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Technology in 2011: The Upside

January 3rd, 2012

It’s too early yet to decide what 2011 will be most remembered for, in the culture at large or its individual niches. For those of us in the technology niche – and the growing portion of the public that follows early adopters – there was plenty to like about 2011.

Smarter smartphones

Apple’s iPhone 4S is still a generation or two ahead of its rivals, a growing number of which are getting quite good, like the Samsung Galaxy and Nexus. The iPhone’s dual-core chip (which also powers our iPad rental) and camera technology, front and back, are both much improved. What sets it apart, though, are two future-is-now features: (1) its revamped antenna, which has markedly improved connection rates and call quality on both AT&T and Sprint networks, and (2) Siri, a talking voice-control system that starts out good and learns to be, well, insanely great.

Lighter laptops

Netbooks arrived a few years back and seemed to define a new form factor for lightweight laptops: low-power CPUs, limited RAM, a few gigabytes of flash storage, WiFi, pygmy-sized keyboards and a low price. Manufacturers stepped up, however – Apple with the MacBook Air, Sony with its VAIO line, Samsung with Series 9 – and brought Grade A design, power and style (at higher prices, naturally). Still, as with the iconic iMac, Apple sets the standard. Bottom line for the Air: The 2011 makeover brought a big power boost, it does Windows, the 11- and 13-inch screens are gorgeous and a 15-inch version is rumored to be in the works.

iPad, tablets and apps

In 2011, the “Year of the Tablet,” the second generation Apple iPad arrived with impressive new features, including the fabulous iOS 5 software. But it’s the several hundred thousand fun, productive and/or useful apps that make it numero uno. No other pads or tablets, not even our tablet PC rentals, have the iPad’s extensive library, and if you’re a “creative” type there is really no alternative. For less demanding people, however, a growing number of new tablets – Android no-names, the very good Samsung Galaxy Tab and, in particular, Amazon’s new Kindle Fire – will gobble up all the TV episodes, movies, music, YouTube clips, e-books and other media you care to consume.

Need for speed…USB3.0 and Thunderbolt

Another set of technologies, the protocols for connecting digital devices, kept improving throughout 2011. USB 3.0 on new PCs operates at 4.8Gbps and the new Thunderbolt bus, featured on the Mac Pro and other new Apple computers, runs two 10Gbps channels simultaneously. Apple’s previous high-speed connection, FireWire 800, is less than one-tenth as fast as Thunderbolt and not bi-directional.

If you want to move in a new direction, CRE can help. Find out how new technology can help you blast through production bottlenecks, or how our event production rentals can help you make a dramatic impact at your next conference. Contact us by phone or e-mail, or use the handy Quick Rental Quote form. We’re here, ready to help!

And don’t forget to check out Thursday’s blog, Technology in 2011: The Downside.

Hollywood: Greenest of Them All?

November 1st, 2011

Hollywood: Greenest of Them All? Hollywood has been “talking the green talk” in movies and TV shows for some 30 years now, promoting sustainability, energy savings and green ideals like CRE’s all the while. Like any other group of people, of course, not all of them practiced what they preached, and critics still claim that Hollywood productions are plagued with waste and overspending.

With today’s economic challenges, cutting waste by going green is a perfect strategy for a Hollywood that already drives Priuses, eats granola, recycles and loves Apple’s iMac (because it’s green and insanely great). By adopting sustainable production techniques and rejecting waste and excess, is Hollywood now becoming the greenest of them all?

Hollywood Greens get organized

The Environmental Media Association (EMA) started its Green Seal program in 2003. EMA’s president, Debbie Levin, called on some of her board members – actors Wendy Malick and Ed Begley, Jr., producer Bill Gerber, Fox chief Kevin Reilly and others – to come up with energy-saving, waste-reducing ideas that would do some good “without driving the crews crazy.” They did so, establishing a comprehensive EMA best practices guide that continues to evolve to this day.

