"Better Movie Making"

Time passes ...

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 05:39:00 +0800

Well, what a year and a bit that was ... no news on this site but a lot happening elsewhere so maybe i'll get back to this site some-when

tidy up in progress ... ready for new content

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Mon, 3 Jan 2011 02:04:00 +0800

Well it has been a low priority project but I have managed to delete some of the garbage messages which accumulated.
I have also managed to change some of the settings which has slowed the tide of junk so this blog will become more useful in 2011 especially as I restart some of my movie projects.

Blog takeover .. Thanks Ian

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Thu, 3 Jun 2010 17:06:00 +0800

This blog used to be owned and run by Ian Usher. He has transferred the blog to me, along with a related domain name so all previous content was his.
I hope to remove some of the spam comments which have accumulated during Ian's travels, restore some of the content and just tidy things up a bit.

Art and Marketing All Mashed Up

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Fri, 4 Aug 2006 12:57:00 +0800

Art and Marketing All Mashed Up

A new way of editing video?

Hi there, I'm back after a bit of a prolonged absence, due to several reasons: travel, personal issues and a small degree of laziness. I will be trying to make a bit more of an effort to regularly update here, so keep coming back to see what's new.

I found this article today - very interesting - a different way of using video editing which I have only been vaguely aware of. Sounds like there is some very funny videos to be discovered.

Total Solar Eclipse

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:37:00 +0800

29th March Total Solar Eclipse in Turkey.

I am currently in London, and fly to Turkey today for a week's holiday. On the 29th March there is a total solar eclipse, and of course I plan to take my video camera. I will post some video when I get the chance after I return.

For those interested there is live internet video of the event to be broadcast from Side in Turkey.

Click here to find out more.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/2006/index.html

Bryan White's Quest For Perfection

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 18:14:00 +0800

A new extreme sport in the making??!!

Brian White's Quest For Perfection

My brother-in-law Tony works in Bangkok as an English teacher. From the looks of his first video here, it seems he and his colleagues don't work too hard, and have plenty of spare time on their hands!!

Well done Tony, looks like a new extreme sport is in development!!

Take a look by clicking on the picture link below:-

Amazing skydive wind tunnel video

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Sat, 4 Mar 2006 17:09:00 +0800

Have a look at this.

I found this business promo video on the Sky Venture website. They run a wind tunnel in Orlando, Florida. Fantastic stuff.

The video is well put together, and if this doesn't make you want to give it a go, I don't know what will!!

Click here to check it out.

Flickerfest film festival comes to Perth

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 16:21:00 +0800

Australian touring short film festival comes to Perth, Western Australia early next month, and screens at the ouutdoor cinema in Mosman Park.

It looks like it will be well worth seeing, and has a wide range of international short films on offer over the four day period, from 9th to 12th March.

If you are anywhere near, call in and take a look.

Find out more at either:-

www.lunapalace.com.au

www.flickerfest.com.au

Movie Competition

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 17:46:00 +0800

www.RoscoLand.com have invited us to put an entry in for their current movie competition. Further details can be found here.

I have used my "Baxter's Day Out" video as my entry.

Entries are still open until 20th March, so if you have got something worth submitting, there is a $150 prize. Worth a try!

I am now Australian!

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 15:59:00 +0800

Australia Day - 26th January 2006

After living in Perth in Western Australia for the past four years, I have at last become Australian. I still have my UK citizenship, so now am dual nationality.

My citizenship ceremony took place on Australia Day, 26th January 2006. The video here is a short edit of the ceremony, and the day afterwards, including the brilliant Perth Australia Day Skyshow fireworks.

Take a look by clicking on the picture link below:-

Skydive freefall formation world record

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 15:46:00 +0800

Nothing really to do with video editing, but some amazing video none-the-less!

Four days ago a new largest freefall formation record was set by The World Team in Thailand. The formation was held for 4.25 seconds.

There is video, and much more information available here, the video links are at the top left of the page.

Alternatively the two videos currently available can be accessed directly at the two addresses below:-

http://www.lukeoliver.com/wt2006/TomCam20060207.wmv

http://www.lukeoliver.com/wt2006/OverTheTop20060207.wmv

Amazing stuff. Well done to all involved.

