I’ve noticed a number of the flowers here in Namibia open and close daily. Especially some of the succulents and cacti. What that means is that if I want to do timelapse videography I can try and record every day until I get it right. Unfortunately some of the succulents flower only one day, which means I have to know when they’re going to open because I only get one shot.
I did these timelapses using my iPad and the app TimeLapse Camera HD. It’s a couple weeks’ worth of setting the iPad up on my way out to work in the morning. Luckily it doesn’t rain much here! The down side is being limited to the battery life of the iPad – it may be worth trying with an extension cord.
They’ve got video games for folks who like just about everything: golf, team sports, fishing, hunting, horseys, shooting bad guys, flinging birds from giant slingshots…
Now there’s a game for folks who like editing videos. Instead of actually editing videos, you can play a video game where you edit pretend videos.
Seriously, the game Warco by Defiant Development is a new kind of war game: instead of using a machine gun to spray down hordes of enemy troops, your job is now to film the action as a war correspondent. And then, using the “film” you’ve captured (I assume avoiding enemy bullets is still an issue), you must use your editing and storytelling skills to create a compelling narrative for the TV news.
One of the most original takes I’ve seen on the “first person shooter” genre, I’m interested to see how this does on the market. The “war correspondent sim” will reportedly place the player in different scenarios involving different issues, often with ethical or moral implications. As someone who has been closely involved with this sort of thing, I’m interested to see how that aspect is handled.
Although there is no release date, the company has released a video showing game play. This will soon be joined by many more, as the game reportedly will allow players to post their “news stories” from the game online.
What happens when you depict a microloan as a tiny speck of light on a world map, going from one country to another? And then you multiply that by 620,000 lenders and 615,000 borrowers who were microfinanced via the innovative organization Kiva (kiva.org)?
Check out this creation by Kiva on Vimeo which depicts five+ years of Kiva activity. According to one of the creators,
It was done with PHP using GD libraries… unfortunately, it wasn’t as simple as just running some software to do it automatically. The engineers who worked on it wrote all the code to create the images then used Amazon’s Elastic Cloud service to do all the rendering of the frames. It was a massive amount of data to process!
Today we came across the largest “digging scorpion” I’ve seen so far – about 3.5 inches or so from “nose” to tail. They burrow down in our garden, and this one apparently decided to burrow down into our pool. Apparently 1.5 meters of chlorinated water is no big deal for a scorpion, as he was walking around the bottom of our pool.
So to be sure, we hauled him out:
Nasty looking creatures, but we’re all about “live and let live” so we released him. Far away from our garden.
For years, I’ve been editing with versions of Adobe Premiere and Premiere Elements, and the one complaint I’ve always had is its tendency to lock up on most computers. The exception has been my old desktop running XP with 512 MB memory – but even there, I’ve got to restart the computer after I finish editing and before I begin rendering. And the rendering takes HOURS.
So the guy who makes the customer videos at the sandboarding vendor in Swakopmund, Namibia suggested Sony Vegas (I bought Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum Production Suite for $124.95). And although I hate having to relearn new software, the tutorial videos they provided got me through the worst of it. The render time is much, much faster. It does take some time to start up – mainly to re-import any videos that may be included in a working project file. But once I got it running, it remained relatively stable. Not 100%, but relatively. The only issue is it took 5 tries with different settings before I could get a working video file. I got several that either wouldn’t open, played black video with no sound, or just sound, but if you’re like me and running editing software on a computer that cost you less than $750, this provided excellent results and includes lots of features. In theory you can produce video at 1920 HD resolution (but in my case it was black) or for blu-ray (which I didn’t test) but in this case I made a 5-minute video clip at 720 x 480, which did come to a surprisingly high 1.19 GB overall. It took about 45 minutes to render.
My first project was created from footage of sandboarding. That’s where you hike up a sand dune wearing snowboarding boots and carrying a snowboard, and then ride it down like it’s snow. Pretty fun by the way, and good exercise. Check it out.
