Simply trying to adding to a SAN or a RAID strategy for accommodating an every growing amount of data is NOT the path to archival bliss. Studies by IT experts show that the costs for doing this are deceptive – individual disk drives are cheap but not the infrastructure to support them.  Adding rack space, power, and cooling requirements is just impractical.  Also according to  the Clipper Group Inc., the costs for a Terabyte stored long term on SATA disk versus LTO data tape is about 23, to as much as 290 times more!   The issue with trying to grow your storage you will always grow faster than you anticipate.

The best path is to only keep as much data on-line as you need for active and repeat projects.  You CANNOT keep it all ONLINE. You see, backing up is what you should be doing for disaster recover. Backup is what covers you if you have a hard drive failure, it what you use if you have a fire, flood, or something else horrible happens to your home or office.  Archiving data on the other hand is very much like archiving any other kind of assets.  Moving data from a hard drive to a long lived storage medium like that of a LTO tape.  Data tape that is stored on the shelf or in an automated storage. The point being that not only do we have records, we want to assure that they are preserved for the future and easily accessible when any time a single file is needed.

You may feel that once your project is finished, you’ll never need to recreate the project is one thing. But to just dump all of the source material (paid or otherwise) is just misguided especially in the era of solid state production.  Because of solid state shooting (CF / P2 / SDHC / SxS ) regardless of the format you have to find a stable solution for long term storage.  To date there is only one solution that I know of that will service the needs of my fellow media professionals.

The Cache-A Archive Appliance

While I don’t want to turn this subject into a sales pitch, or a product review (I’ll publish a full review soon enough).  I do however wish to introduce you to a very solid solution. The main thing that attracts me to the Cache-A, is that it’s a true appliance!  I love features like automating the archival process, the fact that it writes to universal compression standard (TAR) and doesn’t manufacture any propriety information (other than the table of contents that written to each tape).  There are several “roll-your-own” LTO soultions out there for you to consider, this so far has been the only one that comes on it’s own total solution.  (Linux Based Server, Virtual Tape Library, and on board RAID to hold the on-line data).   All for about the same cost as a roll your own solution – with out propriety structure.  More information on the Cache-A.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Every summer my family would pile in a van with the grandparents and drive north for a day and a half from Florida to my great grandmother’s house up in Indiana. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my Grandma Williams and visiting her was always a treat BUT it was the trip in the car that I loved most. Car trips meant C.D. players and coloring books, candy from the corner store when we stopped to get gas, but most of all it meant “Road Games.” We’d play the silliest of games, from tracking the alphabet on the back of license plates, to Roadside Bingo, to counting cows. BUT my absolute favorite of all time had to be the Mad Libs. As a kid addicted to reading and words, Mad Libs was pure genius. I now realize how much my family must have loved my 7 year-old self, who annoyingly sat at the back of the van with my fuchsia marker calling for random words and then laughing hysterically to myself as I popped another jolly rancher in my mouth and turned the page to start the process all over again. Thanks for putting up with me guys.

So, Imagine my delight when Apple announced iLife 11 this past week. Sure learning how to play guitar or piano on GarageBand would make me a much more well rounded person.  And yes I absolutely adore that iPhoto is now full screen but lets be honest with ourselves…it was the changes to iMovie that had the kid in me squealing in joy. No wait. That was my adult self we all just heard. Yep there it is again… You see I’ve been editing on FCP for 8 years now and I am, how should we put this, a bit addicted. Like Warcraft addicted. You know, like sit in your chair for 16 hours a day to get one scene right, eat all meals at your desk and sometimes skip showering cause it might interrupt your flow, kind of addicted.

Putting a story together is an amazing high. Admit it! I don’t think people realize how much fun editors are really having. Even though we complain about the hours, the lack of good office chairs, and how we just can’t find time to cook anymore, we get to make magic every freakin’ day! I don’t know about everyone else but I love having magic in my life.  Cue the music. And Enter iMovie Trailers….Where you can just fill in the blanks and add footage just like you would a Mad Lib.

I got iLife in the mail Friday and had it installed by 1. By 1:15 I had a project and 5 minutes of clips imported. By 2:00 I learned how to make my iMovie Trailer into a standalone project but still retain the template timeline. By 2:30 I learned to adjust the times of my clips within the template and how to change font, color and a ton of other cool “surprises.” (see below)  By 3:00 I had a trailer for a short film I had shot with some friends a few months back while testing out a lens we rented from Samy’s. Now I must admit this is my first time ever opening iMovie. I got my start on Pinnacle Studio during the part in my life I like to call “The Frustration with Computers before Apple came into my Life” years. I went straight into FCP with my first Mac and have never looked back. Now if you know me, you know I have been cheating on FCP with MOTION for some time now. I love the way Motion is set up. I love the interface. It just works for my brain. iPhoto has similiar characteristics as well. So when I saw that iMovie has the same said pop up controls with a ton of really cool features I was thrilled.  Simple and Accessible is good.  Having a fun trailer in under 2 hours, is just crazy.

Let’s be honest here everyone….when was the last time you saw a really REALLY cool movie trailer? (besides the new Mortal Kombat one….i know i know it WAS amazing) It doesn’t happen that often does it? It’s just well….trailers have become very formulaic. Shall we say “campy” even?  But that doesn’t mean we can’t love them! An boy do I love me some camp, just like I now love me some  iMovie Trailers. It’s fun. And I cling to fun when I can get it.  I will say that making it into a full fledged project was really what changed the game for me and opened up several customizable options that I believe could be a turned into a time saving template for some situations. Editing takes a lot of time and time is very important to me as I have so little of it trying to juggle lots of projects at a time. I always tell people who want to get into editing that it’s one part story telling, one part time management and organizational skills.  iMovie Trailers might just fall under the time management tab because when it comes down to it it’s not what program you use or the kind of camera you shot it on but how you use your medium to tell the story that counts. And I believe iMovie Trailer Templates are great story telling tools.

Fun Surprises:

- Pop Up Effects/Video/Audio Tab lets you directly customize each clip on the  timeline
- There’s VIDEO Effects: Changes color of clip by genre-esque options: Heatwave, X-ray Vision, Sepia, Cartoon, Sci fi…20 instant video effects in all
- There’s AUDIO Effects: Adds audio filters to the soundtrack or sound FX clip like Muffled, Robot, Small Room, Pitch Up, Telephone, and various others, also 20 instant audio effects;

You can also change the Length of the clip, the speed of the clip, and get this: Stabilization. That’s right, it stabilizes the clip for you. It has a Zoom option, and last but not least some kind of “Reduce the Rolling Shutter” filter…. Interesting. This one needs further research.

- In the Video Tab, You can also effect Color Saturation, Exposure, Brightness/Contrast, Hue, White Balance, and an Auto option.

- In the Audio Tab, You can reduce background noise, normalize the audio, use the equalizer, adjust the volume on a whole, add fade in and fade outs or directly edit the levels on each individual clip via the clips visible waveform’s.

-You can also change out the Titles and Fonts and font colors. There are several interchangeable transition options, voice over recording feature; interchangeable score music options. Hell, the score options alone are worth the 50$!

I’m sure you can do a ton of other things within this program that I’m missing out on at first glance. The best part is that I can’t wait to figure them out and dabble some more.  Now I won’t be turning away from FCP to edit any professional trailers  anytime soon but for new editors iMovie is definitely a great program to figure out the basic fundamentals of storytelling. It’s even got some nice toys that the Pro’s can crush on. My favorite part is how easy it is. Ever closer are the days of holographic editing akin to Minority Report where I just move images in the air with my hands. Kids are especially going to love this aspect of the program and they can do really great things when given the tools. iMovie is definitely one of those tools and I can’t wait to see what people can come up with. Educators and parents rejoice! Oh, and for the Pro’s, I don’t think iMovie is going to be stealing any of your business anytime soon. We’ll still be making movie magic in FCP… but I know where I’ll be headed the next time my family wants me to just “edit them up a little something something” of prom or Aunt Sophie’s 100th Birthday Bash. I can just plug and play in iMovie and still give them something well produced that we can both be proud of.  (Just kidding Aunt Sophie, I worked for HOURS on that “highlight” video…..love the bracelet!)

Using iMovies Trailers takes me back to being a kid again sitting in the back of the family van with my Mad Libs.  The end result of throwing random footage into a familiar template comes out a lot like a Mad Lib reads: It resembles a story we know, but with a few unintentional laughs thrown in when you least expect it.

-DSLRGIRL

P.S. Here’s my trailer for our short, Trigger. Shot on a t2i with a Canon 24-70mm Lens utilizing the Noir Template and the HARD LIGHT Video Effect.

If you have not read my three previous posts (if you have not, go and do it now, please….pretty please) you know I have forsaken my low budget video production methods for a Canon 550D and a bad hunger for L lenses.

I’ve been happily riding the tiger of HDSLR production for several weeks now, and as I predicted, the learning curve has a pronounced tilt. Triumphs over the limitations have been frequent however, and the light at the end of the tunnel may not be a train. Perhaps a Yugo with a headlight out, but not a train.

