I’ve neglected the blog because I was hoping to have it customized. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time on it with this template theme, but the blog has just been untouched for too long. So, I’m going to start posting regularly again effective immediately. After all, design is important, but content is king.
I signed up on Vimeo quite some time ago. I think their site design is visually more pleasing than YouTube and looks more professional. While I have yet to post my own videos (coming soon, I promise), I have spent some time watching other people’s work. I particularly enjoyed a short film called “Illegal.”
If you are a filmmaker, you may be interested in entering a short film contest being held by LG. Films are to be no longer than five minutes. The top prize is a whopping $100,000. There are also prizes of $10,000 up for grabs. I’m not sure if I’m helping my chances by inviting more competition. If you win, just remember I told you about it, so giving me 10% would seem to be the right thing to do.
Getting married soon?
If you live in the Windsor/Essex area, you’ll want to check out the upcoming annual Fall Wedding Event. It’s a two-day event scheduled for September 16th and 17th (Wed and Thurs), and runs from 5:30PM-9PM both days. As always, it will take place at Windsor’s Caboto Club.
Hundreds of vendors will be there, including yours truly, so be sure to check it out. Admission is $7 at the door. If you would like a coupon for $2 off, contact my office.
When I bought my first prosumer camera, I made sure to purchase a quality bag to protect and transport the camera. I ended up selecting a Lowepro bag and I’ve been very happy with it. It has velcro dividers inside for customization, detachable side pockets, and a deployable rain cover (for the bag, not the camera). It has served me well.
I only wish it was cheaper. I paid roughly $275 for it.
Hey, it’s a great bag, but let’s not kid ourselves here. It’s still a bag, and, in my opinion, is highly overpriced. But, of course, because it’s designed for video, it has to come with a “designed for video” price tag, right?
Right.
A while back, I bought a second camera, and since then, I’ve been toting it around in the bag my Steadicam Merlin came in. It’s done the job but I definitely wanted something more suitable to the camera. I just didn’t want to pay $200+ for another bag.
And then I found the solution, inside a Wal-Mart flyer, no less. Go figure.
It was a blue bag made by Canadian Airline “Air Canada.” Take a look at it in the above photo. Now, tell me, does it not look like something PortaBrace would make?
It’s not as big as my Lowepro, but I didn’t really need another bag that size. It fits the camera comfortably and has a decent sized pocket in the front for accessories.
The best part is the price.
Would you believe I paid $20? It’s true. And while I was shopping, I came across the bigger black bag you see in the photo. It is perfect for some of my other gear, especially since it has a pull-out handle and wheels. It was only $45.
So the lesson here is that you don’t always need to spend “designed for video pricing” if you do your research and think a little outside the box (pro video gear at Wal-Mart?!).
This blog ain’t dead yet.
Though, if you’ve been visiting regularly during the past two months, and seeing nothing new, I could see how you might be thinking that.
The main reason it’s been so long is I was away in London for the better part of three weeks. In addition to running my own video production company, I work part-time at Best Buy in the cellular department, which recently went through a major overhaul (re-branded as Best Buy Mobile). Thus, the training.
While in London, I stayed at the Delta Armouries Hotel. It was a pretty nice place overall, but it certainly wasn’t without its…quirks, shall we say? During the first week or so, it was overrun by elderly women. It wasn’t just a few here are there, they OWNED the place with an overwhelming majority. While standing outside, I witnessed one taxi after another unloading 3-4 at a time. It kind of felt like a Twilight Zone episode. We wondered if there was some sort of Golden Girls convention in town. As it turns out, we were invaded by the Daughters of the Nile. Once the “daughters” left, there were US military the following week. It seemed like you had to be part of something if you wanted to stay at this hotel. I was among 30 Best Buy employees, so it applied to me as well.
During some of our training in one of the conference rooms, a horrible noise would randomly occur. It sounded like a helicopter. The explanation we were given was they were turning on some pipes that had been shut off for a while. Uh, ok.
And then probably the worst was when one of the elevators went down for a whole day and change. There were only two so this REALLY slowed things down. To make matters worse, the one “good” elevator would automatically stop at each floor, whether or not someone requested it. So we had to wait 15 minutes for an elevator. Awful!
The girls at the nearby Subway should be fired. I stood there for 10 minutes before the person working at the adjoined Mac’s went and banged on their desk and yelled “Subway, you have customers.” They were slacking in the back, and said they couldn’t see me in the camera because I wasn’t standing in the right spot. As if I know what their camera can see. Regardless, what reason, other than a serious bathroom escapade, possibly a Russian invasion, do you have for not checking the desk for over 10 minutes? Where’s Donald Trump when you need him? You’re FIRED!!!
