Your Video Expert Blog

The Olympic Torch Begins It's Journey to London - Check out the Segway Mobile Video Set-up!

I am a big fan of the Olympic Games - and I just saw this few minutes of video, recording from Greece where the Olympic Torch is passed on to the first of the many athletes who will carry the flame to London for this summers Games. 

Check out the video at about 5:20 -- this is the first time I have ever seen this...it's a videographer on a Segway!  Not only is this person balancing him (or her)self but they also have a video camera mounted on some sort of tripod or body mount (with a wireless transmitter). 

You even see them briefly in the shot as they arc around the athlete with the torch...very cool!

Video streaming by Ustream

Looking for a Specialized Angled Cable? Found the place for you!

I was looking around today for a specialized cable -- I needed (or wanted) a firewire cable that would connect my Windows Notepad PC with one of my external Hard Drives.

The cable I have is the regular 4-6 pin FireWire cable - but where my computer sits on my desk - the end of the 4-pin connector is getting in the way at times. So I figured if I could find a right angle connector, that would be great!

Took awhile to find but I did... turns out there is a supplier that specializes in angled cables. In fact that's their company name (and website URL): Angled Cables.com

Now I am eager to receive my order and put this to the test!

A Look at Three of the new 4K Video Cameras Showing at NAB 2012

The NAB 2012 Show (National Association of Broadcasters) is taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada this week and some of the most talked about news from the huge exhibit showcase is 4K Video Cameras.  Wall Street Journal provides this nice summary of this newer technology with an introduction to three of the new tools

Final Cut Pro X - Opposing Viewpoints

Since Apple released their new totally revamped version of Final Cut Pro last year - Final Cut Pro X - there has been lots of discussion (and complaints) in the professional video production community about the changes in the software, and a great deal of it was wondering why Apple would release a product that is so dramatically different from it's predecessor. 

There has been some conversation from Apple about these changes, how they wanted to start with a new palette and create a tool that would address the production needs of today and tomorrow without being restricted to the software concepts and work-flow that was developed more than 10 years ago.

Still - a number of folks remain less than pleased with the Apple product and have moved or at least examined competing or alternative application/solutions. 

Today I wanted to share two opposing viewpoints - one that cements the disgruntled editors who believe this new application does not address their needs and the other perspective of how Apple Final Pro X has been embraced by a network program and has "revolutionized their post-production".

First - an article written by Jan Ozer of StreamingMedia.com has an article that appeared this week on OnLine Video.net.  The title of the article points to the opinion to be shared "How Apple Took the ‘Pro’ Out of Final Cut Pro".

Jan does address how the latest release (back in January 2012) of the Apple software did bring some more functionality to the application but has some continued concerns about the robustness of the software to meet the needs and demands of the professional video community.

Jan concludes the article "FCPX and Apple’s all-in-one computers will be wonderfully successful products for consumers, but most experienced professional users prefer a completely different value proposition."

On the flip side is an article titled Final Cut Pro X - In Action. To be transparent here, I should point out this article was released on the Apple PR website and is part of an Apple Press Release. 

But there are some salient comments and testimonial from professional folks who are and have adapted the Final Cut Pro X work-flow into their busy post-production schedule of the TNT prime time drama Leverage.

I have no intention of steering you towards or away from Final Cut Pro X - just think it's important to be aware of the conversations taking place, of the differing viewpoints about the newest tools we might use in our video projects.  Ultimately I believe the tool that suits each individual best is the one they should choose and use (and some of us regularly use more than one tool for our jobs).

Adobe to Unveil New Tools in the XS6 - Creative Suite 6 at NAB 2012 Next Week

Adobe has announced that NAB 2012 - held in La Vegas, Nevada next week - will see a premiere of their latest media post-production suite of applications...CS6 - Creative Suite 6

"The suite features significant updates to familiar tools including powerful new versions of Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition®, Adobe Story, Adobe Media Encoder and Adobe Photoshop®". 

Adobe will be releasing two brand new tools - as part of CS6 "Adobe SpeedGrade™ CS6 for professional color grading, and Adobe Prelude™ CS6, an elegant solution for the process of ingest, logging and transcoding, essential tasks in a modern file-based work flow."

Of specific interest to us video producers - here are the changes to expect in the new Suite "for advanced video editing, Premiere Pro CS6 incorporates a new user interface, trimming and OpenCL support in the new turbo-charged Mercury Playback Engine. After Effects CS6 is the biggest release in a decade, with huge performance gains and powerful 3D features."

Eadward Muybridge, Google Doodle, and Moving Pictures

Today is the birthday of Eadward Muybridge.

For all us who are involved with the motion picture/videos, etc. this gent is a pioneer you may have heard about.  Eadweard was - among other things -the inventor of the Zoapraxiscope.  This device allowed him to stitch together still images (photographs) and display them as if it were a moving image (think movie projector).

To settle a bet (one of the men on the bet was Leland Stanford)... he set up multiple cameras that took photos in series which he then displayed in motion with his Zoapraxiscope.  You can actually see one of these inventions in the museum at the Cantor Museum at Stanford University in California (and you can make it work - I did and it is amazing!)

Google is honoring his birthday today with a working Doodle that displays what his invention looked like...well, at least the finished product. Stop by the Google search page today and click on the play button in the center of the Google Doodle - you'll see a re-creation of the infamous horse race that was a pre-cursor to film.
Good stuff!

