The video is amazing. It was produced by the talented folks that I am blessed to work with at DTS. The audio is a mix of two interviews. One was record by Jim Hoover at an advancement event. The other audio was recorded by a phone interview. (Yes, it sounds like a phone interview – but we couldn’t fly on this gig)
Josh Groft (Producer) and Ryan Holmes (Production Manager and Compositor) came up with the idea of the look of the video. Josh edit the audio to make the story and together they found still images of the TVs. Ryan through this magical skills, animated the entire piece in After Effects. And of course our audio genius Jonathan Galloway (Audio Engineer) created the beautiful audio. Some of the background tracks were given to us from Deuce’s production company.
For the past few months I have been looking at Sony’s XDCam Ex (PMW-EX1) I find the camera intriguing because it is the first camera that I have ever seen to include 1/2″ chips at under $10K.
A closer look at the camera reveals a few features that continue to turn heads:
Solid state memory (ie flash drives) SxS memory cards
HDSDI output (it does include timecode and audio in the feed – take note Canon)
Small frame size
Full raster 1920 x 1080 (no funny math here)
Switchable 1080i or 720p recording formats with multiple frame recording capability such as 50i, 59.94i, 50p, 59.94p and native 25P, 29.97p and 23.98P
WOW factor because it is just cool
We saw a demo at the Dallas Final Cut Pro user group about a month ago and I was sold. I’ve been reading about it and asking a few peers that have used it and decided it would be a good fit for a gig I am working on. I have ordered two (for a client ) and will let you know how it turns out.
For more information, check out the details on Sony’s website.
We are requesting a demo unit from a local vendor so we can test it with our AJA IOHD.
I continue to champion the cause of HD for ministry. I cannot recommend anyone by an SD camera unless your budget is less than $200. In that case you shouldn’t be in video production anyway.
About 3 weeks ago I went the dermatologist to have them look at a spot on my back. My wife thought it looked weird so we had it viewed by a professional. The Dr. didn’t like it either and decided to cut it off. While leaving her office I told her that I felt like I was leaving piece of me with her…
A few days later the pathology report showed that it was malignant melanoma. The next week I returned and they took out a much bigger chunk. I left with 10 stitches and I got to see a piece of me in a jar – that is always a weird experience.
Last week they removed my stitches and informed me that the latest pathology report showed that it has been “completely removed”. This is an answer to prayer and a huge relief. Needless to say I’ve been a bit preoccupied with this over the past month and have neglected blogging on any of my sites. Sorry for the silence but sometimes real life takes over.
We are searching for the copyright to have a movie night on the seminary campus. CVLI offers this kind of licensing for churches, but can’t offer the same license for seminaries. The license that they offer for churches is very good. It covers most producers and gives the church freedom to show movies in their entirety or clips. (You can’t edit them – just show them) They do have a license for seminaries but the list of producers is very small. It doesn’t cover Disney, Sony, Paramount, Dreamworks – and many of the other major producers.
Jim, my cohort, started calling other schools. Apparently a company called Swank Motion Pictures offers a “pay per use” license. This is great! If we want to play a movie we can contact them with the details. We give them the name of the movie and the estimated attendance numbers. They will negotiate the rights and get us the media. Technically the DVDs from the movie store (and Walmart/ Best Buy) are for home use only (FBI warning). They will license us a copy that can be played in a public venue.
The prices are approximately $350 – $650 per title. This is very reasonable for a public showing of a video. They also have access to “pre-release” titles. This would include videos that are no longer in the theater but have not yet been released for home use. They also have access to HD DVDs and BlueRay discs.
We are also looking into Criterion Pictures. They too have a subscription service (like CVLI), but their producer list is much larger. They don’t carry ever video or even some of the biggest blockbusters, but they do carry many.
We often think about backup equipment. What would we do if a projector bulb blew. Is there another on the shelf? If the laptop died, do I have a copy of my presentation that I could put on another machine?
Tonight I had to fill in for a person. He received a call that his father was dieing. He has been battling cancer and he had to go.
So, I step in to run a video conferencing class. Now this is not traditional ministry media, but it is a ministry and it does have buttons. So, I’m on the hotseat trying to get all of this to run.