While London is only about two hours away from Windsor, I had spent next to no time in the city prior to this training. I noticed that their population is more polarized than Windsor’s. They have more rich people driving Audis and Lambos but they have way more bums, whereas Windsor is more middle-classed all around. I don’t think they have an equivalent to our EC Row Expressway, so getting from one end of town to the other takes longer. While dining at Jack Astor’s, I proudly wore my Windsor Spitfires t-shirt, just in case they forgot who knocked out the Knights and went on to win the OHL and Memorial Cup crowns.
Overall, it was good times and I hope to go back before Winter on my own terms. No training, just fun stuff.
Once I finally got back, I had so much catching up to do on my business and routine home stuff that the blog had to be put on hold until I got caught up.
Now things are falling back into place and I’m writing once again.
One thing about this long layoff is it has provided me with plenty of material to write about, so stay tuned for more…
I’ve had a hankering for a 35mm adapter for quite some time. Everyone is getting that really shallow depth of field look with them, and I want in on the action too, especially since I want to start making films now.
But which adapter to choose?
There are three popular choices: Letus, Red Rock Micro, and Cinevate. I decided to go with the M2 Encore from Red Rock.
Why?
I was initially leaning towards one of the Letus products, either the Extreme or Elite (no way would I shell out $4500 US for the Ultimate), as they seemed to be the most popular lately. My friend owns a Cinevate Brevis and says that constantly having to clean the dust inside the unit has made it almost unusable.
That didn’t sound too appealing, so I quickly ruled out the Cinevate Brevis.
The same friend had worked with the original M2, and said it was built very well, but had issues with vignetting, sharpness, and light loss was around 1.5 stops. Not great.
But Red Rock recently rolled out a new M2 called the Encore and it seems all those issues have been addressed. Better image sharpness, no vignetting, and only half a stop light loss (that’s WITH the flip accessory)!
So the unit itself looks great, but the nail in the coffin for me was the quality of the Encore’s accessories. The follow focus looks great, and it too actually is a new and improved edition of their original one. In addition, Red Rock Micro has good shoulder mount and matte box options. So you can really complete the cinematic experience with those add-ons.
I ordered mine a little more than two weeks ago, so I’m getting a little antsy. The web site says lead times can be up to 15 days, so hopefully mine ships very soon. I already bought a 50mm Zeiss lens, so I just need the Encore.
I’m looking forward to receiving it and testing it out. I’ve never worked with a 35mm adapter before so I’m very eager to get my hands on it. Stay tuned for sample footage.
I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since my last post. I’m having a lot of renovations done, and it isn’t easy to write with power drills and saws screaming in the background. While two weeks is a bit long to go between posts, something else has happened here that hasn’t happened in 21 years.
The Windsor Spitfires have won the OHL championship.
Taylor Hall scored early in overtime to lift the Spitfires to a 2-1 victory over the Brampton Battalion, thus clinching the series four games to one.
This has been a long road for Spitfire fans who suffered through many lean years. The team was often making headlines more for its off-ice antics than its gameplay. And then there was Barn-gate, the city’s epic inability to build a new arena, meaning our beloved Spitfires had to play in an old (70 years?) arena dubbed “The Barn” for far too many years.
But now with a brand new facility, the WFCU Centre (I prefer to call it “The Hangar”), and solid ownership and management, the Spitfires could be the class of the OHL for years to come.
Hats off to the Brampton Battalion for getting better as the series went along. And a special salute to the London Knights. Wow! Their five game series with the Spitfires will remain with me forever. Five games, five overtimes. That was some of the finest hockey I have ever seen, OHL or NHL. I’m not sure we’ll have a better series in the Memorial Cup.
That’s right, there’s still more hockey to be played. So rest up Spitfires, you’re off to Rimouski to represent Ontario in the battle for Canadian junior hockey supremacy.
Go Spits go!
I’m a big fan of comedy, and one of my favourite TV shows is Flight of the Conchords (FOTC for short). Last night, I got to see them live in Detroit at the beautiful Fox Theatre.
But before they came on, we were treated to some stand-up by opening act Eugene Mirman. Mirman has a recurring role on FOTC as the landlord, but it’s a small role with short lines, so you never get to know him all that well. This was his chance to really showcase his material, and, I have to say, I thought he was great. His jokes sometimes got a little weird and out there, but he always seemed to bring it home or get you with his next bit. The most memorable bit was probably his Delta Airlines incident. He had been on a Delta flight and they lost his luggage. So he made 1000 postcards with hand-drawn images of a person and a plane and the words “I hate you” written on them on one side, and a long nasty letter to Delta on the other side. He actually handed these out to audience members and encouraged us to use them. He said he’ll stop using them if he can have controlling stock in the airline or $10,000, whichever is greater.
