meet and greet PMN

April 28th video experience

Thursday April 28, 2011 I had a peak experience in relationship to my new passion Future City Digital Justice workshop. In order to log in more lens time several of us have volunteered our newly acquired video skills to community non-profits as producers of digital documents. To that end I met one of my colleagues at Christ the Redeemer on Junction and Vernor to video a morning pre-summit event for the Detroit Food Policy Council.

Angie Allen and I provided volunteer video documentation of their process. The weight of the responsibility was shared to cover and document as much of the presentation and breakout sessions as we could. We commiserated and began to choreograph what would be our shooting strategy.

We then followed the first shooting experience with a stop at the lab. What a fruitful session where I was assisted by Joe and Angie in downloading the footage into final cut. I took my time to select an appropriate project name and labeled it and carefully placed it in a folder for the next step in the process. Because I had shot some of the footage on the FLIP camera I was unable to transfer log-which is the procedure to take images straight from the camera and place it in final cut. I was also able to checkout head phones for the VIXIA and have an opportunity to examine all of he parts of the camera with guidance from Joe. I had missed an opportunity to shoot because I did not know where to plug in the alternative power source. Knowing the equipment better is a big part of this process.

Angie and I left the laboratory only to meet up with two other of our classmates by design Pat, & DeRainer and one by chance Charles Taylor. There at the People Movement Network The four of us worked harmoniously to document and cover all aspects of the meeting and breakout sessions. Toward the end of the evening I was able to independently setup four interviews gathering materials for our final project..

I am still processing the events of yesterdays activities but know that I have advanced in my understanding of the phenomenon I am currently experiencing.

Here's a challenge

Enter the Be an ENERGY STAR Video Challenge. Pick up your video camera and document how you save energy in your home, school, workplace and community. Selected videos will be featured on energystar.gov and ENERGY STAR social media sites. This fall, ENERGY STAR's online audience will vote for their favorite videos to be showcased in ENERGY STAR?s Energy Awareness Month video in October. Enter the challenge here.

Special Reader

Copyright and the Public Domain Authors own the exclusive rights to their compositions. This is called a copyright, and the composition is protected for many years--even if the copyright is never registered with the copyright office. A composition is considered to be "intellectual property" The copyright may be sold, transferred, or inherited--but the copyright still endures. If any music or lyrics are still under copyright protection you CANNOT reproduce the music or lyrics you CANNOT distribute the music or lyrics either for free, for no profit, or for profit you CANNOT perform the music or lyrics in public you CANNOT play a recording of the music or lyrics in public--even if you own the CD you CANNOT make a derivative work or arrangement for public use in any form Legally a copyright means that a musician, author, or artist has a "limited duration monopoly" on anything he creates. The US Constitution grants the government power "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." (Article 1 Section 8, US Constitution). To legally enforce an author's claim to his copyright, his work must be registered with the copyright office. Registering a composition provides public notification of copyright, and you cannot use the composition publicly unless you pay royalties--which can be substantial. If you use a song under copyright without the owner's permission, you are subject to legal repercussions. Public DomainFortunately, copyrights eventually expire and the owner has no exclusive rights. Also some composers renounce their copyright and give their music or lyrics to the public, either during their lifetime or at their death. All compositions which are not protected under copyright law are said to be in the public domain. If you can prove that a composition is in the public domain, you can arrange, reproduce, perform, record, or publish it. But you cannot just "know" a song is in the public domain or just "see" the name of the song in a book or on a list. You should use a public domain composition only if you have proof of public domain from a legitimate source.

Family Reunion

Filmmakers visit our class

Read On...An Excerpt from Dialogue Pitfalls by Brandi Reissenweber at Gotham Writers' Workshops and WritingClasses.com

Read On...An Excerpt from Dialogue Pitfalls by Brandi Reissenweber at Gotham Writers' Workshops and WritingClasses.com See the left side menu for more great writing articles for free.

Freep.com Digital Host video on Robocop: Feebackwww.freep.com/VideoNetwork/793928411001/RoboCop-statue-on-display

So this video implies that it was all done using an iPhone 4. I tested out an iPhone 4 at Best Buy over the weekend - very interesting, especially as I'm planning to upgrade from my iPhone 3GS. But, I have questions. If you could fill in from your experience on my questions, that would really useful to me. Thanks! Video specific questions:

1. How did Mike hold the phone to do his intro shot? Did he use a tripod to do that? Is there a tripod for the iPhone? Or, do you think he used a different camera to do that shot?


2. How did he do the voiceover integration into the piece? Meaning, what I'm asking is is his voiceover one audio track in Final Cut Pro, and the recording of the caller a second audio track in post-production and you merge them via editing into one audio track?


3. The video still shots in the piece: Imad, is that what you've been asking us for, to make still video shots out of B-roll footage INSTEAD of still photography shots? If so, then does that mean we should use a different HD camera instead of the Canon G12's and the Flip cameras?

Just wondering how to break down this piece in the hopes of doing something like it later.

Platform and planning questions:

1. So, given this piece, I see how you can trim on the iPhone 4 but to do real high quality editing you should import trimmed pieces into Final Cut and then do what? Each goes into the bin and you merge shots to make a sequence? Just trying to understand.


2. If you shoot on an iPhone 4 and other camera, do the file extensions have to be consistent before you import all into Final Cut?


3. If you use an iPhone 4, and use a Flip or regular camera, can you import into both Final Cut and something like Windows Movie Maker or Sony Vegas, or should you as a filmmaker just keep your platforms consistent (only use Mac software products like Final Cut, iMovie OR Windows-based software like Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere) and NOT use different hardware (e.g., having an iPhone and a Windows-based PC: is that hard to do?)

For #3, I wonder because I'm planning to save my pennies up to invest in a MacBook, an iPhone, and an HD camera. I have currently a FujiFilm digital camera that does video, but on my PC I don't think I can convert from .avi to .mov - and I don't know what to use to convert my .avi to .mov. If I want to do freelance editing outside of the Allied Media lab, do I have to have all Mac hardware and software? Is that the purpose of having an external drive, so you can use .avi and .mov files on ANY hardware (either Mac or PC)? I haven't tried this because my external hard drive is acting up and I'd rather ask questions before I spend money to buy a new one (and they tend to have to be formatted for EITHER PC or Mac - so I'd like these questions answered first. Thanks.

Documentation For AMC2011

hey class it's Jon

One of the thing I do for Allied Media Projects is head documentation for the Allied Media Conference.

All of the conference is documented by the participant, so we get people to film the workshops, the shows, interview people, and capture all the magical moments of the weekend.

I wanted to reach out to the class for support documenting this year's conference June 23-26.

AMP uses the footage to make awesome recaps of the conferences every year the one above is from AMC2010.

It's lots of fun, one of the only volunteer roles that lets you sit in on the session! and flex your video muscles.

You can respond or talk to me any time if you have questions.

What's On You Mind???

So, we have had four weeks already. How comfortable is everyone with the material so far?
Let me know what you concerns are, questions, etc.

What do you like so far?

What are you having trouble with?