpost Digital, started the company a few years ago. He put all his money into the venture because he “knew” that digital video would “explode.”
“We use traditional equipment in non-traditional ways, always looking for shortest distance between two points,” Schechtman told MacCentral. “Companies like Radical Media were quick to embrace our methods and saw what they meant for the bottom line with more efficient ways to do production and post-production.” (Radical Media acquired Outpost Digital approximately 12 months ago.)
Outpost Digital has been a beta tester of Apple digital products such as Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro. The company gravitated toward platforms and formats that were price performance leaders, Schechtman said. Final Cut Pro, Macs, and DVCAM gets results that previously meant huge investments in hardware and software, he added.
“DVCAM clamshells are small, and the Titanium PowerBook is so light you can take it places you once would have never dreamed of having a computer,” he added.
When it comes to Hollywood, one of key cost constrains has been film and its accompanying developing and distributing methods, Schechtman said. But tape is instantaneous; you don’t have to wait for it to develop.
“It offers savings on time and the cost of materials,” said Schechtman. “Plus, you can do offline editing of films from independents to features on a Titanium PowerBook. You’re not to the editing bay in a posts-production facility. This is revolutionizing the way editing is done in the Hollywood community.”
For the CBS documentary, “Road to Paris,” nearly 300 DVCAM tapes were made featuring footage of the Postal Service Cycling Team. The documentary was edited with Final Cut Pro, Apple’s high end video editing application. The results were broadcast on CBS June 28 and have since run on the Outdoor Life Network.
For their work on the Court TV “Shots in the Dark” crime documentary, it was shot entirely in DVCAM and edited with Final Cut Pro. The documentary has shown on Court TV and internationally.
For ESPN’s “The Life,” the workflow was 100 percent in DVCAM and Final Cut Pro, Schechtman said. The weekly series is currently running 32 episodes.
“DVCAM provided portability, a ‘raw feel,’ and inconspicuousness,” Schechtman said.