Why do you think apple computers are used in almost all TV/Movies?

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mpitts

Lifer
Jun 9, 2000
14,732
1
76
Originally posted by: floccus
I don't really think there is that big of a difference. Its just that Macs are easy to spot as a Mac while a PC can be from many different vendors and thus you don't identify it as one brand over another. There is also the whole idea of product placement. More often then not, if you look at the credits, it will credit Apple or some other vendor for machines to be used. Its marketing, plain and simple.

It obviously works.
 

JoeKing

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
10,641
1
81
Originally posted by: DougK62
Originally posted by: Marauder911
Originally posted by: DougK62
There was a time when Macs were superior for image and sound editing, so everyone in those businesses used them. Now, PCs are better than Macs in these areas but people still hold on to Macs because they're used to them.
That's not true. Mac's are still superior for audio, video and image editing. Look at Final Cut Pro. Nothing comes close to it. I will admit windows/linux based computers (Macs are PC's BTW, so calling something a PC then a Mac doesn't make sense) are catching up, but still have a gap to close before they are equivalent.

PC is commonly accepted to mean IBM-compatible.

There is software for the PC that will do just the same thing as Final Cut Pro does on the Mac. People still use the Macs and their software because they're familiar with it. The software can do the same things, what makes the IBM-compatible computers superior is the horsepower they have compared to the Macs.

The software may be able to do the same things as Final Cut Pro, but they don't do them as well (I'm assuming your talking about Avid as it is the only software package that comes even close to what FCP can do). I'm not some rabid apple fanatic either, I've just come to terms that in the arena of video and much of multimedia apple reigns supreme. This can be attributed to the stability of the platform, and how tightly the programs work with the OS. (its like how IE works so fast with windows because microsoft makes it). While FCP has its share of crashes, they are not as prevelent as the PC counterparts.
 

resinboy

Golden Member
Feb 2, 2000
1,555
0
0
actually, I read an interview with David Ducovny, and someone asked him the same thing about every XFiles episode with a pc in it. His response was" because their screens don't flicker when we film them".
 

PowerMacG5

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2002
7,701
0
0
Originally posted by: resinboy
actually, I read an interview with David Ducovny, and someone asked him the same thing about every XFiles episode with a pc in it. His response was" because their screens don't flicker when we film them".
That only has to do with the monitor used. If the refresh rate isn't in sync with the speed of the film, you get the inherent "flickering." This will not be seen on an LCD.
 

VIAN

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2003
6,575
1
0
It's the way the hardware and the software work together.

Apple has got the easiest job in the world.

Program for on chip, for one chipset, for one built in sound. Only one OS.

Windows on the other hand is something so impressive. It works on a BROAD range of hardware. And it works good. Good enough to beat Apple, who only programs on one type of hardware.
 

mpitts

Lifer
Jun 9, 2000
14,732
1
76
Originally posted by: VIAN
It's the way the hardware and the software work together.

Apple has got the easiest job in the world.

Program for on chip, for one chipset, for one built in sound. Only one OS.

Windows on the other hand is something so impressive. It works on a BROAD range of hardware. And it works good. Good enough to beat Apple, who only programs on one type of hardware.

They don't beat them on TV appearances..

And isn't that what this thread is really about?
 

CQuinn

Golden Member
May 31, 2000
1,656
0
0
I'm still wondering what this thread is really about...

The question that was asked was
Why do you think that more film producers use apple computers?

But that is a very vague question to ask.

*** Do you mean "Why are Macintosh computers shown more on TV and Movies than PCs?"

If so, first you have to prove that is actually the case. I'd bet I can name as many movies with
PCs in computer scenes as Macs.

Independence Day: Macs
Wargames: PC
Sneakers: PC
The Net: ??? (Macs and PCs AFAIK)
James Bond Films: Varies per film
2001: None of the above.
Tron: Mainframes, but with a subtext towards gaming machines and consoles.

Most people (besides us) don't even notice what type of computer is being used, or even if the
way the computer works makes sense.

Which leads to the second point, you have to realize that most "computer" movies don't care
what kind of computer is being used; because they hire people to doctor the screens to match
what the scene calls for, instead of having to wait for the computer to actually do something itself.

The computer graphics in 2001 were created back at a time when there were no computer that
could generate such graphics, which is why they were all hand drawn.

Macs may have been seen in more shows recently because Apple is doing more product placement.
But I think you will find the actual distribution is fairly even for Macs vs PCs, with both types losing
out to futuristic hollywood ideas of how computers are supposed to work.

*** Or do you mean "Why does hollywood seem to use Macs more in post production work than PCs?"

That would be because Apple, knowing they could not compete straight out against all the PCs
manufacturers in the world, have long designed and marketed their products to appeal to specific
niche markets. Education, Entertainment, technophiles, and people who did not think they were
"smart" enough to figure out a PC. Apple could afford to be really good at a few things, instead
of being an everything to everyone platform like the PC has to be.

As an aside to that, they tried to encourage software companies to make the most of the platform to
support those markets. Which is why tools like Photoshop took off more on the Mac, and then got
migrated over to the PC. As Video editing is in many ways manipulation of lots of small images, the
same technology that made Photoshop such a hit could carry over into tools like Premeire. Apple
then learned from Adobe, and focused on the Entertainment industry as a group that could afford to
pay more for high quality tools on an already familiar platform. Even with that, there is still a lot of
non-Mac computer usage in the film industry.