Spring is definitely in the air in Namibia. At least that’s what my daughter tells me – she informed me that September 1 was “spring day”. Apparently in South Africa and Namibia, it’s not the 21st that heralds the coming of spring, but the 1st of September. And given the weather these days, it’s not a moment too soon!
But it’s not just the schoolchildren that herald the coming of spring (apparently Spring Day is the one day of the year they don’t have to wear their school uniforms). Dotting the hillsides surrounding Windhoek, white blossoms have begun appearing on trees that otherwise are bare twigs – the blossoms precede the leaves. I’m not sure what kind of tree – I think it’s some sort of “false thorn” (Albizia) but they are everywhere and it looks amazing.
From a distance, it looks like these are traditional blossoms. Technically, they are – but they are shaped like little fuzzballs. Take a closer look:
What’s that object to the left of the blossom? Let’s fiddle around with the focus:
If you go back to the original photo you can also see the moon just above the tree.
So spring has sprung in Windhoek, and now we are patiently waiting for the “rainy season” due in just a few short weeks. For as they say, “October showers bring November flowers”….or something like that.
To close out this post, here’s one more version of the original photo, using a “soft black and white” effect:
For my latest video, I noticed I had gradually been collecting random footage of “micro-wildlife” I have come across while working in my new garden here in Windhoek. One of the creatures I had been continually running across is the millipede. These guys are everywhere, coiled up under the soil, perhaps waiting for cool weather or rainy season. They feed on decaying plant matter, so I guess they spend most of their time underground. Apparently they are born with three pairs of legs, but every time they molt they add more – and can grow up to 8 inches long.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to try and get them very close up, to show the detail of these fascinating (ick) creatures. But no matter which camera I used, it would get blurry once I got close up like I wanted. So I attached a loupe to a Flip camera. which ended up working pretty well. A loupe is one of those handle-less magnifying lenses used by jewelers for example.
It would have been better if I had used the Flip’s zoom (2X) as well, and depth of field was a bit of a problem (keeping all parts of the critter in focus simultaneously) but here is the result. The thumbnail below is a standard Flip camera view, and you can see the blurring. Watch the video to see the loupe view.
I’d like to try this as a time lapse, by using a loupe in conjunction with the iPad, but I haven’t found the right subject. We have some cactus flowers and succulent flowers that open and close every day, but again, depth of field is a problem.
The “dassie” or rock hyrax, lives everywhere here in Windhoek. Driving down my street after work, I’ll see them sitting in groups of 2 or 3 at every sewer opening along the road. They disappear with a splash when I get closer – but apparently feel no fear whatsoever when approached by our 120-pound dog.
There are 3 “dassies” in the photo above. Their closest living relative is apparently the elephant.
The security industry is booming in Windhoek, Namibia. Also, in our neighborhood, it’s a rare home that does not have a dog on the premises (although there is also the occasional waddling overweight dachshund who is clearly not there for security). Some folks, however, take a different approach to security. Fortunately, WE have a mongoose living in our yard.
Here’s another attempt at using the iPad 2 and the TimeLapse HD app to create a timelapse video. This one consists of stills taken every 5 seconds from a rooftop in Windhoek, Namibia. There is a bit of flicker toward the end as the ipad adjusts to the changing lighting. I’ll have to see whether there is a way to shut that off.
As I continue to look for ways to make my iPad useful beyond being a lightweight web browser / game console, I came across a handy app for creating timelapse videos: the aptly named Timelapse Camera HD. This elegant and simple app lets you set an interval between photos, the frame rate, choose front or rear camera, and several other settings. You put your iPad in place – this is actually the trickiest part, as you can’t zoom and may find that even a light breeze will jiggle the iPad – and simply tap the “record” button. While it’s recording, you can occupy yourself calculating how much footage you’ll be getting (by knowing how many frames per second you’re recording, and calculating how many seconds you’ll end up with based on your interval). When you’re done, you tap “stop” and in just a few seconds, the app will render a finished video which you can immediately review, and then save.