If you would like to read a little more about Eadweard - check out this article in the UK Guardian: Eadweard Muybridge Celebrated in a Google Doodle.

Dog's Perspective of a Visit to the Dog Park

The action video cameras from the Go Pro company have been responsible for many creative videos in recent months.  Here's one I saw just today and really liked the perspective/s.   The video was edited by Kelsey Wynns and shot by, well... by Bishop - his Great Dane.

Kelsey recently purchased a pair of GoPro cameras and had one mounted on a collar around Bishop. Resulted in some cool shots - even dog owners who spend a lot of time at the local dog park probably have not seen these views!  You can read more about the project on Kelsey's blog: http://kelseyw.com/

Kelsey confirms what I was thinking when I first saw the video - he used Twixtor for the motion manipulation effects, cool thing that Twixtor!

As I watched this, I was reminded of an assignment I used to give to my Video students some time ago, as we were learning about creative camera composition and POV shots. One of the examples I would give them is --- think of storyboarding part of the day from the point of view of your pet.  Really, I did!

Which Video Hosting Web Site to Use?

I replied to a post on one of the List Serv's I belong to and thought the topic was certainly worthy of sharing here.

A video producer colleague had a client (a college) who had started using an internet hosting website to share their videos on-line. He was helping them to use VIMEO, hearing that many other video producers were using that service. Here is my reply in the topic:

I do use VIMEO but primarily just so I am aware of it's functions and operation. VIMEO  free and VIMEO Plus are not for those who wish to use the service for a business or commercial enterprise - however they are allowing video producers to use the service to promote their business (not the business of their clients).

Any service - even VIMEO PRO - has a cap, and increased associated fees if you exceed their Storage (amount of data stored - size of video files, usually in GB) and their bandwidth (amount of data/video transferred to your viewers, usually in GB).

To get deeper into the question in your post -- which video hosting service your client uses depends, I believe, on what their primary goal/s are for hosting the video:

Do they wish to use the video/s to increase their marketing reach - improve their SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

Do they wish to share the video/s to allow students to access academic content - as part of paid coursework ?

Do they want to make the video/s accessible for any community member / internet viewer?

Do they want/need the ability to utilize analytics to determine the viewer patterns relative to the video/s?

Do they need/want social sharing, commenting, etc. for the video/s?

And what is their budget for video hosting?

The answers to these questions will guide them to the best host (or as I usually recommend) a mix of host sites to best suit their needs.

On-line video is THE arena for many companies at this time, with great efforts geared to engaging their prospects and customers as well as increasing market awareness and market share. 

I use a variety of sites (and have used some just to get familiar with their operation) from YouTube, VIMEO, iPlayerHD, SproutVideo, SmugMug, Facebook, Exposure Room). 

For those who are member-subscribers of my website (www.YourVideoExpert.net) you will find the 79-minute streaming video (webinar recording) along with a print-able 15-page PDF booklet in the Members archives.

Avid Studio -- Video Editing for the iPad for only $4.99

Back in March of last year (2011) Apple released the iPad 2 Tablet along with a host of new software for the mobile computing device. One of the software was iMovie which is a pared down version of the video editing software available for Apple desktop computers (and also now available even for the iPhone). Though the application is fairly limited, this version of iMovie for iPad provides a cool capability to edit your video on the go (check out my post from yesterday where I highlight the work-flow one producer uses with HDSLR camera and his iPad & iMovie). 

Avid maybe a name you are familiar with - it's a name that is big in professional video and film studios, with video editing stations that can run up into the tens of thousands of dollars (and consumer version 'Pinnacle Studio HD' for $59).

AVID has just released a powerful version for the iPad called (cleverly enough) AVID Studio for iPad. Here is a summary from the AVID website:

Designed to take full advantage of your device’s touchscreen, Avid Studio for iPad provides the most intuitive editing experience ever. Double-tap your finger to view the entire timeline. Pinch-open the timeline for frame-by-frame trimming. Or pinch and rotate picture-in-picture effects to resize or customize them. The possibilities are endless—editing has never been so much fun.

 

The AVID Studio for iPad is now available in iTunes and the Apple App Store and requires requires iOS 5.0 or later at an amazing price of $4.99

 

Editing Video from Canon HDSLR on iPad 2

For the past few decades we've seen an increase in the availability of tools to help folks capture amazing video and stunning digital images.  And these cameras are increasingly more affordable.

This fact is running along with the gigantic availability of new mobile technologies that enable us to  edit these videos (and photographs) in the field and then share them around the world.

I attended MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, California last week and enjoyed attending several presentations dealing with photography and videography using the latest tech tools, but also the exhibit hall was chock full of accessories and apps (software applications) that are helping push the envelope of artistic expression.

A buddy sent me to a website today where one of these trail blazers details the process where you can take high definition video from a high-end Canon HDSLR (the Canon 5D, MkII), import, edit, and then upload your finished video in the field - from an Apple iPad2.

You can learn the steps to benefit from remote editing from the tutorial from Jim Edds at ExtremeStorms.com , who is an 'extreme weather cameraman' (he videotapes hurricanes, and other extreme events): Editing Canon 5D2 video on an Ipad 2 and XM Satellite Radar on your Ipad2