The consumption of media in the palm of my hand :My thoughts of the android and smart phones

As I sit back ,against my bed and just speak into the phone which is capturing my thoughts and putting it into my blog it's quite amazing how a little, pocket size machine can have me connected to the world. For production it's become a blessing. I get updates on new jobs, I keep in touch with my online community and get emails from clients. Bloging with a phone is ok,I perfer my keyboard.With this in my hand im a force to be recon with. Android is way better then an iphone. 3 years ago I wanting an iphone beacuse so many of colleagues had one and I was stuck with a crappy text phone. The internet was so slow, no way I could see the full HTML like I with my current phone. Another disadvantage that my old phone had that my current one does was video. If you have a demo video on YouTube and no laptop, then how is anyone going to see your work? With this smart phone its only a click away. I couldn't afford geting an iPhone and hated at&t plan. But now a good android smart phone is quite affordable and it works almost with every phone network ( I have a Metro PCS plan). And because this phone updates me on new gigs it pretty much pays for it self. See, I know that a smart phone is only as smart as the person using it.

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Celtx: the Screen Writing Tool that you must get

Like any inspiring video/ film maker, I've got stories to tell. Typing out your vision on the key board is long and some times pain staking process. Trying to type a script in the proper format isn't a walk in the park neither. Here a sample Link to how complicating a script is supost to be broken down. Now there are Screen writing programs out on the market that can help you get the proper format and help you move faster in your long journey. The one most widely recommend screen writing software program is Final Draft. For what I've read it is the "it" program for pro screen writers. Now the price of this program is around $200 dollars, which is not bad (i'd say its quite a affordable) but If your like me you're always trying to save and find ways around spending your money. Lets keep them pockets full, shall we. Once again I searched on the web and came a cross Celtx. Celtx is an amazing program with so much to offer, not just a script but a pre- production planing. The software it self is pretty easy to understand, with samples storys of Wizard of Oz and War of the Worlds. Celtx can help you to create a schedule of production, organize storybords, create a lighting outline of your set and add Mp3 audio notes. Not only does it help to write screenplay for feature films but aslo for theater and comic book script. All this goodness and for zero payment. Thats right!! you read it, its free for Windows and Mac. So if you want unleash that award winning story, try Celtx.








Here a video of Celtx at work:

Testing out my blogger app

Hey everyone. Marry Xmas from my new android phone. This is going to be my new way to stay in touch and my readers updated on Vid Production Group progress.

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Sundance is DEAD. And a revolution is coming.....

Dragon: A tool for the lazy screen writer

This might be good for screen writers who could just talk out a scene. I know sometimes my fingers can't keep up with my brian, so this might be an good way to express my thoughts with out being caught up in if this sentence sounds right written up. More then that It could help in moving along these blogs faster then I can type them. The windows version of this program is cheaper then the Mac one, which sucks for me. Id still say that this might come useful for production.

Video sample of wedding, shot with the T2i.

Here is the wedding video I shot in mid November. I film and took pictures with the Canon 550D/T2i and shot it in 60fps. The Slow motion scene turned out great, even tho its a bit shaky at times. I really need to get me a steady cam to move at lot smoother but this is alright for a demo.The intro was made with Apple Motion and the video was cut together with Final Cut pro.

IPad vs MacBook Pro: Whats better for filmmaking?

