Adobe! They call it the Creative Cloud - So What Now?

This week as many may have heard, Adobe announced its shift to what they call the new and groovy Creative Cloud.

Forget about the CS Suites altogether! They will soon be history as far as Adobe is concerned. The headlines have read along these lines just to name a few:

• Is Adobe a Buy? (Financial Reporting)

• Adobe Just Killed Your Ability To Pirate Photoshop (some Blog named RW for ReWrite)

• 5 Cool Features in Adobe Creative Cloud (PC Mag)

• And my version - What the hell? Why can't Adobe explain things more clearly and remove the confusion? (Unfortunately this is not a link to any answers either.)

The big question really is; has Adobe made a suicidal or a totally genius maneuver? That is the billion dollar question. And why can PC Mag only come up with 5 cool features? Simply because they might not really (as has been for a long time) understand the reality of this situation. Who knows. I haven't read PC Mag for years now or basically ever since their reviews and articles were always swayed towards the guy advertising on the same pages of the article. I digress. 

I suppose the humorous one is the pirating one. I never had to worry about that as I always paid for full licenses. In regards to the financial reports, well, that's another story altogether. 

Back to the license thing. I really don't care what moron wrote this or why they came up with such a title. The key thing is, if that is the number one concern, then you shouldn't even be in any business that involves creating cool stuff. If you infringe on copyright by pirating software, you should be bitch slapped at the very least! 

Why? You ask? You dare ask? If this is even a question, then get out now! Go do something else as a career. Something where the mundane will run your life. 

For all of us out here creating goodies, visual eye-candy and so much more, we should never question having to pay for the right to use some software. Actually I insist on it as I would expect the same in return when someone uses some of my created goodies. Whether it is a project from After Effects, a photo, or my favorite, stock footage, I am a firm believer that this needs to be paid for! In turn, I am a firm believer that I must also pay for the rights to software that allows me to create this stuff. 

Over the years I have had many offer me "free" or pirated software of a variety of applications. I always rejected such offers for several reasons:

1. I always would respond with; "I really don't want any trojans installed on my system. These f&&cking download places always have crap like that going on."
2. I really prefer to get support from a company and not feel guilty about it. 
3. I simply hate to feel guilty about STEALING something from someone I have never even met! Yes! The conscious is kicking me into being rightful and proper on this issue. 

Now, back to Adobe and their Creative Cloud. Will it be a successful or as successful as Adobe hopes it to be? Only time will tell. There are two sides to every story. And this one has strong proponents on both sides. 

But there is one major problem that Adobe has yet to solve. They simply can't or are lost in translation. They puffed up their now crappy site with CC this, CC that and so on... but nowhere (and don't even get me started on the pretty useless faqs...) do they in simple explanation talk about the technical functionality of the system. For example, why can't they in big bold letters state that you don't have to be online 24/7 to use the products? 

Or better yet, why not explain in plain English that the so-called "Cloud" is not really a cloud, and it doesn't produce rain. Adobe! Pay attention! You really screwed up in your messaging! You seem to forget that artists, designers and producers are not all super-tech savvy nor do they full comprehend that damn "cloud" thingy. 

Go back to basics Adobe.... pretend that no one understands the concept and start from there. Spoon feed if you have to, but damn it do something. I am losing my ass on the stock market because you can't market or speak human!

We have the financial community, the stock market if you will, that is reacting in real-time to the announcement. Hence, they seem to be bullish on the whole idea. The stock is tanking slowly over the last few days since the announcement. See for yourself:

Source: Yahoo Finance - The day of this post.

We have the bloggers, the Facebookers, the.... ah who cares? They all have opinions. 

But here is what I have found to be true:

• Anyone that has been using this concept (yes, it's been available for quite some time now) really loves it. 
• Anyone that has not been using this concept is either weary, unsure, or somehow delusional in regards to its capabilities. I was one of these until I chilled and watched the replay of the MAX keynote presentation. 
• I admit, I think Adobe is on to something. Something bigger than we could have expected. After all, I was expecting Adobe CS7, not Adobe CC.
• As far as the doubters on Wall Street, you know, the guys that want fast money by investing... well, most of these people haven't a clue about creativity nor do they have a creative bone in their body. They only know that they are in the market for a fast buck. And therein lies the problem. Hell, most of them don't even know what Adobe does. They just purchased the stock because it had a nice upward line/pattern:

Source Yahoo Finance - Look at it rise!

I would venture to guess that there are many shorting this stock today. Perhaps the competition, perhaps the "sheeple" day trader, perhaps the general non-creative investor. We'll see how it comes out next month when Adobe actually throws the switch. (June 17th I believe)

In any case - before judging this new delivery of software system, perhaps it would be wise to see and understand all the potential. I was quick to jump and be negative about it initially too. But in retrospect, as this will be the only option should I wish to continue using Adobe products, I am somewhat forced to like it. Actually, there are some really cool things coming down the pike, provided Adobe comes through with them. But re-read the bold and underlined type above... it is a somewhat forced process. I hate being forced, except when it come to ice cream. 

