Video Studentguy

Another new module and the final one of this Program. This week plus two more and I will be done with school, but not with my film. Finishing the film will be my priority once school is finished. It's sort of like graduating and then having to go to summer school, or cleaning up after the prom. Or something. There's no time to rest though, until I finish my film my stomach is going to be churning and adrenaline is going to be pumping. This final class is shoe horning in two ideas, DVD Authoring and Color Correction. We're using Apple's DVD Studio Pro for the authoring and we're looking at color correction in Avid, which has superior tools for the job over Final Cut Pro. Not so Color, Apples newest tool in the Final Cut Suite. I address them all in this show, including reasons why Color, which is the deepest and richest of the three tools for professional color correction, should not be the first thing you reach for when you correct color. Take a look at the T L Cooper Eclipse, an expensive sophisticated keyb

There's an interesting event coming up towards the end of this month in Boston. Podcamp Boston 3 takes place July 19th and 20th. You can get directions and other information, including a list of sessions that will take place through the links I've provided here. I attended this event last year, and I talked about it in episode #56. The conference founders, Chris Penn and Chris Brogan, both attended Podcasters Across Borders last weekend and I was fortunate enough to interview Chris Brogan and asked him to weight the advantages of each. I was fortunate  enough to interview Chris Brogan for a few minutes between sessions at Podcasters Across Borders and asked him to comment on the two events. I hope you get a better sense of both events through my comments and Chris' interview. There was only a few minutes to chat between some sessions, so our conversation was rushed. I think you'll find if you attend Podcamp Boston 3 that there will more time and space for conversations and meeting new people. I want to

Vacation week coming up. That means time to edit my final project. Woo hooSince I took off the last days of this class I got an F. But, but once I hand in the assignments it will be turned into a pass. If I do a really good I may get a high pass, or, gulp, a very high pass. Lots of motivation there.There's 4 weeks left to the end of class. I'm going to miss it once it's gone. I am looking forward to finishing my film without the distraction of class attendance and assignments. I guess you could say I've already checked out.Once again I'm talking about Podcasters Across Borders without providing any clips from the interviews I recorded. Coming up, I promise. Check out and sign up for Podcamp Boston 3 if you're in the area. Take a look at the sessions being offered. It's just a good, only different.Speaking of good conversation in a hallway, I end the show with some perspective I got from Federico about the whole point of this filmmaking program, which is getting a job being a filmmaker.This was a familiar mess

This is a very short show because I recorded it as I was exiting the house on my way to Podcaster's Across Borders in Kingston, Ontario Canada. It was a great weekend of of learning and conversations with a lot of really interesting people. As I was getting the links for the previous episode I noticed that Podcamp Boston 3 is in a few weeks. I was caught completely off guard. Last year it took place at the end of December, so barely 6 months has passed. During PAB, I was fortunate enough to interview Chris Brogan, one of the cofounders of Podcamp and a key organizer of Podcamp Boston. Look for the interview in an upcoming show and seriously consider attending the event on July 19 and 20 (Saturday and Sunday). Catching up with past classes, this week is the 2nd week of the Post Audio module. With a little help from instructor Doug Plante, I finally understand the process of spotting and scoring. Spotting is the process of identifying the location of music along the timeline that would help support or anticip

Been at PAB, expected to have posted this and the next show before I left. No time, as usual. This episode and the next was in the can and waiting for post before I left for Canada last week. I thought about post dating these episodes, but that seems a little dishonest. Podcaster's Across Borders was a great event, met a bunch of people and got a lot of ideas to chew on. It wasn't a technical conference, it was more about networking and idea sharing. I've never been to the Portable Media Expo, now called New Media Expo, which will be out in California later this summer, August 14, but I have been to Podcamp in Boston. All three events are different in how they approach social media and there's something valuable to be learned from attending all of them. Podcamp and PAB are within driving distance, but California is too far for me to travel this year. I would say that PAB was the most informal. The schedule was packed though and most conversations I had were short and had to be followed up at the end of

