Videocracy Blog

A friend of mine asked me and another friend what kind of camcorder he should get, and he can only spend less then 200 bucks.

Now, 5 years ago, this probably wouldn’t have gotten him anything… But I think with cell phone cameras getting better and better, and tapeless recording getting better and better. We are seeing cameras that are cheaper and smaller then they ever were. Also, with the popularity of HD increasing, things like Mini-DV… the small tapeless cameras that I just mentioned are becoming cheaper and easier to find.

I’m not sure I wrote about my small Aiptek camera that I have, but with the 1 Gb, SD card in it… I can record up to 50 Minutes of video, plus I have the ability to use it as a sound recorder, a still camera… and an MP3 player.

I just read an article today about the “Flip Camcorder” I saw these come onto the scene a few months ago, and I thought they were quite interesting… The reason they are called “Flip” is because the USB connection that goes into your computer, flips out from within the camera. Part of the reason I like this, is because I can never find my cables for transferring files (that’s why the universal card readers are also handy, just leave them plugged in…).

My friend asked me to recommend a camera for him a few months ago, and he still hasn’t gotten one yet… And the purpose of this camera, is for viral videos, something you can quickly and easily put on YouTube videos on the web… That’s exactly what my friend his hoping to do with his camera… So every time I see a new camera similar to this one, I think of him… and I’ll probably recommend this one to him as well…

Now days, not only do you get a simple camera like this to put your videos on YouTube, but there are also online video editing websites that can do simple edits for you…

Media has become a portable thing…

Here you can see the Flip Camera…

Amazon
Here is one of those online editing websites…

Jumpcut

I just read today, that the Netflix boxes that I previously wrote about are sold out… The company that makes them, have sold out of their entire stock of set top boxes.

Great article worth sharing about choosing a Microphone…

http://www.dv.com/features/features_item.php?articleId=196604109

It includes a chart with a listing of Microphone options…what mic to use, for what situation…

Here’s an interesting video, it’s a glimpse into how Short films are seen by distributors at the Cannes Film Festival…

Comes from an interesting site too… www.FilmSpecific.com

http://www.filmspecific.com/public/658.cfm

I saw something I’ve never seen before, a new form of intrusive advertising…

I was watching a TV show yesterday, and an ad for a different show appeared at the bottom of the screen. And I’ve noticed that as time goes on, these ads have gotten increasingly larger, and in this particular case… the ad overtook the entire screen, and I couldn’t even see what was happening. And then to make matters worse, the ad actually “Paused” the show I was watching, and made an announcent about their own show. Basically the ad popped up, a character from the show from the ad, used a remote to “Pause” the show you are watching, make an announcement…and then the show commenced.

I’m sure the people at the network found this clever… but I found it obtrusive, and obnoxious. This is why I don’t watch television… because there are too many advertisements.

Do you rent?