Storymix uses Flip Cameras extensively in our business for brides to shoot their own DIY wedding video. While at WPPI (see my post from a few weeks ago) I was fortunate to win a competitor camera, the Kodak PlaySport! This gave me the rare opportunity to do an apples to apples comparison of the functionality of each camera.

Two weeks ago I brought both cameras to a meeting of ChickChat Chicago, a women’s networking soirée in downtown Chicago. The meeting consisted of some delicious food and drink, donated by the vendors of French Market Chicago, a motivational speech by Carolyn Ou, and some fabulous networking.

Functionality

The Kodak has many more options. You can take photos as well as video. Heck, you can even use that thing under water!

You have many choices with video resolution; standard def for small file size, or 3 different HD options. 1080P is “true” high definition to the purists, but not everyone can view it over the internet. There is also 720P at 60 and 30 frames per second. 60P has large file sizes, but looks awesome in slow motion.

The Flip does one thing. It takes 720P video at 60 frames per second. There are no options; which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Usability

Well, you can’t get around it. The Flip is much simpler to use. Just hit the big red button and it will record video. The Kodak has several buttons on it. Many of the buttons have options when you push them. Getting it into video mode isn’t obvious, but once there, it’s simple to take a video.

Connecting the Flip the computer is dead simple. Plug in the USB connector. This also means that you have to download your footage or you will fill up the camera.

The Kodak has an SD card. This is great because if you fill it up, you can just get a new one and use the original as a backup (they’re cheap), but it does add another level of complexity.

The Video

I used both cameras in shooting the short movie below. Can you tell which camera was used where?

How to Choose?

You really need to think about how you would use the camera. Do you value simplicity or function?

As a consumer who wants to take both photos and video, I would pick the PlaySport. As a business owner who wants her clients to be able to simply pick up a camera and shoot some video, I would absolutely pick the Flip. Which one would you choose?

I admit that I had a strong bias against 3DTV. Well, I finally got to actually try 3D instead of just making fun of it. No, I didn’t buy one, but I did get to look cool in the glasses at my friend’s house. And the technical aspects of it don’t stink. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty not to like, but it still looks cool.

I thought 3D was a gimmick pushed by the movie industry. Much of their revenue comes from post-release movie sales: DVD’s and those Blu-Ray discs they throw in the package for free. Don’t get me started on that one. Well, if they release a movie with no compelling plot, but awesome 3D animation, who is going to buy the disc if the movie is boring and there’s no way to see the 3D? Think Avatar. Sorry, hated it.

I still think that’s the push behind 3D in the living room, but it isn’t a gimmick, as I thought.

The Good

It’s really pretty amazing to see things come to life in your TV. This isn’t like the WebTV or Google TV for that matter. It actually works. We saw Monsters Vs. Aliens. It was as lifelike as an animation can be. Make sense? I didn’t think so. But it did look good.

The Bad

Let’s say you put a 3D movie in the Blu-Ray player. You and the kids sit down to watch a movie on your Samsung 3DTV. Wait a minute. The TV only came with two sets of glasses. Child size 3D glasses for the Samsung are $180. Hope their friends don’t want to watch it too.

Alright, let’s say you bought the glasses for your kids. Now you have a few friends over and want to watch a 3D movie. You have four pairs of glasses, but those extra two are child size. Extra adult 3D glasses are only $149. Or you can get the rechargeable ones for $199, but don’t forget to recharge them before each movie viewing!

The Ugly

Yes, ugly. That is how you look in those glasses. Sorry, but it’s true. You look like an idiot sitting in the dark with sunglasses on. And ugly is how the movie looks if you try to watch it without the stinkin’ glasses.

3D is also called stereoscopic film. Two versions of the movie are filmed and projected; one for your right eye and one for your left. The Samsung glasses are so expensive because they have a shutter within each lens that opens and closes 120 times per second, letting your mind complete the picture between the movie seen by your right and left eyes.

Without the glasses, both eyes see both versions of the movie all the time. It looks like bad… ugly.

So What?

Well, if you like shooting your own home movies, and really want to go all out there… JVC just unveiled a 3D consumer camcorder! For $1999 you can reach out and touch someone. Grandma can feel like she’s really playing with the kids from the comfort of her own living room. Discovery and ESPN have also decided to plow ahead with their own plans for full time 3D programming.

Lastly, for all you ever wanted to know about 3D but didn’t think to ask: http://www.3duniversity.net/

So, if you went out and spent the big bucks for a 3D TV, you can watch 3D Blu-Rays on it (with the proper glasses), you will soon be able to watch 24 hour 3D programming on a few networks, and you can shoot 3D home movies starting this April. Just be prepared to shell out even more big bucks for all those pairs of glasses for your guests.

Is your photographer taking engagement photos for your wedding? Well, they should and here’s why. It let’s you know them personally before the big day and gives you some great opportunities to be creative. Last fall, I had the opportunity to follow along with fabulous Chicago photojournalistic wedding photographer Christine Otte while she shot engagement photos for Joe and Lindsay.