Since you’re likely to want a video that’s landscape-oriented, it’s important to turn your iPad on its side. The stills will show up sideways during the recording process, but in the end everything turns out fine.
The down side of the app is that you can’t export it to Windows Movie Maker for further editing. I also tried Adobe Premiere Elements, and while the file seems to import successfully, it ends up corrupted within the editor. I assume it works seamlessly on iMovie or other mac-based editing programs. So to string together a series of short clips (and edit out the parts where I might have inadvertently moved the iPad) I used the separate iMovie app for the iPad. iMovie has its own limitations, but for $4.99, it’s hard to complain.
Also, it makes a difference whether you’re using the front or rear camera – one records in wide format, while the other records in standard. I assumed they’d be the same, and used front or rear depending on whether it would be easier to lean the iPad toward, or away from the scene being recorded.
I recorded a few scenes in and around Washington, D.C. and here is the result:
The countdown is on. Three weeks until I’m cruising down the runway, bound for Namibia for a couple of years. What I’m hoping to experience:
Okaukuejo [in Etosha National Park] has become world-famous. it is conveniently situated on the edge of the rest camp, separated only by a stone wall and overlooked by a paved promenade dotted with trees and benches. Visitors need not even leave the camp to partake of the drama of the bush, and even at night can sit, theatre-style, gazing upon the floodlit arena which hosts all manner of animals, each in turn making its way to the water to quench its thirst.
The lons too are aware of the procession, and as the sun subsides in scarlet splendour, make their own entrance to the scene. Giraffes shuffle nervously in the background, and apparently decide they will drink some other time, tomorrow perhaps. Kudu and springbok turn away, thirsty. And a lone wildebeest canters crazily into the distance. We shiver involunvarily, excited, for lions have that effect. Two male lions, shaggy-maned, sleek and sinuous, crouchto drink while four lionesses and a lone cub drape themselves in golden languor at the base of a gaunt, long-dead leadwood tree.
After a while the roars abate, and peace settles uneasily over the water. Four elephants arrive, disdainful of the dozing lions, and in silence set about satisfying their thirst. The lion cub, about eight months old, stares in fascination, but stays close to the adults. Jackals scurry through the gloom and a pair of dikkops pipe in the night, their musical pi-pi-pi-peeuw-peeuw-peeuw-pi-pi-pi in sharp contrast to the fearsome roars of moments before. Then silently from out of the darkness appear two shapes, prehistoric images, relics of a million years past. Perhaps their ancestors knew Etosha in the days when desert was sea? Black rhinos! Gingerly almost, as if fully aware of the threat to their kind, the cow and her half-grown calf make their way to the water, stare short-sightedly about for some seconds, and then drink.
We sit silently, in awe, and watch. Lions, elephants and black rhinoceros together at one waterhole on our first night in Etosha. The dream is real. –Etosha, by Daryl and Sharna Balfour
I also hope to see the kinds of breathtaking views like these I came across on Flickr. I hope you’ll tune in from time to time to see how I do:
Memorial Day weekend, Washington, D. C., an overcast sky that doesn’t quite suggest the scorchingly hot day ahead. Standing on the DC side of the Memorial Bridge at noon with an expectant crowd along the barriers and covering the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and a faint rumble can be heard from the direction of Arlington National Cemetery, on the other side of the Potomac.
Soon a phalanx of police motorcycles comes rumbling over the bridge and around the corner. Followed by another. Then nothing for about 5 minutes. A formation of US Air Force fighters flies by overhead, in tight formation, with roars of approval from the crowd. Silence. Then a formation of geese flies by overhead, almost in parody of the Air Force – and again the crowd roars with applause and laughter.
