Archive for: January 2008

Here is a link to a really nice article that recently appeared in Hersam Papers - kudos to Fran Sikorski, Scott Mullin, Sally Sanders, and team Ridgefield Press et al.

As an fyi, I thought Fran did an awesome job in looping the Dec 11th CoolTea Songwriting event, Frankie Vinci, Marc Huberman and Georgetown Saloon threads together.

I was also impressed by Scott Mullin’s photographic sensibilities - e.g., especially with his Nikon’s wide angle focus.

To be continued :>) cs

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to do an industrial video shoot - a documentary style video that shows a Connecticut metal fabrication company (50 people on shop floor; 25,000 sq foot facility) plus some really cool footage of the robotic welder I caught from dangling atop a 15 foot ladder overlooking the UV curtains.

As an added fyi, this is one of the first industrial films I’ve done outside of filming my own printing plant back in the late 1980s and early 1990s with VHS and Hi-8 cameras. In this case, I shot just under an hour of footage, and Ethan Winer edited it down to the 10 minute clip you see here on Youtube. Thus I plan to release some of the really cool machine and laser cutting clips as stock footage but to be continued in this dept …

One of the interesting things about this on location recording was that we did not use lav mics on the people speaking nor mics on overhead booms. Instead we used a hand-held direct to smartcard recorder to capture brilliantly clear sound - sound that dominantly captured the voice of people speaking yet also captured the background of their environment with a balance that sounds pleasing.

Note the robotic welder appears around 8 minutes 30 seconds into clip - it is akin to Terminator but better because you can make money with this robot!

Happy New Year Everybody!

Below is email thread forwarded from friend of friend … Accordingly, those doing instructional training videos might want to jump on this opportunity - I know I have! Cheers - cs

=== Email Forwarded From Friends ===
Hey guys - Sorry if this sounds like a commercial - it’s not, but it is such a great deal I wanted to pass it on.

If you have ever needed to make an instructional video by recording the action on your computer screen while you are talking, then you should check this out.

I use a program from the called Camtasia to help friends understand some of the less obvious features in Finale. Even more impressive, I recorded a visual scrolling score while playing the music.

The program I used, Camtasia Studio, normally goes for $299 US. The first time I saw it in action I was absolutely amazed at how cool it was. I’ve been using version 2.0 for awhile now. Right now, the publisher is offering a promo.

They encourage you to download a fully working, unrestricted copy of version 3.13 - in the hopes that you will want to upgrade to their newly released version 5. The publisher (Techsmith) is now promoting their “upgrade”, but version 3 works just fine and really does everything I need.

(Mac Users: This is a .exe file so I believe it will only work on PC.)

To get Camtasia Studio 3, follow these steps:

Download the free trial version of Camtasia Studio 3

Click here to go to a promotion page -> Complete your name, country and e-mail address … Techsmith will send you the software key to unlock the program …

Click here to see the company demo of the program made by Techsmith

There are so many uses for this software, I figured you had to at least know about this.

Saved you $299 too!.

Think of it as a Christmas gift from a frugal buddy …..

- fin -