Not rocket science, but a good list of tips none the less.
10 Tips for Better Audio in Digital Video Production | B&H Photo Video Pro Audio
SMIL 3.0 Reaches Proposed Recommendation
03-Nov-08
SMIL is an interesting “sleeper” technology. A way of scripting the interaction and relationship between multimedia objects such as videos. I have seen some interesting Quicktime experiments based on SMIL, but so far it has remained inaccessible to casual web users and relatively difficult to use from familiar programming environments.
However, it seems that a new XML-based version is being proposed as a W3C standard, with the intention of driving adoption and support.
Wassup 2008
28-Oct-08
I try to avoid getting involved in US politics, but I really enjoyed the cleverness of this video (was it actually a TV ad, or is it just an internet meme?) and mentioned it to some colleagues yesterday, so it deserves to be here, I guess.
As a comparison, see also the original, and my kids’ favourite one. There’s plenty of others too.
Shiny new MacBooks useless for video
15-Oct-08
For the last few weeks I have been eagerly waiting for yesterday’s announcement of updated MacBooks, ready to lay down some cash but unwilling to buy an old model. Now I’m stuck. The new MacBook range do not have a Firewire port, and cannot be connected to a regular camcorder. Apple don’t even offer any kind of adapter cable.
For many people, including me, this makes the new MacBooks essentially useless for video. To get a Firewire port you need to buy a MacBook Pro, which is bigger, heavier, and about twice the price of a MacBook. The glossy marketing bumf still rambles on about how all Macs come with video editing software, but without a port to connect an actual camera it’s all largely pointless.
I find it very hard to understand how Apple can casually brush-off videomakers, traditionally a significant part of their core user-base, especially now that so many PC laptops come with built-in firewire. And that’s without even considering the huge range of add-on firewire devices for other purposes. Even a simple firewire external drive (one of the most useful additions to a portable computer with a relatively small internal drive) can not be used with the new MacBook range.
Astonishing!
It’s an interesting twist that home cinema equipment is becoming so good that in an attempt to attract people out of their houses, film companies are once again making 3D movies. Here’s an article explaining some of the lengths they need to go to to make it work.
Rupert Howe is a prolific, passionate videomaker, not limited by convention. Rupert’s work is available in a range of places including his own site twittervlog.tv. Recently he has been experimenting with “choose your own adventure” video, in his own personal style, using some hyperlinking features added to YouTube.
I think this one is brilliant, in so many ways.
QuickTime Soundtrack Hacks
20-Jul-08
Every time I think about buying an Apple computer, something surprises me, usually something which nobody has thought to mention, and makes me wonder.
In this case it was reading an article about using Quicktime Pro to edit video from a digital camera - because the included video-editing application is effectively limited to dealing with DV or HD from a traditional tape-based video camera. If true I find this astonishing, especially given the emphasis Apple place on MP4 video in their iPod range and the wide availability of low-cost digital cameras which record video direct to a removable memory card.
I record a large proportion of my video using one of several solid-state cameras, and had largely assumed that iMovie, being an entry-level product, would support a range of entry-level devices.
I tried to check this up on the Apple web site, but all it says about format support in iMovie is the following vague statement:
Expanded format support.
iMovie supports standard and high definition video, as well as the most popular formats, including DV, HDV, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and even AVCHD.
Can anyone who owns a copy of this software give any concrete information about what formats it really supports?
This has got to be the most amazing graffiti/animation project I have ever seen. Animation made by painting and re-painting a huge story, frame by frame as it moves around the walls and floors of a city.
I haven’t had a chance to try this out yet - I’m writing this on a Windows machine - but it looks interesting an open-source video editing system which mixes real-time and non-linear editing in one application. More news when I have had a play with it (or let me know your experiences!)
LiVES Video Editing System - Because the media should be open
A potentially very useful list of web sites which provide tutorials, instructions and how-tos. There are certainly several in here I didn’t know about.
In a philosophical mood, this sharing of skills and experience in an easily located, digested and employed manner is potentially such a huge concept. The development of literacy provided a way of sharing ideas, but to solve a large class of immediate problems still required the slow learning of general skills, typically by finding and interacting with an existing skilled practitioner. This explosion of tutorials and solutions, searchable and available to pretty much anyone with a network connection smashes the limitations of the old model.
Fair Use and Online Video
11-Jul-08
I find this sort of article interesting to read but ultimately more puzzling than directly useful. The difficulty is that so many such articles, presentations, documents etc. apparently confuse US law with some sort of world law, and attempt to apply it to a global concept such as the internet.
While it may seem easy to ignore the existence of people, countries, organizations and laws outside the USA, the internet has no such naivete and will happily serve your content to anyone who asks. This makes anything involving copyright enormously more complex. If you make and distribute something according to the US provisions of “fair use” it is still possible, and even likely, that it contravenes some other law or protocol applicable to some people who choose to view, listen, download or re-mix it.
I don’t know how to solve this problem, but I’m pretty sure that ignoring it and only considering the legal position in the USA is not a solution.
Online Video Resources — Center for Social Media at American University
Growing a Language, by Guy Steele
07-Jul-08
I have just sat through an hour-long video of a conference presentation on language design from 1998. Normally I find such things fairly tedious, but this was enthralling! Even though some of the particular issues he covers have been resolved since, the overall point is surprisingly relevant, and he presents it with a unique style. Well worth a watch.
Growing a Language, by Guy Steele
From a link by Ulf
I don’t usually link to youtube videos, but this one is just very funny (and worryingly true to life).