At about 6 minutes past noon, the next motorcycles roar around the corner in what will eventually become a 3-hour-long continuous “parade” of bikes of all types, some festooned with American flags, Marine Corps flags, and POW/MIA flags. This is the twenty-fourth running of “Rolling Thunder” – an event that began with 2,500 Vietnam veteran riders to bring attention to the plight of prisoners of war and those missing in action. Now it has swelled to 250,000 motorcycles, coming from as far away as California and beyond, a gesture of unity and support, not just for POW/MIA, but also for veterans in general.
Many of the riders are clearly veterans, but everyone is clearly welcome. From the most tricked-out Harleys and luxury motorcycles – many of which are more of a car than my own auto – to an occasional city scooter, this is an impressive show of support for a small slice of the American population that often falls between the cracks. The dull roar and waves to the crowd continue nonstop as the riders make their way around the far end of the National Mall, finally ending up in an endless motorcycle parking lot near the Korean War Memorial. From there, many of the riders will take the opportunity to visit the Vietnam Memorial – to remember, to reflect, and to pay their respects to their fellow countrymen who gave everything for a war that took place years ago, but remains firmly burned into the national consciousness.
America continues to heal the wounds of the Vietnam War, even as we continue to fight two – or three – others. The inevitable comparison is made, of course. But politics aside, events like these are an opportunity to think about the sacrifices that are made by such a small proportion of our population. Take a moment to thank a veteran. And never forget.
It’s said that combat duty consists of long periods of boredom interspersed by brief moments of terror. In Kabul, Afghanistan, it tends to be long, tedious work hours, interspersed with sleep. In this environment, maintaining one’s sanity often leads to skimping a bit on sleep in order to have some “personal time” – whether it’s working out, reading, playing video games – something.
For eleven guys from five nations, that personal time has come in the form of making music. For the past six months, vinnie031’s YouTube channel has been cranking out videos of their jam sessions by “Kabul Unplugged”, or, later, the “Backfills”. While they suffer from poor acoustics (virtually all of the indoor spaces in Kabul are bare-walled containers or stone buildings), they do show a group of guys with a talent for knocking out challenging harmonies accompanied by a variety of instruments. My favorites are these – covers of the Pogues’ “Dirty Old Town” and Indigo Girls’ “Closer to Fine.” Check ’em out:
At some point, these guys, who also write original music, came up with the idea of recording a full-length CD that would benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. Vince Yznaga’s website describes in detail how they came up with the project and gives brief bios on those who collaborated, and admits that the sound is a bit “rough”:
“Tracks in the dust isn’t a polished studio album that was produced, mastered, and packaged for the public. It is a raw creation; the work of eleven servicemen and civilians inAfghanistan from five different nations, who relax and pass the little free time they have by making music. There are many styles on this album, it does not fit neatly into any cubby hole of classification. But please listen; listen to the voices and sounds of those who spend their lives in the service of others.”
But given limited resources and facilities, the guys have managed to sacrifice hours and hours of sleep into a worthwhile project that will hopefully improve the lot of their fellow military personnel. Looking back on the tenth Memorial Day during the conflict in Afghanistan, I know there are a lot of folks who look for ways they can give back to some of the folks who have sacrificed so much to serve their countries. Tracks in the Dust: Songs from Afghanistan is one such way. It’s only a few bucks.
Just when you thought that inane “Friday” song by Rebecca Black had finally made the rounds, here it is again – in Chinese! And I have to admit, when you hear it like this, it’s not half bad. Watch thru to the end for the bloopers. I’m told this version has a thick Taiwanese accent, but what do I know?
The Boston Herald describes his latest release as the “album is the kind of hyperliterate pop-inflected singer-songwriter outing that went out of style when Warren Zevon died. He can write a hook that could make angels weep.” The Boston Globe: “Think ‘storyteller’ with a literary, cinematic, intellectual bent.”
I had never heard of Rob Morsberger when he stepped onto the stage as the opening act for Crash Test Dummies – barefoot, wearing jeans and a muted Hawaiian shirt, and a straw hat with the brim turned upward. He smiled at the silent audience in the half-filled coffeehouse, and then laughed, “You guys are so quiet…” Then he began to play the electric piano, singing a plaintive, heartfelt melody, tapping out the rhythm with his bare foot. For about 4 minutes, he seemed to be lost in himself, and then emerged to polite applause. I was hooked.
