The Way We Watch

10 Things Everyone Does On a Video Set

I loved this post over at raindance about the 15 Things Everyone Does on A Film Set.

So to continue the meme, I thought I would tell you about the 10 things everyone does on my set...

1. Congratulate ourselves on packing the cart tight. Yeah, it's the simple things in life that are most satisfying. When a grip, PA or I pack up the cart like a veteran bricklayer, we're all very proud of ourselves.
   
   
   
   
2. Chatter about the latest technology. "Hey, did you see the new Sony FS7?" "I saw some 6K footage last night."  "I worked with a Octocopter on my last shoot."  "Check out my SDI cable, it coils!" During set up there's always a little talk about what's the latest bell and whistle to buy at B&H, Adorama or AbelCine.
   
   
3. Leave half-filled cups of coffee around and forget whose coffee is whose. PA's get extra points by putting initials on everyone's coffee cup.
   
   
4. Take a picture of the set but in the monitor that is attached to the camera. Feels very Brechtian to do this.
   
   
   
   
5. Remember that re-booting the camera is the most effective way to figure out camera hijinx but not remembering this until I've looked in the camera menus a dozen times in vain.
   
   
6. Chat during a shoot when sound isn't being recorded. You'll notice the loudest place in the world is when a film crew is shooting without audio.
   
   
7. Futz over the back light. It's a game of degrees. That's too much. No that's too little. Okay, just right.
   
   
8. Make fun of the guy who is particular about where to put stuff back in the cases. I am the guy they make fun of. But if it doesn't get put back in the right place, it won't be there next time.
   
   
9. See Number 1. Yep, again as we leave.
   
   
10. Give everyone a hug.  We battled; we won. We will reconvene and do it all over again soon.

Loving Haiku Deck and Now It's Online

WHY I GIVE - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires;

I've written about Haiku Deck before.  The app originated on the iPad and now it's available to anyone on the internet.  It works the same way as before, but because you don't have to type on your iPad, it's a whole lot easier to compose your decks. 

I made the above deck online in about 15 minutes from pictures from a video I produced and directed. It's a converstation starter to other parents on why I give to my kids' school Annual Fund. 

The advantages of Haiku Deck vs PPT.

• Themes (the font choice and how text is presented) are snazzy looking and make your presentations look instantly "designed."
• You can choose their free Themes or purchase others.
• Inserting text is easy and the lack of space for text -- makes me really focus on my message. Remember that Seth Godin post on how to make effective PPTs. In the post, he says never to put more than six words on a slide. I think rules are meant to be broken -- but I can see his point.  The deck is just to wake people up and make the "emotional sale" (Godin's words). There's always more information (a webpage, a handout, pdf) that explains in detail your deck.
• Inserting pictures.  Haiku Deck has done something brilliant here.  You can use pictures to illustrate your points from your hard drive, dropbox, facebook, Google+, etc.  Or, you can do a quick search through hundreds of creative commons licensed photos based on word searches.    I used the CC search on this deck. 
• Because Haiku Deck is now on your computer, you can easily take stills from videos (I make stills from video through Mpeg Streamclip (free app), screen grabs,  or your iphoto stash. Make sure you have the rights!
  
• You can work on your decks on the iPad and the online portal.
• When you're done, take the deck and embed it with HTML code or send to social media sites. And, you can even make a PDF or even export into PPT file. 

 
I've used Haiku Decks when I've presented talks to schools, as an opening teaser when bidding on projects and it's also a great way to get your team on the same page at the start of a project.

Next from Haiku Deck, I would like to see hypertext links on URLS. 

I'm looking forward to the next iteration. 

 

Check Out CrumplePop's Blog For Techniques and News

Hey there:  RSS up http://www.crumplepop.com/blog/

I've bought some of CrumplePop's products like Notes (Good) for a fast easy way to put Post-It type notes on your video and Splitscreen (OK) for a fast easy way to create mattes in your video for multiple splitscreen - to get that Thomas Crown Heights Affair late 60's look in your video.  The caveat with this plug in is that you can't move around the video in the boxes. 

The cool thing is that they have a pretty interesting blog focused on HDSLRs, do it your self projects to enhance your video and the latest hardware and software news.

 

Super Slo-Mo with Twixtor - Lessons Learned

Seeing the Twixtor plug in on all those cool bike videos on vimeo made me think how could I bring this 1000 frames per second look into a employee communications corporate video.

I thought it would be cool to see employees having a ball traveling up and down in mid-air but slowed down so I could really spend some time on them (2 to 3 seconds).

The idea was for a show where the client need was to highlight this team for outstanding achievement. 

I've edited together the twixtor doctored footage in this video below and have some advice if you want to incorporate twixtor in your next show:

1. Don't shoot in overcrank mode or better known as slow motion.  We shot with the AG AF 100 Panansonic camera which makes it easy to go from regular motion to a simulated 60 fps slow motion.  You just have to push a button.  I thought twixtor would slow this footage down even more.  It did slow it down - but at the 60 fps setting - you get  a lot of motion blur - making your shots useless.
   
   Twixtor hates motion blur.  So stay in 24 fps - regular motion. 
   
