Archive for 'film' Category
2008.02.27
iMovie 08 Sucks
I used to use iMovie 06 from Apple to edit movies. Quick, easy to use, loads of awesome effects and transitions… I didn’t use the application often but I always had a good time with it.
Today I am trying to gather together various movie clips at work to make into a master DVD. My computer at work has iMovie 08 and I’ve been looking forward to using it to see where things are better. I expected it to maybe not be easier to use (iMovie 06 is already so simple!) but somehow… Better.
Wrong.
iMovie 08 SUCKS. I cannot figure it out. Where is the timeline? Why can’t I simply change the order of the clips? Where is the ability to export to iDVD? I cannot understand what Apple was thinking. I guess enough people complained so that they have release iMovie 06 as a free download if you already own iMovie 08. This doesn’t fix the problem, but at least it will let me get around it.
I recently bought Final Cut Express as I anticipate doing more video editing. I am extremely nervous they might have fracked that up by emulating their “success” with iMovie 08.
If you’re new to iMovie and have the 08 version on your machine, give yourself a treat and go download the 06 version. You’ll be ecstatic you did.
1 Comment | Catergorized: apple film grrr2007.03.07
Battlestar Galactica Video Contest
Do you think you could tell a Battlestar Galactica story better than SciFi Channel? Here’s your chance.
Be a part of Battlestar Galactica!We’re giving you sound and visual effects and music clips that you can use to create and share your own four-minute Battlestar videos.
Create your own mock commercials, short scenes or even mini-episodes — funny or dramatic. Choose from more than 30 visual effects, 20-plus audio effects and cuts from the show’s soundtrack, specially selected to help give your videos the Battlestar look and sound. Use them to make your video, add the required promo clip at the end, and send it to us!
Battlestar Galactica executive producer David Eick will choose one video to broadcast in full on SCI FI Channel during an upcoming Battlestar episode.
The video can only be four minutes long but that should be plenty.
Is anyone interested in making a video with me?!?
No Comments | Catergorized: film geek tv2005.11.06
Some Very Silly Videos
I posted this to OOKEE.com:
Recently Mookee found some footage we shot with a VHS camera in 1997. He digitized it and challenged me to an editing contest. Here is his version, and here is mine. They are both kind of large, so broadband is a must. Unfortunately these are the low quality versions; hopefully in the future we can put better versions online. Let us know what you think!
It is unfortunate that I couldn’t figure out how to better compress the videos with iMovie. The options are there, but I didn’t have time to figure out all the settings. I’ll try that sometime soon and through trial and error figure out the optimal settings for web stuff.
Very silly videos. Possibly only Mookee and I will find them funny, but as I told Some Danish Guy, if only a few people find it funny then that’s something!
No Comments | Catergorized: film friends2005.09.08
Celtx: Scriptwriting and Preproduction
If you are an aspiring film maker you might be interested in Celtx. It is a free, open source (haven’t looked at the specifics of the license yet) package that includes two very important packages. The first is a scriptwriter. From what I’ve seen it seems quite capable and conforms to standards. The second is the ability to take an existing script and break it down by scene and scene elements (characters, props, wardrobe, sound, camera, lights, etc) and generate reports on what scenes there are, which characters are in each scene, which props are needed by scene, etc. In otherwords it helps the preproduction phase immensely. Brilliant! Plus you can add media elements (pictures, video files, audio files) to any element. It’s almost too much to ask for in a single package.
As a bonus there is a collaberative mode which allows multiple users to work on the same script. I haven’t looked in to this yet so I’m not sure how good it is. Just that it exists, though, is a great addition. If I run into anything particularly bad I’ll report it in the comments, but as it stands I’ve just found a very good free replacement for Final Draft. Nice.
1 Comment | Catergorized: apple film2004.05.04
Homemade Steadycam
Yesterday Sean and I built a homemade steadycam following these instructions. While it didn’t cost under $14 as the site claims, it was close to $20 excluding the equipment we had to buy.
Pretty soon we’re going to run out of reasons to not be shooting… something!
No Comments | Catergorized: film2004.02.11
Digitizing Old Music
I spent part of yesterday digitizing old music I’d written so Bill can incorporate some of it into his film. I’ve been meaning to get to this anyways as the old tapes are deteriorating. Unfortunately there is loads of tape hiss that I had to work the EQ to minimize. Here are a few of those songs for those of you interested.
Bad Day. The story of one man’s very bad day.
Cohen Island. For lack of a better title, this is how I imagine Leonard Cohen’s island style.
DC Groove. Again, no title… I wrote this when I lived in Washington, DC.
Gothic Melody. Ok, a trend should be emerging of really bad titles. I like my very fake Middle Eastern style in the middle of this one.
In The Heather. There are actually words for this. The recording was made simply to play around with chords and turned out sort of interesting.
Midnight Waltz. A combination of two previous waltzes I’d written in college, mashed together for some hopeful goodness.
This Is Not A Love Song. An old EOD classic.
Watchers. This was originally written for a friend’s film which was never made.
These are not done in Garageband; they are all old songs from my Cubase on a Mac IIci days except for This Is Not A Love Song which was done analog on a 4-track.
Keep in mind these were pulled from the archives only for Bill’s soundtrack (his requests for the most part), not to be representative of my particular style. Once I’ve digitized a larger portion of my stuff I’ll dump it online and you can then judge what style or genre me and my friends belong to. In the meantime you can download some other crappy MP3s here.
No Comments | Catergorized: film music2003.06.30
2003.06.30
someday i will rule this earth and bring order and enlightenment to the masses, as well as a balanced budget, decent and sensible health care, and mandatory classes in common sense. i will force everyone to take driver’s ed, revive courtesy towards others, scowl at male chauvenism, scoff at rich people compaining they have to pay equal taxes, and change copyright law forever. yes, it will be chaotic for many, but in the end the world will be a better place, don’t you think? so remember, when i run for president (a stepping stone to world domination) to vote for me, doug.
in other news, i have a new DV camera and hopefully in the coming months will be able to post nifty little videos of crap i’ve shot either alone or with others. sean and i already shot interviews with dongle and son of dongle. somehow i must edit them so they make sense. this could be difficult as they make little sense to begin with.
it’s almost july 1st. do you know where your children are?
No Comments | Catergorized: film political
