PE3_iMovie

Here's my movie!!!

I did this small of demo of my Tai Chi school called "Yin Yang Tao".  I used photos from our trip to China in 2006 and a couple of more photos from our Facebook page.  I'll be working more on iMovie, especially adding effects created on After Effects and Photoshop (I'll take the tutorials), and enhance the videos and presentation of my AR project.  Ooops!!!, I almost forgot my Lynda.com iMovie '11 certificate.

Ok, back to the video.  Although I did a simple slide show,  I worked more with the audio tracks using "add beat mark" command (you'll notice at :27 sec.).  This will be in our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/yinyangtao and our Blog, http://yinyangtao.blogspot.com/ 

Here's the video.  Hope you enjoy it

BP6_Cyndee's Communication Center

Follow this link of my comments on Cyndee's Blog.

BP5_My Journey....

Follow this link to my comments of Joe's Blog.  He talks about Prezi.

PE2_iMovie

Hello again!!!

As I promise you, I will tell you about the tricks that I've used in iMovie.  But first, a good way to develop a good video or product is to write it or draw a storyboard on a piece of paper.  Also, you can have a "mental picture" of what your productions will look, once is finished.  Rhythm is a very important factor, if you want your production to be entertaining and not boring with long shots, unless is necessary or justifiable.  At the end of this blog, yes, you've guessed it!!!, I'll give you the video hint of the day.

One of the good things that I've found in iMovie is that you can select the video format you will use on your video.  If you are in the Americas, you can use the 30 fps (frames per second) NTSC format, the 25 fps PAL format if you live in Europe or the 24 fps format if you are using a camera that can record in a Cinema, 35mm format.  Cool, isn't it!!!! Take that Windows Movie Maker!!!

Here's a cool trick in iMovie.  If you have a video in which you are on camera describing a process, but you need to put images on top of the video leaving the audio narrating the images that you put on the timeline, you'll delete the audio track since you are replacing the video track that has the audio narration. The simple solution is to record the audio on Garage Band and import it to iMovie and you don't want to go through that process when you already have the audio, right?  

First, select the clip that has the audio part that you need.  Go to the clip and single click on top of it.  Next, you'll go to "Clip" and select "Detach Audio"

Once you click "Detach Audio" a purple track will appear under the clip.  This will tell you that the audio is separate from the video track.  You can proceed to delete the video track and put the images on top of the purple audio track.  Neat, isn't it???  I used this procedure when I was working on my Action Plan video. Look at iMovie's Chapter 7 on Lynda.com to learn how to work with audio tracks.  Remember, all applications comes with a "help" tab, if you have doubts on how to use an application and you can't find the solution in the tutorial or on the Internet, please, but please, please referred to the "help" tab.  Believe me it's a life saver!!!!

Now, for my video hint of the day:

For a fast pace video (Fight sequence, car chasing, sports), keep your shots to a 3 to 4 seconds minimum.  It takes 2 seconds for the human eye to register an image. Is not the rule, but you'll notice that your videos will have rhythm and will be more pleasant to the viewer, unless your shot involves a pan (moving camera from left to right or vice versa) or a tilt (moving camera up or down), 

PE1_iMovie

Hello everybody!!!
As a video editor, I look at applications like iMovie or Windows Movie Makers as a simple video editors with cheap effects that don't resemble what professional programs like Avid, Premiere or Final Cut can do. They are only useful for homemade movies and that's it.  Boy, I was wrong with iMovie.  This application has a good back of tricks that can give the user a good run for his/her money.

Lynda. com developed a 3 hour tutorial that is broken into chapters.  People who have not any experience with non-linear editing applications can look at the tutorial from beginning to end.  Those people who have little or more experience with this type of applications can go to the chapter of interest.

Oh!!!, by the way, here's my daily video hint for this blog.

Non-linear video systems = you can edit footage in any order.  You can start with the end of the movie and finish with the beginning or start at the middle, go to the beginning and then to the end.  This is characteristic of Digital Video Editing.

Linear video systems = you edit the video in a chronological order.  From Beginning to End.  This is characteristic of analog video editing, like VHS, SVHS, Beta, 3/4" video.

For my next blog, I will guide you to the tricks that I've used in iMovie.

