Dusting off Part of the Brain

[quasigeostrophy]

Just got back from the video production house (where I spoke to the owner last week about working there). I went down there on Tuesday of this week to talk to him again, and we looked over some footage his current videographers had gotten, as well as a rough edit of one of his current productions, and I gave him some opinions on what could have been done better with both. Maybe it was a few minutes of free consulting, but I got the impression early on that he was trying to see how I looked at video aesthetically, and indeed he admitted that was what he was doing. He's got a couple of videographers who shoot for him now and then that do okay but aren't great, and he has a well-trained audio guy who is learning Final Cut Pro and does most of his editing, but would rather just do audio. I've sort of walked into his lap, and he said he definitely liked the way I thought with regard to video. As he had said before, he can't hire anyone right now, but has no problem with me using his equipment to get back up to speed on both shooting (Canon XL-1s) and editing (Apple Final Cut Pro 3) and he'll call on me as a contractor for shoots and edits within a few weeks. Since I'm also teaching myself Adobe After Effects, he's very interested in that, too.

So, as I started to say, this morning I went down to the place and used his secondary (almost never used) edit bay to start reaquainting myself with Final Cut Pro for a few hours. I'll probably do that at least two or three days next week, too. I just wish I had a Mac (don't even have the $ for one good enough right now) to play w/ FCP from home as well, although I suppose I should at least reinstall Pinnacle Liquid Purple on this ThinkPad laptop so that I can at least do some editing here. While they each have their strengths and quirks, NLE apps are all getting quite similar as the industry evolves. Maybe I'll encode some of my weird old video projects and put them online somewhere. :-)

On the photography front, I'm getting frustrated trying to find a good portrait background that is a tropical scene, that looks good and doesn't cost over $200. The shoot for which I need it isn't until late April, so I've still got time to look. I'm also still in the midst of 2 gallery submissions. For one, I just have to label the slides and send them in. For the other, I still have to finish writing an artist's statement. I find writing about myself, particularly in that subject, to be quite difficult. I'll suppose I'll get there...

In other news... Toni is coming home a day early! Yay!!! :-)

Comments

Tropical Background

[lightning-rose.livejournal.com]

How's $120 sound?

http://www.edugraphics.net/gy-murals/gy110-bs.htm

http://www.google.com/search?q=tropical+wall+poster
http://www.google.com/search?q=tropical+wall+mural

Or you could just green screen it. :)

Re: Tropical Background

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

The first mural won't work - it's wallpaper, like the moonrise I used to have in my bedroom at my parents' house. The shoot is at a formal fundraising (gala) auction. I'm going to be set up in the lobby of a hotel convention area with digital camera, lights, and printer, taking shots of attendees and making digital prints right there on the spot. I have a grey backdrop, and I've thought about some type of green screen/chroma key effect, but I'm not sure that I can make it work in the setup I've got. I'll peruse Google as well. Thanks for the links!