   Sidebar:  FCP ingests your 60 fps footage into log and transfer and makes it 24 fps - so you can't really ingest a true 60 fps from the AG AF 100.  I even tried ingesting straight into AE, but still the information on all clips shot overcranked was 24 fps.
2. Shoot outdoors.  Twixtor does not like low light.
3. For best results shoot one thing that is moving.  You can do two but make sure both are in your plane of focus when shooting!
4. Stay on a tripod.  Shakiness causes blurriness.
5. The FCP Twixtor plug in seemed to work better for us in the edit than the AE Twixtor plug in.  Just my feeling.  You could get different results.
6. When it works, Twixtor is awesome. 

Take a look at the Twixtor samples here in this film.  This was taken from a finished piece produced by me at Wheelhouse Communications.  Music is The Empire State by Caution Cat, courtesy of Love Cat Music. Can't see the video in your email: http://www.vimeo.com/21659380

For extra bonus points: How did we get the people so high up?

Twixtor Lessons Learned from Christopher M. Ryan on Vimeo.

Another Cool Thing About YouSendIt: Streaming m4v Video Files On Your iPhone

YouSendIt has become my favorite way to send big files across the internet.  Here are the obvious reasons to use their service:

• Send as many files - up to 2 Gigs - as you want for the same low monthly price ($9.95)
• Has a desktop client feature that increases upload time.
• Add on services like certified delivery with tracking and the ability to host files over a long period of time are handy.
• Control of expiration of links
• iPhone app shows me my outbox and if my files were downloaded when I'm on the go.

I've found the service to be pretty fool proof after heavy use for the last six months.

But for video makers and iPhone users, YouSendIt has one really neat feature. 

Send a video file compressed as a m4v file (a compression option in Apple QuickTime) to someone who has an iPhone.  If the receiver presses the link in their email, YouSendIt streams the video right to your iPhone.  You don't need a separate server to do this.

This has saved me a few times when I had to be two places at once.  My editor can send me a rough cut via the phone with no heavy lifting required.  The quality of an m4v file is really superb as well.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons Steve Keys

17 iPhone Apps to Make 2010 More Productive and Fun

If you have an iPhone consider these apps.  I've been using them consistently for fun, family and business.

• Air Sharing.  Who needs USB drives anymore?  Air Sharing acts like an extra hard drive that shows up on mac and PC desktops- then take it along. 
• AniGif  Very neat app that takes photos from your photo library and makes them into an animated gif.  I made one of my son eating pizza.  Great for a quick storyboard! HT to @quoz for showing me this one.
• Drawing Board Finger paint and then store in your photo library. Then make a Gif with AniGif.
• GorillaCam  Some very cool features with this camera app.  Easily shoot time lapse and three shot bursts.  Use it with Anigif as well.
  
• Best Camera In terms of an ease vs results ratio, this is the best photo finisher app around. 
  
  
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• Amazon Kindle I'm still amazed by whispersync.  I don't mind subway rides.  I might even start taking the bus because of this app.
• MLB (not in season, yet).  If you like baseball you need this. Period.  Listen to any game.  See any game (for a small fee).
• Pandora Been around for a while ol' Pandora.  Still great.  They even have a Damon and Naomi channel.
• Drop Box I've been giving this app a workout lately.  I have it on three computers and my iphone.  I'm connected, baby.  Put anything on it... word docs, ppt, video, you can see them all on your phone.  Great for my workflow.
• Public Radio It's so cool to be in North Carolina on a shoot, and be able to listen to WNYC at 4:00 pm.
  
  
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• Seth Godin As you know, Seth posts every day.  As I know, this app gets tapped every day.
• Tweetie  I have to admit I had Twitterific at first, then, gave it up for this. 
  
• RSS Runner  The best of the free RSS readers.  
• SpeakEasy Voice.  I think the quality of the sound recordings are a little better with this than the recorder that comes with the iPhone.
• Instapaper.  Use with your laptop.  Mark any web page with a click on your toolbar.  The page is easily accessible on your Instapaper app.  Feels like magic.
• Vook 90 second Fitness.  Hard but short 90 second exercises that you should do every  most days.
  
  
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• Way We Watch Essential!
  

What apps do you use every day?

Image credit: redstamp/ CC BY-SA 2.0

Will Everyone Want An App? Q&A With Scott Suhy - CEO of Pointabout, Inc.

First you needed a website, then you needed a blog, then a Facebook page and of course a twitter ID.

Now, Scott Suhy the CEO of Pointabout, Inc., the company behind the hot AppMakr.com program wants you to have  an iPhone app of your very own (and if you want a sizable discount - read on).

Appmakr allows you to make a fully functioning RSS content based iPhone app in about 10 minutes. 

The Obligatory "I Have An iPhone App" Post

Just finished reading the ever so smart and on-target Mitch Joel in his book Six Pixels of Separation.  If you're on twitter and you're getting something out of it, or if you're a blogger, or if you are an avid reader of blogs, the book was not written for you - except for one chapter on mobility. 

According to Joel, we're all going mobile.  And if you're not starting to think mobile in regards to your content and your audience - you should. Now.