How I stopped worrying and learned to love the bomb: Cineform & Transcoding

What if I told you that you could improve the speed of your NLE by at least 8x and up to 16x for only $129. Think about what an 8x speed improvement in your post workflow would mean to your income. You’re going to save hours a week – gain back weeks every year.The enemy is AVCHD (and .h264 in general). It’s a wonderful codec for what it can stuff into a tiny container. The deal with the devil comes when your NLE has to decode it on the fly for post. It’s really CPU intensive and a huge choke point for your system’s abilities.

Along comes Windows 7, multiple updates for Quicktime and AVCHD all in a short period. Now, Vegas 9 handles all of these well, but that means a very expensive upgrade.

I’ve decided to move to Premiere and the CS5 platform (more on that soon) but while waiting for that to actually ship to this end of the earth, I’m S.O.L. And I’m not paying to upgrade Vegas in the interim.

Playback of the files from my 550D on Vegas8 is hit or miss. It seems that every other week something gets lost and I get audio playback but no picture. Ahhhggg.

The solution – an intermediate codec. Or, for the rest of us, get my movies out of AVCHD and into something that works better for editing.

If you use FCP, you have ProRes (and Cineform’s Neo Scene outputs that with some advantages, so read on).

This leads me to trying the CineformHD codec.

My original intent was to get over the spotty support for AVCHD on my now aged NLE – and CineForm did that wonderfully. What I did not expect was just how FAST…I mean NASA test flight fast…the codec runs under Vegas like a V12 runs under the hood of an excessive German motor car. You don’t see it, but the performance is worthy of a Greek legend.

From Cineform.com:

“…camera formats are designed for recording, not editing. With Neo Scene you will convert your difficult-to-edit HDV, AVCHD, Canon 5D Mk II / 7D or T2i camera footage to CineForm AVI or MOV files and then benefit from the same theatrical quality and real-time editing performance as professionals.”

http://www.cineform.com/neoscene/features.php for the tech stuff

So how it works is you download their encoder  (the cheapest being NeoScene @US$129.00)  import a list of your footage, the encoder ‘transcodes’ or rewrites your footage into the Cineform codec, saving it to your hard drive as a new file. Your originals remain untouched for archive if you want.

What you get is file birthed for editing, color correction and compatibility among many programs.

The pioneering desktop HD production of “Dust To Glory” was cut several years ago on Adobe Premier Pro using this codec – before Dual Core chips! And it’s After Effects friendly (the kind of friendly I don’t want the kids to know about).

You get a jump from 4:2:0 to 10bit 4:2:2 in color space. This means way more room to move for color correction. And Magic Bullet thrives in this environment. The reduced load on the computer working with CineformHD means all my color correction is done in 32bit as well!

Before Cineform, my PC with Black Edition Quad Core AMD struggled to render in 32bit mode – basically incapable with AVCHD. Let’s be blunt, it crashed 99% of the time. With Cineform, no problems.

The real kicker is it runs so much faster I can preview Magic Bullet cc’d footage at 4-12 fps. What’s remarkable about that is we are talking about Magic Bullet Editors (the less efficient older version) with only a Nvidia9500 GPU in the box. Before Cineform I was getting 1 frame per 4-6 seconds. That’s right, it took 4-6 seconds to render a single frame for preview at full quality. Do the math!

All my effects run in real time on multiple layers at full quality in real time – something I had not seen since the last project I cut in DV (standard def).

If you cut on a laptop, you need Cineform. If you want stupidly fast renders of anything in any format, I think you owe it to yourself to try the demo.

And while we are on the demo subject, be very careful to install the version you want to tryl – NOT the player. The player is great for making sure you can play your newly transcoded files on any computer for free! And it means your friends don’t have to pay for NeoScene or any of the Cineform products to edit it. They can download the player for free, though I understand Premiere natively supports the format (others may too).

What you pay for is the encoder – the ability to get your footage out of the Hatchback and into the Nascar and run it round your hard drives.

Also, be sure to uninstall any other version before installing a new one. I tried to use Cineform last year and it never worked on my 64bit XP box – probably because I installed the player then the encoder, and I could never get it to work.

Even if you plan on getting hooked up with the Mercury Engine and you have a quad i7 mobo and a raid that would scare ILM, getting 10bit 4:2:2 files out of your HDSLR will make the vital task of color correction far more powerful. And, anything that gives me an average 8x jump in speed (and a peak of 16x) for less than the price of a 2 year old video card…

Your caffeine intake will cut down, saving you another coupl of years before the bypass, your clients will think you have a super computer, and your pics will have a new color depth that even youTubers might notice. If they weren’t waiting for someone to get hit in the man bag. (Brad, you can substitute something less offensive there…like hackey sacks, ‘nards, wedding tackle…)

It’s all good.

PS – on my system, the transcoding process was so stupidly fast that I forget to mention it earlier.

What needs to be backed up? What constitutes a real backup solution to protect your assets?

What to backup:

1. Main internal hard-drive – OS, apps, configurations, and typically your contacts and email.

2. Media assets – raw recordings, effects, plug-ins, project files, fully rendered video, etc. If you feel its important enough to keep on your external “media” hard drive, its important enough to backup.

The common rule of thumb is if you don’t have three copies, you don’t have a backup.

The first of the three copies of your data, of course, is your main hard drive(s) including external hard drives used for mass storage of media files used in projects and that must be readily available for those projects.

The second of the three copies is usually on site and can consist of either a separate external hard drive or DVD data discs and is used strictly for the purposes of backup storage. If you are a Mac user and you don’t have a 1 Tb external drive setup as your “Time Machine”, it’s time to drop $99 on the 1 Tb drive and turn on the Time Machine software included with Mac OS X. Within the first few months of owning my Macbook, due to some faulty non-Apple RAM, I crashed my internal hard drive. I literally purchased a 1 Tb hard drive and made a Time Machine backup the day before the crash. It saved my business from total failure. I got lucky. Don’t wait for some day. Do it today. This will allow you to put the OS, apps, configurations, etc. back into place as if nothing happened within hours or less of the crash and replacing or formatting your internal hard drive. Cheap hardware + free software = saved business. Don’t learn this lesson the hard way. Wisdom is learning from other people’s failures without having to experience the failure yourself.

To make a backup of your external drive(s) to your on site backup drive for Mac OS X, you can use software such as Carbon Copy Cloner . It is “free to use until you trust them” (a.k.a. freeware, please donate). For Windows users, try HDClone. The key to choosing a software package is to ensure that you can backup from one external drive to another, and have the ability to schedule those backups to run automatically. If you depend on your memory to manually backup your data, it won’t be done effectively if at all. Don’t trust yourself as part of your backup solution.

Having a second external copy (hard drive or DVD data disc) of your data on site will give you the ability to recover data back to your main hard drive(s) and restore your work environment to full functionality quickly.

The third of the three copies needs to be off site. In the old days, that meant backing up to a tape drive and shipping the tapes off site to a climate controlled media storage facility equipped with fire suppression. But things have changed for the better in this wonderful age of technology in which we live. Thanks to the Internet, the age of “Cloud Computing” and readily available high-speed Internet connections, meeting the requirement for off site storage of one of your copies has become much easier than the older method of shipping tapes off site. Online backup comes in many flavors. Do a Google search for online backup and you’ll find plenty to choose from. The most commonly advertised online backup company is Carbonite. I personally tried them first because it was the first one I’d heard of due to the advertising. However, I chose not to go with their online backup service based on one major lack of a feature. Carbonite, although its not obvious on their website, does not backup external drives (hard drives, CD/DVD, USB “thumb” drives, etc.) This is huge requirement for implementing this backup solution. You must be able to backup all of your important data to an off site (online) storage regardless of whether its an internal hard drive or one of the many flavors of external storage as mentioned above. This led me to iDrive. This service allows you to back up any drive attached to your computer including mapped network drives and USB “thumb” drives. They have a “basic” free service plan that gives you up to 2GB of storage. This is obviously for trying out the service. You may be able to store your important internal hard drive information with 2GB, but it’s obviously not enough to backup your media assets. You can purchase 150Gb of storage for $49.50 per YEAR, or 500GB of storage for $149.50 per year. The iDrive software allows you to choose what specific folders or files you wish to backup and has a scheduler for automatic backups. It also can run in “incremental backup” mode which is constantly monitoring your drive(s) for files that change, and immediately sends the changed file(s) to the online backup servers. The iDrive service is available for Windows and Mac OS X.

Having an offsite backup gives you the ability to recover data back to your work environment after a catastrophic event such as a fire, flood, or hurricane.

Although not officially part of a backup plan, two solutions for keeping a quick copy of fairly small amounts of data that you may need to quickly retrieve from virtually any location is Dropbox and Evernote. Both are Internet based systems and allow you to quickly store and retrieve data from multiple devices.

