Why Videoblog?

The natural point of this site is video editing meets blogging. However, doesn't it make sense to also have some information on video-blogging? To start off with, we can at least point to a good reference on how to begin video blogging.

Comon' every web 2.0 geek has a videoblog - you should have one too! Seriously though, we know it's super simple to put videos up on YouTube and for many people (okay a kabillion people) that works just fine. The nice thing about a videoblog is it's like your own little corner of the Internet. You control how it looks, whether it has ads on it or not, what format(s) the videos are in and how long they are. Plus, because it's built on a blog it has all the advantages of a blog - it's easily found in search engines, it's automatically archived, and it's easy to subscribe to.

Do you have a blog and a webcam? Get started at Freevlog » Tutorial.

CGTalk - Organization and Naming Schemes

Handling video editing projects can become very confusing and difficult if the director does not plan how they are going to organize their project files. David Edmondson, a.k.a. ThreeHams, posted a detailed explanation of how he organizes his files on his computer as he's working on them.

I've noticed something isn't really talked about all that much - organization of files during a project. When you're struggling to meet a deadline at the eleventh hour, you'll realize just how worthwhile all the preparation really is - no overwriting vital files, no searching for files, no duplicate names in subfolders, no -FINAL04.max suffixes. Everything is exactly where you expect it to be, and everything (basically) works exactly the way you want.

Sounds like advice we could all use, right? He continues...

What I'd like to see is how other people organize their projects. My scheme started out much uglier and looser than this, and eventually developed over time as I learned how to fix problems I was having. It's very streamlined for the projects I do - about 14-15 minutes of rendered footage, quick rendering times on two computers, lots of external references, and 25-30 minutes with stillframes after editing. The destination is a run of CDs and DVDs.

Want more tips and discussion like this one? Visit CGTalk @ cgsociety.org.

Dots on the Movie Screen

In older films and movies there were commonly dots or small flashes that appeared in the top-right of the screen. Up until yesterday, I thought these were simply glitches or dust motes. Then I read the following:

According to a list of Frequently Asked Questions originally created for the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies, those dots are cue marks that let the projectionist know that it's time to change reels. Film reels generally range in length from 20 to 22 minutes, so there are several "changeovers" in a feature-length film.

Want to learn more? Go to I did not know that yesterday!.

World of Warcraft & Office Space Commercial

The following particular commercial has been making me laugh lately.

The concept is a familiar scene in a movie, Office Space, that almost has a minor cult following, and a familiar scene in this movie has been edited digitally to add scenes from the video game and the cardboard box and discs on the desk. It is pretty seemless. It's even more seemless than the DirectTV & Star Trek commercials and the ones like it that I also find funny.

It was bugging me each time I saw it, as I kept wondering which video game it was that Peter was originally playing. I found the movie and at about the 42 minute mark is when the scene appears and the character was originally playing one of my old favorites and there are cheetos on his desk instead of discs. Check out the quote from IMDb's Memorable Quotes from Office Space (1999) page.

[Peter is wearing shorts, sandals and a paisley shirt, with his feet up on his desk, munching chips and playing tetris on his computer]

Bill Lumbergh: So, Peter, what's happening? Aahh, now, are you going to go ahead and have those TPS reports for us this afternoon?

Peter Gibbons: No.

Bill Lumbergh: Ah. Yeah. So I guess we should probably go ahead and have a little talk. Hmm?

Peter Gibbons: Not right now, Lumbergh, I'm kinda busy. In fact, look, I'm gonna have to ask you to just go ahead and come back another time. I got a meeting with the Bobs in a couple of minutes.

Bill Lumbergh: I wasn't aware of a meeting with them.

Peter Gibbons: Yeah, they called me at home.

Classic..

Eighteen Year Old VHS Cassette Not Cooperating

This should be a good lesson to anyone who is confident that their old tapes are going to stand the test of time. This could also be a good lesson to those that scrimp on their media purchases, choosing cheap and easy over quality.

What do you do with a VHS Cassette tape that is eighteen years old and is not properly cooperating as you are attempting to transfer it?

The problem is that the image drops out from time to time. When capturing to my camcorder the image goes scrambled now and then. There is no rhyme or reason to where the video gets scrambled , it happens at different points in the tape each time I attempt to capture.

As we learned in a previous post here, You only need to back-up the ones that might be important some day. Check out the thread on Creative Cow for more on the story and the various recommendations.