Movies and Videos featured in January

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Sat, 4 Feb 2006 15:25:00 +0800

We only managed to feature three videos in January, as things here have been pretty chaotic.

The first clip shows the construction method for The $19 Underwater Video Housing.

I am very proud of my underwater housing, which featured early in the month, and in the January edition of "Better Movie Making Monthly". The housing also has its own feature page, which includes some underwater footage taken using it. Click here to take a look.

The second video featured was the underwater footage taken using the housing.

The final video featured last month was my edit of the Gravity Games hosted here in Perth at the end of last year. What an amazing show.

I will try to feature a few more videos from others this month.

Ian

Gravity Games video editing finally completed

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 22:45:00 +0800

At last the video editing is finally done!!

Gravity Games H2O took place in Perth, Western Australia at the end of last year. It was a fantastic day, and the guys competing and performing were amazing. Some of the footage is spectacular.

I wanted to add extra footage to this video that I would be unable to capture myself, and waited until I could gather more video from other sources.

Some of the footage is from a TV news feature, which shows how it is easily possible to add video from different sources.

Take a look by clicking on the picture link below:-

Imagine a world without copyright

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 20:28:00 +0800

"Imagine a World Without Copyright
by Joost Smiers and Marieke van Schijndel"

There is a very interesting essay on copyright, offering an alternative to the current system.

Copyright is an issue we need to be aware of as video makers, particularly when we use well known copyrighted music as the soundtrack to our videos and movies.

Worth reading, click here, and scroll down to the article.

Some underwater video footage

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 20:11:00 +0800

captured with the recently made underwater video housing!!

See the previous blog item for details on making an underwater video camcorder housing.

The video below shows some footage taken using the housing. Click on the Play button to view.

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As you can see the morning did not end as planned, when we returned to the car to find it had been broken into. Fortunately we had all of our video equipment with us.

You can find more details on the housing at http://www.BetterMovieMaking.com/underwater.htm

Make an UNDERWATER VIDEO CAMERA HOUSING for under $19!!!

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Fri, 6 Jan 2006 22:21:00 +0800

and capture some amazing underwater video footage!!

As part of my monthly email magazine "Better Movie Making Monthly", this month I did a feature on making an underwater video camcorder housing.

The video below shows a quick overview of the construction of the underwater housing. Click on the Play button to see how it was made.

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You can find more details on the housing, along with footage taken using the housing at http://www.BetterMovieMaking.com/underwater.htm

Ten Tips to Better Video - Shooting Good Video

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Thu, 5 Jan 2006 08:11:00 +0800

Ten Tips to Better Video - Shooting Good Video - News Guides and Tips - Consumer Camcorders - Camcorderinfo.com

This article is a good guide to ten basics for shooting better video.

"Better Movie Making Monthly" January Issue now being emailed out!!

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Tue, 3 Jan 2006 19:38:00 +0800

The January issue of "BMMM" is now being sent out.

I am very excited about this issue, as it contains details on how to shoot video UNDERWATER, for $19 or less!!

Take a look at:-
http://www.BetterMovieMaking.com/issue3.htm

Movies and Videos featured in December

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Tue, 3 Jan 2006 19:23:00 +0800

December has been a busy month, with only a few videos featured. However, the first one, Extreme Skipping, is now one of my all time favourites:-

"Extreme Skipping" is well made, and is very well edited. In fact my wife wasn't sure if it was real or not at first. Something like this can be very easily made by the amateur video maker. It just needs some imagination, some well-captured footage and an ability to edit effectively.

"Cheeky Girl Charlize" is the first video made by my friend Bek, who has just started video editing. She has bought her own video camera and computer, and with a couple of quick tuition sessions, is now making her own videos. Her first one here is of her sister's baby, Charlize.

The final video featured in December was this "Amazing Christmas Lights" display. I initially thought this had been done with some clever editing of stills pictures, but I am informed that it is for real. Amazing.

Hope you have all had a great Christmas and New Year. Here's to a new year of Better Movie Making!

Ian

Merry Christmas - amazing Christmas lights

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 19:04:00 +0800

Have a look at this video of some Amazing Christmas House Lights. I bet you ask yourself "How did they do that?"

