Let’s be clear: copyright law is good, in general. At its core, the idea is very noble: to allow anyone to create something original and give it protection from being copied by anyone else. In practice, though, paranoia has ruined things for everyone else. A post from Videopia (thanks, Eric) titled “100 Years of Copyright Hysteria” and the associated link to Ars Technica titled “100 years of Big Content fearing technology–in its own words” are remarkable in that the nice (but paranoid) people from Hollywood and elsewhere have been fighting for a remarkably long time about copyright law.

Can you believe that John Philip Sousa, author of many a march, actually wrote a magazine article complaining about the uptake of player pianos and phonographs? And who can forget Jack Valenti’s remarkably pompous quote comparing the VCR to the Boston Strangler? (And, of course, if it wasn’t for the VCR, we at Videomaker probably wouldn’t be here; it was the miniaturization of the VCR and video cameras that led to this crazy little video revolution and the democratization of television.) Or the jaw-droppingly arrogant quote of Jamie Kellner, then-CEO of Turner, whose distaste of DVR users led him to classify anyone who even just has to use the bathroom during the commercials, as thieves?! And don’t get me started on the industry’s fights against DAT and the Diamond Rio, the granddaddy of all personal media players.

So, what will be the next innovative technology that the industry will be banding against? Why do we have to go through this every time something new comes out? Ugh. Unless this is the call to action for independent media (and really, I can’t remember the last time knowing what studio or record label put out a piece of media I was going to consume was actually a useful piece of information.)

As I predicted, the larger part of our small-town lost power again last night in our first BIG storm of the season.

Not being able to use any electronics, instead relaxing in the semi-dark with candles and a roaring fire, sipping hot cocoa and roasting marshmallows made me realize that the Holidays (with a capital “H”!) are just around the corner.

So with the Holidays approaching,  you’re thinking you need a new camera to make sure you capture all the twinkle, sparkle, radiance and laughter during the over-commercialized season, right?

(Read our latest 2009 All Camcorder’s Buyer’s Guide here, that we just put online this morning, as an advancer for your early Holiday shopping pleasure!) Read the rest of this entry »

(Yeah, the above video is a bit on the lame side, even if it is now considered a classic of sorts. I’m surprised I wasn’t forced to watch it when I was in school. Nonetheless, even though we’ve gone to different software distribution media than floppy disks, many of the points on the video are still valid.)

Software piracy, no matter how you slice it, is simply not acceptable in the creative fields. Think about it: you’re pouring your heart and soul, not to mention brainpower, mind space and creative energy into the video you create. You want to be compensated for it. Since you do get compensation, you should be appropriately licensing your software. Read the rest of this entry »

How many apps do you have on your iPhone? Here’s one more that, you as a video producer, would love to have. We know you’ve been busy shooting and editing and have lots of  video to share, so why not check out Magnify Mobile?

Now with Magnify.net’s new iphone app, it’s easy, fun and it’s FREE!
Magnify.net’s new iPhone app is about to remake the personal video syndication industry. For the first time, an iPhone app will enable iPhone users to shoot, upload, store, and share videos. For free. The app, Magnify Mobile, provides a simple, easy way for iPhone 3GS users to submit videos to channels that they can create – for free – on Magnify.net. Magnify’s platform provides for easy search, sort, and delivery of video based on a site’s niche interests – whether Native American videos, real estate, travel, gardening or skateboarding – and enables discovery and ranking for both relevance and entertainment value. Read the rest of this entry »

Where are we going? Does the future of editing really have to be this complicated?

For years I edited on a Casablanca. It was easy and felt very simple. There were no preview or timeline monitors. As a matter of fact, the timeline was the monitor. Years later I moved on to more professional level editing software programs. The new technologies were confusing at first. However due to the passion I had for editing I was often able to convince myself to stick with the new programs until they felt intuitive as well. Which is what brings me to today’s post–is there a NLE that feels the most intuitive or is it all subjective? Why do we as editors or possibly even as people need to feel as if something is working for us when we are working on it? It goes the same for lawnmowers, right? Cars, computers, recipes even. They need to feel easy or else we avoid them. Who knows why? That is what I want to know.

It seems as if we as consumers are only trying to make things easier to operate. Yet we as users are only trying to find what we are used to. Why is there a struggle here? Ten free high fives go directly to the person who can answer this!

Good Luck

Over the last year alone, posting on this very blog has been quite eye opening. One of my favorite experiences has been all of the various new types of technologies that have come out recently. Some of them made me scratch my head, some of them made me think, some of them solved my problems and some of them created new ones. One of the most intriguing of all of these posts, was the story of the “eyeborg.” This was basically a tiny camcorder, that was inserted into somebody’s eye! The long term hope being that it would become attached to a blind person’s brain to see. While the short term plan? Yup, to create a reality tv show.

Another interesting blog came with an editing system called “Tamper” being created by Oblong Industries, a software company that’s is trying to create an entirely new editing work flow and interface…. That is just well, remarkable to say the least. It involves users editing in a fashion more representative of something out of the movie Minority Report rather than a standard NLE. The company is the creator of what they have deemed “g-speak” which is a spatial operating environment, used for a computer program.

Read the rest of this entry »