Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Review - Sony Vegas 10 – It’s fast, it’s stable*, it’s solid*

I have now been using Sony Vegas for quite a few years. Looking back, one must wonder how we ever did the stuff we did. I am not going to get into all the details of what has changed, been added, yada yada, on this new version, but rather focus on its stability instead. Did I mention its fast? In any case, you can get a full list of all the improvements and features at Sony Creative Software (opens a new window).  I am going to focus on something else. Did I mention it is blazing fast? 

Sunday, October 17, 2010

The never ending discussion about frame rates and lots more...

Not too long ago I was involved in a discussion about frame rates and this and that with a local "Indy" guy. He was showing off his T2i and some home made rig stuff. He talked about what they were shooting etc... and then he said the words that to me sounded like someone was pulling their fingernails across a blackboard. "We shoot at 24 frames for that cinematic effect." - Huh? Are you kidding me? So I asked for him to explain the "cinematic effect" to me. Basically, what does the "cinematic effect" look like? Or, what do you mean by "cinematic effect"? I waited.

Friday, October 15, 2010

The Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge opened today - See historical stock footage here.

So the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge opened today. (See article)- Just so happens that I have and own outright some very cool stock footage of the construction phases of this bridge. Need to do some documentary on this bridge? Are you listening History Channel? Science Channel? National Geographic? Come and get it! Just click on the widget below:

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Poptent.com contest for Wonderul Pistachios - #2

Yes, I submitted an entry for this as well.

Poptent.com contest for E-Trade - my submission

Poptent.com is one of those fun places where one can compete with real commercial productions on behalf of their clients. This client, E-Trade, basically is looking for new E-Baby scripts. Hence, they provided a ton of footage (raw) of the babies for use. Of course this was for visualization only and would never be perfect. More along the lines of  "story boarding" as opposed to a finished production. But it works and helps make a point. The assumption is that they would shoot the final version themselves once the winning script is announced. So of course, I just had to compete for several reasons.

1. It is always good to exercise the brain and write. Particularly when it comes to time restrictions in not only competition deadline time, but also production length time. This one is 25 seconds (30 seconds total is my guess for the final - but I followed the rules and gave them 25 including their logo goods.)

2. Hey, it's a competition! Who knows, I might win. (Big bucks on this one too!)

3. Doing any production for any purpose is always great practice and really helps in honing the skills.

4. Hey, I compete to win. And maybe, just maybe I have a chance.

5. Regardless of the outcome, it always feels good to have accomplished something.

6. Did I mention that there is a possibility of winning?

In any case, this was challenging to say the least. I worked my brain for a couple of weeks and well, could only say; "I got nothing". 25 seconds of nothing. A challenge that should be so "easy" and I got nothing. Frustrating to say the least.

Then on the last day of the competition... lo and behold.... I got something. Maybe it was all my wife's fault for putting up that sign in the bathroom. Figure it out. It was one of our inside jokes for a couple of weeks. And yes, she is the female voice for this entry. This is not a "public vote" type of competition. The client makes the winning choice. But that could also be a good thing in my favor. :)


Adobe - 2 Years (and a Half) Later - Great Stuff!

So here we are a few years later and Adobe didn't implode! On the contrary! Adobe is doing just fine and dandy. As a matter of fact,...