On Rob Morsberger’s website, he describes himself as having “rightfully drawn comparisons to Tom Waits, Rufus Wainwright, Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson and Warren Zevon (mixed with a touch of Randy Newman’s absurdist wit). I can hear Rufus Wainwright, but as for me, I heard him alternately channeling Elvis Costello and XTC’s Andy Partridge – both, coincidentally a couple of my favorite songwriters and lyricists. I managed to capture some of it on film, but the videos from his own YouTube channel are much superior in quality. See if you can hear what I heard in this tune, which Morsberger introduced at length, but eventually admitted, “I just wanted a song that incorporated the phrase ‘I’m still here, you bastards'”:
With a string of film and TV soundtrack credits, Morsberger has clearly been around for some time; hopefully commercial success purely on the basis of his music is in his future. I was definitely convinced. Check him out!
I had the opportunity to catch the Crash Test Dummies the other night at Jammin’ Java – a cool little coffee house/restaurant/bar. Best known for Brad Roberts’ distinctive bass baritone voice, they had a few pretty big hits including “Mmm mmm mmm mmm” and hauled in 14 Grammy nominations in the 90’s. Then a number of band members left to pursue their own projects and Roberts took a few years off. As in six.
But they’ve got a couple of new albums out now. You can hear sounds from both on their website – scroll down to the bottom to see what’s playing. Oooh La-la is a new studio album with Brad Roberts and Ellen Reid from the original lineup, and a whole host of other musicians, described by Roberts as “very accomplished, high-priced players and arrangers have volunteered to play on it for free, just because they think it is extremely unique”. And it is pretty unique; and good, I think – well worth the price. The other album is a collection of demos Roberts dug up from 1996-7 – recordings rejected by their recording company – called “Demo-litions.” When I chatted with Roberts after the show, he said he was curious what people would think of it. Personally, I think it’s certainly interesting and has its charms and a couple of good melodies, but some of the tunes are a bit tricky to relate to, and…strange. Maybe it’ll grow on me, but for now I’ll say that Demo-litions is probably of interest to die-hard fans and collectors, but likely not of general interest. Do have a listen on their web site – Oooh La-la is definitely a keeper.
So what about the show? I’ll say up front that one of the things I like most about CTD is the strong bass and beat on “God Shuffled His Feet”, and I was a bit concerned when Roberts and Reed stepped on stage with only a guitarist (Stuart Cameron). They led off with the track “God Shuffled His Feet”, which didn’t really “work” for me without the bass, and Roberts had a bit of trouble with pitch here and there. But once they had worked out the kinks in this first song, things went much better. They slowed down (it seems to me) some of their tunes, and Cameron did a great job adding a more melodic, pensive mood that was more appropriate to the bassless, drumless sound. In a couple of cases, the “acoustic” version actually worked more for me than the original. Check out “Playing Dead”:
In addition to the variety of music which drew from all of their albums, Roberts made the show all the more enjoyable and personable with a generous amount of joking and banter between songs. Roberts’ storytelling and jokes appeared spontaneous and unscripted, and at times he had the audience rolling with laughter – at one point even making light of the amount of time his warm-up act, Rob Morsberger, had spent talking, while he himself did his best to outdo Morsberger. Somewhat self-deprecating at occasionally a bit on the raunchy side, Roberts shared with the audience the Legend of Why His Voice is so Deep:
All in all it was an excellent show. I’m not sure how Jammin’ Java manages to make ends meet with about a hundred or so of us paying 17 bucks each (and that included a warm-up act), but I suppose a bassist and a drummer would have run us another ten bucks apiece. Once I got used to the stripped down sound I enjoyed the evening and didn’t miss them a bit. I wish the Crash Test Dummies all the best in their comeback. Oooh La-la is an excellent start.