Dropbox is for storing files (or sharing files with others) using simple drag and drop within the Finder (or Windows Explorer). Dropbox apps are also available for iPhone, iPad, Anroid, and soon on BlackBerry devices. See www.dropbox.com for details.

Evernote is for storing information (i.e. text, audio notes, small video notes, and photographs such as a business card). The text that you type as well as the text on photos is indexed and easily searchable at a later date. Notes within your Evernote account are accessible via the Evernote.com website or apps running on your Windows or Mac computer, iPhone, iPad, or other mobile devices. See www.Evernote.com for details.

If you are doing a job, make sure that you are using the right tools for the job.  It brings me great pain to see people not using the proper tools. Whether it be going with cheaper parts or not upgrading your system when your system is a decade old, if you plan to drive income from a task, that task requires tools.

You don’t always need to get the most expensive, latest and greatest  gear.   You have to know what you are going to use it for. For example, someone who is just surfing the web and writing blog posts does not need the same kind of system as someone who is cutting HD video.  In these cases it’s important to enlist the help of a pro and make sure that you are investing in the right equipment to get the job done efficiently.

Here are the top five things that people often forget to factor in when dealing with their computer system:

1.) Your computer is not like a fine wine –
Age is critical

You need to remember to schedule a system upgrade every 3 – 4 years.  This keeps you on track with operating system release and upgrades in software versions.  Let’s face it – new software is written to function on new hardware.  If you can discipline yourself to not upgrade every time offered, you can extend the life of your system – but there are nice things that come with a new version of software, namely new features that will bring time-saving productivity, and security increases that they discover along the way.

2.) If you have one copy – you don’t have a backup

I was very fortunate to have a close family friend who would constantly challenge me when it came to my practices on backups.  Most of us don’t fully value the data that’s stored on our PCs until it’s mangled or just flat out gone.  The fact is if you only have one copy of something, you don’t have a solid backup. Unless you have been living under a rock you have probably heard of cloud based backups like Mozy.  These services allow you to back up securely to the internet. It works – and you don’t have to worry about it.

3.) Choosing the right hardware

The wrong components can sink you! Not understanding how your computer will handle the tasks you plan to throw at it can be even worse!!  When it comes to video editing systems there are key components that you just can’t skimp out on. Video editing systems need fast throughput to the drives, solid GPUs, and buckets of RAM never hurt. The main thing is to know what your jobs will require- if you don’t know, be sure to read number five on my list.

4.) Power is critical

Most, if not all, computers are just not as fun when they don’t have a power source.  Too many times we forget that our tools require good, clean power to make them run.  Not only are our tools not fun when the power cuts off – the process of the power jumping on and off can kill them too.

Here’s a fun tip: the power strip that says it’s a surge protector, isn’t going to protect you!  For those of us who make our living off of our workstations we need to be sure that we can properly shutdown our machine if we have an outage or in the event of a storm rolling through. Uninterpretable power supplies are sold according to VA ratings (Volts * Amps) to see how high of a VA you need, I’d suggest APC’s UPS Selector.  This doesn’t mean that you have to go with an APC model, but they do make great products (with very easy to exchange battery blocks).

5.) Hire a PRO!!!

You do not have to know everything!  I have assembled a team of folks who know their way around a motherboard and have hundreds of thousands of hours of experience doing top level, real world research into what works best in all situations. When it comes to the machine that you are going to be working on every day- the one you rely on to make your paycheck – you don’t just want some toy.  When you hire a pro (like my team) you insure that your machine will be up to the task of doing what you need it to do,  whatever that task might be.

With all of the above being said,  if you need to upgrade your machine or you need pointers on how you can make your backups easier to manage or more secure, contact me!  I have a team of geeks that can walk you through the paces to make sure that you have what you need to get the job done.  This is by no means an exhaustive list of things that we all forget to factor in. What have you forgotten to factor in when maintaining your system?

Photos used in post:
Vintage Wine by Guttorm Flatabø
Power to the people by Boliston

If you ride a tiger, you had better have a good reason for going to all the trouble.

Do NOT confuse ‘the film-look’ with making an actual film.

I’m gonna puke the next time I see duck ponds at dawn and cloud montages that clog the interweb listed as “Test Footage” or “Just bought 78 Mega Pixel camera, check out my tiny depth of field”.

Playing with yourself is called…uh, er…playing with yourself. No one wants to see that in public. It’s up there with slide shows. Remember slide shows in the 70s and 80s? I do, and I want those hours of my life back.

Stop posting your ‘film-look’ and make an actual film. You know, with actors, dialog, a score. Even if everyone dies in the end (like every blasted student movie I ever worked on).

Now that I’m shooting DSLR, I want an Epic or and Alexa (I’m not proud, give me either one) because I’m on that image quality kick.

So, some of the things that bother me are not going to get fixed without spending a LOT more money and time perfecting the rig and my skills.

But none of that matters a flying heap of if you don’t actually use your gear to make a film. Tell a story, or work with those who can, and make something. And make YouTube a better place for all of us. It’s too late for Vimeo, there are already too many out of focus trees in the wind cluttering up the server.

Review

When I was approached by Scott Cantrell of Tapeworks Texas to review and assess the aspherical lens for the Sony PMW EX3 by Zunow, I was pleased to assist.  Scott and indeed all the personnel at Tapeworks, offer a higher level of customer attention than any of our other vendors.  This combined with their competitive pricing has made Tapeworks our first point of contact for equipment acquisition.

Now to the lens itself:

Basis of the test

As we have also been using the Fujinon XS8-4AS-XB8 wide-angle lens specifically designed for the EX3, it seemed this was the best comparison.  If it were to compare favourably to a task-specific design then this would give video professionals the best assessment.  The images were assembled on to a DVD, which is available at Tapeworks.

The images acquired were fractal for the most part with complex and varied texture and were shot in varying lighting conditions.  In addition, the test sequences chosen varied from close (1 meter) to mountainous areas at a range of a mile or two.  The full range of field of view and focus were captured.

Physical build

When I first opened the box for the Zunow I was struck by the fact that this is a very substantial piece of glass.  It is well made and possesses a simple and robust bayonet locking method for direct connection to the standard 1/2” Fujinon lens for the PMW EX3.  This is true example of the benefits of “keeping it simple”.   Mounting did require the removal of the protective UV filter that was installed on the Fujinon lens. There is little doubt that this adapter would provide a long period of service.

Due to the fact that it is aspherical and is meant to cover such a wide range, it is comparatively heavy.  The Fujinon XS8-4AS-XB8 is lighter than the WEX-075a Fujinon XS8-4AS-XB8 combination, however this does not preclude its use as a field adapter.   If it would be used for prolonged periods one may become a bit concerned about stresses to the lens mount on the camera.  This is most likely not an issue as the most likely use of this adapter, and indeed its benefit, is that it can be mounted only when required.  For those who feel the PMW-EX3 is too light and should feel more substantial, attach this adapter and you will have the weight your desire.  As an aside, as we will frequently trek into very remote areas carrying significant amounts of gear (often in hostile circumstances) the light and agile capability of the EX3 is welcome.  The WEX-075a is of course lighter than the Fujinon XS8-4AS-XB8 and much easier to place in backpacks, etc.

There is a distinct advantage to the approach of using a wide-angle adapter, as it does not involve the removal of the lens and therefore exposure to dust and the elements.  There are several times in the past when this would have been a most welcome part of the kit.  To prove the point, during the tests a few particles of dust inadvertently found their way on to the lens mount and are visible in shots of the sky.  We left these particles in the final images to make the point.

The lens hood that comes with the WEX-075a is roughly the same size as the Fujinon XS8-4AS-XB8 as would be expected.  Here again design simplicity was key with a straightforward slip on and tighten method of attachment being used.  The lens caps are of the slip-on type but are adequately snug.

Considering the value and price point of this lens and its greatest potential use for the field, I would like to have seen a more protective case rather than the nylon pouch that is provided.  For our purposes it will require more protection.

Image performance

A series of four tests were conducted to test the characteristics of the Zunow adapter against the Fujinon wide angle.  Each test was conducted with no Neutral Density on the first test during which the full range of the zoom function would be employed and then a subsequent identical test with a neutral density of 2 set on the PMW-EX3.

A variety of image surfaces were chosen in four separate lighting conditions.  Test Number Four was conducted with a strong backlit situation to attempt to force Chromatic aberration to be apparent.

In all tests the following characteristics were consistently observed:

The Zunow adapter provided a surprisingly sharp image especially when considering the large amount of glass being introduced into the image stream.  In some cases it would rival the purpose-built Fujinon lens.  On some images of relatively small objects in motion, the difference in clarity between the two lenses was difficult to distinguish (if at all).

Of course with a large aspherical adapter there is a tendency for distortion to form in the corners and depending on the degree of magnification, along the outer edges as well.  While the Fujinon lens held the clear advantage in this regard, the images made with the Zunow were still useful and the distortion hardly noticeable when the images were not being “zoomed”.  Corner distortion was also most apparent on those sections of the image, which were highly fractal.