And then, out came Jemaine and Brett to a roaring Detroit welcome. This was actually their second show that night, an 11PM start time. I wasn’t sure if it would just be the two of them or if any of the other characters from the show would be part of the show. Basically, it is just the two of them, although, for some of the material, they are backed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, which is comprised of one man, Nigel, on cello. Nigel wears what appears to be a 1970’s prom outfit, complete with a blue ruffled shirt. Jemaine says this is the compulsory uniform for the symphony, and also that there used to be three members in the symphony which had to share the single uniform.
Their music on its own is pretty funny, but if you’ve watched the TV show repeatedly or have their albums, you kind of go to the show hoping they do more than just play their songs. Luckily, they do.
Their was plenty of banter between most of their songs. While much of it is probably loosely scripted, you can tell that they do improvise a lot. Sometimes with each other, sometimes with the audience, and sometimes even in the middle of a song. A couple times, Brett forgot the words and Jemaine would call him on it and then they’d just come up with material.
Because of all the banter, and the need to play some of their new songs, some of their classic hit songs had to be cut from the show. The first one that comes to mind is “Business Time.” This is arguably their most popular song, their “Hotel California” or “Stairway to Heaven.” That surprised me. Maybe they played it for the first audience, or maybe they’re just tired of it. Either way, I forgive them.
If you get a chance to see these guys live, I highly recommend that you do. Because of their improvisation, every show is different, so you can go home knowing that you saw something unique, and you can’t say that about every act you see.
Part of what makes Twitter fun and interesting is seeing who chooses to “follow” you. I know I check my account every day to see who has decided to follow me (admit it, so do you). Sometimes, I decide to follow them too, sometimes I don’t. It just depends on the person. But there is a debate about proper netiquette (internet etiquette) to follow when someone decides to follow you, and that is what I’d like to discuss in this post.
Some Twitter users, including Guy Kawasaki, believe that if someone chooses to follow you, you should automatically follow them, no matter who they are. I love Guy, but I have to disagree.
There are some AMAZING people on Twitter who post many interesting and entertaining tweets. Those are people I want to follow.
But I have run across my fair share of spammers who just keep posting the same lame hard sell tweets over and over. Either that, or they just post it once or twice and never contribute anything else. They generally have some generic palm tree picture or no picture at all, just a default Twitter image. Not only do I not follow these people, I often block them. We can all do without these leeches.
Another group I am not fond of, and their numbers seem to be growing, are the online multi-level marketing “gurus.” Almost every one of their web sites is the same. It’s just a lead generation page promising you all the secrets of marketing if you just enter you e-mail address. Of course, you won’t actually receive any really valuable information, just more details about how to buy their product or service. You will of course be put on a mailing list to receive their newsletter. I generally don’t follow these people either, but there is an exception. If they have another web site or blog that I find worthwhile, in my mind, they’ve saved themselves and will earn my following. Otherwise, I’m not interested.
Then there are simply those who I don’t seem to share any interests with. Some 47-year old mother of three tweeting about her cats or knitting just doesn’t appeal to me. ‘Nuff said.
And perhaps the biggest reason I don’t auto-follow is because I do my best to read every tweet from everyone I follow. If I’m gone for the day, I need to hit the “more” button numerous times to catch up on all I’ve missed. This is enough work with the 52 people I’m currently following. I know this number could easily double over the next few months. All the more reason to be selective about who I follow.
There are definitely some people that I follow who have yet to follow me. It might sometimes be a little frustrating, but only a little, and it depends on the person. No matter what, I really don’t take it personally. I don’t think they’re snobby or rude. They just may not be interested in what I have to say. Which is fine. Or maybe they just haven’t got around to checking out my profile. Either way, I say you should only follow someone if you intend to read all their tweets.
You wouldn’t go out with every man or woman who asked you out, would you? If you’re not interested in them, what’s the point? It’s okay to be selective.
Now log on to Twitter and follow me…or don’t.
I recently did a wedding show in Leamington. As brides walked by, I asked them if they had their videographer booked already. Some did, and some didn’t, as one would expect, but I was quite taken aback by the number of brides who said they were not getting a video.
There must be a reason why brides, in this area anyway, are still hesitant to book a videographer. I’m willing to bet many of them simply do not have the right information to help them make an educated decision.
It’s understandable.
We’ve all been taking pictures since we were young, we all understand photography, but not everyone has had experience with a video camera and performing the editing afterwards. There exists a fear of the unknown. How is a person supposed to know what to look for?
Well now, I may have the answer.
I did a search on Google today for “why wedding video?” and I found this article. It is, without a doubt, the best piece of literature I’ve read thus far on the importance of a wedding videographer and how to choose one. I encourage you to read it and pass it on. Fellow videographers, you should also pass it on. Be sure to click “continue reading” so you may read the whole article.