Sony/Canon HDV Review l For the gear-head

All right gear heads here is a great link to compare the latest HDV recorders. I’m putting my money on the Sony V1U. Scroll to the bottom of the very long post to see the comparisons.(via Dai Sugano)
New HDV cameras compared

HD Frame Grab l How To…

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The Photography Channel

The Photography Channel

Multimedia l from Planning to Publishing

I just got this harebrained idea as I sit here on the verge of starting my latest multimedia project. Why don't I blog about the entire process as it happens. So, here I go.

Backstory: Here is the idea. I teamed-up with a reporter to work on a project about, hmmm, let's say, "transportation issues" (I don't want to say more,  since we are still a few weeks away from publication.)  I have already spent one day shooting the local portion of the story and three days on the road in SoCal shooting the out-of-town portion. As many of you know, I only shoot  HDV video. Meaning, I will be pulling the stills from the HDV video for publication in the paper. More on that here.

Ok, for the record, I spent four days of shoot time already and probably another day to come. I have 43 minutes of raw footage. That's not a lot for four days of work, but I am a VERY conservative shooter. That's all the work I have done so far. This is what I have left to do:

• edit the footage
• create & design the Flash stage/interface
• one more day of shooting

Before I start any multimedia project or big editing session, I look for inspiration. So after I finish writing this post I am going to watch two movies. Disclaimer: I watched Pulp Fiction yesterday, just for fun. Anyway I came across The Conversation by Coppola in the library today, so I thought, what the heck, haven't seen it, lets give it a try. The second film is Lost in Translation by the other Coppola. I only saw this film once and loved it. I will let you know  what influences from these films I am going to take with me as I begin to edit my piece over the weekend. 

I will blog about every step in the process, show work along the way, and a look at the finished project. I'm also open to suggestions and comments along the way, of course.

Stay tuned.

tnxs,

-r

 

On Assignment

Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert on assignment: A Journey with the Gypsies of Romania. 

(via the World Picture Network) 

Train Jumping - A Desperate Journey

 

(via Seth Gitner's Del.icio.us feed) 

Train Jumping - A Desperate Journey | Multimedia Presentation by PalmBeachPost.com

A must see, for the intro alone! The pacing and tease is fantasic. Incredible images. I am not a fan of voice-over, but for the most part this works. I would have loved to hear less of it though. Meaning, I don't feel you need voice-over when the images are already doing a fantasic job of describing the scene or situation. Finally I loved the simplicity of the interface, showing how it's about the content, not the packaging. This form of "chaptered" SoundSlides is something everybody asks how to accomplish, so I will post a a .fla source file along with a tutorial on this very subject.

tnxs,

-r

 

China Rises: Party Games: The New York Times

China Rises: Party Games: The New York Times

Audio l Inspiration & Instruction

 

 

Just a quick post about some recent inspirational audio sites I've come across, a question about a new audio recorder and a link to some basic but fun audio instruction from the BBC. 

First, the inspiration- 

I really think it's important for us, as an industry to look outside ourselves every now and then to find others who inspire our multimedia storytelling skills. Here are two I recently found.

Really fantastic  audio stories here StoryCorps® - Interview Your Loved Ones
and some really funny and interesting flash based stories here Vidlit- Well Told Stories 

Instruction from our links page:

The BBC has some basic and very useful audio "tutorials." Want to know your cardioid from your omnidirectional, then this intuative flash-based training is for you. I will post another more practical to our needs audio tutorial (produced by me) very soon, watch for it. Meanwhile, enjoys these:

 

BBC Training & Development > Microphones and sound for radio - Online course details

BBC Training & Development > Interviewing for radio - Online course details

Finally, a question. 

 

 

 

Zoom H4 Digital Recorder

I looking for someone to write a review of this recorder, it looks promising and is only $299, $100 cheaper than the R09 by Edirol. 

tnxs

-r

2006 Sites and Sounds (washingtonpost.com)

2006 Sites and Sounds (washingtonpost.com)

The New York Times > International > Interactive Feature > First at Chernobyl, Burning Still

The New York Times > International > Interactive Feature > First at Chernobyl, Burning Still

The Roanoke Times: Hangin with the photogs

The Roanoke Times: Hangin with the photogs

Lens l Essence of Atmosphere

Just ran across this very nice feature at the NYT Lens l Essence of Atmosphere
by Nicole Bengiveno, produced by Andrew DeVigal and Josh Haner. Some fantastic images and a very sweet dedication to watch out for at the end.

I didn't like the music, and it could have been shorter I think. Lots of repetitive images.  Something to think about is the fact that I believe the editing process is being lost in multimedia projects. Seems like just becasue the web has unlimited space we want to use as much as we can. I really hope we can bring a strong sense of editing to our projects. I think this project would have been much better if there were less images and we got to linger on some of the really wonderful ones.

“Newspapers are Dead. Long Live Newspaper Photojournalism.”

SionPhoto Weblog has a great ‘rant’ about things to think about as “the sky is falling” motto continues to be thrust upon us.

-r

What do YOU want?

I know I will have fun sharing links, ideas, and commentary, but more importantly, I would love to start a dialouge about what YOU need. For example, this is what I am working-on, in terms of tutorials.

SoundSlides-Yes, it is ridiculously simple, but still, people still have some basic questions and there are some ‘hidden’ or little used features that would be fun to point out to the multimedia novice.

Soundslides-ADVANCED-A walkthrough some of the more advanced features in SS, like Lower-Thirds, side-captions, and the most popular request, Chapters (multiple SS on one Flash stage)

SS Alternatives-”Forgive me Joe Weiss, for I have sinned,” but there are few SS alternatives. Clearly they are not for the novice, but worth a look I believe. One example is Vertical Moon’s Swf-n-Slide Pro.

Finally, in the works is an Audio tutorial-covering gathering,editing and publishing your piece to the web.

These will be VIDEO tutorials.

Please drop a comment here about a tutorial you would like to see, here is your chance to have those burning multimedia questions answered.

Tnxs,

-r

Multimedia l Year in Review

Here is a list of some of my favorite projects from 2006, enjoy.

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Who’s Here?

Just wanted to pass a quick list of folks who have pledged their support to this site. So don’t be shocked if some of the best in the biz answer some of your questions.
Tnxs to all of them.

Andrew Devigal of InteractiveNarratives.org is the new Multimedia Editor for the Web at the New York Times:
David J. Leeson-pulitzer prize winner/visionary video journalist
Seth Gitner -multimedia guru roanoke.com
Shan Carter-multimedia producer for The New York Times
Mindy McAdams- journalist/author and online journalism educator
Ryan Sholin - Web developer and designer
Sean Connelley & Katy Newton multimedia production team and founders of forty-ninth.com
Joe Weiss- interactive producer and the developer of Soundslides, a multimedia authoring application.
Jen Friedberg-Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Multimedia Producer
Zach Wise- multimedia journaist http://digitalartwork.net/wp/
Will Yurman-multimedia journaist http://willyurman.com/
Dai Sugano-photojournalist San Jose Mercury News
Kim Komenich -pulitzer prize winner/multimedia enthusiast sf chronicle
Randy Greenwell- DOP sf chronicle

First ever “soundslides” 1962!

This was one of the most inspiring 28 minutes of my life. Why had I never heard of this film? Maybe because I didn’t go to film school, but damn this is a great piece. Everything I try to accomplish with multimedia storytelling is right here! Not to mention the entire “film” is made from frame grabs. And I thought David Leeson was the first. It tells the story of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel by using a series of filmed, i.e., optically printed, photographs playing out as a photomontage of varying pace with no dialogue and a narration consisting of a voice-over.

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