Even without direct competition from Wintel, Apple still had to beat out all the Silicon Graphics
workstations to Amiga VideoToasters in use to prove thier value.

Even Pixar did most of thier rendering work in the past on PCs in a linux cluster farm, until recently
when they announced they were switching over to G5 servers to do that work.




 

beachbreeze

Member
Feb 11, 2004
40
0
0
Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Originally posted by: Marauder911
Originally posted by: DougK62
There was a time when Macs were superior for image and sound editing, so everyone in those businesses used them. Now, PCs are better than Macs in these areas but people still hold on to Macs because they're used to them.
That's not true. Mac's are still superior for audio, video and image editing. Look at Final Cut Pro. Nothing comes close to it. I will admit windows/linux based computers (Macs are PC's BTW, so calling something a PC then a Mac doesn't make sense) are catching up, but still have a gap to close before they are equivalent.

Adobe Premiere + After Effects? I have a hard time believing that Apple completely owns all audio, video and image editing considering the number of PCs out there.

This thread is funny - two different interpretations of the original question being answered simultaneously - isn't anarchy fun!

Q1. Why are Apple Macs used by set designers? (24, Buffy)
Q2. Why are Hollywood producers & TV stations moving down from Avid to Mac rather than Wintel?

The answer to Q1 is: for the same reason that they hire Mel Gibson over Woody Alan: Ferrari over Oldsmobile: Malibu over Mumbai - Sex appeal/Cool.

Q2 is more interesting: Apple has been courting the Video Editing Market as a way of pushing high spec computers. Think about it - games push GPUs... what pushes CPU? Most people's PC is already overkill - OEMs are concerned to find the "Next Big Thing" - to keep the upgrade cycle going. Apple has been pulling down the price of high end video editing - software & hardware... going after SGI and Avid. It has been doing the same with Music sequencing/mastering.

Microsoft does it by never doing too much to improve the OS - relative to what a company with $50 billion in the bank could do. They don't want you to say - well this is "Good Enough" - that's the phrase that scares them.

Built on OS X UNIX stability, Apple are busy giving people reasons to want a high powered Mac:

Final Cut Pro HD (now handles High Definition) - http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/
Cinema Tools - http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/cinematools.html
LiveType - http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/livetype.html
Soundtrack - http://www.apple.com/soundtrack/
Shake - http://www.apple.com/shake/
Motion - http://www.apple.com/motion/
DVD Studio Pro - http://www.apple.com/dvdstudiopro/

Mac OS X Server - http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/
Xserve RAID - http://www.apple.com/xserve/raid/
Xgrid - http://www.apple.com/acg/xgrid/download/
Xsan - http://www.apple.com/xsan/

Logic - http://www.apple.com/logic/
GarageBand - http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/

Apple Workgroup Cluster for Bioinformatics - http://www.apple.com/xserve/cluster/wgcluster.html
X11 - offering UNIX goodness - http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/x11/

FileMaker Pro - http://www.filemaker.com/

Seamlessly integrated with the coolest hardware/OS around - those look like tempting reasons to me.
 

Confused

Elite Member
Nov 13, 2000
14,166
0
0
I was watching an episode of Smallville last night (series 3 i think), and Chloe had an Alienware PC sitting on the desk, whereas before there was always iMacs. Seems they went from one overpriced bit of hardware to another



Confused
 

LethalWolfe

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2001
3,679
0
0
There are a lot of right answers here.

Sometimes it is Apple contacting a project and saying "hey, we want our product in our project." Sometimes it is people contacting Apple saying, "Hey, we want your product in our project." Why? By and large Apple's computers look better than other computers. They are typically sleek, cool, sexy, and/or hip. Where as most other computers are generic and clunky looking. Also, Macs are used more extensive in the entertainment industry so if someone says, "Hey, we need a computer to go on that guys desk" the default, familair choice will be a Mac not a PC (which is typically opposite from the world at large).

As for FCP. For the money you can't get anything that touches it, and it does give Avid a run for it's money but it is no way "hands down" superior to what Avid has to offer. FCP is on par w/a Film/Media composer, but it can't touch a DS or a Symphony (but FCP is not designed to compete w/the DS or Symphony...yet). IMO the biggest thing Avid has going for it is a very mature product line. Of course FCP is rapidly maturing.


Lethal
 

Ness

Diamond Member
Jul 10, 2002
5,407
2
0
The two major computer manufacturers are Dell and Apple. You see Dells as often as you see Apples, honestly.

The reason that no other manufacturers are shown is because with PCs, everybody can build them... so it's not like you have a stable competition between two manufactuers, as you do with Coke and Pepsi...

There is no doubt to me that Dell is by far the superior manufacturer of PCs, so what is really comes down to is one company's willingness to donate their systems as props in movies.

The thing I find funny is that you usually see Dells when there is some high-level stuff going on (Swordfish, anyone?) and Macs when you have someone doing something simple like surfing the net, maybe doing some AV work...

It's as if the set designers do their homework as to which type should be used in which situation...
 

Raj

Senior member
Aug 14, 2000
951
0
0
Apple pays to have macs in movies.

its part of their marketing strategy. I am sure.
 
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