As of recently, I've have come to the realization that I need a mobile computer.NO DUH?! Ive' been wanting a laptop to check for emails, look up new jobs and keep track of everything from my bank account to my Facebook on the go. A Mac book pro would be ideal for video production but lately I've been looking at the IPad as a useful tool, on and off set. Though I know tech people will argue with me that the Mac book pro is way better then an IPad, which I agree it is,but I can see the benefits that the IPad brings from the creative side of film making. While there are lots Cons then Pros to the IPad, such as no USB or SD card input, not able to run two apps at the same time and limited hard drive storage (bigest one is 64GB). These were things that turned me off of the IPad. It's awesomeness turned to crap. Pretty much the IPad was more for the care free consumer who just was hang back read,draw, go online and watch movies. But then I saw the new apps that people have created for filmmaking and production. The four apps that has caught my eye are the Scripts Pro app, ProPrompter app, Color app and Movie Slate. Scripts Pro is a script writing program (costing $5.99) and a cheap alternative to the Pro programs such as Final Draft which is $200 bucks worth. ProPrompter is a teleprompter program where you can type up your talents lines and let it scroll down as he/she reads it. I can't tell you how many times I wish I had a teleprompter to move along the production. The last app is the MovieSlate app, which is a digital slate for production. This seems to be the very popular for DSLR filmmakers in some youtube videos but to be honest rarely seen one on a set. The one app that really sparked my mind but couldn't find it anywhere was the Color Correcting Application that works with Final Cut Studios Color.This colors wheel platform is usually a pro dash bord with rolling wheels that effect contrast, saturation, and tone and cost thousands. With this app it could make coloring more easier and incline to experiment. Its pretty cool, though I have not seen the app on iTunes yet. This list I found has more apps: 22 Filmmaking Apps for IPad and IPod. Here is an article from NoFilmschool.com which goes in to the iOS of the IPad, IPhone and Android. Either way, MacBooks are the winners because it has all the inputs you need,bigger hards dives,and compassed to store and edit,where as IPad lacks. Im sure Steve Jobs is working on it.
Here are some video of IPads apps for film/video production:

Photos with couple: Canon T2i

Wedding Photos Shot with T2i

Here are som samples of a wedding I shot with the Canon T2i. Coming soon, I'll have a video demo up.

HDSLR and Reality web shows: Good or Bad for production ?

HD DSLRs has become a hit in the video production world and why wouldn't it. They are small, weight less cameras that have full HD quality and have cinematic depth of field. I find more media online that has been shot on these revolutionary cameras and its seem to be growing. Still there is no denying that there are a lot of limitations to the camera that might not work for all production. I even forget at times that I am not working with a traditional digital video camera but a photography camera with the bonus feature of HD video. Lets take reality shows for instance. Just last week I was part of a production that was using the Canon 7D camera and H4n Zoom sound recorder. The program was a sort of decretive designed show for the web. The host and producers came down from Los Angeles and had four day for the production. The crew was small, probably there were 5 of us in total with only two camera man and me as PA/sound man. I've worked sound department before as Boom operator and had previously worked with H4n Zoom.They used two 7D cameras to cover the action. It was run and gun at times and with some sit down interviews by the host and contest winner.
I have a lot to cover so I will start with obvious issue of sound. Although there are XLR adaptors for the DSLR you still have get around the automatic gain that is recording sound for the video. The H4n is a audio recorder with XLR input has an SD card format. Perfect portability to recored sound with as we had the talent mic with a lavalieres. At times it was hard to keep up with all the action when it came to sound. We did not slate or unitedly synced on recording at times because of the rush of get the shots and real moments. I sort of had to watch the camera men as they were doing their thing and recording when they were filming and stop when they weren't. I was able to monitor the levels on the H4n but with no mixer I couldn't bring the sound the down when it peaked or filtered out noises. One of the producers, who worked as both 2nd camera man and editor of the production, assured me sound would be alright as long as it was being recored.
Zooming in and out of different shots is common in a run and gun productions. Watch how some reality show are shot and you see what I mean. One of the things I've noticed with the DSLR cameras is the adjustment to light when going from a close up to a wide. Since these DSLR cameras work best with automatic white balance, I am guessing that is has something to do it. As an editor myself, I can see the pain it could cost in post when color correcting but I also know you can cut around it.
Another issue in filming was the camera has a limitation of recording time. 12 minutes is the maximum time to record before the camera cuts off and you have to record another clip. The constant use of the record mode tends to heat up the sensor as well, causing the camera to shut down in the middle of the take. When comes to these types of shoots, you got to be constantly rolling. Timecode is usually set up on the cameras so they can synced up in post production but the DSLRs dont have that option.
I like a light weight cameras, most major shows are shot with these heavy cams that can be a strain on a camera man. But when your shooting with DSLR you do not have a counter balance to the camera unless you had some rig. With out one you're basically just holding on to the lens and getting shaky shots. During one day production when we did a walk and talk down the Design District in downtown Miami, there were issues in getting a stable shot. We only had a mono pods and Manfrotto Fluid head tripod.
The digital card age has made uploading footage a breeze but there are more risk in losing footage if its not properly backed up. Tapes were a pain to processed but at least there were a solid source of where your media is kept. If your hard drive crashed and you need the footage back , you always have your tapes. With digital cards, if you lose it and didn't have a back up then you are screwed. This happen to our production when one producer lost an hour of a interview. We had to go back and film it again and lost time.
Are all these things worth the headaches. The final videos was going to be 8-10 minutes long and this production was intend for the web. Maybe it was just fine for web but it's still not intended for this reality kind of production. I think it's perfect for movies, music videos and commercials. Production with plenty of pre planing. Reality is a mix of planing and free styling, at least that is how I view it. I am glad to see these cameras are being used more and more and I hope the technology evolves.