And the encore? They started with “Androgynous”, followed by Ellen Reid joking with audience members and singing a solo piece, and then…you know it:
Never heard of Charlie Hunter? Well, I hadn’t either – but he has recorded 17 albums, so the joke is on me, I guess. Last Sunday I was talked into checking out “an evening with Charlie Hunter” at Jammin’ Java, a coffee house in Vienna, Virginia – and was quite impressed. I especially like these small, intimate shows, and when the music is good, it’s bonus!
Charlie Hunter is a guitarist – but not your ordinary guitarist. Instead of your typical six-string, he plays one with seven strings. Used to be eight, apparently – he removed one because his hands are small and he rarely played the eighth. Of the seven that remain, three are bass and four are guitar strings. With these, he plays a bass line, rhythm, and melody – all at the same time. As a result, between him and drummer Eric Kalb, you get what pretty much sounds like a complete band. It’s hard to hear unless you use headphones or have good speakers, but check it out:
Charlie seemed to be a pretty good all-round and personable guy. When we drove up, he was casually outside chatting with some fans, and during the break, was talking to some teenagers about cell phones or something. After the break, he came back with some pretty energetic blues, some short samples below:
Finally, at the end, he did a really interesting piece that’s hard to describe. What I found interesting is that all the sounds he produced on this instrument seem to have been done without the aid of any effects pedal – it was simply in his manipulation of the strings. And this last piece kind of makes you wonder whether we’re even talking about a guitar anymore:
After the show, I was tempted to go and see whether they’d been hiding an extra bassist or guitarist behind the stage…
I had the opportunity to witness the Washington, DC celebrations of Osama bin Laden’s demise at the hands of US military forces. Watching the news on television, I felt it important to experience first-hand what was going on outside the White House. Here is a video I put together from the scenes there:
Strangely, despite the enthusiasm of others, I personally felt no sense of elation. This in spite of the emotionality of the events of September 11, 2001 and the change they brought to our country, and having served in numerous locations directly related to these events . These include ten trips to Afghanistan ranging from a couple of weeks to six months, between 2006 and 2011, and numerous other projects related to the so-called “War on Terror”. We had lived through painful wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, had struggled with the questions surrounding Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and constant changes in “threat warnings” – and yet for nearly a decade we had been looking for the mastermind of the attacks, questioning over the years whether we would ever catch him. And after an eloquent speech by our President, we may have found some sense of closure.
Yet there was something faintly disturbing about the celebrations. Most in the crowd were college students – who had been maybe 10 or 11 years old at the time of the attacks. The majority of their sentient lives had been lived amid the “Global War on Terror” – and they likely had little understanding of how America had changed in mood that September morning. In the wake of thousands of deaths caused by those 19 terrorists and their sponsors, here we found ourselves, in effect, celebrating the death of another, almost like you’d see people celebrating a World Cup victory. I wondered whether this is the America we were before September 11th.
I don’t begrudge others’ need to express themselves how they see fit, or judge them, whether they choose to wave flags and chant “USA, USA” – or simply to reflect on all the lives that have been lost or irrevocably damaged over the last decade. But I think it bears considering how we as a people have changed throughout all of this.
And I don’t look forward to how we will continue to grapple with the events of the last few days. Already the conspiracy theorists, and the cynics, and the critics have begun probing and questioning. No doubt we will be hearing about whether the killing of bin Laden was morally correct; whether he was actually killed as there is no body; whether his burial at sea was consistent with Islamic law, the timing of the operation in relation to the re-election campaign, and Pakistan’s role in all of this. Maybe the best thing we can do is to accept bin Laden’s death as the end of a chapter – blowing off some steam if that helps – and try as best we can to try and move forward. After all, there is much work left to be done in Afghanistan and elsewhere. While there will certainly be scars, maybe we need to try and resist continually picking at the scabs, and let the wounds caused by September 11 heal.
