Videocracy Blog

New Podcast worth checking out for all those interested in video…

Larry Jordan, Final Cut Pro Guru, is doing a really well one video podcast called Digital Production Buzz HD Video Podcast…and he just gives a lot of cool tips and tricks for anyone working in video…

Another good an informative tool from Larry Jordan…

Check it out on iTunes…

Interesting tid bit that I just learned from one of these podcasts…

Never, run audio lines near power cables…beacuse when they run parallel the electromagnetic force created by the AC current leaks into your audio, which then causes hum…and if they do need to cross…cross them at right angles…

I actually didn’t know that…but now I do…Thanks Larry Jordan.

I just read a blog, which was featured on IMDB.com…

Interesting blog, a guy is making a film using numbers…each number is submitted by different people, artists and non artists a like…and he says that it can be of any medium, and anything you want, it can be as simple as a number written on a piece of paper with a crayon…and he’s going to be collecting these numbers for 1 year…and see how many people contribute…

He gives a email address for how you can contribute, so I sent him an email and hopefully I’ll get a number that will then be included in the film…who knows…

Check out this blog for more info…

Help him out if you can…it’s a great way to get involved in a really neat project.

http://counthigh.com/?page_id=9

Local television in Wisconsin has began displaying a countdown until the analog to digital conversion changeover that’s happening in February 2009. The countdown appears in the top of the screen, as of today April 8th 2008 we have 391 days…

Convenient yes…but do we really wanna see a countdown for another year? Probably not, the countdown was accompanied by text that explained what the countdown is, and where to get more info. Which would be www.DTV2009.com…

And I also wrote at one time about the coupons being issued for the Converter boxes, I received those in the mail last week, but I haven’t had a chance to open them, or get caught up with my mail…so expect a blog post when I learn more about those…

This is a really interesting topic that I personally have been following since I heard about it two years ago. It’s becoming a reality now…

I just heard about this HD Camera, known as the Phantom HD…it can shoot 1000 frames per second, which is ultra slow motion…

Check out some of these YouTube videos giving an example of it’s capabilities:

A ball bearing through a wine glass

A wet dog shaking off

Pretty neat stuff, there’s a lot of videos on youtube showing what the Phantom HD can do, but there’s also a lot of cool videos just shot in super slow motion…

More info on the Phantom HD can be found here - http://www.visionresearch.com/index.cfm?sector=htm/files&page=camera_HD_new

I was working with Final Cut Pro no less then 4 days ago, and today I made an attempt to capture footage from tape, and it caused FCP to crash…I ran through different scenarios and problem solving techniques, and I came up with the same solution, nothing…

I got a little help from the Final Cut Pro forums, but for the most part I still came up empty handed…

I finally called Apple Tech Support and a guy named Shaun listened to my problem, and told me that his best guess is that I Delete my User Preferences.  To which I thought sounded kinda odd, but he said give it a try…

At this point I was willing to try anything, so he sent me a document on how to do just that…and I ran through the process step by step, and low and behold…it worked!  I’m now in the process of capturing footage…

I can’t explain it, I don’t understand it…but something about that process actually worked…

So if anyone else has the same problem, give it a try…the only thing you have to lose is your custom layouts, and your capture presets…and how long does that take to get back, a half hour?

Here’s a link to the document that Shaun sent me…Thanks Shaun.

http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n302337

So after many hours of research, studying, and well practice…

I passed the Final Cut Pro Certification Exam…

I drove down to Villa Park, Illinois to the Mac Specialists store and they administered the test, I was allowed 1 hour 30 minutes…and I finished in 45 Minutes…

80 % is passing and I passed with Flying colors…

Very exciting stuff…I’m now eligible to join the Apple Certification Alliance, and they will be sending me my “diploma” soon…

Very exciting stuff…and I’m glad I did it…

I’ve always been under the assumption to get a good “film look” while shooting video is to use the 24p setting on your camera, assuming your camera can shoot 24p.  For those who don’t know 24p is 24 frames per second, progressive.  Meaning it shoots one whole picture as opposed to lines up and down throughout the image as it would be with interlaced.

I knew that 24p was the first step if you want to one day print your video to film, I knew this…and I am aware of this.  When I shot my last film, I shot in 30i, (30 fps interlaced) because I knew that I was not intending to print this to film.

My assumption to using 24p to get a film look is an assumption that is shared by many I suppose.  It has been my experience that shooting on 24p will make the video look jumpy, I never noticed it too much, as my past films were always experimental and jumpy didn’t matter to me.  I just read an article that goes in to depth about 24p being a bad thing if you are trying to achieve that film look.  It gives great tips and great alternatives to get that film look without using 24p.  One of them being, shoot on 60i (60 fps interlaced) and another is to add filters and get better lighting…

It’s a pretty interesting article, that I learned a lot from…

http://www.dv.com/columns/columns_item.php?articleId=196603851

Here’s in interesting look at the difference between technology today, and 20 years ago…

It’s pretty neat to see how much better technology has gotten in 20 years, and how significantly the price on technology has gone down.

I remember I had a friend who had two computers in his house, which was pretty rare back then, and my family couldn’t even afford 1 computer until I was well into High School…Now it’s so affordable to have a computer that pretty much every member of my family has their own computer, and in some cases we have two…

Interesting article worth checking out…

http://tech.msn.com/products/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=6328095

Well, today is a sad day for me, I am going to put my analog Hi-8 video camera to pasture.  I got this camera 10 years ago…from my uncle.  It was the camera that I made some of my first films on, and also my first film I made in college was shot on this camera.  It’s a Sony Handycam, I’ve done a lot with that little camera…and at the time it was pretty state of the art and pretty expensive.  Now of course it’s just big, bulky and heavy.  But I still use it from time to time to look at old Hi-8 tapes.

I pulled it out today to do some transferring of video, and the LCD screen turned completely white…and after adjusting the brightness and contrast dial on the camera it doesn’t seem to get any better.

The camera can still be hooked up to a television to view tape…but I think its days of recording new video are over with…

My Super 8 camera that my dad gave me was put out to pasture about 3 years ago, and now it lives in my Film and Photo archive display…which is now where this little camcorder is headed.  I can’t get rid of it…so I might as well put it on display.

I was doing some reading and the term broadcast safe has come up…or Broadcast legal…and it occurred to me, that even though I’ve learned what this term is, I don’t really know or understand what it means.  That sparked me to look further into it’s meaning.

Broadcast Safe is enforced by the FCC or the Federal Communications Commission.  They put a regulation on how a video will look in order for it to be broadcast on television.

The requirements for NTSC (which is used in North America and various other parts of the world) are as follows.

There should be 525 Horizontal lines to the video.  Visibly this is also 480 pixels, as in 720×480, which is a standard size for video.

The frame rate should be 29.97 frames per second, which is standard for NTSC and television.  In Europe (also known as PAL standard)  it is 25 frames per second.

The resolution should be 720×480 which I stated above.

The Black levels should be at 7.5 IRE for NTSC - What this is, is a setup to properly make your blacks look right.  If they are set up too dark, then they become one massive lump of black instead of showing the necessary detail.

and the White levels are 75% Intensity - The amount of intensity of the white can actually take over the television signal, and not only cause the image to distort, but interestingly the audio will distort as well.  If the whites are TOO white, it will cause an ugly pattern on your television screen, and your audio will buzz like a fly.

These settings are set up so that you get the best image possible on the television screen, and it will help prevent it from varying the picture from one TV to the next.

I hope that helps you it, as much as it did me…