Post Production

Dear Adobe, Blackmagic and other post-production software makers, don’t export on-screen error messages and watermarks

Dear Adobe, Blackmagic and other post-production software makers, don't export on-screen error messages and watermarks 7

Error watermarks serve a noble purpose but inevitably they sometimes make it to air when they don’t have to

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Scott Simmons
January 3, 2021
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Here is my open letter to companies like Adobe, Blackmagic Design and all the other non-linear editing and post-production software makers out there:

Please do not export, render or “bake in” the on-screen error messages, render warnings and software watermarks that often happen during the course of an edit. I understand the reasoning why these are necessary and believe in the importance of telling the editor when something has gone wrong but leaving these intact during an export is a recipe for disaster as these often end up in the final output which, inevitably, make it to air.

What brings this to mind? On New Year’s Day I was watching the Kiss 2020 Goodbye concert by the rock band Kiss with my kids. It was a live concert event in Dubai and before the show started there was nearly an hour of preshow with some short documentaries around this mammoth show. At about 11 minutes and 17 seconds into the broadcast I see it: the tell-tale blue banner from the Adobe Premiere Pro Warp Stablizer with its ominous warning: Frame not analyzed for stabliziaion, click Analyze.

Dear Adobe, Blackmagic and other post-production software makers, don't export on-screen error messages and watermarks 8

It was quite a long shot and I was surprised that it made it to broadcast. And it didn’t get removed for the inevitable pre-show YouTube upload either so I got the screen-grab above! You can watch it yourself and try to catch this one and another one or two later in the pre-show.

If you think there needs to be a bit more warning so this doesn’t happen so easily then please vote in my Adobe User Voice Present an error message before output when a Warp Stabilizer watermark is on a clip idea so maybe we can get that at some point in the future.

If you try and export a Warp Stabilizer clip while Warp Stabilizer frames are in the process of being analyed you’ll get this error message:

Dear Adobe, Blackmagic and other post-production software makers, don't export on-screen error messages and watermarks 9

But once the analysis is complete and you were to trim the clip where new frames haven’t been analyzed you’ll get the blue warning bar in the render. But further complicating this for Premiere is it seems like there is a warning both for an In Progress Warp Stabilizer on export as well as one that is Not Started. It almost feels like a bug within Premiere that you don’t get that warning with Status: Need Analyzing when you’ve trimmed a Warp’d clip to make it longer and you have new frames that haven’t been analyzed.

It would be great to get a message like this on output. I really like this idea:

There’s a number of reasons something like this could make it to broadcast. Often times the editor is rushed and changes are demanded up until the very last minute so there is no time to quality check the program before it goes to air. Actually that’s probably the most common reason. It can be embarrassing for the editor and the production company so it’s a good lesson as to why editors need time and people to QC a project before it goes to air. There has been many an editor yelled at for this very mistake when in reality the fault should like with the producers for not allowing adequate time to check the final output. This can become an excruciating exercise when the program is long.

Lest you think I’m being a jerk calling out the Kiss production for their Warp Stablizer mishap, I had a similar situation of my own during a Christmas show edit I did in DaVinci Resolve. I had been working on this local broadcast Christmas show at my office where I have Resolve Studio. I had used one of the Studio-only features, Patch Replacer, to remove an annoying exit sign. Late in the evening I opened the project at home to make an output and send the file to the client. I had an issue at home as Resolve wasn’t seeing my dongle so it didn’t think I had the Studio version installed and generated a big, ugly watermark where I had used the Studio-only Patch Replacer filter. I made a workaround and sent the file to the client for final approval.

The next day I got an email back with this screen-grab attached:

Dear Adobe, Blackmagic and other post-production software makers, don't export on-screen error messages and watermarks 10

Little did I know that the Lens Blur filter I had used was Studio-only so that watermark went out in the final output. I am human and can make a mistake with the best of ’em.

What do I wish would happen in this situation? Ideally I’d like a warning message before a file is generated that there is going to be a watermark present as well as a way to quickly jump to it and fix it. Second to that I would prefer the NLE to render out the unaffected shot. I think that could cause much less damage in the end than a rendered watermark going to broadcast or the web delivery. But honestly the first option would be best.

Of course, not everyone will agree with my idea of having the NLE render the original shot when the error message hasn’t been addressed. In a perfect world we would get a preference for this behavior between rendering out the baked-in error message or render out the original shot.

Not every piece of post-production software handles this kind of thing the same way. But every one of them should make some kind of provision for watermarked footage so the watermark doesn’t make its way into an output.

UPDATE 1/3/2021: I posted this article to Twitter this morning and it’s generated some good discussion. Seems to be two camps when it comes to this idea of not baking in the watermarks and error message on export: the I’ve had that happen and agree with this idea vs the editors should always check their work and there is no excuse for this ever.

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Gun

I had that times and times again at a facility with only one Boris Continuum license for 2 suites.

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Scott Simmons

I worked at a facilty once that only paid for one license and they would ask their edit suites to selectively disconnect from the network to render out programs. High quality business ethics there. Once they asked me to bring my serial number with me on a job. I refused.