As regards the equivalent focal lengths are concerned, the Fujinon actually allowed a wider angle of view whereas the Zunow enabled a closer focus when fully zoomed in to the subject.

A remarkable and distinct difference between the two lens arrangements was the narrower depth of field achieved by the Zunow adapter.  It was in fact a most pleasant surprise, which yielded some above average images.  This characteristic was naturally most noticeable when a narrow field of view was used and the Neutral density on the camera was set to 2.  The bokeh is acceptable and perfectly usable for a video lens.  It was certainly more dramatic than the Fujinon lens.  Therefore this could be used in certain circumstances when the use of a 35mm adapter is not available.

There was a difference between the two lenses in regards to contrast and colour representation.  The colour presented on the Fujinon was more vivid and the contrast more in keeping with the camera settings.  The characteristics of the Zunow however were well within adjustment tolerances both on the camera settings as well as in post-production.

Chromatic aberration was only apparent in several conditions and only in the outer extremes of the image, as one would expect.  It was however far better than was expected.

Summary

Some may feel that putting an adapter up against a dedicated design lens to be a bit unfair, however I would assume that at the price point, that would be the consideration most videographers would be making.   Therefore I felt it was important to see if such an adapter could serve the professional to an acceptable standard.  To me the answer is yes, under certain circumstances.  Indeed as previously mentioned, it would be extremely handy in the field and can be quickly applied when needed.  Certainly the unexpected benefit of a narrow depth of field provides a creative solution to many situations.

If one is aware of the potential shortfalls of using an adapter of this size, it can be of significant value.  In our case it will not replace the Fujinon lens but is being seriously considered for inclusion in our field kit.

Well done Zunow.

Review Provided By:
Philip E Hewitt
Seventh Victory
P O Box 1123
Qunicy, CA 95971

(( Disclaimer – Powered Production was not paid to post this review nor did we conduct the tests of the equipment, TapeWorksTexas is a friend of ours, and is who we choose as our vendor in the Houston, Texas area.))

Let me be transparent at this point about my motives. I’ve shot a lot of video for TV, Indie films, YouTube, etc. and I’m buying into the idea that you can make a great looking film with HD DSLR cameras.

I’m coming at this as a film guy who’s shot and worked around a lot of 35mm motion and stills and medium format – hyper SDoF and heavy grip trucks. I know it takes more than a camera and some fairy dust post tools to be a film, not just look like a film.

But, for those of you who came up shooting fast and easy video with fixed lens 1/3 chip cameras, there are probably a number of areas you have not considered. If you want the film look, the Colonel has a few secret herbs and spices you need before it goes from home grown to the big time. Here are the big ones.

1. Lenses

You can see for mile from here – if you forked over the dough for a good prime lens. The $100-200 ‘kit lens’ that came with the camera is entirely useless. As soon as I slapped on my shiny Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, I realized why I had paid nearly $900 for it. And no, the 50mm 1.8 won’t cut it either. Once a crew I know of threw their 1.8 to the ground, smashed it up and used it as a ‘Lens Baby’ alternative. This is appropriate behavior.

Canon make a 50mm 1.2 L lens. If I was dumb enough to put that on my camera, I would have to sell a kidney and buy that and forsake my 1.4. Why? Because you can REALLY see the difference in quality between the different levels of lens. And you can’t go back. And your audience can see it too. Even on the ‘interwebvimeotube’

Vincent Laforet has a large collection of L lenses, and it shows in Reverie. It’s part of the reason that video created such a stir.

You will need 5 prime lenses and 2 zooms. You will probably invest $5k-$10k depending on where in the world you live. I would suggest the 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm, 10-22mm and the EF 70-300mm.

The faster primes will get you a sharper image, better color rendition, SDoF and low light performance the zooms can’t touch.

The zooms will get you out of trouble time and again when the distance between the subject and the camera is fixed. Like the other day when shooting a waterfall. With only a 50mm prime, I was forced to ford the river and setup in the splash zone…

2. Sound

According to George Lucas,  the audio is at least 50% of the motion picture experience . And it is typically the most abused aspect of video production. Pfft, radio lapels are not God’s answer to every situation. Most DSLRs are poor sound recorders. It’s not just the inter-channel crosstalk that you get from a 3.5mm stereo jack (wha? It does what?). It’s also the lack of manual recording levels, the REALLY compressed sound quality, the lack of any other meaningful control, having to menu dive for whatever control there is…

Look, if we keep our 35mm film paradigm in mind, record the sound separately if you can. Buy a reasonable portable digital recorder (most things around $400 US and up) and stick it to your camera. They record and run all day on SDHC and a few AAs. Due in part to better design and a better recording format, it will sound better. Imagine that…

Oh, and trample those blinking iPod ear-buds and get some full cup headphones (closed back) like Sony’s MDR-7502 (sort of a standard, like Avid once was- more because everyone had one, not so much ’cause it’s the best).

Use this software: PluralEyes to re-sync picture and sound in post without the tedium.

If you treat sound separately, chances are you will get a sound recordists, or pay more attention yourself, resulting in better sound and therefore a better film.

Don’t ever use a built in mic (or on camera shotgun) if you can possibly avoid it. Get the right mic on or near what you need to hear. Think, people. Think. For the love of Pete, stop using the 20c mic built into your DSLR unless you need it to sound like it is under water in a submarine.
Oh, and stop editing and mixing on those Logitech computer speakers. Man (or woman), up and get some studio monitors! You don’t edit on a 1960′s portable tele – if sound is 50%, then spend the dosh on some real speakers.

3. External Monitor

I will tell you now (if you have not already discovered), that the screen on the back of your 550D is not as bright as you need in broad daylight. Even in subdued light, ambient light will make it hard to judge anything on what has to be the shiniest (and most nose-fog catching) screen made to date.

Zacuto leads the way with a strap on (ahem) viewfinder gadget…look, I’m a pretty normal human being, my head being attached by a short neck. If you pan the camera more tha 30 degrees in any direction you have to move your whole body to maintain a good seal on the eye cup. Turn 90 degrees, and you will consulting a contortionist for help or a chiropractor for salvation if you did it without thinking first.

Get a monitor on an external arm (I likeManfrotto magic arms, half the price, longer and versatile mouting options).

Get a Hoodman shade or whip something up out of black foam-core and gaffer tape. The DV Rebel should endeavour to home-brew at least 25% of his/her kit.

The 550D has a neat zoom in feature with pan and scan to see a 100% magnification and check focus – but you can only use it OUTSIDE of record mode.

4. MatteBox and Follow Focus

I listed them together because it’s silly not to buy them as a package deal – and if you have a mattebox, there is nowhere for your fingers (unless you look like ET) to fiddle about with the lens. Your arm and wrist will be on an unnatural angle all day if you try and rack focus on the lens body. It will annoy you at first, and hurt if you go all day.

And you need the mattebox for 2 reasons. The first is: it’ll look cool. Yep, I said it. You are going to have a Dickens of a time explaining to your client that you ditched your old AVCHD camcorder (that looks 4 times larger) to shoot on a teeny tiny 550D with a lens that WON’T EVEN ZOOM!

Slap on the mattebox, call it Digital Cinema (and unlike Panasonic, who coined the phrase) as you could really project this stuff at the movies (ask the boys at Zacuto). Rodney Charters,  a fellow Kiwi and DOP of 24, validated what we all suspected when he shot episodess on little video cameras and the only complaint was that without the mattebox the actors felt unsure – nothing about image quality.

The second reason: lens flare. You can have the best (or 2nd best, in my case) lenses on your trusty tiger of a DSLR – but like every camera in the world, stray light off axis kicking back down the lens will wash out color and create uneven brightness or slow pulsing in the case of moving light sources.

Unless you are J.J. Abrams shooting on anamorphic lenses for sci fi, light kicking back down the lens is bad.

35mm guys have used matteboxes for decades because it improves the picture quality (not because it looks cool- that’s for people on the other side of the camera).

If you can handle the bulk, get one with actual matte inserts to match your lens collection. Get the side flags and french flags. Use them when you are on a tripod or shoulder rig. Derig for handhold in tight spaces – a french flag has a built in desire to lobotomise lead actors – this can be bad for the DV Rebel who is probably not paying talent and needs them to stay happy.

5. Filters

I list this separately so you will pay attention. Your video camera came with ND filters built in (if you didn’t buy it at Walmart). I hope you used them. SDoF is totally dependant on wide open lenses (large apertures of f1.2 and friends). If it’s bright outside, you are stuck with an exposure time of 1/50th and the lowest you can con the ISO is 100, you are going to have to stop down to f16 or so. Suddenly the whole world is in focus and you are not getting 2″ of focus you need to see the tears on her cheeks, but not the bus in the background…back to video – blehck. (Blehck – noun – the feeling in the pit of your stomach when things stop looking like film and start looking like it was shot on a 12 year old’s Flip Mino).

