RatbagMedia Videoblogging

RatbagMedia: Political Videos

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:04:25 PDT

The RatbagMedia Channel

Face

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:31:07 PDT

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An exercise in face watching. A profile, maybe too much. Compare to Portrait at 60 short a year ago.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

London May 2009 (a sculptural journey)

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:48:52 PDT

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A few days spent in London with a view to enjoying the sculture collection in the town -- especially at the Victoria & Albert Museum

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Tags: london, sculpture

The RatbagMedia Channel

Vigeland Sculpture Park , Oslo

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:17:34 PDT

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Vigeland Sculpture Park is a part of Frogner Park, located in Oslo, Norway, 3 km northwest of the city centre. The park covers 80 acres (320,000 m2) and features 212 bronze and granite sculptures created by Gustav Vigeland. Vigeland personally sculpted every figure out of clay and individual craftsmen were contracted to fabricate the pieces into what they are today.

Most of the statues depict people engaging in various typically human pursuits, such as running, wrestling, dancing, hugging, holding hands and so on. However, Vigeland occasionally included some statues that are more abstract, such as the "Man attacked by Babies" statue, which shows an adult male, fighting off a horde of tiny babies.

Vigeland park is a well known picnic area, popular in the summer for sunbathing, games, and relaxation.

I visited the park on a wonderful Spring evening in May 2009 and the park was full of picnickers frying sausages and drinking beer. Magic.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Tags: oslo, sculpture, vigeland, norway

Scotland May 2009

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:17:34 PDT

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Another country on our overseas trip. Youc an do the tour in 5 minutes.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Tags: scotland, highlands

Hand Hardware-- a rig for shooting video and recording audio at the same time

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:00:11 PDT

I've been experimenting with ways to carry my shooting rig around with me so that I can also hook it up to a recorder. I also wanted to run a microphone to the MiniDV camera -- a Canon MD 120.

Since I had a HiMD recorder-- Sony MD Walkman MZ NH 700 -- with plug in power microphones to go with it I wanted to integrate the two systems.

I also had learnt that if I'm on an "assignment" I needed to record much more audio than I'd video. I wanted a system which would enable me to keep the audio recording running while I selectively shot video . I also wanted better audio quality than the inbuilt microphone that came with the camera.

And since I podcast audio and videoblog in effect I wanted to get the best out of two separate mediums.

I had previously hung all this rig from bags and pouches on my person and it proved very cumbersome and hard to monitor and manipulate -- such as turning either device on or off. But I had been using the Ultrapod monopod for some time and loved it. The Ultrapod is a small, lightweight, folding camera tripod with adjustable ball & socket head and Velcro securing strap.

I like using the Ultrapod because:

It supports my forearm and I can lock my upper body in a stable shooting platform with the arm supported vertically.
When I'm not shooting (or recording) I can walk with my arm hanging free and the setup remains comfortably attached, ready to be hoisted up on cue, pointed and activated.

(I've also been using small camera tripods to support my microphones.)

So with a bit more Velcro strapping, I combined the lot-- Voila!

By rights -- and I've yet to confirm this -- the audio that runs from the HiMD should also be automatically gained before it is taken in as audio on the video as I run the HiMD audio out into the microphone in for the Video camera.

Full screen view

The RatbagMedia Channel

VIDEO:Barcelona April 2009

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:38:26 PDT

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One week -- or 8 minutes -- in Barcelona as part of our trip to the capital of Catalonia

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

No Sell OFF of Public Assets Rally -- Brisbane July 3, 2009

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:22:33 PDT

BRISBANE: Fifteen hundred trade unionists and their supporters marched through the streets of Brisbane on July 3 to oppose the sell off of Queensland public assets. The protest had been called by the Electrical Trades Union and later was supported by the Queensland Council of Unions.Addressing the rally were speakers from the QCU, AFULE, ASU and the Rail Tram and Bus Union.

Mick Carr from the Maritime Union of Australia told the rally that there was no upside for a one off fixing of the debt by selling off public assets. Peter Simpson , state secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, said that his union wont be putting one cent into the ALP coffers at the next election if this legislation is still on the books.

He said it was time to put a line in the sand.

David Matters from the Rail Tram and Bus Union told everyone that his union, with community support, had won their fight against the prisatisation of the Brisbane City Council bus service in the 1990s.To applause he said, that it was time to put Anna Bligh under the control of working people.

But the surprize from among the speakers came from ALP state president and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Secretary, Andrew Dettmar, who said that his union will not be supporting any politician at the next state election unless they make a no privatsation pledge.

The rally was followed by a march to state parliament .

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Video: No Sell Off Public Meeting -- Brisbane June 30th, 2009

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:12:33 PDT

Video of a meeting organised by the Socialist Alliance to discuss a community response to the privatization of public assets by the Bligh state Labor government -- Brisbane, Qld Australia.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Video:Sam Watson, Socialist Allliance Candidate for South Brisbane

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:17:34 PDT

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One of the most prominent Murri campaigners in Brisbane, longtime social justice activist, Sam Watson, will contest Queensland Premier Anna Blighs seat of South Brisbane at the March 21 state election. Watson is running as the candidate for the Socialist Alliance.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Video:Green Left Weekly Twilight River Cruise

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:02:29 PDT

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March 1st, 2009: A cruise on the Brisbane River to raise funds for Green Left Weekly.

