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Thursday, 30 June 2005 |
After getting our new gear, we had a digital video boot camp at the Bywater Tech Center last week. Our drill instructor was George Ingmire, who has been working with us on the AuthorViews project for about 18 months now...
George Ingmire is a man of many talents. He came to me through a mutual friend, Chris Lenois, who I worked with at Tenagra. Both George and Chris are disk jockeys on New Orleans' beloved public radio station, WWOZ. New Orleans is not a high wage city. Most people live there for reasons not related to money. Music is a top-three reason for living there (food and winter weather are the other two). In a town that worships music, WWOZ disk jockeys are like rock stars. You feel special when walking the streets of New Orleans in the company of either of these men.
George was no doubt attracted to the radio station because of his background in sound. He has done the sound work on several recordings and just completed a six-month stint doing sound for the Dukes of Hazard DVD due out this fall. George's interest in sound led to studies in filmmaking and ultimately teaching digital filmmaking and editing at The University of New Orleans. You can see some of his clips at the web site, MiAbuelo.com.
Last year, George began teaching web design at Tulane's University College. He's a great teacher. In Day 1 of our Bywater Boot Camp, George and cameraman Jesse Vohs assembled all the lighting and camera equipment we purchased and began testing and making notes about things we would need, such as longer microphone cables and 9-volt batteries for the phantom power.
On Day 2, George gave Jesse instructions on the camera while filming me, and gave me instructions while we filmed Jesse. He taught us to give the authors more room when they're being theoretical, and come in close when they get personal. George has an undergraduate degree in anthropology, which came into play as he gave me hints on interviewing technique: "Get them to pause at the end of each statement. Let it hang -- don't rush in with another question too soon."
On Day 3, George supervised and assisted while Jesse and I interviewed two authors, Tripp Friedler and Josh Peter. After each author departed, George critiqued us -- less with negative criticism than positive suggestions such as "never let them think you don't know what you're doing by fumbling for a fresh battery. Quietly put the new one in and keep rolling." Later that day, Jesse and I filmed author Gary Michael Smith by ourselves.
On Day 4, George taught Jesse Vohs, Lance Vargas, and me how to edit using Final Cut Pro software. All of us have a little experience with video cameras, filming, and editing; George has a lot. He led a group editing class, showing us keyboard shortcuts, how to smooth transitions, how to manipulate the microphone tracks separately from the video track. Then we each took an author and started editing, with George going from student to student and assisting. I was the worst student; I was too busy with client work to sit and edit a video. I tried to absorb as much as I could by listening and watching.
And that was Bywater Boot Camp -- four days of training in filmmaking and editing by George Ingmire. Then Jesse and I hit the road in search of authors to shoot while Lance has been editing back in New Orleans at the Tech Center. George and I have discussed offering classes at the Bywater Tech Center, but so far the training has all been for staff only. If you'd be interested in taking digital video classes, send George an e-mail at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
. If we get enough interest, maybe we could lure you to the Town That Care Forgot for classes, great music, good food, and warm winter weather?
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Wednesday, 29 June 2005 |
Here's what we're using on our summer roadtrip shooting video across the Western U.S. What gear do you love?Here's what we're using on our summer roadtrip shooting video across the Western U.S. Most of this came from B&H Photo & Video in New York (http://www.bhphotovideo.com, phone 1-800-606-6969).
CAR: Ford Econoline 150E Cargo Van
This 1997 van was owned by a retired couple who used it mostly for car camping. The interior is padded and carpeted, keeping down the noise levels. It has two batteries -- an extra one for utilities in back. We purchased an inverter that allows us to run a standard power strip off a cigarette-lighter plug. We installed a desk in the van and we can run our computers and edit video en route.
CAMERA: Sony DCR-VX2100 3 CCD Mini DV Camcorder
This was the largest investment besides the van. Our video teacher, George Ingmire, says this 3-chip camera has been used to produce big-screen motion pictures.
MICROPHONES: Countryman Miniature Lavalier (2)
Lavalier microphones are small mics that attach to your lapel. These microphones are so small the ads compare them to the size of a match stick -- and that's about right. In hindsight, I wish I had gotten wireless "Lav" mics for greater mobility while shooting. We also purchased a Shure Beta 58A microphone for my "Phil Donahue," man-on-the-street ambush-style interviews. I've been assured the Shure mic will withstand almost anything a drunken karaoke singer could dish out. To support the Lav mics, we also purchased a Beachtek DXA-6 Audio Adapter with Phantom Power.