Oh! And by the way - I do think their Creative Cloud artwork is pretty cool:

The Creative Cloud Artwork - I am sure this is copyright protected by Adobe.  So respectfully I am not using it for self promotion, but purely in the journalistic sense. 

 

What's wrong with the localized Indie world?

Why so many Indies fail not just at home, but also in the crowd funding world.

I am a cinematographer, editor, sometimes even a writer, but most of all a business person. Why do I even state the latter? Probably because without that knowledge, I would be like most indie producers that seem to not have much success with their projects. I emphasize the word "most" as there are some that are very successful. So what makes those "others" successful and the "most" not?

I can answer that and will try to keep it brief and to the point.... but first a little story.

I was recently approached about a project. A musical project, or should I say what I believed to be a music video. This all came via email. My first response was to ask two questions that immediately would tell me how serious, how planned and how organized this project would be:

1. What is the time frame?

2. What is the budget?

Of course I could also have asked; "Who did, or who will do the pre-production as well as the storyboard?"

But I decided to wait with that one until I received a reply to the first two questions. As it turns out, I never needed to ask the third question as the reply to the first two was somewhat as follows:

"It's a 'labor of love' and we want to do it like right away." - Basically two red flags in one simple line of response. "Labor of love" simply put is that there is no budget. "We want to do it like right away." means there is absolutely no planning whatsoever behind it. Because like, that's the way I see it.

I replied very politely and stated the following: "I do not do spec (as in speculative) work for others as this is the same as asking me to be an investor. For me to be an investor, I would need to see a business plan, or at the very least some quality pre-production work so that I can make a judgement call on whether or not I want to invest."

The reply; "No no, we don't want you to invest, but rather just shoot (DP) and edit it."

Need I say more? My time is in their opinion, worth nothing. Oh, and my equipment amortization happens magically without costing me a penny. This is how many of these so-called "Indie" producers see it. But the "real world" is a far cry from how they think it is. 

Here is my further response; "This may be a labor of love for sure, but it is YOUR labor of love, not mine. My standard rates for shooting and editing are a gazillion per hour and half a gazillion per hour respectively. I pay myself that when I do a 'labor of love' for myself. So I ask, do you want to negotiate a discount?"

Of course the sarcasm just had to come in as I knew who I was dealing with and really wanted to once and for all make a point that there is one thing worse than work, and that quite simply is working for free. In reality, this would be worse than working for free as it would mean for me to even spend money on the project. My time, my equipment and my knowledge, which they believe I acquired all for free!

Now let's move on to the crowd funding model. You know Indigogo, Kickstarter and so on. Hmmm, there are so many projects that seem to have the same modus operandi or M.O. No wonder the statistics are what they are. Here are some hard facts from Kickstarter for the year 2012:

Total Projects Launched: 85,995

Total Successful: 35,911

Total Unsuccessful: 46,543

Total % without even getting a penny of the unsuccessful:   ~11% (approx. 5120)

Source: http://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats 

Are the projects not being funded for specific reasons? You bet! They are the same reasons I wouldn't "invest" in the above project. Philanthropy, as is common on the crowd funding sites works the exact same way as any other investment. The difference between being an investor vs. a philanthropist is very simply that the latter doesn't necessarily care about an ROI or "return on investment". But they both look for careful planning, structure and seriousness on any of these projects. 

Bottom Line

If you are venturing into the "project world" of anything from producing an indie to creating the next widget, you MUST treat it like a business venture and take it seriously. An by seriously, I mean you need to be able to prove that you are serious, not just state it or talk about it.

You want to do business, you need to act like a business. Get prepared, plan, document and most of all, be serious and don't use words such as "like" in a sentence as; "It's a 'labor of love' and we want to do it like right away." That in itself makes you sound very un-serious and like, you know, a loooooooser.

Whether you are asking for a favor, help, support, or anything else that may involve time and/or equipment for any project, you are asking for someone to literally invest in you. In such case, the very least you should do is show respect by showing that you are serious and have a plan. Credibility is also a very helpful thing. 

EBook is published!

Head on over to StockMediaArtist.com (Shut Up and Shoot!) and get yours today! (Okay - you could just click on the link below and just order it here as well.)

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EBook to be Released April 14th! - Shut Up and Shoot!

A preview trailer of the ebook coming out April 14th, 2012

Shut Up and Shoot

and Make Lightning Strike Twice

(How to Become an Out of This World Stock Media Artist)

by Andreas Hohl (VaderVideo)

Visit the site for Shut Up and Shoot!