Solution to Slow motion: Using Cinema Tools

I've talked about the difficulty of geting that cinematic slow motion with the DSLR cameras (I own the 550/T2i) when using Final Cut Pro. It seem that the solution would have been to get Twixtor and shell out a couple hundred bucks. For a poor filmmaker or video producer such as myself, spending more money is never a good solution to a problem but I have great news. A friend of mine told me it was possible to get that slow motion to my 60fps 720p footage by bring it in to Cinema Tools (part of the Final Cut Studio program). Now I personally hardly use Cinema Tools... Actually I've never really use it. Although I've come to learn a lot of what Final Cut Pro Studio has to offer, Cinema Tools is a complete stranger to me. But if this stranger can get me the look I want without me spending a dime, then I welcome that stranger with open arms. I searched online and found a tutorial on how to go about this, thanks to help of Creative Cow. I couldn't believe how easy it was thru Cinema Tools to get slow motion, it worked like a charm. Although you can get the great results with using Cinema Tools, Twixtor has more control over the speed of the footage, making the motion of the footage as slow or fast as you like. So If youre a Final Cut Pro user and on a budget, Cinema Tools is the way to go.

You want slow motion for your movies? Try Twixtor.

One of the reason why I bought the Canon T2i was its ability to capture frame by frame images while in video mode. When shooting in 60fps it is possible to give that cinematic slow motion movement that major motion picture do when you brought the footage to the in the editing process . Its a cool efx and makes movie moments more dramatic. Back when I was in film school, in my Full Sail days, it was a young filmmakers wet dream to do a scene in slow motion and make it look cool. Back when I was shooting with min DV tapes, this effect was hard in post and would look choppy. Tapes just didn't work for slow motion. It seemed the only way get slow motion was to shoot on film but thanks to DSLR Revolution that no longer the case...Or so I thought.
I have recently shot a wedding in which I decided to shoot moments in slow motion. I hadn't tried it before but had read about the how to shoot it and how edit it in post. Seemed simple I thought. Just shoot the footage in 60fps and bring it into 1080p sequence then change the the speed of the footage. Simple.
When I brought the wedding footing into Final Cut Pro 7 and brought the speed down, I notice the footage was still choppy.
"Damn it" I thought. "What the hell did I do wrong?" Turns out that nothing was wrong, I just needed Twixtor. I guess Final Cut just dosent cut it when it come to slow motion.
Twixtor was made by Revisionfx and is one of many plug-ins that they offer for Final Cut, Adobe,After Effects and Avid.
Twixtor is much more accurate for slow motion to see everything in detail and not choppy or rough blend of images.
I tried the demo that Revisionfx offered and it worked great. The real plug-in is quite pricey tho, for the "regular" vision its $329.95 and for the "Pro" for $595.00. I havent had the chance to fool around with the "Pro" demo vision but the "regular" is great. Still it will cost you an arm and a leg but its worth it.

Re-Vamp my Webstie: iWeb/ Adobe Photoshop

Great news, finally got my new look for my website. I made the site with IWeb and Adobe Photoshop and thanks to godaddy.com,I've got a domain name. Vid Production Group's website has only been around for about a year since I officially made it, the company, into an LLC. I think the look is better then my pervious "Dark purple" site but it still has a long way to go before its how Id really would like it to be. Cooler, slicker and with animation. Unfortunately I dont have Adobe Flash to create these buttons to be more interactive or some graphic effects that could capture more attention. But whatever..the point is that Im looking a lot more professional and Im slowly growing better in creating these site for my business. Check out the page here.

