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Recent Posts
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- Holi in Bangladesh
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- A Few Words About My Father
- The Sky is NOT Always Blue in California
- “Artisans” documentary series – final (?) episode
- Every Day is a Surprise. Also, People are A$$h0Le5. (part 2)
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Category Archives: Video Shooting, Editing and Production
Fair Use in Online Video
I just received my periodic newsletter from American University’s Center for Social Media, and was reminded of an excellent talk I heard last year by its director, Pat Aufderheide. She started off by explaining that the purpose of copyright was … Continue reading
Easy Ways to Improve Sound in Your Videos
You could go out and spend a wad of cash on all the latest high-tech sound recording equipment money can buy. Or you can do some easy things that will go a long way toward improving the sound quality of … Continue reading
Posted in Sound Effects for Video, Tips and Tricks
Tagged mic, microphone, quality, sound, sound quality, wind
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The Blackbirds Came Back – Wildlife Videography
I was pretty excited about the opportunity to do a little more “wildlife photography” in my back yard. The blackbird pair that I featured in the video “Learning to Fly” came back for another brood. I saw one of them … Continue reading
Underwater Videography
I posted a few weeks ago about having to “make do” with a still camera to do underwater “video-“graphy – and then using photoshop and effects to make it look less like a slideshow. Well this time I made it … Continue reading
Video Contest for Kids
Looking for something productive for the kids to do until school starts again? Check out the Write it, Film it video contest being sponsored by Reading Rockets. The contest web site reads: ‘Central casting’ at AdLit.org and Reading Rockets is … Continue reading
Too much time on your hands? Try this at home!
So my kids tell me this is SO last week, but I thought this video was HILARIOUS – somehow genius and somehow disturbing that this is what some people do in their spare time: Technology has brought the internet to … Continue reading
Posted in Music for Video, Random Thoughts, Observations and Weird Stuff
Tagged autotune, mashup, news, remix
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“Life in a Day” – YOUR chance to be in a movie!
For those of you who haven’t noticed the odd redesign of the YouTube logo, Ridley Scott and Kevin MacDonald are running a one-day, global experiment that asks YOU to tell them about your day on July 24, 2010. This is … Continue reading
Underwater Videography
Last Christmas, I ordered my daughter a last-minute Christmas gift, paying for “guaranteed” delivery by Christmas. It was a waterproof cover for her Flip HD camera – and the timing was important because we were headed to Hurghada, Egypt, for … Continue reading
Posted in Random Thoughts, Observations and Weird Stuff, Video Editing
Tagged best, biology, camera, cheap, coral, cover, Egypt, fish, Flip, inexpensive, marine, red sea, sea, underwater, waterproof
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Videomaker offering Webinars
Videomaker has a helpful web site and magazine chock full of video editing tips and new product reviews; they are nice enough to condense all the latest news into a handy weekly email – one of the few “marketing” emails I … Continue reading
Telling a story in video
The cool thing about all this technology is that now anyone can create just about anything and share it with everyone else. Most of it goes unnoticed by the vast majority, but that’s not why most of us create. Most … Continue reading
Posted in Tips and Tricks, Video Editing
Tagged drama, elements, plot, story, storytelling, video
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Make a Video…about fonts?
It’s interesting to browse the video contests different companies are hosting, via sites like onlinevideocontests.com. The contests to make ads for companies are not only a good way for companies to get new ideas and approaches, they can also help … Continue reading
New Music
I created some more music. Feel free to download it and use it for stuff (Creative Commons / Share Alike) – all I ask is to see what gets done with it, really. Maybe eventually I’ll put this on a … Continue reading
Recording Live Concert Footage
When I was a kid, often you couldn’t take a camera into a music concert – probably they wanted to make sure they had the market cornered on posters and publicity photos back then. Now, in the days of ubiquitous … Continue reading
Posted in Tips and Tricks, Video Editing
Tagged concert, filming, live, Music for Video
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Mi35 Helicopter Sounds
I have been asked for the soundtrack-less sounds from the footage used in this video clip, showing the Afghan Air Corps firing Mi-35 helicopters last year. I wasn’t using anything beyond the built-in mic on my camera, and the firing … Continue reading
A Pair of Articles on Royalty-Free Music
Videomaker’s free online magazine published a couple of great articles which, in combination with my earlier post on where to get royalty-free (and other low-cost or flat-fee) music to make your videos legal, is a great resource for ensuring (a) … Continue reading
Words Matter Too
Finally giving credit to the “lyricist” part of songwriting, an interesting article in today’s New York Times talks about growing interest in charging royalties for song lyrics. The article points out: For decades, printed song lyrics lived in relative obscurity, … Continue reading
Army Peer-to-Peer Safety Video Contest
Good news and bad news – my entry to the US Army Combat Readiness / Safety Center’s video contest was approved, but so were a load of others! The contest has been running since October, but like most video contests, … Continue reading
Posted in Tips and Tricks, Video Contests, Video Editing, Video Effects
Tagged Army, blue-screen, chroma key, contest, effects, peer, safety, video, virtual blue screen
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Another Reason I Love Vimeo – The Story Behind the Still
For a few months now, Vimeo has been hosting a video contest called “The Story Beyond the Still.” OK it’s hosted by Canon, but on Vimeo. It’s a wonderful mix of user-generated content and crowdsourcing, in that users are … Continue reading
Making Music on a PSP
In spite of the lengthy list of online royalty-free music sources I listed in my previous post, finding the right tune for your images can be a challenging and time-consuming process. So I’ve recently acquired some new gadgets to help … Continue reading
Posted in Music for Video
Tagged composition, gadgets, Music for Video, Playstation, PSP, Yamaha DGX-630
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The Parallax Experiment
Given that the current hot topic in home videography is “home 3-D movies” (both camcorders and screens to view them) I thought it would be appropriate to attempt making some 3-D on the “cheap.” Really cheap. I got the idea … Continue reading
Why We Create
Sometimes I find myself caught up in the creative process of editing a video to the point where it competes with other responsibilities (and pleasures) in life, and possibly borders on obsession. Sitting at the computer in the late hours … Continue reading
Animation How-To Videos
One of my discoveries this week on Vimeo was an excellent series of how-to videos by Carleton Torbin. I’m guessing he made a short film with lots of different kinds of animation, and followed up with the series of how-tos, … Continue reading
Posted in Animation, Tips and Tricks, Video Editing, Video Effects
Tagged Animation, how-to, tutorial
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Washington DC meets Bonanza
Sharing how I created a bonanza-like “unburning” credit, overlaid over several other images, with multiple chroma key or “green screen” effects – using basic home editing software and materials you can find around the house. Continue reading
Posted in Tips and Tricks, Video Editing, Video Effects
Tagged bonanza, chroma, credit, effect, fire, flame, Washington
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TimeLapse on Vimeo
I’ve been continuing to research better timelapse video, and found a great channel on Vimeo. I could sit and watch these all day! I’m concluding the best way to do landscape/nature timelapse where you may be operating in low light … Continue reading