I'm attending a new media conference called Podcasters Across Borders in Kingston, Ontario Canada this weekend. There's going to be lots of interesting people to meet and things to hear and learn. There's not much else in this show except my expectations.I created this episode so that I could pare it down to under 3 minutes and submit it to the PAB site as a teaser for this show. They're taking audio submissions from attendees that represent their own show. I figured I would just use the opportunity to talk about my expectations of the event, how I feel about the potential of new media and tie in what my show is about.It is an interesting experience cutting down something to meet a another purpose - sort of like creating a trailer of a movie.Take a look at the teaser page and listen to my audio and compare it to this show. And listen to the other shows, there's a lot of great entertainment and information represented on that page.I'll give you updates when I get back next week and hopefully include some inter

Continuing shooting.A Raku firing class with Susan Gerr of Birch Mountain Pottery, Old Sturbridge Village, a recreation of a New England village in Sturbridge MA and another potter, Dot Burnworth at Sawmill Pottery. This puts me over the hump as far as enough video to begin editing.Check out the Digital Production Buzz episode for May 22 and listen to the first interview of Norman Hollyn, an editor and teacher at USC, he has a lot of interesting comments on learning how to edit. At 11:50 or so into the podcast he makes a comment that strikes me as both simple and profound when it comes to summing up the message of a film when you begin editing.

I've updated the show listing on this show's duplicate blog, videostudentguy@blogspot.com and I will continue to keep it updated until I can wrestle RSS to the ground and combine both feeds into one. Lots of shoots this week, follow the links below to see who I've been talking to. Huntington Theater Cornwall Bridge Pottery - Todd Piker Paradise CIty Art Festival Debbie Miller Designs JAK Designs - Jennifer Armstrong / Tanya Alsberg at Paradise City Kelly O'Briant at Paradise City Linda Huey Birch Mountain Pottery - Susan Gerr

Color Correction tips, SSNSC Practicum and shooting the She Loves You promo video at the Huntington Theater List of links to subjects mentioned in this show: South Shore Natural Science Center Huntington Theater - She Loves Me

Links in this Show: Birch Mountain Pottery - Mug Day Old Sturbridge Village Fort Point Art Walk South Shore Natural Science Center Huntington Theater Huntington Theater - She Loves Me Gabrielle Schaffner Linda Huey Avid ScriptSync

I'm discontinuing posting on the Blogger site. It's just a duplicate of the Libsyn site and that seems to have the most traffic. I'll leave a note with a link to the Libsyn site.I lost data because of a damaged drive, which I hadn't backed up. Don't do this at home okay?At the same time I was digesting this trauma I was conflicted over which camera I should use which CDIA loans out. You can try to follow my various colliding trains of thought that led to the ultimate decision. I did decide, but the real issue isn't the camera, so much as it is trying to grasp the phantom of security when it comes to assuring I will always have a camera to shoot with when I need it.It appears that getting comfortable with insecurity is the lesson of the week.Just to make sure I learned my lesson I had to shoot an open house at Birch Mountain Pottery and I hoped to interview some of the customers. It makes my stomach ache to have to ask complete strangers to sign a release form and talk to me on camera. I managed to walk throug

Nikki Bramley is our instructor for this module. She was assistant editor on The Price of Sugar and has a lot of experience editing in both FCP and Avid.I spent this week trying to nail down my workflow with Avid Media Composer and P2 media There was a problem bring in the media. It comes down to a very specific workflow.I also had technical problems working with Avid due to the presence of the unsupported versions of QuickTime and the Mac OS. She provided me with a table that contains all the versions of Avid, Quicktime and the OS and what works with what. When you're working on a production system don't update iTunes, it automatically loads the most current version of Quicktime.You can find information on the Avid forums at Avid, Creative COW and the LA Final Cut Pro User GroupI'm behind on defining a narrative arc. Nikki gave me some suggestions such as creating little scenes or stories within your story. I mentioned that in a recent episode. She encouraged me to imagine and write down what they might be b

Once I got back from NAB I got a little sleep, did a little non-film garden work and learned the value of the Assistant Director. It's their job to budget time and and make sure everyone is on schedule. During a recent night shoot I got some ideas about budgeting time on the set. You need to respect the needs of other people, set a stop time and stick to it and be prepared to stop even when you're not ready. You can't push people to work beyond their limits and not pay a higher price later on.

