Trusty Sony PD100A Goes to the Fair!!
Yep. at the Gravenstein Apple Fair I used this DV-CAM format camera to record Twang Ditty's 45 minute set of music!! With help from my audio expert, Lee Lusted, we took a wireless feed off the stage mixing console into a mixer for two channel stereo, then fed the camera via the external audio mini-jack connector. Sounded good and the band was thrilled with the result. I shot in the 16x9 format, which unfortunately is not as good as the HD version, but as long as the image is kept to 320ppi, fine for web use, it works ok. Would have used my Flip HD Mino camera, but as is well known, it has no audio in.
Notice the tripod and earphones: necessities for pro video standards.

Great Time Editing Twang Ditty Music Videos

Here's one of the videos, after many compression tests, on Youtube. Shot on my Sony PD-100
a in 16x9 mode, which I do not recommend. DVCAM is great, but it is not HD.

The band's performance more than makes up for the less than ideal video quality, in my opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouysfLOaKFc

Shirley Sherrod is owed an apology by Breitbart and Fox, and now the NYT

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/61037

New Business Card Released

Reflecting the changing world of an experienced cinematographer like myself, just calling your self a photographer, videographer et al, seems old school. So now I have created a new business card that more accurately reflects what's happening in the image collecting business. Using the new cameras, like the Flip Mino, the Canon T2i or even my Sony DVCAM (which still uses Mini-DV tape) require a wider range of abilities and fortunately my 30+ years in the business has helped me make the transition.

Un-Solicited Testimonial (No, Really)

Client Dale Biron (dalebiron.com) took a minute out from our latest poetry video taping to offer some comments about the elements he considers important when choosing a new media producer such as I.
Video's location is also the subject of a brief tutorial that I am posting shortly.

New Changes Here on the Blog and New Video Productions in the Can!!

Due to some intense demands on my services, I'm turning my attention more to demonstrating how non-professionals can get the quality, eye-catching videos they want and need in the highly competitive world of Web video. As an example:

Dale Biron, consultant, speaker and poet has begun the next series of videos for his website, dalebiron.com. We used two locations and different lighting techniques, seen below in some production stills taken by Video Editor Richard Berkvan on his Canon G7 digital still camera.

Couple tools that make a significant difference in quality are a trusted light meter and a good monitor, visible at the bottom of the frame.
I'll explain why in a later post since I want to get this story up quickly.









Locations can be varied, as in the case of these two production sets; one in a garage with backdrop and the other in a spare room in Dale's home.


Having a good Lowell lighting kit makes it easy to get broadcast quality lighting and video, but not absolutely necessary, as I will demonstrate in an upcoming segment.

My Pal Dale Has New Video on YouTube

One of the videos I produced for Dale is now up and viewable. Dale's "take" on poetry is like no one else I have ever heard.
For techies, this was shot on a Sony DVCam camera, edited on Final Cut Pro and converted to a h.264 Quicktime mov, then uploaded to Youtube. I am not in love with their compression and the video looks darker than it should, but you can still appreciated Dale's performance, which was done without a teleprompter, many a speaker's crutch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UE53EF0uOg

My Friend Camille Cusumano Makes the Times.. New York that is!

Look back at my archived post on her new book and the video we did. This Sunday she made the big time: the NY Times.
Here's the link:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/travel/12journeys.html

Wanted: Sony DSR-300A Video Camera!

This is what it looks like. I have missed two on eBay now... need it to replace the Sony PD-100A that I used to tape Camille's Tango video. DVCAM format, which is a pro, broadcast quality format, digital and easy to integrate with my Apple Final Cut Pro editing system.

Just in - Video production stills!

Thanks to Richard, who edited the video, I have some video production stills to show...

Used my Sony PD100A DVCAM camera which shoots beautiful images on Mini-DV tapes, also will operate in the 16x9 format, tho we didn't use that in this video. Arri light kit for lights and Camille did the rest.