I have my own theory, but watch the video first before reading any more, and see what you think.

Fantastic, well done. I'm afraid I don't know who made this clip, but they have done a great job. I would love to see the original quality video to take a closer look at how it was done.

My theory is that the video creator has taken many still pictures of the house, with different light combinations switched on. It is then a fairly straight-forward (but time-consuming) process to edit the pictures into the correct order, and then synch it with the music.

This means that it is really more of an animation. You would also have to add a quick crossfade between each picture to give the impression of lights going on and off.

All in all, technically excellent. My only comment would be that if it was half as long, or even less it would have more punch. It just goes on a bit too long for me.

Bek's first video edit

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 11:50:00 +0800

Cheeky Girl Charlize

My friend Bek is a snowboard instructor, and for the past two Australian winter seasons (June to September) has worked at Mount Hotham in the Victorian Alps. In 2004 I visited her, and we filmed quite a bit of snowboard footage. Later I edited it into my video "Ride...", which can be viewed in the movie gallery.

Since then Bek has bought her own video camera and computer, and with a couple of quick tuition sessions, is making her own videos.

Her first one is of her sister's baby, Charlize. You can watch by clicking on the Play button below.

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Well done Bek. A couple of people have told me that this has brought a tear to their eye!

Internet video growing fast

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 13:08:00 +0800

Big changes in the way people shoot video — increasingly on small digital cameras in-stead of camcorders — and lower costs for Web site operators have enabled a host of startup video sites to pop up in the last few months.

YouTube, Vimeo, Sharkle, ClipShack and Blip.tv all aim to be video versions of Flickr, the Yahoo-owned site that has drawn millions of people who post photographs, then dis-cuss them

This quote is from an article on the Indystar E Technology Trends website. Read the full article here.

Internet video is growing at a huge rate. YouTube now has over 200,000 members, and Sharkle doubled its membership from 10,000 to 20,000 in less than a month!

The only problem with most of these websites is the quality of many of the clips posted on them. You really do have to wade through alot of rubbish to find some well-made, interesting video.

Most people could make their video so much more interesting by learning the basics of digital video editing. It really is very simple.

You can find out more about learning the basics of digital video editing at BetterMovieMaking.com

Fantastic spoof documentary-style video found on Sharkle.com

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 11:57:00 +0800

"Extreme Skipping"

I found this video on Sharkle.com, my current favourite FREE video upload site.

"Extreme Skipping" is well made, and is very well edited. In fact my wife wasn't sure if it was real or not at first. Something like this can be very easily made by the amateur video maker. It just needs some imagination, some well-captured footage and an ability to edit effectively.

My favourite doco-style scene is of him skipping across screeen with the Empire State Building in the background.

Great video, well done.

Another video upload site

ian@betterMovieMaking.com (BetterMovieMaking.com) — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 07:59:00 +0800

I've found another good video upload site called Sharkle. It's free to use, and gives you 1Gb of storage space. You can find it here.

Once again, I have uploaded a video to see how well it works. This can be found here.

A very good feature is that you are given "Player tags" which you can copy and insert into a blog or webpage, as I have done below:-

It seems to work pretty well.

"Better Movie Making"

Time passes ...

tidy up in progress ... ready for new content

Blog takeover .. Thanks Ian

Art and Marketing All Mashed Up

Total Solar Eclipse

Bryan White's Quest For Perfection

Amazing skydive wind tunnel video

Flickerfest film festival comes to Perth

Movie Competition

I am now Australian!

Skydive freefall formation world record

Movies and Videos featured in January

Gravity Games video editing finally completed

Imagine a world without copyright

Some underwater video footage

Make an UNDERWATER VIDEO CAMERA HOUSING for under $19!!!

More Video Tips from CamcorderInfo.com

Ten Tips to Better Video - Shooting Good Video

"Better Movie Making Monthly" January Issue now being emailed out!!

Movies and Videos featured in December

Merry Christmas - amazing Christmas lights

Bek's first video edit

Internet video growing fast

Fantastic spoof documentary-style video found on Sharkle.com

Another video upload site