Photos made it to NBC news

Hey great news!!! My pictures got publish with an article of Flying Colors Apparel on NBC.com. So happy the clothing line is get so much popularity. If you want to see the article just click on this link.There has been talk about doing a commercial in the near future where I will be the cinematographer and my friend, Alex Alvarez, will be the director. Ideas are still being thrown around so I'll let you know when thats happen.

Dots on my DSLR sensor...WTF

I just got a an adaptor for my FD 50mm lens to be mounted on Canon T2i. After taking accouple of photos I noticed dot on my images. Check the lens an found everything to be clean. I check the sensor with in the camera and saw two specks of dust on it. Before I did anything drastic, I googled up some suggestions on how to clean the sensor. So far, I've tried blowing of the dust with a rubber air hand pump. That didn't work. I took some time to do some more research and came across a blog that suggested a Len Pen to clean out the sensor, so I went and bought one at a camera store. It cost me $20 bucks but it didn't work.
The dots were still there and I was getting desperate. I called a fix shop in Hollywood FL to help me out. I've been to the Camera Clinic before and they were extremely helpful. I call them and told them what was up with my DSLR sensor. They said they can fix it but it would cost me about $60 bucks. Damn it, I thought, how am I going to deal with this every time I open my camera to change the lens if this is gonna happen every time. There has got to be a least expensive way to fix my sensor and so I went back to the web to read for solution. What I found was these Sensor Swabs . Now this thing is inexpensive and works 99% of the time. I checked reviews on the Sensor Swab before I purchase and everyone said that this is the number one thing to use when nothing eles works to fix the sensor. Here is a youtube video about it how it works. Its comes with plastic swabs, lens cleaners and a bottle of liquid cleaner. One thing to know about this pack I got, If you are a 550/T2i owner like me, you will find that the plastic swab does not fit inside the camera sensor, or at least the pack I bought. I had to remove the sheet cleaner wrapped around the swab and cut the sides of the swab to make it fit inside. I recommend to do this in a dust free environment. Also there might be an issue traveling with this Sensor Swab's cleaning liquid. The bottle is filled methanol, which is an explosive liquid. There is however a better liquid cleaner that is natural and drys really fast. Here is a video on the comparison of different brands on this link. I hope this info help you out if you have this problem.

New Flyer for Photos and Demo Reels

Hey everyone, got a new ad out today. Since Im doing more photography now with my DSLR , I wanted to expand and offer actors and models, video and photography work to promote their skills and talent. I offer an affordable price for both media since Im still just getting in the the field of photography. I hope this will give me a chance to get to know more talent in my area and maybe use their talent for upcoming projects I plan on doing. Here are my prices: $75 an hour for a 3 outfit photo shoot with CD. $150 for a 5-10min monolog and DVD. If interested and live in South Florida area contact me today.

Its been a minute...NEW T2i camera and photo shoot with FLYING COLORS

So yeah, Ive been kinda slacking on the whole blog thing do to just plan work....Alot has happen since then. I got a chance to be briefly on a set of this independent comedy shot on the Canon 7D. The picture, entitled "Well done" was being filmed with a DSLR photography camera. This was my first time seeing one of these revolutionary cameras in action and I was there to witness its processess. I was working with sound man and friend Alex Alvarez and was working as a boom operator. I notice the speed of light set ups and shoot was quite fast and did not take forever to do. The DSLR were great for low leve light and so the amount of lights were very small. Alot of LED lights were used in the production as well as a small ARRIs light kit. I was only there for the first day and last day of shooting and saw that toward the end of the production the director end up substituting for the cinematographer and used the Canon T2i.
Personally, I saw the future of what an independent set might look like. Small. Fast. The DSLR revolution is there.
SOOO I HAD TO GET ONE!!! LOL Bought me the Canon T2i. I love the camera, its so different from my old Rebel XT. The screen was huge and was great to see what I was shooting on video mode and adjusting the exposure. Very good camera. I tested on a photo shoot with Flying Colors Apparel http://www.facebook.com/flyingcolorsapparel?ref=ts and had great results. Here is some photos.

