I didn’t realize just how bad my yard sucks this summer until yesterday when I walked outside to shoot some practice video. Looking through the viewfinder of a camera really tells a truth that you can’t deny. Actually, I did realize it but this summer I have refused to face the bitter truth. I admit that this is probably the worst year I have ever had at yard maintenance. Partly due to circumstances and partly [...]]]>

I didn’t realize just how bad my yard sucks this summer until yesterday when I walked outside to shoot some practice video. Looking through the viewfinder of a camera really tells a truth that you can’t deny. Actually, I did realize it but this summer I have refused to face the bitter truth. I admit that this is probably the worst year I have ever had at yard maintenance. Partly due to circumstances and partly due to the fact that I have been lazy. I offer proof that my yard sucks with the video below. My yard has taken a back seat to everything else this summer. Luckily, from the street it looks ok, but it is awful for the most part. I promised my yard yesterday that I would do better. BTW, nothing in the video was staged. I shot it as it was. That’s why it’s so pathetic.

Yes, the yard looks like crap but this post is about testing out some video settings and just practicing for fun. No reason to waste footage, right?

I went outside to shoot some video clips for practice and to try different settings on my video camera. Recently, I upgraded my video editing software from Final Cut Express to Final Cut Pro. It’s time for me to take video production more seriously than just a hobby. I want to pursue more video work and possibly some professional and “paying” editing work. Final Cut Pro opens a new world to those who edit video. The interface is the same as FCE but FCP is professional software with only a zillion more options and features. More Hollywood motion pictures and TV shows are now being edited on Final Cut Pro. The same software is available to all of us for under $1000.

I wanted some new footage to drop into Final Cut Pro. For the geeky types, here are the technical details from yesterday’s “Ugly Yard” shoot.

Video camera settings used:
I shot the video with my Canon XH A1 . The XH A1 shoots on mini DV tapes.
I shot in 16:9 (widescreen), High Definition, 24f (frames/sec).
Color preset, VIVIDRGB by Stephen Dempsey.
Here is a video on Vimeo that shows many different color presets that can be used on the Canon XH A1 camcorder. There are a lot of very talented people out there who build Canon XH A1 presets and freely allow others to download and use them. Many thanks to these people.
My tripod is a Davis & Sanford Provista 75XB.
Video was shot in manual, in the AV mode. I used auto-focus in a couple of the zoom shots.

Final Cut Pro workflow details:
Straight editing. Nothing fancy.
No color correction at all. Video is straight out of the camera using the preset.
Once edited, I saved the video as a PNG (lossless), 1280 x 720HD. This will save your video with no loss and it will be a large .mov file. It takes a while and this video was 6.14 gigs before compression. High definition video creates very large files. A lot of people think that just saving a non-compressed Quicktime Movie file will save your original project. In my experience, this is incorrect. Quicktime will definitely compress your original files, PNG format does not.

Preparing video for the web:
Obviously, the file was much too large for the web. It must be compressed into a smaller file, all the while trying to preserve the quality of the original. I dropped the video into my favorite compression software called DV Kitchen. I love this software and it’s only $79. You can download a free trial at the link I gave you. i think the free trial is good for 20 days. I promise, you will buy DV Kitchen it if you try it out. It does much more than only compressing video.

Take a look at the 2 Ugly Yard videos below, both videos are identical, only 2 different formats. One is in quicktime movie and the other is in flash. Can you tell a difference? Which one looks and plays the best on your computer? Note: I am hosting both of these videos on my own Amazon S3 Account.

Ugly Yard Video #1.

Ugly Yard Video #2.

General Fuzz is the artist of the music, if you would like to download it and use it, click here…reasonableability.mp3.

Remember when I said that DV Kitchen was more than just video compression software? It’s also an excellent tool to capture professional quality still photos from your videos. Below are stills from the video I captured using the DV Kitchen timefreezer option.

Well, I gotta go and cut some grass now. Have a great week.

2010 Bloggerlens.com

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My Final Traffic Update

This article and video were written and produced based on my opinion of what I call Social Media Hype. You may have a totally different opinion. I base mine on actual events that happened to me and my blog. Please join in the discussion whatever your viewpoint may be.

I thought I would announce the final results of my recent surge in Social Media traffic and non-Social Media traffic. Guess which [...]]]>

My Final Traffic Update

This article and video were written and produced based on my opinion of what I call Social Media Hype. You may have a totally different opinion. I base mine on actual events that happened to me and my blog. Please join in the discussion whatever your viewpoint may be.

I thought I would announce the final results of my recent surge in Social Media traffic and non-Social Media traffic. Guess which one won? Anyone who is familiar with this site knows that I was recently posted over at Chris Brogan. I made a spoof video about all the hype and hoopla that was being made over the release of Chris’s “Trust Agent” book. To my surprise and delight, Chris posted the video. What a cool thing for Chris to do for me.

At the same time, Allyn Hane at BloggerIllustrated.net, Internet Marketing Video Blog made several spoof videos of A-list bloggers also. Allyn was mentioned on Grizzly Brears blog, Make Money Online For Beginners. I also have been receiving some traffic from another up and coming internet marketer, Lis Sowerbutts, Passive Income Online. She made mention of our video spoofs and I have received traffic from her. BTW, if you haven’t read Lis, I would go and check out her blog. I dig chicks with attitude.

Allyn received a huge surge in traffic from a non-Social Media blogger (Griz). I appreciated the fact that Chris posted my video, but my Social Media traffic results were disappointing to say the least when you consider the huge amount of so called social media subscribers Chris has. As someone new to internet marketing, I feel lucky to received such a quick and helpful education that I hope I will carry with me as I continue to work on internet marketing in various forms. After I was mentioned on Griz’s blog, my traffic also surged and has been steady ever since.

There is a huge lesson to be learned here in Social Media marketing. However, I’m not the teacher, only a student. I made a video presentation of my Social Media surge and I hope that you will enjoy it and I also hope that the stats will open your eyes and help you on your journey in internet marketing. Your Social Media strategy may deserve a second look if you are serious about traffic to your blog.

For those who may be interested in the technical aspect of the video, here is how I made the video. Everything is Apple Mac based. I first made the presentation using the Apple Keynote program. All of the slides, transitions and typewriter text was made in Keynote. Keynote is how Apple kicked PowerPoint’s rear end.

To embed the video clips in Keynote, I used a screen capture program for Mac’s called IShowU.

Once I finished the presentation, I exported the presentation as a QuickTime movie. This is a very cool feature of Keynote. You can turn a presentation into a movie.

Once I made the presentation into a QuickTime movie, I imported it into my Mac video editing software, Final Cut Express. In FCE, I tweaked the video and added my music etc. I made this particular video in 4:3 aspect instead of the usual 16:9. The process is not a quick process but it’s very flexible. If you can think it in your mind, there is a good chance you can reproduce it in video form with these applications I mentioned. It’s not hard, it just takes practice like everything else in life we do.

Music by the O’Jays.

2009 BloggerLens.com

All comments are moderated. Spammers go somewhere else, you are wasting your time.