You will need Neutral Density filter (ND) and Graduated ND filters. And a few of them. Magic Bullet II does such a good job of color grads in post, I would hesitate to use a colored graduated filter on the camera unless I REALLY new what I was up to (i.e. I was Storarro incarnate).

UV filters are important in my neck of the woods – we have very little ozone layer in New Zealand – so lots of sunburn and UV mucking up the sharpness of colors.

A polarizer is a great investment, and if you have read this so far, you probably know what it does, otherwise wikipedia (it’s never wrong!?).

Filters, like lenses, are not cheap, and you get what you pay for. Get the glass ones for $50. If you get those gelatin / plastic ones, be sure to call me so I can make you an offer on those L lenses you will be wasting.

Remember, you will probably need a mattebox to hold them. Then you will look cool

6. Motion Artifacts

No really, there will be some. Keep the camera still, and let things move about the frame. If you move the camera about excessively (even less some times) you will get judder and false / soft edges that even YouTube won’t hide. Part of this is the (relatively) low speed at which the CMOS is read from top to bottom. This is what leads to Jello-cam – the earthquake effect of moving the camera to fast particularly in a horizontal direction.

Rodney Charters suggests this will lead away from throwing the camera about and getting a decent tripod and composing shots again. Finally, after 20 years of MTV / NYPD Blue (how old am I) camera-as-blind-man-with-flashlight-shooting, we might be allowed to used a tripod again. I blame Garret Brown for getting us used to the camera being far more mobile, but not giving us all a free Steadicam to do it right.

This is one issue that’s going to hamper us until Scarlet and similar cameras with higher data rates and faster chip read rates join the fray.

This is your wake up call to ditch the plastic tripod and get something in a nice carbon fiber with a real fluid head. It’s also a challenge to ‘video’ people to spend a little time thinking about holding the wide-shot longer instead of lunging for the mid-shot.

I am personally looking for a miniature geared head.

7. NLE Fun And Games

Being cheap, and not wanting to randomly fork over anywhere from $400-1000 every time a software company has the itch to make money and release an update, I am one of few, the proud, the Vegas Users who is still on version 8. Version 9 is when they discovered fire…I mean H.264 – that wondrous format that makes cheap video a reality for so many cameras and formats.

Vegas 8 on Windows7 (blast it, paid out again) is not great – h.264 support is kinda iffy in places. Trying to run footage from the 550D at 32bit into Magic Bullet Editors (yeah, another oldie, but I paid for it, you pirate scum!) at 1080P makes even my Quad Core sag and I get about 10fps playback before I add plug-ins. Sad.

This is mostly my fault, and I know I need to consider a MAJOR upgrade. CS5 is…well, it’s fast, but it’s still Premier (and adding the word ‘pro’ is marketing BS).

For those of you jumping to DSLR, upgrade or die. Hey, it’s not mini DV out there any longer, and you will have to update to the latest version of…well, probably everything.

And consider using an intermediate codec like CineformHD or ProRes if you are serious about release formats, color correction, etc. Just ’cause your NLE can play the file natively does NOT mean it’s safe to edit in that muck.

8. Lighting

Really want the “Film-Look”? – it ain’t just the 4 magic ingredients mentioned in part one of this ceaseless rant. And it ain’t celluloid with sprockets running through a heavily modded sewing machine with a bottle of Zeiss’ finest on the front.

Cinematography is about lighting, framing, motion, complimenting the story, motivation for lighting and movement…it’s all the stuff you learn at film school while you are waiting your turn to seize control of the class to produce your opus.

One of these that you can beg, borrow, steal or (gasp) purchase is lights.

Get some good ones you won’t have to make a joke about in your director’s commentary.

At least get a couple of Lowel Totas, some reflectors and a couple of Pro-Lights.

I would personally say get 3 Arri Fresnels of a matching size and couple of big ones – say 3×300 watt, 2x 650 watt and a 1k. Then you can light large areas with one light and get in close with the smaller instruments. Less moving around for your basic lighting, and easy finesse.

Fantasy over for some of us (’cause all my money is going on lenses and a new NLE), use some light / reflector / well placed flashlight with some diffusion. Go and read ‘Painting with Light’ if you really want it to look like a movie.

Video is fraught with washed out, flat, under/over exposed, just plain badly lit junk.

You finally have a camera that can see in the dark- great!  But you can improve on the floodlighting in the subway with just a small battery powered lighting kit.

A long time ago in Sydney, Australia, I was a humble camera operator and film school grad who was heartbroken when I worked out that it cost $250,000.00 to hit the road as an owner/operator shooting BetacamSP and that there were over 1000 crews competing in a town of only a coupla million people.

You might not understand that price – but back in the 90′s it was nearly $90,000 just for a camcorder body (Sony BVW 400a). Add the price of a lens, batteries, tripod and the obligatory SUV to drive the ‘talent’ around in, and I couldn’t bring myself to go the ‘industrial route’ and invest in SuperVHS – little better than U-Matic.

I opted for Hi8 and a shiny Sony VX5000 – I got a lot of little jobs off that camera and rented for anything ‘real’

I’ve owned a succession of cameras from the shallow end of the pool ever since. I think a Sony TRV-8 MiniDV handycam was the best of the bunch. Great pictures, tiny camera, good lowlight, cheap…

And with the advent of editing your own work (Premier 1.5!) and color correction (Magic Bullet Editors) suddenly we could care about image quality again.

But try as we might, the new generation of Coppolla’s “fat 12 year olds” just couldn’t cut it with the big boys.

They had wonderful HD images which just looked (and I’m sure Kodak coined the BS term) “Film-like.”

And in the 2000′s, we all started wandering on the same path, in search of the holy grail – “The Film Look”, which Kodak assured us we could only get on film. I have 2 things to say about that: Epic, and Alexa.

So I went back to film. One time. Super8. Long story- no result. The cost was astronomical,  but I continue to love what Super8 birthed on the unsuspecting music video scene – crapulence. That grainy, interpretive, weaving, flickery, indeterminate, smokey, loveliness that is the ‘grunge look’.

How could I get that look? Ah, now you know why my favorite camera of the past was a standard definition, single chip handycam in low light…Step one of the film look, almost.

The path to righteousness, ahem, the steps to “the Film-look” turned out to be:

1.) Progressive images – not interlaced. Thanks to Adobe Premiere defaulting to this whenever it had to change the playback rate of footage or move it – if you slowed your film by .01% Premiere re-rendered a progressive frame that looked… filmic.

2.) 24 frames per second – NTSC was just too damn clean at 30, even PAL at 25 was not quite there. We needed the herky jerk of 24.

3.) Color Correction – Before Magic Bullet, CC was a mystical art practiced by few  (hey, Stu was doing this stuff before feature films were doing DI regularly). With faster computers, GPU support and a masterful stroke from Apple (giving you $25K worth of Color for free with Final Cut) now anyone with half a clue can do CC. Just use the presets if you really don’t know…

4.) Shallow Depth of Field- The one you couldn’t (really) do with software and electronics.

Three of these things could be achieved in camera, if only such a camera existed – freeing the DV Rebel to make films that “looked like a film”.

No really, I sat through a few SXSW winners that had great stories, great soundtracks, but just didn’t look…well, we used the word “expensive” back then because SDoF implied 35mm film and buckets of cash.

Stu Mashwitz, in his masterful work “The DV Rebel’s Guide” first mooted the Panasonic DVX100 (I had a B version) as the ultimate rebel’s camera – it shoots (sorta) 24p (sorta p, sorta 24) and with a bit of care in post…magic, or poor man’s 16mm – depending on your perspective.

Then along came a couple of guys on DVX User with some spinning CD blanks and old Nikkor lenses…gasp – through the murk and moire you could get SDoF. Stick one of these confabulations on the front of your DVX100 and be instantly translated to Nirvana…the mystical realm, not Seattle.

Now we had a true holy grail to pursue. One of those guys on DVX User realized that and started Red Rock Micro. It turns out the 24p with good color correction is half of the film look (and Magic Bullet could do all that with software!). The other, much sexier, half was Shallow Depth of Field.

Like a tiger in the jungle, she was elusive, captivating, hard to pin down, and many hunted her. Unfortunately, just like the Holy Grail, many perished or suffered in the quest with rigs that ran your exposure down to 50 ISO, cost three times as much as the camera or were ten times longer than your rig was wide (see cumbersome in the dictionary).

Then Vincent Laforet gave us “Reverie” – in all it’s 30 Fps compressed glory. Half of us said “You can’t shoot on a compressed format”, and the other half remembered that if it looks good, people will watch. Vincent won, by the way, with 24, House M.D. and even Lucasfilm using the 5DmkII.

And after a mob with pitchforks and burning torches assembled at the gates of Canon, we even got 24 frames per second. Wasn’t that nice of them?

Yes, after a year of staring at wonderful show reels full of 2″ Shallow Depth of Field images (SDoF), and then laughing at guys with 4′ long camera rigs, I made the plunge to DSLR.

