Video production and editing has got to be one of the only fields in which cheating is not only accepted, it’s absolutely encouraged. Everything from flipped images to stunt butts, all designed to create the illusion of continuity. If you keep quiet about it, the audience will never know.

One of mine:

I have, on more than one occasion, created an entire scene out of thin air by simply combining long shots of characters with dialog from other scenes. I simply use the long shot where you can’t see the person’s lips move, and overlay the dialog from another scene as V.O. No one has ever caught on that it wasn’t planned that way.

But much like a magician who’s secretly dying to tell people how he did it, if you don’t let your colleagues know some of your best cheats, you won’t get the accolades you so richly deserve. So we’re all friends here, add a comment to tell us about one of your best cheats.

From wireless mics to battery-powered lights, remotes and some cameras, we use lots of disposable batteries in the video-producing world, as well as in other areas of our day-to-day lifestyle. Unfortunately, disposable batteries are bad for the environment, and proper disposal techniques aren’t always available, so we guiltily drop the dead batts into the trash with the rest of the garbage. We know about disposal facilities, but not all towns offer them nor make their use very convenient. The Fuji company has come up with FujiEnviroMAX batteries that have no harmful elements, like mercury and cadmium, are landfill-safe and are packaged using recycled materials instead of the PVC plastic many packaging materials carry. Read the rest of this entry »

Are you frustrated by overkill plastic packaging that’s impossible to open? The annoying plastic casings we’re familiar with are designed to stop counterfeiting, tampering and theft, while ensuring visibility of the product and brand. But, besides being so difficult to open, the costs to create and assemble the packaging are often more than those of the product itself.
MeadWestvaco Corporation (www.meadwestvaco.com) has a solution that eliminates a lot of the plastic, freeing the planet of needless waste and freeing our hands from the cuts and scratches as we attempt to open these plastic cocoons. Read the rest of this entry »

These videos are graphic, please watch with caution

On June 16 Charlie Fulton posted a very thought provoking blog. After discovering the new video of Iranian Protestor Neda Soltan’s death that is quickly reaching alarming views on Youtube I decided to give my thoughts on the same issue. Today we live in an age where technology rules, with the click of a button and audience awaits all of us and what we choose to show that audience. The idea that in a place where the media does not have access, the people are using social networks and privately shot video to bring the news to the media is a powerful example of how times have changed since the birth of Youtube & social networks.  It is also alarming and at the same time refreshing to think that people are turning to themselves that there own abilities to bring each other into the know, rather than a tv with a rather one sided point of view. Here are a few more links and media outlets on the story:

click here

click here

Tomorrow is the day that analog TV dies. It’s been a long time coming, and suffered set-backs, delays and seemingly endless confusion, but on June 12, 2009 the plug is finally to be pulled on all the analog broadcast towers in the USA.

Hard to believe, but this all started back in 1996. Yes, thirteen years ago congress passed the Telecommunications act of 1996, which spelled out a new High Definition signal called ATSC, and set the date for the end of analog broadcast in the US as December 31st, 2006.

In November of 2005, the switchover date was postponed to April 9, 2009, and in 2009 it was postponed yet again to June 12. In the meantime people have been installing their government subsidized tuners, and broadcasters have been itching to flip the switch. There’s an interesting timeline of the whole sordid process here.

It’s really a momentous occasion, for all of us in the video business. NTSC and analog transmission has served as the broadcast standard since 1941 (with a brief update in 1953 to add color). In today’s fast changing technologically driven world, it’s fitting to give a little respect to a standard that’s stood the test of time for 68 years.

Will ATSC last that long? I highly doubt it, and though whatever standard comes next (most likely 3d), it will still be broadcast digitally.

So those of us who are video professionals and enthusiasts, who have made a living, or works of art that relied on those waves beaming through the air, it’s time to note the passing of an age.

9:00 am, June 12th, 2009. Tune in on your old rabbit ears, and watch those stations sign off for the last time.

Someone should really play taps…

I’m a Behind the Scenes freak and a Movie Science geek. Anything that explains how movies are made, from the magic of Hollywood to the innovations of the garage-effects producer, I’ll watch.

I’ve been laid up for the past two days recovering from dental surgery and I  pulled out a bunch of my favorite movies that have extensive behind-the-scenes (BTS) footage and How It’s Made stories. My favorites are when the directors’ commentaries explain the ingenious tricks they used that help make the movie production possible. Read the rest of this entry »