The EMA guide essentially walks production crews through a detailed process of “greening” their shows, covering everything from set construction to computerized reporting. As experts in post-production, computers, audiovisual equipment rentals and event production services, CRE knows that part of the “green solution” is energy-saving technology. Another important part, of course, is how you use it.

Wide-ranging changes

The general goal of “going green” means cutting inefficiencies, reducing waste and designing sustainable systems, and Hollywood set managers started making changes. Every department and every production step was up for greening – post-production, too, where the efficient use of render farms saves time and money (especially if you rent render farm). Some changes were obvious, some were subtle, but they showed a comprehensive approach that still continues:

Construction chiefs are now sourcing sustainably-harvested lumber and using alternative power sources where possible.

Shooting scripts use many reams of paper and are typically sent via messenger to sets on a daily basis, but tablet PC rentals are just one of the paperless solutions to this distribution challenge.

From actors to electricians, everyone’s drinking bottled water on set, so installing water filtration systems for people with reusable containers is a no-brainer.

“Craft services” (food providers) produce huge amounts of garbage that is compostable (perishable foods) and other trash that should be compostable paper (plates, cups) but are typically plastic and Styrofoam. Our iPad rental can be outfitted with apps showing you how to calculate the quantities, order the compostable supplies and add the resulting waste to your compost heap.

Apple’s ever-greener Mac Pro features the latest, greatest, greenest technology yet, with similar energy-saving changes showing up in PC desktop computer rental inventory. One call or e-mail – or a few clicks on our Quick Rental Quote page – will put an expert Account Executive on the job for you, crafting the perfect “green” solution for your unique challenges.

First Look: Will iCloud Reign?

October 27th, 2011

Although you can use it as an remote archive, Apple’s new iCloud service that debuted on October 12th is not primarily for storage. It is made to keep your data synchronized among your iOS devices and computers (Mac, PC). After it’s set up, you can work on your iPad rental and know that the document will instantly be ready for editing on any synced device. Transferring files by e-mail or USB flash drives is on the fast track to obsolescence.

iCloud by Apple

How iCloud works

First off, iCloud doesn’t work without the latest OS X Lion update, 10.7.2, and the latest iTunes update, 10.5. For better iCloud integration, Safari also got a bump to 5.1.1. Pages, Numbers and Keynote – the iWork programs that run on every Macintosh, from the cutting-edge laptops to the mighty Mac Pro – now sync documents via iCloud. Contacts, Calendar and Mail data also updates automatically on multiple devices. Just as importantly, iCloud also stores device settings, apps, screen layouts, ring tones and text messages, so all your vital data comes with you when you upgrade devices.

The new Photo Stream lets you download up to 1,000 photos for 30 days without counting against your storage total (see “What’s the deal?” below). Third-party apps can also leverage iCloud services, and it’s vital to remember that iCloud is “open territory” where tablet PC rentals running Windows are free to roam, too. Future blogs will update you on the features developers implement for their various iCloud products and services.

What’s the deal?

You get 5GB of iCloud storage for free, and iTunes music, e-books, apps and Photo Stream pics do not count toward your total. Your iCloud real estate will be populated by documents, application data, mail, non-Photo Stream photos, settings and other information. You can buy more storage for annual fees of $20 (10GB), $40 (20GB) and $100 (50GB), but Apple’s customer research indicates that 5GB of storage should be sufficient for most people. There are numerous variables – the size of your Camera Roll, how many documents you carry around, how much application data you’re amassing, etc. – so you will have to figure out what works for you.

iTunes Match confuses

There is a possible point of confusion with iCloud, and that revolves around iTunes integration. When you buy tracks from iTunes, they are automatically synced to your devices and don’t count toward your free storage total. However, if you want to sync music that was not purchased from iTunes, the privilege requires paying $25 a year for the separate iTunes Match service.

CRE, like Apple, is all about “value added” and excellence. From Audience Response Systems (ARS) to high-end digital gear and Xserve for that new post-production project, we’ve got you covered. One simple call or e-mail puts an experienced Account Executive on the job for you, while a couple of clicks gets the ball rolling with our Quick Rental Quote. We’re ready with solutions for whatever challenges you face!