SOME PHOTOS FROM THE SHOOT

New Photo shoot with Flying Colors Apparel

I did a photo shoot with Flying Color Apparel today. We went down to this park near south beach. Dont remember the name of the park but Ive been there on other photo shoot. We were around there about 6:30(Golden hour) and we had a little time to waste. The sun was going down and we had plenty of clouds to deal with it.The day started rough with the first model running late, he end up not showing up at all. As soon as the other models arrived we rushed it. Alex once again help bounce any light we could get while Andy (President of Flying Colors) directed the look. At the second location we set up the models on top of these rock next the water. That where, as I was setting up the shoot, my right leg dropped into crack between the rocks. Unluckily for me a rusty jagged steel piece of metal cut form my knee up to my mid section of leg. After being helped out the hole and yelling some profanities, I sucked it up and continued with the shoot. Here is video that sums up everything.

Photos from the Flying colors shoot

So here are some of the photos I shot with Andy Guze. They turned out better then I expected. You can check more pictures and shirts on facebook at this link

Photo shoots and me: Flying Colors Shoot

Today was my second photo shoot with Mr. Andy Guze. The first one was about a week ago, Andy has been working on a t shirts line called Flying Colors and asked me to take some shots for his website. His brother, my friend and sound man Alex Alvarez helped with the bounce/shine board to reflect any light we had.Since we were shooting outdoors at Tropical Park Miami, we needed as much light as we could. I read online the day before that it could rain and was dreading it. Alex packed some rain cover just in case. Smart. We had 4 locations that Andy scouted. I wish I had a chance to check the location before we shot but I did get a bunch of test shots with Alex before the models arrived. Andy for the most part directed, I found it hard to describe a look I wanted.Its easier when im just describing the action in a motion picture then a still. Its still helps to convey what you want to your subject even if its just a word to make them smile. All and all the shoot went great and I am going to put some up on my blog soon. The you see are BTS shots of me, and Andy and our 2 models. Photos by Alex.

Things you should do and ask your video clients before taking a gig

As I grow as a videographer and freelance video editor,I learn things along the way of dealing with video clients. Its not easy being self employed because you're always on the hunt for the next job. You got to be fast and officiant in getting the project and executing it the way the clients wants it. To do this you got to know what your client wants.

1. How can I help you?
When a client calls me, I greet them and ask them about there project.Most people are calling to find out how much it cost for a shooting and editing. They mostly ask for a set price but I always asks for more details before quoting.

2.Have a pen and paper
More of a side note the a question to ask.I always have a note book handy to write things down. While the client is on the phone, I ask them to give me more detail of the project. Keep a good pen handy too. I cant tell you how many time I've gone with out a pen or it ran out of ink. Keep one around, trust me.

3. Whats the job and what do I need?
If there is production(shooting), what kind is it? Am I doing an interview, shooting an event or product etc. What equipment is needed?(Camera(s), Lights,Microphones) Do you need the media in HD or Stander def? How long do you need me to shoot in the day?(4 hours or 8 hours). These things are important to find out. You must know what you are getting your self in to, what you you need to do it, and how long it will take to do it. Otherwise you maybe under biding the cost of your time and the cost of equipment.

4. Will you need editing?
Production is one thing but what if the client wants a finished edited project? Again, details are key. If a client wants you do post production then you got to find out how long the video need to be? Will it be a 5 min summery of the event or with be one full hour? Will there be animation needed or information in text? Will you be providing music for background or will I have to create it? Asking these questions will help in determining how much of your time you're going to dedicate to this project. Editing is a complex thing and you should know everything that the client requires.

5.How will I deliver the media?
Its a good idea to ask how you are getting this video to your clients hands. Sometime I get call from a company out in New York or California who need their video shot and sent over to them. There are many ways in delivering the content. You can send it the old fashion way by sending a Hard drive or burning a mess load of dvds with the data on but you have to consider the cost of buying and shipping these things out. You should talk to your client about that if they really want the shipments, so you can bill them and add that to your budget. Now adays there are sites that can send huge HD video via email so they can download it directly to their computer or post production house. There is also Zip filing your videos.This save you alot of shipping cost and is a lot faster then regular mail.

5. Update them on results
When I'm hire to do production and editing, a lot of my clients would like to see how things are coming along. I like to show results as soon as I can and getting their input as soon as possible. I do this is by compressing a smaller version of the video(sometimes with time code) and upload to my Drop-box account (check dropbox.com ) then send a link to my client. This way I can leave the link for a short time and not go public with the project.