The only problem was that a 5DmkII is a little on the expensive side for a true DV Rebel.  Enter the Canon 550D (part of the Rebel range in Canon’s own parlance).

What makes the 550D so great is that it allows for shallow depth of field, it shoots 24 frames per second progressive, and in a true high definition 1080 format. It also has built-in sound (sorta) and only $1,500  Pacific Pesos ($800 in the ol’ USA).

So, I would humbly suggest that the 550D is the official DV Rebel camera of 2010. Red will sell 10,000 Scarlets, but Canon can sell that many 550Ds in a week. And the first Scarlet (at this time) will ship with a 2/3″ sensor- inferior SDoF performance. And it will cost a whole butt load more than a 550D. Understandably. DV Rebels are a scrappy lot, and if there is a cheaper option that actually looks better in some ways, the choice is obvious.

So, the day finally dawned that I needed a new camera. I spent the day with the Sony NX5 – a “proper” video camera- balanced audio in, full control of exposure, zoom and focus, sorta broadcast video format- .as I said, a “proper” video camera. It made “proper” video looking images of it’s 3x 1/3″ chips too. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I ran to the nearest photography store and got the 550D, vowing never to spend 3 times the money to be “proper” and boring again. I drank the kool-aid – “If it looks good, people will watch.” I plunked down the dough to ride the tiger. And only a couple of weeks in, I’ve felt like that famed Indian peasant who rode the tiger more by accident than design.

In part two, I will share some of the joys and some of the perils of shooting on the 550D. Tigers look great, but they have teeth. If you forget about the teeth, you get eaten. But it’s worth the ride.

Here’s what’s cool

Larger Screen that Flips – For the first time with the Flip, people like me who spend more time with their Flip pointed at themselves will finally be able to see themselves as they are shooting!  We have also been told that we’ll have a larger, but non-touch sensitive.

Wi-Fi network connection - This is what I’ve been waiting for, but there are a lot of questions that are still up in the air and things that we’re just not sure about.  I believe that this will take the same direction that the Eye-fi (shameless affiliate link) products have taken where there are configuration files that allow you to connect to the networks that you’re near – if private, then you can make provisions for that.

What I’m hoping for
(but not holding my breath)

Better exposure control and real white balance - This is has been my main gripe with all pocket video devices (I still won’t call it a camera – even though I own one!) Why do I want this…  If I could just get exposure lock, so I don’t get the slow reaction – but just dropped below the threshold for the auto-exposure.  Having real white balance would allow me to make videos that were warm or cool, or with the combination we’d be able to shoot very flat and then color correct in post production.

Auxiliary Audio Input - The ability to plug in a microphone that would be better suited for the situation that were shooting in would be a massively cool feature.  There’s an odd side (the hacker in me) that really wants to open it up and see how I could add this to my flip, but don’t want to break it! I’m not asking for a XLR interface – but the ability to add a small lapel microphone, or a small boom like what’s used on some of the iPod recording accessories.

1080p – It would be cool, the Kodak Zi8 has delivered this resolution – would be nice if the new Flip Wi-Fi cam could match this.  (Having 1080 24p / 30p and 720 60p would be a bonus)

Live streaming – The ability to connect to Ustream or Livestream to stream live from a Wi-Fi connection would be EPIC!

Threads on the lens – Like I’ve said before – I really don’t want to hack my shinny new flip (until I can replace it when something goes wrong). Having threads so that I can add a wide angle adapter, or even throwing a telephoto to get some reach would be nice!!!

Am I asking or expecting too much
from a tiny handheld video product?

photo credit

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rog2bark/ / CC BY 2.0

Editing (in terms of media production) is the juxtaposition of time and events (the rearranging of events in time to tell a different or more compelling story).

What does that mean?

Have you ever seen or heard the old adage, “Commas save lives!”  We here it is…

Let’s eat Grandpa!

Let’s eat, Grandpa!

Both have the same exact text – but without a pause in the right place you say something all together different! The same is true with media production (audio and video) you place, or remove a pause at the right place, remove the audio with a bleep sound and you can have a totally different video.

The other day I found this post on TheNextWeb.com – this shows a video posted my microsoft to show the public how easy it is to host a house party for the upcoming Windows 7 Launch.  First off, why is it that it is way too much fun, and way to easy to make fun of microsoft!? Not that I’m a PC guy, have been for year – I don’t own a Mac (but would love to).

Here’s the orginal video:

Here’s the edited version
Note that nothing is said, but may not be safe for work – as a lot can be implied!

This is how editing can portray a negative image of the original message (that’s easy) as any one can take things out of context and make them say anything! People have been doing that for years – what can you do as a producer, video blogger or business owner to make better media with the the help of editing?  When you realize that you don’t just have to shoot a video and post it in it entirety you will see video in a completely different way! Some vloggers will hate me because of that last statement – but I’m okay with that.  ^~~^

My challenge to you – find a video that due to editing has a deeper impact, or more compelling message.  Use the feature in the commenting tool to embed a Youtube video, and tells us all why it is this video has merit, or re-cut it and show us the before and after!

Photo credits:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kichigai/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

My family gave me the gift of pocket video in the form of a Flip Ultra HD.

You’ll see in the coming days the fruits of this new prized possetion as I embark on a new journey of video blogging.  Today, I picked up some more kit that I’ll be talking about that soon enough (camera support systems that will allow me to posts

1.) These camps are not about you, they are not about your company!

At some point you need to learn to leave your soap box at home – come to share, but not to preach or pitch! Even if your company is a sponsor of the said camp – no one is there to hear about you! Pitching your company or hard selling your widget is a cardinal sin that will (or should) get  you booted from most of these meetings.

These camps are all about the community, if you feel that you can help someone with your widget – you should ask them to talk about that at a later date, get their contact information and tell them you can talk sales later.  The important thing is to talk about the topic – and you can do this without selling your product!

2.) These camps are not for you to show off your power point skills.

These camps are about starting public discussions and not a place for you to talk to the back wall as you show your slides.  Community is the focus and public conversation is key – you’re not leading a talk, but shaping the conversation as a discussion facilitator.  If you have screen shots of what you know is going to be brought up or if you’re talking about a case study and have slides that’s one thing – but please don’t just talk along with your 20 – 30 slides and not involve the room with discussion (especially after lunch – as it will become a snooze fest!)

3.) Tweet, Live Blog & Interact on the meetings Live Stream
(take Photo & Videos too)

Most people show up to these events and they look like they have no clue as to what’s going on outside of that little room they ended up in.  I keep saying this but it’s about community – so while at an event, become the live blogger for the rest of the world (who’s not in that room) and tell us all what we’re missing out in.  Many of the break out sessions that I’ve been involved in evolved as people would join in via Cover-It-Live or Twitter with other questions an comments.  Also if you’re taking photos – don’t just shoot crowd shots, be sure to get in close and make sure that you tag your photos so people can find out who was there.

4.) Bring your business cards

I’m always shocked at the amount of people who come to networking events and don’t bring any means of sharing their contact information with those that they meet.  This seems rather old school, but it’s still a necessity! There’s nothing like trying to land a client or make a meaningful contact by writing down your contact information on a scrap piece of paper!  Is that really the best way to transmit your brand?!

5.) Stay on topic with the conference

If you are attending a conference that is central to a specific topic you have to remember that everyone else is there to talk and learn about that topic – please don’t focus on tangents that can could lead to you being able to pitch your business.  User generated conferences work best when there is a central vision and goal, a singleness of thought and everyone can add their perceptive to – if you come with a hidden agenda to talk about something else (i.e. yourself or your business) you will stick out like a sore thumb and hopefully asked to leave the event.

So there it is, my 5 tips to get the most out of user generated conferences (BarCamps). Follow these tips to make your experience and the experience of those around you a pleasurable and worthwhile!  I know that this is a short list and there I must have left something out – please add to the conversation by making a comment here on the post…  Please don’t hold anything back (except for profanity – my Mom reads my blog so keep it clean).

Additional Resources

Link to great stuff concerning BarCamp:

BarCamp.org – Find upcoming camps in your area / in your country
The Rules of BarCamp – A must read page – don’t follow these, and you’ll be “That Guy”
The Pocket Guide to “Organize A Local Bar Camp”

Photos used in post:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/franzlife/ / CC BY 2.0
http://www.flickr.com/photos/monsieurlui/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lox/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mathplourde/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffmcneill/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/71737580@N00/ / CC BY 2.0

Is it just about being at the right place at the right time?

Recall the downed plane in New York (US Airways 1549). The TwitPic that were sent from the ferry, crashed the website – when 7,000 people tried to view the photo at the same time – I didn’t take a screen shot of the views at the time, but I recall it had more than 100k with-in one week for the event happening. I wonder how much they made from adverts on the page…

Now, Imagine if there was live video from the scene and how that would have changed the news coverage of the event online. I think that this will be more than being at the right place at the right time, and to be willing to put yourself out there to capture the event.