Video Projects: Taking Control Using Software & File Formats

March 3rd, 2011

A recent blog on digital video provided marketing professionals with the basics of creating a simple video project. Today, we’re not focused on professionals using high-end AJA Io HD rentals, but those professionals who want a better understanding of the different editing software programs and file format considerations when creating a video for a Web site or a PowerPoint presentation.

In the past, film editing was once a laborious process of cutting and splicing, extremely time-consuming and expensive. Today you can shoot HD video (720p or better) on under-$150 digital cameras about the size of a cell phone and edit on iMac rentals with Apple’s iMovie application.

Editing Software…big movies from a little computer

The first “real movie” made with iMovie on an iMac dates to 2004, when Jonathan Caouette combined original audio and photos, VHS home movies, new digital footage and Super-8 experimental shots into his film Tarnation. The total cost – $218.32. The gap between professionals (using Final Cut Pro on potent computers like CRE’s Mac Pro rentals) and the “pro-am” folks (using iMovie) is narrowing every year. You can make films with MacBook Pro rentals, too, as the iLife suite (which includes iMovie) ships on every Mac.

CRE supports production pros with render farm rentals and mass storage such as CRE’s über-capable Ethernet disk RAID rentals. But even novice editors can now leverage the power of iMovie and Windows Movie Maker for simple business uses, such as converting video to Flash for Web sites or company training materials. It’s important to know about the many different file formats – and how to convert raw footage into the right format for your intended use.

File Format…MP4 to the future?

Handheld cameras save video in various formats, but the Flip models and others are now settling on mp4 (MPEG-4 , Motion Picture Experts Group). Apple’s own H.264 format, used for all of its iOS devices, is a kind of mp4. Editing programs handle some conversions, but you will likely need some conversion software to have all available formats. Many converter applications are freeware and will run on everything from laptop rentals to the latest multi-core Mac towers.

Whether your goal is a modest Web site video or a feature film, we can outfit you with everything you need. It’s one of the main things we do, so call or e-mail an experienced Account Executive and we’ll get you squared away. If you know what you need, go straight to the Quick Rental Quote form. Helping you is the number one thing we do, day in and day out.

Fun Time with High Tech

January 25th, 2011

We blog about high-tech gadgets and toys at times (check out this post) just to balance all the hard work with a little fun. Today we’re talking playthings again – not Android tablets or the “big news” from CES (check our recent CES coverage for that). As the New Year starts picking up momentum, let’s take just a moment for a few smiles, shall we?

Robot teacher

Robot buddy The ReCon Rover 6.0 promotes logical thinking in kids (plenty of adults could use a refresher, too) and the more they learn, the more of the Rover’s behavior they can control. Using the same technology as in CRE’s LCD monitor rentals, the unit’s bright LCD screen shows all the routes programmed with its 10-button keypad and directional buttons.

The Rover can negotiate obstacle courses in a room full of iMac rentals, carry small items, stand guard and go on missions (with 10 routes in memory at once). It is equipped with LED headlights, microphone and speaker, caterpillar tracks, a “third wheel,” a cargo bay, a “ReCon go home” command and sound effects. In addition to included sounds, there is memory space reserved for four more (like this cool sound).

Indoor/outdoor flying

Radio controlled (RC) devices are nothing new, and helicopters are quite popular. The latest advance is voice control, and the aptly named Voice Control Helicopter that recently hit the market follows five commands: start engine, fly higher, fly lower, hold an item and turn off upon landing. A standard joystick remote control turns it right and left, while a ceiling sensor prevents in-home crashes.

New Mac Pro rentals, of course, have powerful speech command capabilities built in for doing serious work more easily. RC copter makers want to make it easy to have serious fun, too. Thus, the Voice Control Helicopter understands commands in English, French or Spanish, while another copter from Japan needs some commands in Japanese and others in English. Get set for more innovations from this industry.