ACCESSORIES:
Davis & Sanford Pro Vista Tripod
Sony MDR-7506 Headphones
Sony BCV-500 Portable Dual AC Charger
Power-2000 NP-F970 Lithium-Ion Battery
Petrol Compact Camcorder Bag
COMPUTERS:
Macintosh PowerBook G4 (2)
LaCie 500GB Big-Disk Triple Interface Hard Drive
HP OfficeJet 4215 Color Printer
Both Jesse and I are using Mac laptop computers that have been reinforced with maximum amounts of memory. But file sizes when editing digital video can be huge, so the LaCie drive gives us the storage space we need to work on the videos. And the HP printer is a favorite (I have four of them now). It does a passable job of color printing, copying, scanning, and fax.
What gear do you love?
STEVE O'KEEFE
AuthorViews in Austin, Texas
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Monday, 27 June 2005 |
AuthorViews president Steve O'Keefe and cameraman Jesse Vohs prepare to head out on the road for a 14-city tour of the western United States in search of authors willing to have their pictures made...Hi. I'm Steve O'Keefe. Welcome to the new AuthorViews Blog!
Those of you familiar with my newsletter, The Beautiful Plan, know I have very mixed feelings about blogs. Done well, they are incredibly time consuming. As many bloggers have found, it's also difficult to create blogs that can earn a reasonable rate of return.
Until today, I have been content to participate in other people's blogs rather than have one of my own. Why break precedent? Because today AuthorViews embarks upon a 14-city tour of the western U.S. in search of the elusive author. Myself and my cameraman, Jesse Vohs, will travel over 6000 miles shooting FREE videos of authors and author-ities. The diary structure of blogging lends itself to a travel diary, and so we're giving it a try.
In fact, we'll be blogging about the AuthorViews Tour on three sites. At this blog, we'll be focusing on the video project: shoot, capture, edit, rend, store, serve. At IAOCblog.com, we'll be talking about new communications technologies, such as VOIP, Skype, blogging, telecommuting, etc. And at Fast Company's blog, FCNow, we hope to blog about business planning; we will be interviewing many business planning experts on this trip.
So let's begin by talking about what we're trying to do on this tour. I have been involved in producing author videos for several years. In late 2003, I organized my first author shoot -- five authors in a television studio in Harahan, Louisiana. I took the prototypes to Book Expo America in June, 2004, and showed them to about 30 book publishers, booksellers, literary agents, and others in the book trade. Publishers -- my main clients -- wanted longer clips for use in DVD press kits. I wanted to keep the clips short -- two minutes or less -- for use on the web. I came back to New Orleans and re-tooled our approach to get the publishers what they need for the press kits (5 minutes) and what I need for the web (2 minutes).
I went back to the Book Expo America (BEA) in June of 2005. At my first meeting, I told the marketing director for a giant, multi-national publisher,"I have two things to show you: author videos and blog PR." She said, "Your videos better have an awesome hook; I've heard 11 pitches in the last two weeks for author videos." I replied, "Let's talk about blog PR."
I immediately stopped talking with publishers at the BEA about AuthorViews. In the last year, numerous vendors have stepped into the void of author video. I had been planning to use the BEA to line-up authors to shoot during the summer. Publishers have liberated me from the illusion that they will someday pay me to make videos of their authors. I was about to cancel the AuthorViews Tour when I realized that now I was free to shoot these videos my way. And that's what we're doing: making short author videos for the web that communicate quickly and with power.
You want an awesome hook? How's this: we're shooting for free! I'm betting that sets AuthorViews apart from the other video vendors. We are traveling all across the western U.S. to shoot videos of authors at our own expense. Why? Because I've been working on this project for too long to give it up without a fight. Because I might never get a chance to do a trip like this again -- the combination of money, equipment, time and staff needed to pull off an ambitious six-week tour. Because I honestly believe that if I go around asking authors why they write -- and publishers why they publish -- and recording the answers, good things will come of it. Because any excuse to leave New Orleans in the summertime is a good excuse.
So let me end my first dispatch by asking: Have you ever gone on a boneheaded adventure like this before -- one that goes against all sound judgment? How did it turn out?
Easing Out on the Road,
STEVE O'KEEFE
President, AuthorViews
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