Live Video Via Facebook or Qik or where ever…

Regardless of where it’s from or what service it’s deployed with – these video devices are a game changer, their are here to stay, and they are changing the face of video production as we know it!  If you don’t believe me, and you’re holding to your hard and fast rules of what a real camera is (like I have been) then you have to see what the guys over a Pixel Corp (link to article about the rig) have cooked up using a RedRock Micro shoulder rails kit and some other accessories.  Camera Rig maker Zacuto is also getting in to the game with their new hand grip for the 3Gs.  And a new player – Owly, turns that shinny new phone into a mobile media work horse!

What will Live Video do to the way that news and events are covered, how long before we all see a shift social news?

“There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.”

Ansel Adams

When you are Directing, your show will only be as good as you prepare!

1. Show prep One of the critical things that I learned during my career in radio broadcasting, the more show prep that I did, the better the broadcast went.  The more prepared you are going into a show the less that can go wrong that you’re not already going to be ready for. You cannot prepare for everything, but for most things. At the height of my radio career I was the executive producer of my own two hour prime-time Saturday night show, “Binary Radio” was a live DJ mixed radio program there was no safety net, no live delay, my one and only line of defense was a prerecorded mix CD only to be used if I needed to re-boot Final Scratch.  Because of this there were times which  it was like juggling five chain saws and 3 bowling pins, and on rare occasion it was like watching a train wreak in revers and in slow motion.  The weeks that I would afford myself a 4 hour session of practice and programing my show it would go so nearly flawlessly  that it was scary.
2. Pre-Flight Checklist
   

   “I’ve got a checklist with 3,200 items on it. At any time, 150 of them are burning.”

   Fred Reid

   When you work from a checklist – it’s like having a silent assistant that keeps you on task, reinforcing your preparation.  (Provided that you make the time to make a worth while checklist that is.) What are things that you need on your checklist? During the course of your show prep you will run into areas that need work – marking a note of things that could go wrong, and what you can do to get around it.

3. Limited Stimulus before, during, and after the show This, honestly is just a personal thing that I’ve done dating back to my live theater experience.  I try to lay low before an event, to reflect and rehearse what’s necessary to execute the show as best I can.  Also during a show – I don’t want any kind of stimulus, and once I even had to spit out my gum as I ran out of things that I could do at one time (which at that time was seven.)
4. Post show exit meeting After you wrap a show, it’s a good practice to strike while the iron is hot and capture as much feedback about the show / event as you can – going over every triumph and tragedy that occurred.  The process of debriefing is critical to growth as a director, if you want to grow you’ll have to learn to take the good with bad.  This often is not a very comfortable meetings (when things go very wrong), and things can get heated – the important thing is to not take it personal, and not to make it personal!

So, What’s the “One” thing that makes for great live production?

Prep, prep, and more prep!

Your show will only be as good as you prepare for it to be.

]]> http://poweredproduction.com/production/what-makes-for-great-live-production/feed/ 0 http://poweredproduction.com/production/what-makes-for-great-live-production/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PoweredProduction/~3/WW6ciqhr6t0/ http://poweredproduction.com/production/the-rule-of-thirds-a-cheap-knockoff/#comments Fri, 08 May 2009 17:08:33 +0000 Brad http://poweredproduction.com/?p=536 Most people have no idea what the “Rule of Thirds” are, nor can they look at an image and tell you why the love it, or why it has striking composition if it was using the “Rule of Thirds”. I saw a post today (found here) that called the Rule of Thirds both lazy and a sham…
While I agree that all rules are made to be bent and at times even broken, you can only do so – when you fully can understand the rules that are in play!

I was first introduced to the Rules of Thirds for the first time in a Nikon Manual that my Grand Father (Popo) gave me when I inherited his Nikon FE (manual 35mm camera and lens kit – Thank God for Popo!) I later studied these rules via an Eastman Kodak VHS that we watched over and over again in High School (Thanks to my photo teacher Mr. Charles Scherbel – where ever you are.)

I’m not really sure if it’s just because the word rule is in name, which is causing the author of the post to question its validity.  I’d have to agree that the Golden Mean is mathematical at its core and therefore for the faint of heart easily avoided and I agree that the Golden Ratio while found in nearly every thing in existence (wonder who put that there -  well that might be a topic of conversation sometime other than now.) Does it negate the simplicity of breaking things up in thirds?

I have to say that this has really opened up some areas of thought and will cause me to question the composition of my shots next time I do a set up, but to say that the Rule of Thirds is a sham – come on, really? I’ll concede the point that the rule of thirds is a much more simple means of looking at it, and it’s not exact science as the Golden Ratio.

Is Not being Exact all the time – lazy?

Also super huge thank you to @TGaul – I had no idea that was in there!!!

Photos used in post:

golden spiral 2 by Shannon Henry

As most of you know I was extremely blessed to have a computer at a very young age – this allowed me to experiment and become very engaged with electronics, and it didn’t hurt that my Father was a taught electronics at a local trade school.  Because I was always around this world – and had the great fortune of having teachers that would urge me to explore and learn all that I can in every field I came away with a very broad understanding of how everything fit together, rather than being very focused on just one part of the equation.

I really don’t think that our education system will catch up with this until it’s too late.

What is one to do?  How do we educate others in ways of media production?

Photos used in post:

june 28th 280c by striatic

Through lower cost cameras that now out perform what was more than double the cost, and new tool sets that are becoming available – you can now not only own your own space for distribution, but produce Live Programming that uses the same tools of Fox, NBA, and many other top level broadcasters! (Awesome video after the jump)

I’ve been in the process of perfecting live production with single camera setups coupled with a laptop to services like Ustream.com or using Procaster (which I’ve yet to get to work – think it’s been a hardware thing), and I truly see tool kits like this bring the ability to do live production to way more people than ever before!

Is the Tri-Caster the next magic bullet for LIVE Production?

There are many different paths to getting clean signal to the next, but none like the Tricaster – that I’m aware of!

Photos used in post:

PCR (Fischgibts 11. Mai 2007, h1-Studio Hannover) by schoschie

The choice of cameras has made me quite gun shy. My plan was to buy low end camera (AVCHD) that and stream via the USB / Firewire. This past weekend I was at the Conroe House of Pray (CHOP) and was streaming a meeting for Marty Gabler (who will be there the fourth Saturday of every month, as will I as schedule will allow!) He is the owner of a JVC Everio HD 30, which I later found out has no web camera function!

WHY!

Pass the USB Please – or even the 1394, you can set the output of the firewire (1394 / iLink) to DV – so that should pass images as a camera, but no!  So now I need to verify that the camera that I end up with will allow this function – or I’ll keep shooting with my trusty DSR PDx10!

Step One

If you are going to change your name, don’t register the new account using a different email address.  This was my first main mistake thinking that I’d have my 3800 followers happly jump ship with me!  There’s a handy dandy little tool in your settings panel of twitter that allows you to check to see if a name is available – if it is, then you can change it and leave ALL of your followers in tact, along with all of your @reply’s, DM’s and Favorites…  What I did was the first stupid step in 48 hours of true pain.

Step Two

Never tell your followers that they should follow your new account, and then un-follow your old one…  Man, What the Heck was I thinking on that one!

Step Three

Beg forgiveness – and move on…

After some long hard thinking and frustration of hitting the Twitter limit and being dark on twitter for nearly 48 hours… (which sucked BTW) I decided to delete the @bradparler account on twitter – and change the old (@big_b_rad) account to @brad_parler until I can grab up @bradparler. If you are going to change your account – do so in the settings panel of twitter – and then go back and grab up the old one to point to the new one… I discovered that someone could have registered @big_b_rad only hours after my change… So “I” got it and pointed it to the new account.

Photos used in post:

twitter icon (for Fluid) by seyDoggy

After spending last night on The Free Monday Phone-in with Rich Currie (@RichCurrie on twitter) talking about branding, and also growing so very tired of trying to explain how to find me on twitter, “it’s big b rad with underscores between…  never mind. I decided to re-brand my twitter presence to be my name @bradparler.  This has proven to be more of a head ache than I thought and I’ve hit a following wall – most likely a safety guard from allowing people to follow 1,000 people in a 24 hour window, but when you have 3,700 followers that you’re trying to migrate like a huge exodus it’s not a fun wall to hit.

If you’re presently following @big_b_rad I humbly ask that you please follow @bradparler and unfollow @big_b_rad to help me get this migration done.  My hope is that they (Twitter Support) will extend some grace to me and convert my account for me as I didn’t do it correctly.  I by mistake when ahead and registered the new account with a separate email address, instead of going into my settings and making the change on the original account.  Lesson learned – don’t make the jump until you know what you’re doing!

Please learn from my mistake – Start with the Right Brand from the Beginning!

Also, why am I not using @poweredproduction – it’s too long for twitter.