Party lights for Jedi Knights

If you want a unique touch for a party, consider Illoom glowing balloons. There are LEDs built in, so you just pull a tab before blowing them up for über-cool lighting effects. In a room full of computer rentals with glowing plasma rentals, the balloons would complement the lighting nicely – another instant workplace party recipe. And there’s more to the Illoom balloons than a choice of colors, such as pumpkin and ghost images for Halloween, and others for different holidays and purposes.

Make sure to have fun to balance your hard work, but when you need to blow through a production bottleneck, or put on a great show with our soup-to-nuts convention rentals, we’re ready with everything you need. Call or e-mail our experienced Account Executives, or fill out the Quick Rental Quote form, and let’s get it done.

Top 5 New Year’s Tech Resolutions

January 4th, 2011

2011 is now upon us, so people will be resolving to pursue a zillion different diets, new jobs or exciting relationships. “Top 5 New Year’s Tech Resolutions” contains much more practical advice, and will help Top 5 New Year's Tech Resolutions anyone who works regularly with a computer (or an office full of ‘em).

1. Think “safety first” – The Macintosh and Windows Operating Systems (OS) both update components automatically, with your approval, of course. This keeps your security patches and other OS components current, and many of your installed productivity applications have the same feature. Use Software Update under the Apple menu in the Mac OS, and the Windows Update application in Vista and Windows 7. CRE computer rentals, of course, are always updated and good to go.

2. Check the basics – Whether you need MacBook Pro rentals or A/V equipment, CRE will supply flawless working devices with perfect, flexible, unkinked cords and cables. The fact is, power cords, USB/FireWire cables, printer connections and other cables do go bad, especially when bent 90 degrees behind furniture or crushed under heavy peripherals on desks.

3. Firewalls and weapons – In addition to a constantly updated OS, a comprehensive security strategy includes a good firewall and several powerful anti-malware and anti-virus utilities. No single approach catches everything, so get a few well-reviewed products. Since e-mail brings most viruses and Trojan horses to your PC, it’s vital that your anti-virus program scan incoming messages and attachments. CRE ensures that all desktops, laptops and tablet PC rentals are 100% trouble-free.

4. Keep cool – High-tech equipment tends to get warm (some kinds more than others), so always maintain enough airflow over, under, around and through the various components to keep them cool – the computer itself along with monitors, external drives, printers and the rest. When layers of dust build up over time on components inside your PC, printer or other device, overheating can result. A quick blast of canned air once a month or so will keep things cool in both tower computers like Mac Pro rentals as well as rack-mount servers, printers and other devices.

5. Back up to go forward – Storage is so cheap that you can make a complete backup (or clone) of system components, work documents, program files and everything else. Your PC’s internal hard drive is likely your primary drive, but if you have external or online storage you need to back up those devices, also. Windows Backup in Windows 7 is a good tool, as is Time Machine in Mac OS X. Both can automate backups in customized ways.

CRE Account Executives are the people to call when you need powerful tools for your digital workflow or expert event production services. Give us a call, send an e-mail or fill out the Quick Rental Quote form, but remember.– whatever your goals for the New Year, we’re here to help you achieve them. That’s our resolution, in 2011 and beyond.

New Mac Pro: Apple’s Fastest Computer Ever

July 29th, 2010

Apple may have dropped “Computer” from its corporate name – ostensibly to emphasize its “i” strengths, as in iTunes, iPods, iPads and iPhones – but the biggest news lately is all about their desktops and laptops. With new and scary-fast offerings in the Mac Pro, iMac and MacBook Pro lines, plus a new desktop Magic Trackpad and some iPhone happenings, there’s a lot to report. We’ll start today with the Mac Pro and work through the rest of the Apple crate in subsequent blogs.

The tremendous punch packed by the new Mac Pro makes it, once again, the fastest Mac available, after losing its top ranking some time back to a Core i7-equipped iMac. The new tower Mac can access up to 12 processing cores for 50% more performance, now fueled by up to 32GB of RAM. This makes the Mac Pro the prohibitive favorite for audio, video, animation and post-production, and will bring a new rush to working with HD or SD in Final Cut Pro when paired with CRE’s AJA Io HD rentals. Digital artists and content creators will feel like their spaceship got a new rocket or two whichever CPUs they choose – Intel’s quad- and six-core Xeon processors, the quad-core Xeon Nehalem or the Xeon Westmere with four or six cores. Apple claims buyers can choose from “1.3 billion possible configurations of the Mac Pro” when ordering, and it feels like about half of the options involve processors!