BP_3 Soundation

Hi there!!!
I will dedicate this post to my students at the Center of Cinematography and Television Sciences (CCAT in spanish).  Most of them are itching to work in a recording studio or to have their own, so they can begin producing their own music.  One of the tools that I found on the internet is the Web 2.0 tool called "Soundation".  This tool is an online version of Mac's "Garage Band", where the student or music aficionado can create their own tracks, by using a collection of loops that goes from different styles of music and instrument, to background noise for people who want "ambient sounds"(street sounds, alarm clocks, people chatting, etc.), for video productions. In the free version, is not possible to save the project online, but they can do a mixdown to the user's desktop.  If your student can't afford Garage Band or Frutti Loops, Soundation is a good solution.

To show you how cool is the application, I decided to create a small musical sample.  Once I open the application, I saw at my right hand of the screen the channels where I can control the volume and effects of the instruments/sounds, at the center is the main work area or "timeline; and at the left is the collection of loops/sounds that I will use for my musical sample.

I chose Indian tabla and other Indian instruments that I found in the loop collection. I drag the ones that I liked to the "timeline" and adjust the volume and level to my liking.  Since I didn't found any Sitar loops to go to the rhythm section I already created, I chose a blues sounding Dobro slide guitar and drag it to the timeline.

You will ask yourself "How this guy can mix a blues guitar with a Indian rhythm section?".  Soundation will notify that the track doesn't fit the tempo of the song and gives you the option to stretch the tracks' tempo or pitch.  I decided to stretch the pitch and viola!!! a sitar sounding guitar. For effect, I balance the frequencies of the guitar using the program's eq. and to add a little effect, I put a phaser sound.

Since I can't saved my musical track on the program, I chose to do a mixdown and save it as a .wav sound file on my computer's desktop. 

BP_2 iGoogle PLE

Hi there!!!
For this post, I'll share with you my experience working with my iGoogle home page.  When we enter the Internet, especially in our home page (Google, Yahoo, Excite, etc.), with look for our email first and then we go to the address bar and look for the pages that are relevant for us in our daily lives.  For our EMDT program, we've created a iGoogle home page.  In this home page we will add links and tools that will make our work more comfortable without the hassle of switching windows or going to the address bar.  For each Tab I created (Home, FSO/AR and Resources),  I put different themes to express the things that i like the most.

For my home page I have the Twitter gadget, which helps me in viewing and sending messages to my fellow classmates.  There is the Facebook gadget, which keeps me up to date in what my friends and family activities.  A box of links that contains direct links to FSO, APA webpage, my Full Sail email, the EMDT blog.  This gadget (box of links), is one of the most useful, because I can connect to the pages that I want to connect without going through the address bar or pressing shortcuts to reach those pages.  I also added a You tube gadget, an iGoogle Calendar a To Do list to remind me of my assignments; clock, weather gadget (we are finishing hurricane season, Thank God!!!) and a CNN gadget to keep me on track to what is happening in the world out there.  Finally, a Yin Yang/Dragon, that goes accordingly to my love for Martial Arts and Asian philosophy.

My FSO/AR tab has the necessary gadgets that I use for the EMDT Masters program and my Action Research project;

Two box of links that connects me to my iGoogle and Yahoo email, AR wordpress site, Lynda.com tutorials, among others.  The weather and To Do list, in case I'm staying in that tab for too long.  A Tolkien phrase gadget, kind of the "Thought of the day" tool, a movie trailer gadget, to see what movie is worth watch and finally a Gibson Les Paul theme.  One of my favorite guitars and one that I play the most.

The Resources tab is filled with two box of links gadgets, one for my ETC class (Blog, Web 2.0 tools links) and a Lynda.com tutorial links.  A Taijiquan gadget, for my improvement of this martial art, weather gadget and "El Nuevo Dia" gadget, which is one of the local newspapers in Puerto Rico and keeps me up to date of what is happening here.  A Fender Stratocaster theme adorns this tab.

You may ask why two guitar themes?  Simple!!!, I love guitars.  I consider myself a guitarist above everything I do.  Music is a big part of my life and what help me shape into the person that I am today.  Some of the links and gadgets that I added will change during the course of the program.  I like to have variety in my work area.

Hope you like it.  Keep in touch
See ya in my next post.