On Wednesday, the last day of seminars at NAB I attended a series of classes on Flash Video as well as an introduction to the Adobe Media Player. You should google the AMP because I believe it has significant implications to independent content producers.Thursday was the last day of the exhibition and I chose to look at prosumer cameras from JVC, Canon, Panasonic and Sony in order to see what the state of the art is for filmmakers such as myself and what the future might hold.There's also been an interesting back and forth between myself and Mike Jones in the comments section of episode # 84 about new codecs and cameras and the larger picture of how to evaluate and choose the right camera for you needs. You'll see a counterpoint on this subject between Mike and a reader on his blog.I have to confess that after an entire day looking and handling cameras from the above mentioned 4 manufacturers the most important thing I leaned is that I barely have a clue as to what the determining factors of an effective vide

Here are the classes I've attended over the last 3 DaysSunday Classes    Keyframing in Avid    Understanding Podcast Metrics    Long Form editing in Avid (Documentary Production)    Main Title Design for Film and Video (in After Effects)    Mastering Media Management for Avid EditorsMonday Classes    Emerging Web 2.0  Technologies    (walked the show, saw Panasonic)    Broadcast Worfkow on Avid (Documentary Production again)Tuesday Classes    In Depth PS CS3 for Video    In Depth Color Correction in Avid    Looked at XD Cam at Sony    Blender at Lowell - blenderlights.comColor Correction and Avid Production. Lots of on lighting in earlier classesI'm just giving a quick overview of my state of mind and the classes and show booths I've seen. I've included a superficial comparison between Sony's XD CAM and Panasonics HVX200 and newer HPX 170 (arriving sometime in the summer) Also info about the new AVC Panasonic.Please excuse the pops, I chose not to rerecord so I could get this out quickly.

The week before I took off for Vegas and NAB, I got in some shooting, in particular on my documentary.I began my film project by shooting two interviews, one at the Wesleyan Potters, a craft coop and the other of a professional potter at Birch Mountain Pottery. Both shoots gave me trouble with the lighting, but overall I got a lot of good footage and excellent sound bites.I also dedicated my weekend to handling the lighting on a classmates film, John.

In this show I'm talking about the classes I attended and some general commentary about Las Vegas.Here are the sessions I sat in on, check out the full scheduleFriday Seminars  Fast Start with Apple Color  Digital Video Production: LightingSaturday Seminars  Practical Triming for FCP  How to build a blog to support your podcast  Making a living off of your podcast  Under Podcast Metrics  Effective Documentary Production

I thought I'd pass on a few notes and travel tips as I make my way to Las Vegas for NAB.

Lots of episodes this week and not a lot of time to write notes.In this show I run down the film project status of each person in class. I also managed to get in two days of shooting for my own film and I try to describe the lighting work I did over the weekend for John's film.

Projects are accelerating A classmate, John is in the lead with his film project. He has a shoot on the weekend and I'm handling the lights.     We've done a lot of planning, but due to unknown space restrictions, and a lot of unknown unknowns, we're going to have to play it by ear as far as framing and lighting are concerned. There's going to be lots of communication back and forth between the DP and lighting Tuesday we discussed our shooting schedules in class. I'm scheduled to shoot Thursday and Friday. What a relief to have something to shoot before I go to Las Vegas. One week left, let me know what you would like me to report about NAB