Dual displays? Nope – six!

The new Mac Pro maxes out, as stated above, at 12 cores with two six-core Intel Xeon Westmeres running at 2.93 GHz. (Other CPUs may have faster clock speeds, up to 3.33 GHz, but the Westmeres are the most efficient, effective workers.) Apple has left NVIDIA behind, now offering the ATI Radeon HD 5770 or 5870 graphics card. Each has 1 GB of GDDR5 memory (fast!) and get this – support for as many as six simultaneous displays. Get one or two Xserve RAID rentals, some LCD monitor rentals and send for lots of take-out, because with this kind of setup you will get a whole lot done, and you’ll have so much fun you just might want to keep going.

The new Mac Pro also has a dual 16-lane PCI Express 2.0 slot, for expansion purposes, and can be configured with up to 8 TB of internal hard disk and SSD (Solid State Drive) storage, the latter offering a first for the Cupertino firm. The new models should hit the retail channel sometime in August, meaning CRE will soon offer the latest, greatest Mac Pro computer rental.

Apple’s been busy!

Apple has also revamped its standalone Cinema Display line (one model now, 27-inch), juiced up the surprising iMacs (available for rent), upgraded its MacBook Pro line and released a desktop Magic Trackpad. The company is also in the news with its iPhone, as the government has decreed that consumers can now “jailbreak” the device. All of this news and more will be in forthcoming blogs, so check out our new posts every Tuesday and Thursday.

Don’t forget that we’re here every other workday, too, with not just the best and newest computer rentals but everything you need to attend, produce or exhibit at a conference or convention, from Audience Response System rentals to plasma panels. Call or e-mail an expert Account Executive, or fill out our Quick Rental Quote form that’s just a quick click away. We’re here with solutions, so just let us know what you need to solve!

Who Needs a Render Farm? An Introduction

May 18th, 2010

An Introduction to Render Farm Rentals

Huge numbers of processor hours are needed to “render” the special effects and animations in the latest hit films and TV programs. For Monsters vs. Aliens, a total of 40 million hours of processing was required. Even a mostly-live-action movie like Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith included almost 7 million hours of rendering. The technology behind the process is pretty impressive, and you will find a tremendous amount of cross-platform research and cooperation. Even Microsoft studies ways to get PCs and Macintosh computers cooperating in a render farm setup, while some rendering solutions require third-party software and hardware.

A frame at a time

Rendering times differ according to the medium, the budget and the deadlines. Thus, one frame of TV special effects typically takes from 30 minutes to an hour, while many hours per frame is required for feature films. IMAX resolution – such as rendering the Devastator character in Transformers 2 – can take as much as 70 hours per frame. The solution to this immense computational challenge is a kind of distributed computing where entire banks of networked computers do nothing but render final frames. In a state-of-the-art setup like George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic the artists themselves have some 2000 cores in their workstations, connected to a render farm with almost 6000 processor cores (at the time of Transformers 2).

Even a small special effects firm with a half dozen animators will likely have 100+ processors working for them. The maker of the South Park cartoons, South Park Studios, now has a 120-processor render farm with over 30 Mac workstations (similar to Mac Pro rentals from CRE) along with some 10 terabytes of storage using the same technology CRE can provide, Xserve RAID rentals.

Do you need a render farm?

Compositing, motion graphics work, architectural visualization and digital audio recording can all be accomplished with render farms. If your firm is working in any of these areas, the answer to the question is, “Yes, you need one!” Small studios or companies that don’t have the money to buy the computers they need can use computer rentals for rendering.

