I'm still here. Kicking and fighting to make things happen. I plan on putting something interesting together for the month of December. My plan is to focus on producing a 5 minute video to best of my ability. Hopefully it's something everyone can enjoy.
   Thanks to Black Friday and the internet, my DSLR is on the way... All my audio gear is set up, my grip gear is ready, my batteries are charged, and I'm ready to make the magic happen, lol.
   I've been looking into ways to fund my projects and am looking to get a Youtube channel up and running as well as a Facebook page. Hoping to make a few short series shows, comedy, drama, how-to maybe. Any idea's? Feel free to post them in the comments section. They will have ad's on the pages, although annoying, this pays the bills in the entertainment industry and is a necessary evil. I'm hoping to partner with advertisers that offer quality products and services so that if you do use them it will be a win/win process.

A little video I put together for practice on filming and editing. Am still learning to color correct and definitely not the best secondary camera work, it was an after thought. I'm happy with the DR-40 recorder, sound is great from it. This video used the internal mic.s only, next time I will use a shotgun mic or an omni-directional to get rid of the background noise. Post a comment if you liked it, or if you have any thoughts about it. Thanks.

I found my NLE software!!!! Finally picked some editing software I think will do the trick for the long haul. Lightworks. It's been used by the pro's for plenty of box office hits. I ran a steadycam test before and finally got to put a side by side video together. On the left is no steadycam unit, just handheld. And on the right, a DIY steadycam with about 5lb.s under a Nikon S6100 camera. Enjoy.

      No steady cam.........................................................................................................With steady cam.

More good news... The audio equipment is on its way. Microphones, digital recorder, a boom, and cables, etc. Should make for nice sounds to go with nice pictures I hope. It's lower end stuff, the recorder is a Tascam DR-40 which has 4 tracks to record to, making it possible to capture dialog as well as ambient noise as well. Microphones are by Audio Technica, and should provide a fairly clear audio recording of voices and sounds for the movie. Doing foley work should be fun, door sounds, foot steps, clanking back packs, crackling fires, etc. I will be recording some music next week hopefully, I'll try to capture it with video, edit it, and post it up here and on my Youtube channel.

I'm still working on the editing software and maybe a Mini Mac computer found on Craigslist. It will become a dedicated editing machine for music and video. Hoping to get some things recorded so I can start practicing. I have a lot to learn and am excited to get under way with the process.

 I got a shipment of equipment today. Fluid head tripod, camera rig with follow focus, matte box, and quick mounts. Also got some high speed SD cards and some extra batteries. Now to get started practicing...

I've been doing more research on computers and editing software. I've decided to just start with what I have and progress from there. I will be sampling all the major players though. I'll also upgrade the memory and ability of the computers i have so I can get started. Anyone care to donate a high powered Mac??? LOL!

 

   Well, I've been working away at learning all sorts of different aspects of film making, and... It stinks! Well the part about learning all the different parts and not having the budget to pass it off to someone more competent at the individual skill. Lately I've been searching editing software as the newest Windows MovieMaker (Live) is unable to do split screen rendering. Why is this a big deal? Because in order for me to edit a 45 second clip of how the steadycam works, in split screen for comparison, I need software that will be able to do this. And... Windows MovieMaker Live can't! Older versions, no problemo'... So since I know editing my much larger project is in the future, I figured I would start looking for some quality editing software now. What a mind bender. PC or Mac? Laptop or desktop? Adobe, Sony, Avid, or Final Cut? And then will my cheap laptop be able to handle whatever I decide to use? Probably not... Editing takes lots and lots of memory, like 16 to 24 GB of RAM, and sometimes more than 1T of storage. I may not need that extreme number, but I'd like to be prepared for any modest computing needs when the time comes.
   The short and quick answer is, of course, you need more money. Time is money and I don't have a lot of time available. So... sell more stuff! Haha, it seems some garage sales, eBay, Craigslist, and maybe a "fundraiser" of sorts will be my ticket to saving time for more important things, like telling my dad's story to people through this movie. I'll keep looking for a way to split screen edit a clip of the steadycam, as it really did do a good job of making the video footage less bouncy. I am thinking Adobe Premiere, but maybe an older version. Or maybe Final Cut Pro and get myself a Mac Mini... Aaaaaarrrgh!!!

   Finished working on the steady-cam rig on Friday and ran some test footage to try it out. As soon as I can edit it into a split screen video, I'll post it here. It went well and proved to work great. I've sold off enough to start getting equipment so decided to go ahead and order some sound gear as well as camera shoulder rig and a fluid head tripod. I'll be making some short films to get some practice and will post them here also so everyone can see the progress.  I went out tonight at sunset and took some great pictures, here's an uncut video of the landscape...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt4GJyQyess&feature=youtu.be