When I freelance, I don't often find myself on a truck that doesn't have a DVEous, so I usually don't have to burn a bunch of keyers for the scorebug. My "home" truck doesn't have one, so that's an exception...but I'm probably the only guy on the planet who knows all the little quirks of TDing on our truck, so when a director asks for something I can't do, I don't feel stupid... I just know HE is!

Well said Jesse.... you thew in more than $.02.... don't take their garbage because their cheap. Don't let them fool you, they are making plenty of money and they can afford the box. It's like these dual feeds. They want the same show on one M/E that they are used to at home on three MEs. That's just not going to happen and they have a realize the limitations of their cameras plus the switcher and what one can actually make it do. You get what you pay for that is the bottom line! If they don't like it, too bad. There are so many scenarios and each production team does somthing a little different that you can never second guess their particular production and how your particular set up will run with their programming idiosyncrasy. It just not foolproof and never will be because when you push that button, there is no where else to go. Hope your doing well Jesse. Take care! Rick

To throw my $.02 in. . . As most people, I cut my show in M/E3 using emems usually with the Score Bug keyed over cams. If I'm using more than 10 cams then I just manually cut cams 11+ If I'm stuck burning a bunch of keyers 'kludging' a score bug, I'll key CG2 in one of the DSKs if I have to do a CG1 to CG2 cross. And if a director is going to start getting upitty on a show where they can't even manage to bring in a real score box, then I'd be tempted to tell him to ease up. If you have to jump through hoops because they can't bring in appropriate gear then they need to understand the complexity they've thrust upon you.

Thanks for all the info...I guess I just get a little gun-shy with switching keys from CG2 to CG1 in the heat of battle. I've had a couple of directors that haven't been very forgiving if I can't get to it immediately. One in particular from ESPN (who will remain nameless!) went into a 5 minute diatribe when I made an on-air mistake, only because he asked for something unusual...even though I had told him before the show there were a few scenarios that would make going to CG2 difficult (because I had to burn 3 keyers on ME3 with bug, game and shot clocks). Anyway, I appreciate you guys sharing the info with me here...It's already improving my performance in the hotseat. Thanks!

Hi Mongo, Covering all your bases just comes with time. Even then, a director is going to ask for something that is unusual every now and then. In your Font 2 scenario I agree with Eric. Just select Font 2 and dissovle it in. Now your emems still work like you want them to, and they restore Font 1 back to keyer 1. If the director's next call is for another camera with Font 1, just double punch. Left hand on the Background Buss, right hand on the Keyer Buss. With a little practice you can cut them both at the same time. More importantly, remember this. If you can't do it the way he asks, do it clean, then add the font. Clean is the goal for any show in my opinion. I know of very few director's who would disagree. Happy punching! Scott

First off, in the scenario you described, I'd just dissolve out that CG2 before quickly calling up and running whatever effect you're about to do. Who cares if the director doesn't like it. But, it's a moot point, because I wouldn't put it in downstream to begin with. I'd punch Key 1 (which is normally CG1) to CG2, then insert it/cross to it/whatever. This can get really fun if the director then wants to go to CG1, cuz then you have to punch CG1 on Key 2, and keep track of what's being keyed where. But it beats going downstream to do it, in my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

I haven't found myself on a show with more than 6 cameras, and more than 15 effects, but I have found that using a macro to call up registers 10-19 is very helpful, and keeps me from hosing myself on the next effect. Scott, if I understood the Sonys better, I probably wouldn't hate them so much! I just don't have enough seat time with them to get a good grasp of them (I've only used it twice, once for minor league baseball and once for basketball). Ultimately though, my biggest problem seems to be trying to cover all my bases when a director wants something specific, that I'm not set up to get to in a timely manner. For example, say I'm cutting cams on ME3, and Keyer 1 is CG1, and Keyer 2 is a score bug/clock coming from a DVEous (assuming I only have 2 keyers per ME). The director wants CG2 inserted. I have it on DSK2, but if I insert it there, sure enough the director will want to go to cam5 clean, or even worse, effect to replay. To go to cam5, an emem is fine (if it's built to include the DSKs), but what about the effect? It'll drop your CG2 when you call up the effect. And I've noticed directors don't like that...to put it nicely!

I cut cameras with emems. Although I have never done a game with more then 10 cameras. I use the typical bank zero for cams with bug, bank 1 cams with font 1 (and bug if bug stays in with font), bank 2 font 2, bank 3 clean (when the bug crashes). If I have only 7 or less cams, I use 0-8 and 0-9 as effects dissolves to cross between bug and font 1. This is on a 4K, Kalypso easier ways to do that. I find it easier to cut cams quicker using emems, and unless you have a plastic cover for pgm/pst tough not having a place to rest your wrist if you cut seems would get annoying after a while. The emem cutting I think is a little less work and moving around. For effects I use master emems, and or macros to call up master emems.. hope that helps Bill

I run all of my effects from the master emem panel. I rarely have any effects running on ME3 unless they are triggered by macros. I usually build emems that cut all of my cameras clean. I alternate using them or cutting manually. The only reason I have for that is that don't want muscle memory dictating that I can only do things one way. The biggest time saver for me is something you already mentioned. Being able to copy similar effects. Don't knock yourself out of work by hating Sony's. Learn it ! You may have to do some things differently, but it just makes your bag of tricks deeper. Then Rock Bottom and the Master Cylinder can't catch you. Scott

Thanks for the response Scott... So do you run your emems from the ME emem keypad, or from the master emem keypad? Obviously something like a replay effect would need to come off the master, but say you have a font fly on ME3...do you run it off of ME3's emem keypad? But your layout sounds like how I usually set mine up (except for the Sony 7K I used last night...ugh! God, I hate Sonys...) Also, I was wondering how many people cut cameras using emems? I have one for camera 1 w/bug for basketball, but just hot-punch the other cams. Or does anyone have a really time-saving emem they've stumbled on?

Hi Mongo, I make a list of effects and their location in a small binder. I place this on the splash panel in my line of sight. If I have several effects that are listed as on and off moves such as FSN effects, I place the off move in the register directly under the on move. IE: Reg 4 FSN On, Reg 14 FSN OFF. Other wise I try to minimize emems on the ME's. I cut the show on 3, replay to 2 and do splits and clocks and double boxes on 1. Scott