In the “old days,” there were few options on connecting the devices that make up a render farm. Today, however, many of the leading 3D and compositing software programs include built-in networking/rendering functionality, and some even have a rendering controller. This means that the additional “nodes” (distributed PCs or Macs) can be managed right from your main workstation with a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) arrangement, meaning that you can run them as “headless systems” without a keyboard, monitor or mouse.

CRE is an expert in providing render farm rentals and setups to companies of all kinds and sizes. Our Account Executives are up to date on all the render farm specifics, and can get you on your way in no time if you need to set one up. Simply call or e-mail, or complete the Quick Rental Quote form - we’re ready to render assistance.

Meeting the Economic Challenges with Rentals from CRE

September 17th, 2009

It seems that “financial experts” just pop right out of the woodwork during tough economic times. This recent recession is no different, and there are tons of ads and spam touting penny stocks, how to make money in down markets and other magical maneuvers. In times like these, however, it is wise to keep a historical perspective, and always to “go with what you know.”

CRE customers are no strangers to the ups and downs of the economy, the “whole one” or the portions of it they work in, their chosen industries. For animation pros who’ve run Final Cut Pro on a Mac Pro computer rental, working in a volatile industry is old hat. Hollywood is notoriously cyclical, although the trends have always been generally “up.” Office managers at all kinds of firms have relied on CRE for everything from that extra desktop PC to multifunction office wizardry like the Panasonic 595 Fax/Laser printer. They have done so in good times and bad.

The “in-between” times

There are also times like this, when there are definitely some big national economic issues, but certain industries are still going strong. Technology is running somewhat against the grain right now, but the real super-tech-types, the ones who know they need to get their new project backed up onto a high-capacity XServe RAID rental from CRE, aren’t always the folks watching the financial news. Sometimes it’s someone else in management, who might misinterpret economic signals at times. The techies have to educate others as to the cost-effectiveness of good backups, whatever is going on with the New York Stock Exchange.

You could call what we are going through “in-between times,” for want of a better term. There is great volatility, but this is America, after all, so there is always great hope and a lot of enthusiasm. There are a number of important technology conferences coming up in the last quarter of 2009, and CES actually starts earlier than January 2010. It looks like plenty of folks are still investing in booths to make their presence known. What kind of signal does it send when you don’t go? That may take more explaining than it’s worth. It’s less costly to go ahead and make plans for the convention rentals that CRE offers than to weather the storm of doubt that might follow you in the wake of your decision to stay home.

The right time for new marketing

A exhibit booth with a few high-res monitors or perhaps a high lumen projector rental from CRE, along with some enthusiastic sales reps and a tech guy (or gal) with all the answers—this is not a backbreaking expense. In fact, it’s an investment. Many marketing experts assert that the time to redefine and expand your marketing efforts is when others are not doing so. That time could be now. Don’t just follow the headlines in the business section, but dig down deep. That’s where you will find out what is really going on, like you will when you call up the people you know and ask the right questions.

Get back to the basics of business, doing good work and making good deals for your great clients and customers, and you will not simply survive, but thrive. When you start getting busier, rent the laptops or other equipment you need from CRE until you know whether you should buy any. Often the smart thing to do is stay lean, renting what you need when you need it, and directing the capital that would have gone into equipment into marketing, instead. CRE’s experienced, business-savvy Account Executives are ready to help. All you have to do is fill out a Quick Rental Quote form, give them a call or send an e-mail. We can help you get through the challenges and set yourself up for the future. With the right attitude, the right help and the usual hard work, the future usually turns out to be pretty bright.

Making Hit Movies With Macs

September 1st, 2009

What we now know as Apple Final Cut Pro, now in version 7 while the Studio package is in version 2, was actually created by Macromedia. That’s the company that took over the venerable FreeHand vector drawing program way back when, and also brought Dreamweaver (née GoLive), Flash and a few other goodies along when Adobe absorbed them in 2005.

Long story short, Macromedia brought a beta version of a program called KeyGrip to the National Association of Broadcasters convention in 1998 (NAB1998) but found no takers. In somewhat of a strategic move, Apple bought up the KeyGrip code and the team that birthed it, added Firewire and DV support, continued developing the product and released it at NAB1999 as Final Cut Pro (FCP).