A very nice evening on the water, catching the cool breeze coming up the river from Moreton Bay.

Along with the music and the hippity hop bopping, Palestinian mezze, Tamil food and sundries.

Speeches from Dr Brian Senewiratne

Performers: Phil Monsour, Surreal & Grassroots

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Video:A message from Mike Crook, Socialist Alliance candidate for Sandgate

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:02:48 PDT

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Mike Crook is the Socialist Alliance candidate for Sandgate at the upcoming Queensland state election on March 21st.

You can read more about the campaign here on the Socialist Alliance website.

A member of the ALP for 20 years, Mike recently joined the Socialist Alliance, having become increasingly disenchanted with the ALP's anti-worker, pro-corporate agenda.

Mike recently participated in a brigade to Venezuela, and seeing participatory, grassroots democracy, was convinced that the future lies in mobilizing people for socialist change.

Mike has been a steering committee member and activist on the Your Rights At Work campaign committee which was instrumental in kicking out the Howard government, and has campaigned tirelessly for industrial rights and shorter working hours.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Video:Tamil Protest in Brisbane, Australia, February 4th, 2009

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:03:09 PDT

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The Tamil minority in Sri Lanka is now under savage military attack and the Sri Lankan army advances on the Tamil Eelam provinces, indiscriminately slaughtering Tamils who mainly live on the north and east of the island.

This is a video record of a protest organised by Brisbane's small Tamil community on February 4th -- Sri Lankan Independence Day.During the same period thousands of Tamils had mobilised around the world especially in England and Canada.Similar protests were held in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne.

For background information on the situation in Sri Lanka for Tamils go here .

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Video:They have changed the Jordan's course and sown the desert with spears

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:48:03 PST

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A video adaption of a photographic series selected by Prof. Norman Finkelstein on the present occupation of Palestine.

"Comparable? Quantitatively, obviously not. But qualitatively? Look at the pictures and you be the judge."(ref)

Video was produced for the local Palestine soldarity campiagn.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Video:FREE PALESTINE - فلسطين حرة

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:19:55 PST

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This is a quick montage of images of Australian, and a selection of some overseas, protests in support of the suffering people of Gaza.

A complete representation of the scale and extent of this movement against the slaughter would be almost impossible. So this is a small window into this international movement, folded together to a track by the great Palestinian hip hop group, DAM -- Born Here.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Recognition?

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:47:19 PST

I've been a fan of Union Show (produced by SKA) for some time. But ACCESS News is something I haven't seen.

Subject: Video

Hey Dave, are you interested at all in contributing video to either SKA Story (community activism television program) or in the future to ACCESS NEWS (the activist we are currently building?

We would love a minidv version of your facebook Palestine video to broadcast on SKA Story.

If you are interested, give me a call or facebook me back.

I'm blown away that you only just started using this medium! Obviously a man of action. :)

Cheers

Debra Weddall
SKA TV
The RatbagMedia Channel

Video:Gaza Protest Rally, Brisbane

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:26:07 PST

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January 3rd 2009

Protest rally against the Israel's war on Gaza. The protest was organised by the local Palestinian community and their supporters among campaign peace and social justice groups, and Islamic congregations.

Musician: Phil Monsour.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Video:How should we respond to Israel's latest attack on Gaza?

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:41:59 PST

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Interview with Paul Benedek from the Socialst Alliance conducted at the Brisbane rally in support of Palestine, December 29th, 2008.

The rally was called to respond to the latest attack by Israel on the people of Palestine and was one of several organised protests held in capital cities across Australia. There were similar protests internationally. More protests and public meetings have been scheduled locally.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Video:Christmas 2008 - Northgate

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:41:13 PST

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Festivities with the fam on the 25th as we eat up a Xmas lunch and divvy up the pressies

[In way of publishing method:I reckon I got myself a very good exhibition quality file by following h.264 recommendations and preferencing smaller file size where I can.]

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

The RatbagMedia Channel

Video:DogTown II

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:41:13 PST

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Nugget and Jasper go to Doggy World to sniff butts, get wet and chase things.

This is a sequel to DogTown #I (which happens to be the first video I shot) which caught the late and greatly missed Millie on a day out indulging in dogginess.

The new boy, Jasper -- a stray liberated from the city dog pound only three short weeks ago -- is here caught up in doggy doings along the Shultz's Canal waterway at Nudgee Beach.

DogTown II is an experiment in using the h.264 video codec. If that's sounds esoteric and geeky -- it is. The h.264 is supposed to give your more vid quality for less file size.

Nugget is a Jack Russel Terrier, and Jasper is a Mini Fox Terrier Cross .

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Tools: Editing software -- choices and complications

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:18:33 PST

As I speak I am seated before my pc. This pc of mine -- running Windows XP -- is my work station where I do everything digital.