How prepared are we for loosing a person? Do we know the passwords and the secret tricks to keep the stuff running? I had to copy some settings from his laptop to mine before he left. And if he wasn’t able to give me the passwords – I would have been sunk.
For a few years I worked a church where only one sound guy knew everything. This wasn’t by design – it was by necessity. There were just too many things to know. He didn’t have time to write them down. And no matter how often I sat with him and watched his every move, he would do something or go to something that I had never seen before. He had been there for years and was irreplaceable.
The human element is irreplaceable. For contingency sake, make sure that you are at least somewhat prepared…
So you have something to say and you think the world needs to hear it? Here are the step for posting you podcast online.
Create your media. Podcasts are usually audio or video files. They have to be in a particular format (MP3, Mp4, etc…)
Find a place to put them. The world can’t download them from your personal computer. You need a place to store them where others can access and download them. Look at a Podcasting host like libsyn.com or switchpod.com
Create your Feed. Podcasts are a list of items for download. These lists (RSS feeds) are written in code. But no worries, you don’t have to become a code monkey in order to do this. The podcasting services (listed above) have an easy to use interface. You can upload your media, set name and descriptive information, and they will take care of the rest.
Promote your Podcast. Tell the world about it – because you already put in the effort. If you don’t share the love – no one will ever know.
Remember, creating a website without marketing is like tossing one copy of your business card in the Wal Mart parking lot. The likelihood that the right person will pick it up is slim. You need to tell the world about it. Email it to your friends, get it in the search engines – and if it is a podcast – get it posted in itunes.
I’ve seen it so many times. A technical distraction takes the speaker into a different world. I remember filming a class when a professor’s laptop died. He forgot his power supply and ran it off the battery. When his laptop shut off, so did he.
He couldn’t operate with out it. He didn’t even know where he was in the lecture. What have I covered? What’s next?
Today in my presentation my Keynote crashed. I restarted it and it crashed again. The giggling students in the back were real encouraging. I would have been laughing too. I restarted the computer and it crashed again. Why?
I am still a believer in Keynote and my experience has been much better than PowerPoint. This is the first time that Keynote has caused this problem for me. PowerPoint did this to me more often than not. And usually when it died, it took the computer down with it.
I don’t know if I kept my cool and I don’t remember if it threw me off. Unfortunately we video tapes the event and I will have a record of my mistakes.
What have a I learned? Preparation must take into account contingency. Do I know my presentation well enough to run without it? Am I versed enough in the topic to handle it alone? Can I troubleshoot my laptop and get it back up and running without interrupting the class? Do I have a backup system?
Tonight I will present the same material. I will spend a few hours with my system beforehand trying to troubleshoot the problem. I will probably also have a second laptop on hand.
I remember when I sat through the same presentation seven years ago. The puppets and slide projectors are now collecting dust as we strive to present modern tools in creating rich media presentations.
Our goal is not to dazzle anyone – I can’t do that. We do want to challenge you to look at your audience and speak in their language. Don’t be scared to try something new and know when to ask for help.
I am using keynote for my presentation tomorrow and I am very impressed.
Now I’m not a rookie in Keynote, but I did convert a 50+ slide PowerPoint into Keynote. The transition was seamless and editing the presentation is so much easier.
Most of the images that I am using have a background. But with Keynote I can use the “instant alpha” feature to remove the background. I have successfully ran this on most of the images and the entire presentation looks better.
I am using a Keynote template from KeynotePro.com and it looks great.
It drives me CRAZY to see churches that spend so much time and energy on their Sunday services – only to offer it to those who are in the building!
Podcasting is so easy and affordable that there is no excuse! Record your service on a computer, convert it into an MP3 or MP4 – and post it online. I know that on a mac, this process can be completed in a very short time. Here is an example of what we shoot at DTS.
For the past few months I have been looking at Sony’s XDCam Ex (PMW-EX1) I find the camera intriguing because it is the first camera that I have ever seen to include 1/2″ chips at under $10K.
) and will let you know how it turns out.
Today in my presentation my Keynote crashed. I restarted it and it crashed again. The giggling students in the back were real encouraging. I would have been laughing too. I restarted the computer and it crashed again. Why?