Meanwhile, its old code and low optimization took Adobe Premiere’s Mac market share steadily downward, to the point that Premiere Pro became a Windows-only product at about the turn of the millennium. Starting then, however, FCP began making serious inroads into the Hollywood movie scene, and by 2007 it had just about half (49%) of the domestic professional editing market, compared to 22% for Avid.

It began with a teen flick

Demonstrating the power and potential of a consumer (more like “prosumer”) product, the teen movie Rules of Attraction was edited on a beta release of FCP3 in 2001. This made the film’s director, Roger Avary, something of an unofficial spokesman for Apple’s editing software, which caused a few industry pros—editors, directors of photography, directors, producers—to take notice. The entertainment world as a whole then noticed, and FCP won an Emmy in 2002 for its “impact on the television industry.”

All the Macs that CRE rents—from MacBook Pros to the Mac Pro towers—are able to run FCP, so professional and amateur moviemakers alike can work on their latest masterpieces at home, on a soundstage or on location. Some of the heavy lifting for special effects may take some extra horsepower, additional time or both, but the fact is that FCP has democratized the filmmaking field more than any other product, service, or invention.

Gaining momentum still

There is no doubt that FCP’s involvement in the production of the 2008 Brad Pitt hit, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, sent a powerful “get on board” message to filmmakers still undecided about the software. The movie led the year’s Oscar nominations with a baker’s dozen (13, remember?) and was noteworthy for the excellent look and seamless special effects. Renting CRE’s Mac Pro with FCP gets you the same power that brought a bucket of Oscar noms to this well-regarded film.

Even before Benjamin Button, however, a long list of first-rate films attested to the growing power and popularity of Apple’s editing package (see Mac Movies List, below), including multiple Oscar-winner Cold Mountain, Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima and the Best Movie of 2008, No Country for Old Men.

Big help for small films

It’s not only big studios and bankable stars that benefit from the Mac’s creative muscle. Able Edwards, made in 2004 by director Graham Robertson and producer Steve Soderbergh, was shot on a small Hollywood green-screen stage in 15 days on a $30,000 budget. It was edited on a single PowerMac G4 with a mere 2GB of RAM, using FCP alongside Maya, QuickTime and Adobe Photoshop. Five years later, the iMacs that CRE rents have many times the power of that G4, so a low-cost rental can put you in the race for Oscar gold—assuming you have a great script, a talented cast and a distribution deal (YouTube may do in a pinch).

As far as a “movie on a shoestring” story, there’s an even better one. Johnatan Caouette made his a 2003 documentary film, Tarnation, on an iMac for a final budget of $281. If you think that’s impressive, he didn’t even use FCP, he did it all with iMovie. Incredibly, the distributor spent over 1,400 times more (nearly $400,000) promoting the flick and bringing it to theaters. Caouette didn’t even have an external hard drive for storage, much less a RAID array like CRE rents, and dealt with iMovie’s limitations by producing 15 minutes of the film at a time. He would then dump each segment onto his Hi-8 tape master, delete it from the iMac and start up on the next piece.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way—but where there’s a Mac, it’ll save the day. If you are thinking of giving Universal and Paramount some competition, and need a little extra post-production prowess, CRE is here with the right solutions. One of our specialties is supporting animators, editors and special effect pros in the entertainment industry, so contact us by filling out the CRE Quick Quote Rental Form , calling us toll-free at (877) 266-7725 or sending an e-mail for a quick, courteous and knowledgeable response.

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Major films edited with FCP:

Black Snake Moan
Burn After Reading
Cold Mountain
Corpse Bride
Full Frontal
Happy Feet
Intolerable Cruelty
Jarhead
Letters from Iwo Jima
Napoleon Dynamite
No Country for Old Men
Open Water
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Super Size Me
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Ladykillers
The Ring
The Ring 2
The Rules of Attraction
The Simpsons Movie
Zodiac

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