6.Contracts
I can't stress this enough. Get every thing on paper!!! Contracts insure that an agreement was made between you and your clients for the sum of whatever price. This will protect you and prove that you were hired to do the job. I recommend you get this signed and in your hands before you do any job. If they don't get it before the gig, then don't take the job.

I think I covered everything. Hope this advice works for you readers. Comment and let me know if theres something I should add on my list. Peace.

Why Burning HD DVDs from Final Cut is useless

Some time ago, I ran in to a little issue when a client wanted their video project to be burned on Blu Ray. Prior to taking the job, I told my client that I don't do Blu Ray because not many people have asked. Plus I didn't own a Blu Ray burner to begin with but he insisted that he would take care of it. The other reason I dont do Blu Ray is that Final Cut doesn't really have Blu Ray setting, at least my vision of Final Cut Pro 6.06. Ive seen tutorials on youtube that shows that the Final Cut 7 does have the capability of burning on to Blu Ray. But since I don't have that vison, I have to work with what I got. I figured that Id just have to burn it on HD DVD in Apples Compressor. After encoding and properly adding setting thru Apples DVD Studio, I burned the video on a DVD +R.
Once burned, I played the dvd on the computer. It looked great.
Everything went smoothly, or so I thought anyways. I ejected the disk and tried to play it on a normal dvd player. It would not play. ERROR in big letter pop on my TV screen and I didn't know why. It worked just fine on the computer, it should work on the dvd player. I tried to investigate this problem on the web, hoping to find an answer. I found that I wasn't the only video editor with the same ERROR on his screen. With no defining answer on the internet, I turned to a close friend, fellow video editor and all around techy dude. He told me that HD DVD is not gonna work because Im not playing it on an HD DVD Player. Makes senes.
My friend then went on and told me that the HD DVD would not work on Blu Ray either. Since Blu Ray won the war of HD Disk format,HD DVD players have gone extinct and very few of them are in stores. "FUCK!" I thought to myself. So what can I do?
Well I could upgrade to Final Cut 7 but Im broke and in need of cheaper solution. I do have though Toast Titanium, which does burn Blu Ray. I needed to upgrade the vision but it only cost $20 bucks.Here is a link to the steps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3IDhivbu8k. Not bad. Still buying a Blu Ray burner and Blu Ray Disks costly. Like I said it is rare that my clients ask for it. Also the way things are going most people want their HD video uploaded on to the web, to be displayed to the rest of the world.

New Jag35 test w/Apple color

So this is my second video working with the Jag35 pro. Im shooting with my Canon Vixia HG20. As you can tell its a bit shaky because im trying to manually focus and see what the hell im doing on the screen. Never the less, I think there are some great shots I got from the Jag35 and in this one I touched up in Apple color. Check out the video and let me know what you think.

My test video of the Jag35 pro

Here is my first test with the Jag35 Pro.

DVD Studio troubles with HD

Last night I had a client come thru my home to edit and finnish his project. It was a slid show from a photographer and the client wanted the media to be in the highest def possible and on blu ray. I,however, dont own a blu ray burner and as far as Im aware of Macs don't burn blu ray. The client insisted, so I said Id see what I can do. Apples Compressor (from Final Cut Studio) has a format fo HD DVD, so I thought thats what Ill do. After exporting and compressing media, I drag the files to DVD Studio and burned it. Once done, I tested it on my dvd player. I was shock to find that the dvd did not work on my player but worked fine on my computer. I was like WTF!!! I was trying to find a solution to this problem but found nothing, just found that other people had the same issue. At the end I had to give the client what I had which was not much. Does anyone know what this issue is? Cuz I need to know why that is. If I find out, I will let you guys know.

So here I am, Bloging

Lately I've been creating social site left and right, like it was going out of style. But in fact it well in style. Today I went to an interview for a job the required me to blog about their company and services. Sounds easy right? I mean it is but figuring out what to write about is no easy task. For Example Im just trying to figure what to say for the next sentence and the next one and the next. The reason im startting a blog is talk about my production company, which you can check it out at www.vidproductiongroup.com , and talk about my work and what im up to. Im kinda doing all this at once and im still new to some of these sites like Twitter and Blogger. So yeah, check out the site and I'll catch you on the flip. Peace.