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James

Scott,

Granted as human beings none of us are infallible.

In my professional career I learned after making a critical error I had to accept the mistake and implement a method to not allow it to happen again. My mentors and supervisors taught me “He or she who learns from their mistakes will become stronger as a result.” In my experience we should not hold a software vendor responsible for quality control issues which are under our control. I will agree it will be helpful for post production software applications to incorporate a visual check list of errors (similar to a word processor spell checker) which needs to be address prior to exporting.

I offer the following QC recommendations for those on a tight turnaround schedule.

1) Review the exported file in fast forward or created markers for reviewing the spots where effect plugins or other potential problematic renders may be located.

2) If you take home paid Resolve projects from work please purchase the dongle free version of Resolve Studio. The highly affordable purchase price of $295 for the Resolve Studio license is a small price to pay instead of losing the confidence of a client.

A client on the receiving end will have serious doubts with hiring a post production professional who allows mistakes to go out for final review. Experienced freelancers realize the chances of receiving repeat work is partially based on their experience and accuracy. In the freelance industry each of us will quickly realize “You are only as good as your last job.”

Clients who are in a position to rehire will not do so if they have to consider the consequences of errors committed by a vendor or freelancer from a past job and/or a lack of willingness to undertake corrective action without faulting others for the mistake.

The lesson to be learned here is the post production team assigned and hired by a client to complete a project is responsible for quality control regardless of time constrains or after the fact excuses.

In closing I urge all professionals in any industry to accept your mistakes and learn from them lest you repeat them again and again.

James Lefoe

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Scott Simmons

Yes good advice for sure. Couple things… I think you’re missing part of the point of the article. We are living in a time when it is physically possibly to properly QC an output the way it needs to be QC’d due to ever tightening deadlines coupled with unrealistic post-production schedules with endless changes shoehorned in because the producers and clients think it’s that easy. That blame needs to also be placed upon those make the requests even though the post-production team tells them they are playing with fire.

And I do have Resolve Studio at home but there was an issue with the dongle which I was in communion with BMD about.

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Jim Lefoe

Hello Scott,

No I did not overlook your statement regarding deadline turnarounds.

I offered a simple QC procedure which can easily be used. For those who choose to disregard my suggestion then be prepared to accept the consequences of your actions.

I have already stated it is pointless to blame others rather than learn and grow as a professional from a mistake.

If you can’t convince your clients of the consequences of their requests then you must accept full responsible for taking on the job given the parameters you have chosen to work under. Hold no one else responsible but yourself for accepting a job which you know will end in failure.

I myself have experienced the Dongle problem with Resolve Studio when an error message appearing telling me Resolve would not launch due to the inability to read the dongle. The solution is to shut Resolve down , disconnect and reconnect the dongle.

Regardless if you wish to prevent the issue in the future I recommend yourself and others purchase a new license of Resolve Studio and move on without having to disappoint another client.

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Scott Simmons

On the Resolve thing… it wasn’t an issue of Resolve not launching. But that’s beside the point. Good advive for sure. This post was an idea of how post-production software vendors across the board could help the user deal with such a situation. There are many solutions that could be implemented, many of which are posted in the article, as well as many opinions about how it should or should not work. T

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Jim LeFoe

Scott and fellow readers,

FYI one of the great features Davinci Resolve offers in the delivery page is the ability to view the export in progress on both the on-screen GUI and HD-SDI output in faster than real time (depending on your workstation.)

Any filters, plugs in’s which are not enabled in the free version of Resolve will visually shown the burn in overlay notifying the editor that feature is only available in the paid Resolve Studio version as the actual export render is taking place.

However it requires the editor to remain at their workstation to watch the export render taking place. This is not the time to take a coffee break, or go the bathroom.

Regretfully Adobe Premiere 2020 does not offer the same feature as Resolve does. Scott I suggest requesting Adobe implement the same export live viewing capability as Resolve.

I restate once again the editorial team is responsible for conducting a quality control check on their work before delivering it to the client. Clients are hiring media professionals based on their skill sets, accuracy and ability to repeat quality work again and again.

Scott thank you for discussing this issue and many others as I hope the readers will learn from the workflow recommendations offered.

Keep up the good work as your articles are always welcome.

Sincerely,

Jim LeFoe

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Bret Weeks

Lol. It >should< behave like spellcheck, but unfortunately Adobe STILL DOES NOT HAVE SPELLCHECK in Premiere or After effects.

The year: 2021. The official work around? Use Microsoft Word.

Happy New Year.

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Steward

Funny how Final Cut isn’t mentioned once. Oh right… this article could have been so much shorter by simply writing “DO IT AS FCP DOES IT”. Done. With as much as all of the above shamelessly steal from FCP, why not THAT?? Oh right, you can’t write it onto your bloated feature list of endless things that no one needs otherwise.

Adobe apps have become such TURDS. Wow.

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Scott Simmons

Oh there’s always a FCPX squakler who gets their feelings hurt… squalk all you want but there will be many many many people editing in other apps. FCPX could be mentioned as there are instances where unregistered plug ins would leave a watermark.

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