A week after completing his project, this video was made, in which each photo was displayed for a second, while Jonathan talks about the experience, what led him to undertake the project, and what he learned from it.
Without trying to outdo Jonathan in terms of the insights he shares, let me say that many of the photos are remarkable, and leave you wondering what events in his life preceded or followed the still shot; unfortunately, as this thought forms, the slideshow has already moved on and the moment is quickly forgotten. A video editing book by Bryce Button has a good quote on stills: “The power of a still lies in its suggestion of the moment that presaged its capture and the range of possible outcomes that follow it.” In a way, it’s a metaphor for many of our lives, in which days are often a blur. What are the events that brought me to where I am at this moment? And what are the possible outcomes that may result? Often it’s easy to forget to enjoy “today” and to get caught up too much in worrying about “tomorrow”.
A couple of weeks ago, the cherry blossoms in Washington, DC were in full bloom. The National Cherry Blossom Festival in the capital is in its 99th iteration and marks the coming of spring in a visual celebration of pink and white blossoms surrounding some of our nations most stunning and recognizable landmarks. It presents some unique photo opportunities, but requires patience due to the thousands of other people who’ve had the same idea. The festival will continue for another few days; though the springtime rain has brought down a lot of the blossoms, there are still a few events planned before it’s time to start planning for the 100th anniversary of the festival.
If you missed it this year, here are a few of the photos I managed to snap in spite of all the other tourists.
I experienced an interesting example of how the internet can bring together folks with similar needs in strange ways.
A year or so ago, in Afghanistan, I had the opportunity to observe one of the first live-fires by an Afghan pilot in a US-refurbished (Soviet-made) Mi-35 attack helicopter. For fun, I brought along my camcorder and a tripod and filmed the event and posted it on YouTube. I didn’t give it much more thought until another YouTuber contacted me and asked whether it would be possible to obtain a copy of the original audio from the film, minus the music I had added for effect. So I went back to the original files, stripped the audio, and posted them here, where they can still be downloaded. He thanked me and I moved on.
A year later, I was surprised when this individual again posted to my YouTube channel, writing, “We are using Your sound in ACE Sound Mod for almost year now. People are really amazed with it” – along with a couple of links which I checked out.
I don’t know a whole lot about gaming, but I was amazed to see that I had been given credit on the changelog by some game modders for the Arma2 PC game (near the bottom), along with this YouTube video of actual gameplay. Listen to the Polish game chatter, and from about 2:20 to 3:45, I re-encountered the Mi-35 sounds I had recorded that day outside of Kabul. Isn’t the internet great?
So while it may appear obvious to others, it turns out you can use video editing software to create music mashups. I had noticed the similarity between certain tunes and wanted to give this a try, but couldn’t bring myself to navigate the learning curve required to learn music editing software. So I took some time “between jobs” to take a stab at doing what some folks might consider a complete waste of time – creating a music mashup – but using video editing software. Specifically, Premiere Elements in this case. But most should work.
I started out thinking about how Richie Valens’ “La Bamba” and the Beatles’ “Twist and Shout” are really kinda the same song. Then for some reason, Trio’s “Da Da Da” popped into mind. And then as I started to realize “Twist and Shout” wouldn’t really work (for reasons I’ll explain) I was reminded of Grandmaster Flash’s “White Lines”. You could probably do something similar with Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”.
The easiest way to get the music is to download the video from YouTube. Although copyright isn’t as big an issue as you’d expect, the format can sometimes prevent working with the file. I used YouTube Downloader to download the files in flash, then converted them to avi format with the same program.
This is the beauty of using video editing software – you can then simply import the files, delete the video, and start cutting, just as you would with video. You’ll want to use the view where you can “see” the music beats, etc – to make lining things up a bit easier.