Photos used in post:

Power Breakfast with Bob Steel by James Willamor

Why Small Business / Non-profits Need Pocket Production

Ease Of Use

First and foremost, easy-of-use!  I don’t know that many businesses that have an in-house produciton unit, and even fewer non-profits that have the budget  to have a videographer at every event.  I’d have to say that 9 times out of 10 it becomes the job of a volunteer to capture the event and forever lock its legacy on tape.  Because these devices have few features and no manual control you can turn one one hand it to someone and show them where the record button is – and just reclaim the device at the end of the day!  I’d really love to have someone try that with say a HVX – or any other “real” camera.

Co$t!

This is a huge factor in my book; with the costs of these devices coming in at sub $250 – which is a vast improvement when you look at spending $1000 – $3500 on HD production gear!  This means that you can put more of these devices at your event – yielding double, or triple the coverage.

Personal

How often do you have a camera that you want to take with you every where? (If you are a film student – your answer doesn’t count!)

Looking Beyond the Big Three (Flip / Vado / Kodak)

Every time I mention pocket video and I do a search to see what’s going on in this mini-revolution I find more camera and manufactures who are throwing their hat into the ring – over the next few weeks I’m going to take a look at some of the others who’ve come to compete – if you’ve found a device that I’ve not mentioned PLEASE list it in the comments of this post, if you are a manufacture of a device and you like to see it mentioned use the contact form to get in touch with me as I’d love to feature you!

Next time on Powered Production

On the next post I’m going to step you through all of the reasons that you – STILL need a real camera, so please stay tuned and chime in via the comments or send me a message on twitter (@big_b_rad) to tell me what you think.

Photos used on post

On Set by sheriffmitchell

I call a real camera a device with semi manual controls, I’m not asking for everything manual – but there is a level of control that is necessary for “real” camera operation. In Why The Flip – I really out lined where I’d love to see these camera go, and with the purchase of Pure Digital by networking giant Cisco – I’m sure they will make some adjustments, but most to its connectivity – not it’s control (I’m sure – but hope that I’m wrong). To save time – please take a look at “Why The Flip“. The two things that I’m looking for any camera to have is manual white balance and real audio inputs; this would be a minimum. I’d love to see manual exposure and audio levels and optical lens controls, but is that asking too much?

Even according to my criteria of what makes a real camera – I still see these devices having a place in the production pipeline; but hopefully not as your only camera. Most of us have done single camera production for far too long have neglected the role of the B (or secondary) camera. A locked off shot for cover or a funky cut-away can really save your production.

This Months Inc. Magazine took a look at four more of these pocket camera – and I’m really leaning toward Kodak’s latest release the Kodak Zx1 HD Pocket Video Camera.  Main factors of me choosing that camera – form-factor, real memory card, replaceable (standard) batteries.  I really wished that they kept the mirrored button on the front but w/ the new shooting modes and the size a bit smaller I’m sure that it’s going to be what I go with.

So, why do i want a fake camera?

Size, Cost, Cool Factor

1. Size

It’s necessary to have a camera that won’t take 10 minutes to get out of the bag, get set up properly (balance and check / set up audio) before you have to shoot.  The draw for me to these devices is the simplicity of being able to turn on point and shoot!  The other draw is to have a few of them so that you can have a few extra locked off shots that you can cut to – just because you have them.  The other thing that I’m really dreaming up, and I’d buy this if someone made it – but a mini fig rig that had a double ring system – and the inside ring (where the camera mounted doubled as a ring light!)  DM me on twitter if you want to bounce idea around – as I’m going to make my own, and if costs permit I’ll sell them as well!

2. Cost

Dude, $170 gets you HD in your pocket.  I thought that I was in love when the HV30 came out at a sub $1,000 range.  The ability to capture HD at this price point is unprecedented, therefore an absolute factor

3. Cool Factor

Come on, who doesn’t want to be “That Guy” who sees something going on and has the pocket cam on them or in their bag to be able to catch it and share it with the world!  (Is that just me?) These devices have cool written all over them, and not that I’m ever one of the “cool kids” but these devices make me feel cool using them!

Next on Powered Production

Next I’m going to take a look at how these devices fit into the Production Pipeline, and how small business and non-profits can use these to deliver authentic and organic media within their organizations.  Please stay tuned – and help shape the conversation by taking part with your comments!

Photos Used in Post:

Pocket Protector by brenbot

I’m the king of doing this – I’ve sat on my hands waiting until I can afford HD production, Real Time post, the list really has been endless – and at the end of the day, I was no closer to “shipping” than any other time.  But how much value can you afford to loose?  I feel in the are of marketers that are using video as a means of marketing or brand reinforcement — you really cannot afford to loose much.

I’ve grown so weary of seeing videos that I know have come from Move Maker (vomit!)  You know that I’m a PC guy (or you do now) and at least the Mac iMovie product gives you a few more options over White Arial Font on a Boring Blue Background…  Yet, I digress…

Branding goes beyond your logo that you use.  Your logo is a really important part as it’s the iconic image that people will associate with your brand, but your brand should dictate what type face you use, the master color pallet you operate with in, so on.  And when it comes time to produce a video – it’s a really simple task of having a motion designer (like myself) to prepare Book-Ends for you to wrap around your video (at the top & tail), and a graphic package that will match the look of your brand.

I know that I keep going back to this, but we live in a Broadcasting Era – where people have been trained as to what video is supposed to look like.  Regardless if it’s on the Internet you should strive to maintain the excellence and standards of Prime Time TV.  What does this mean for the beginner – don’t worry too much if you’re not quite there yet – but grow to get there quick.

What is Production Value?

Production Value: method, material, or stagecraft skill used in the production of a motion picture or artistic performance; the technical quality of such a method, material, or skill.  The greatest thing about production value is that the more you put into your production the more perceived value your final product will have.

In my book, “Production Value = Trust” the more you put into your final product the more the viewer will respect it because they will read the value that it holds.  So how are you adding trust via building in production value?

Photos:

DIGITAL by Hamed Saber

Fast Company (in their March 2009 issue) lists Pure Digital Technologies (maker of Filp Mino HD) as #7 of their list of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” beating out Apple, Amazon, and Facebook.  What make them so cool you ask?!  Well – they have truly put HD video in the hands of the masses.   In just 18 months, Pure Digital sold 1.5 million of its recorders and now commands 25% of the market.  With competition on the rise the review have start to come in that have said that the Flip just ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Chris also did a side-by-side-by-side review of the three heavy hitters (Mino HD, Kodak Zi6, and Creative’s Vado HD) and I have to agree that they all bring a lot to the table.  There are some core features that I’d really love to have seen in the Mino HD, namly – removeable media, and batteries would have been a huge plus.  In the end Pirillo named the Creative Vado HD the best of the bunch, but I really don’t see it, and neither did Robert Scroble in his blog post entitled, “Chris Pirillo is wrong about best pocket video cameras.” Now I’ll also point out that Scroble is on staff at Fast Company – the mag that named the maker of the Flip as cool.

Before I get sucked into the stone throwing of the two tech legends – I’d like to take a few steps back and let’s look at the criteria that really should have been at the core of this – the features, and then talk about some things that I’d really love for someone to address.  With the goal of pocket HD shooting, I think that there are some critical things that the Kodak nailed – namly the lense, audio quality, the removeable / rechargeable batteries; but form factor kills it for me.  Sure the larger screen size is nice – but if 75% of the video that you shoot – is going to be of you in front of it – I’d gladly go for the smaller size (and I’m sure that means a bit longer battery life too.)

What critical features do I still long for in pocket video camera’s?

• White Balance – The ability to tell the camera what true white is so that it can properly balance skin tone and determine the space between true white and black, this is a critical area in all camera’s!  It’d be killer if there were some setups for a few different presets (user defined) so that I could switch from a warmer look – or just tell it day light and start shooting.  (If 1980 era VHS camera’s could figure this out – why can’t we have this in a pocket camera?
• External Audio Jack – The one thing that really separates good video from great video – is always the audio.  George Lucas says that it makes up 50% of the movie – I really think that it’s much more than that! Would move these camera beyond a great thing to have – to an essential thing to have!

It’s because of these two critical features that I still believe that you need a “real” camera – like a HVX, or even one of the new tiny-cam’s (HV30 or HF10) and a real microphone, to be able to deliver ‘real’ results but these new camera’s have made some great in roads in what you can use to bring HD video to your audience!  When I say “real” I really am striving to convey the whole air quote thingy – but if you really want to know what makes shows like the highly produced “WineLibrary.TV” and what you see most marketers deliverying is this thing call “REAL”, in order to deliever the real – or as others like to call it production value you have to have exposure control and a microphone that’s not inside of a plastic box!

Judging these cameras by what has better color or which has a wider lens – is really a mute point to me.  What video are you shooting at any point that you’re not doing some type of post process?? Also for the record – I always shoot as flat as possible when shooting for broadcast and digital film – this is a very standard pratice across the board, so that when you do color correct your shots you have the most latitude to start.

Am I missing anything else here?  Am I being too critical of these two views on these three camera’s?

Photos used in post:
Flip Mino HD: Design Tag by bfishadow // Flip Video MinoHD by woodleywonderworks