To prep the work space for better work flow when I edit video I've added an external hard drive -- LACIE -- and this last week I upped my RAM by 1GB so that now I'm running my work with 1.5GB of RAM.

I added the RAM so that I can run Sony Vegas Studio Platinum 9.0. I had been using Windows Movie Maker but it often crashed (perhaps a memory issue) and it also offered very limited rendering options.

While I'm trying to use Sony I find it cumbersome and demanding of a lot of fine work. I guess I'll get used to the bells and whistles over time but at the moment I really appreciate the fast and precise editing offered by the free platform VirtualDub.

I've found nothing that can match VirtualDub in that regard and I've tried Pinnacle as well as Vegas .

So I'm learning VirtualDub at the same time as I'm trying to master Sony Vegas.

VirtualDub is a very fast and easily managed editing program with a lot of very useful rendering options. The one complication is that your 'project' source has to be in the form of one video clip rather than several. You can edit on several copies of VirtualDub open but there's no option to copy and paste between copies.

But this is more than made up for by the massive ease of cut, copy,delete and paste within the one edit window.

I love this as it is this aspect of video production that I enjoy the most and VirtualDub will allow you to slice a video frame by frame. VirtualDub also has text and filtering capabilities I am still yet to explore. It will also capture a file easily from a video camera. (VirtualDub also has powerful audio editing capabilities too)

So my problem now is to work out how I can "edit" in VirtualDub and then move on the process in either Movie Maker ore Vegas before rendering for web publishing (in QuickTime Pro). How essential QuickTime Pro is to the mix I'm still working out but it has a lot to do with Apple's h.264 codec.

If VirtualDub didn't edit only by clips it would make an ideal standard editing program for those exploring video production with digital cameras who deliver the shots in so many clips -- each clip=one shot. As I say you could edit several clips at one and then combine them later on in a different program such as Movie Maker.

I can envisage myself editing and capturing standardly on VirtualDub and utilizing another program only if I wanted to create a special something for the finished clip. VD's other advantage is that it doesn't compress the file so even if you move onto another program you're still maintaining file substance and quality.

An ideal arrangement would be VirtualDub plus QuickTimePro. One , two...

As for the QuickTimePro aspect, that's all to do with compression settings for web publishing.

See Ryanne’s Favorite Compression Settings at Freevlog

And believe me, video file rendering is a mighty complex and confusing business. No one size fits all.

Video:Day Out in Melbourne

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:38:26 PDT

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This is a brief touristy video down memory lane as I touch base with haunts in the city I grew up in.

It is also one of those learning exercises: shooting video while walkin' n' talkin'...and editing with Sony Vegas.

When I visit Melbourne -- as I do annually -- I eat at the same places -- the same Greek cake shop, the same Chinese restaurant -- and always check out the collection at the national gallery of Victoria and visit sundry points of my especial nostalgic interest.

Covered in the video is the ANZ bank I used to work at in 1969 before I joined the building industry pouring cement; and the Bourke Street Homewares store my father managed for Buckley & Nunn's (now owned by David Jones).

Video:Building the people's answer to the capitalist crisis

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:32:52 PST

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A short report on the 6th National Conference of the Socialist Alliance held in Geelong, Victoria, Australia -- December 5-7, 2008.

The video features the main sessions & presenters but not the workshops.

Video:The Socialist Alliance 6th National Conference

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:37:48 PST

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Socialist Alliance 6th national conference was held in Geelong, Victoria December 5-7, 2008. This interview with Margarita Windisch charts the significance of the gathering.

The RatbagMedia Channel

Video:The Socialist Alliance: a celebration

ratbagradio@gmail.com (ratbagradio@gmail.com) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:41:31 PST

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A five minute celebration of and introduction to, my party, the Australian Socialist Alliance.

Created for the Socialist Alliance National Conference, December 5-7, 2008 -- Geelong, Victoria.

RatbagMedia Videoblogging

RatbagMedia: Political Videos

Face

London May 2009 (a sculptural journey)

Vigeland Sculpture Park , Oslo

Scotland May 2009

Hand Hardware-- a rig for shooting video and recording audio at the same time

VIDEO:Barcelona April 2009

No Sell OFF of Public Assets Rally -- Brisbane July 3, 2009

Video: No Sell Off Public Meeting -- Brisbane June 30th, 2009

Video:Sam Watson, Socialist Allliance Candidate for South Brisbane

Video:Green Left Weekly Twilight River Cruise

Video:A message from Mike Crook, Socialist Alliance candidate for Sandgate

Video:Tamil Protest in Brisbane, Australia, February 4th, 2009

Video:They have changed the Jordan's course and sown the desert with spears

Video:FREE PALESTINE - فلسطين حرة

Recognition?

Video:Gaza Protest Rally, Brisbane

Video:How should we respond to Israel's latest attack on Gaza?

Video:Christmas 2008 - Northgate

Video:DogTown II

Tools: Editing software -- choices and complications

See Ryanne’s Favorite Compression Settings at Freevlog

Video:Day Out in Melbourne

Video:Building the people's answer to the capitalist crisis

Video:The Socialist Alliance 6th National Conference

Video:The Socialist Alliance: a celebration