The first problem I ran into was that while a couple of the songs were in exactly the same pitch, they ran at slightly different speeds. So I lined them up 2 at a time and experimented with the speed and pitch effects until the beats matched up perfectly, AND they were in tune. This is where I discovered that both Richie Valens and the Beatles would present a problem. It seems that drummers, in both cases, varied the speed of their drumming just enough to make matching the beats impossible. So I tried Los Lobos, who did much better. And of course the little toy keyboard Trio used in “Da Da Da” meant their beat was spot-on throughout. So that was what I matched everything else to. This is where I tossed out “Twist and Shout” and brought in “White Lines” instead. But when you play around with speeds, you want to adjust everything just a bit so that the original remains recognizable.
Next, the songs are structured a bit differently, so you have to play around with different parts of the song so that the sections that “match” line up. I ended up cutting “Da Da Da” to pieces because I felt that La Bamba’s continuity needed to be preserved. I just moved the bits around like video files, making sure the beat ran continuously. The one problem I noticed with Premiere Elements is that the volume sometimes jumps up on the first beat after a cut. I tried to remedy this by fine-tuning the volume, but never really managed to completely fix it. If you listen closely you will still hear it from time to time.
So then what? Of course now I wanted to make a video with it. I had no idea what to do with it, so after consulting my 13-year-old, I decided to try a “chin daddy” idea I’d seen somewhere, and make use of the really poor “beard” I was trying to grow after having retired from the Army. Add some random imagery here and there, and I guess I ended up with a video mashup, of sorts, of an audio mashup. And no, you don’t have to actually film yourself upside down – you can flip the video itself – although, with the googly eyes, it might not be a bad idea. And here’s what I ended up with on that:
And finally, as I said, a few words about copyright. I heard a talk some time ago by Pat Aufderheide from American University’s Center for Social Media, who champions the use of “fair use” in appropriate circumstances. She said something along the lines of “the purpose of copyright is to facilitate creativity”, which I found to be a surprising, but intriguing statement. But according to the Center’s “Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video”, there are six “categories” of cases in which one can legitimately claim “fair use” when “borrowing” other material. And in a case like this video, one can, in my opinion, claim case six, which is “Quoting in order to recombine elements to make a new work that depends for its meaning on (often unlikely) relationships between the elements.” Like the “Bush Blair Endless Love” video, though by no means as cool, I believe this applies in the case of my work. So far, YouTube hasn’t flagged my video, but we’ll see.
Some time ago, I stumbled across this interesting piece of equipment for sale: a Sony ECM HW2 wireless (bluetooth) microphone. Wireless mics are commonplace, you say? Well, this one is a little different than most: it uses bluetooth technology to achieve a 100 meter range, and it allows two-way communication with the wearer – for example, to give instructions and cues.
What’s the point of that? Well, say you’re filming one of your kids doing a really cool stunt, or at a sporting event, and you want to hear the sounds at the point of action for more realism. This is perfect for that. And I have a few wireless microphones that advertise a maximum range – this one actually WORKS at the advertised 100 meters – and the sound is crystal-clear, unlike wireless mics using other technology.
The mic consists of two pieces – one that sits on your Sony hot shoe, and another that clips to the subject. The smaller piece is about the size of a half-smoked cigar. I convinced my daughter to attach the wearable portion to her hockey pads under her jersey, so I could hear the action from her perspective. At the same time, I was able to monitor via a headphone plugged into the base unit.
Watching the video below, it may not be obvious what the difference is – you can still hear the (small) crowd and it isn’t immediately apparent that there’s anything out of the ordinary. But what was interesting was that when I shut off the camera briefly to preserve battery power, I felt like I was completely cut off from the game. And the banter on the bench, tips from the coach, instructions from other players – it was fascinating to be completely “in the action” (although I don’t show that part on this video). You do hear the sound of the stick hitting the puck, skates on ice, grunts and bangs, and the occasional congratulatory comment after a goal. As a side note – this is a Dutch youth team…
Depending on the kind of filming you’re doing, I highly recommend this product as something that completely works as advertised. I do suggest however that you resist the urge to use the two-way feature – the advice from the stands is not always appreciated! My daughter quickly talked me out of that option.