I went along for the ride to play with shooting video on a DSLR (Christine’s big honking Canon 5D Mark II). On a whim, I decided to see what I could do with the funky professional photos from Christine and video clips that I took. Keep in mind, I’m not a pro videographer. This was my very first time shooting video on a DSLR. I actually had to read the instruction manual!

Christine took Joe and Lindsay on a whirlwind tour of the Hyde Park neighborhood for some fantastic photo ops.

Chicago's Hyde Park has a wide array of photo opportunities

We saw some gorgeous graffiti art, gave the kids on the playground a show of kissy-face, and made an extended stop at the gorgeous 63rd Street boathouse on Chicago’s lakefront.

The Chicago skyline as seen from Lake Michigan

Joe and Lindsay were great sports as Christine and I made them kiss over and over again. Guess it’s good practice for their reception. Here is the super cool video save the date I was able to create for them. What do you think? Is this something that will make your friends green with envy at your eco-conscious method of spreading your good news?

Today we are fortunate enough to be joined again by guest blogger Ronald Hole, professional cinematographer and storyteller in Norway. Last spring, Ronald shared with us how to properly light your subject during an interview. Today, he’ll teach us how to capture the audio, i.e. how to hear the subject.

We’ve all seen those family history videos. You know, the ones where some lovingly devoted person in your family went to the trouble of interviewing Grandma for 2 hours. He made copies of the movie for everyone in the family. Unfortunately, it sounds like a garbled mess for 2 hours. Take it away Ronald:

Yup. Its audio time. And its important to listen.

People will be okay with bad imagery. But they will not forgive bad audio. In this short blog I´ll share some tips for better audio for you with consumer-cameras without external microphones.

First thing of all: Get to know your camera. What kind of microphone is mounted on it?

Is it unidirectional, it captures sound all around, and grannys talk drowns in all other sounds? (Narrow the distance to granny for better audio)

Or maybe it is directional, and grannys voice is clear and nice in all the noise. With a directional microphone you need to point at the sound source. (its okay for granny to stand a little away from the camera)

Okay. Heres how we “hotshots” in the videobusiness do it.

Does your camera have a headset outlet on the camera? USE IT. Get a good headset, and listen to the sound the camera gives you.

Point the camera at the source of the sound. Good start.

Always consider where you do the talk. A noisy place, not such a good idea. If I only have the camera mic, I would place granny as close to the mic on the camera as possible.

Here’s an example of an interview filmed in a noisy place:

I always clap my hands in a room, to hear if the sounds bounce or get swallowed. Bounce=bad, swallowed=good.

Bookshelfs, curtains and soft stuff on the walls helps very much for the acoustic on your sound. Furniture and other soft objects will also help. Empty room bad, furnished rooms better.

Wind is never a good thing for audio. Place your subject or yourself in the way of the wind. Or just put a sock on the mic, if that is possible.

Most consumer cameras have auto-adjustment of the audio. That means the camera will turn the sound up when there is quiet, and down when theres a lot of noise. Thus the importance having control of the audio on location where you are recording.

These tips will hopefully make the audio a little better. Most new consumer cameras now have mic input. Consider buy an external microphone for your camera.

- Headset

- point the camera at the sound-source

- Consider location (noise)

- Watch the wind

- camera close to the subject

Good luck!

Editor’s note: Bad audio can be fixed later on, but don’t depend on it. If you have access to a sound editing program like Soundtrack Pro, you can spend several hours and eventually get it to sound decent, but you are much better off filming if correctly in the first place.

Here is how Storymix Pro was able to adjust the audio on this video clip. It’s not perfect, but does sound much more professional. And when it was the only clip available, it certainly worked.

About Ronald
This kid has been in the television and film production for 20 years. He’s probably done anything you can do here, from making coffee and running errands to editing documentaries. But he loves taking pictures, meeting new people, and learning new stories. And sharing those. Some of his love for storytelling with moving images you can find at www.storytell.in, where he tries to share the tricks of the trade from directors, photographers, producers and the like from the web with you. If you have any questions or would like to contact Ronald, you can do so at ronald@storytell.in

Argh. I never know how to time these things. My mom likes to receive beautiful photo gifts for the holidays. I wanted to comply by sending her a photo book and some enlargements. Every day I receive some promotional email from Kodak, Shutterfly, Winkflash… you name it.

So I start a project on Kodak Gallery with my latest coupon 25% plus free shipping when you spend $50 (without tax). Spend awhile on it and… lovely Comcast decides to sputter and choke. All of a sudden it takes 15 minutes to upload one high-res photo – never mind the 50 needed for my photo book. It turns out that squirrels eat more than my flower bulbs. They apparently love the taste of high speed internet lines.

So, I wait and wait until my service is acceptable and… the coupon expires. Ah well, that’s ok, there’s another one in my inbox. Return to my project and enter the code and… it’s not for print products.

Get frustrated… wait a day. Oh look, another coupon for print products. Go all the way through the system and the total keeps going down as I add more products, good right? No, I can’t seem to get to the $50 to get free shipping. So, I spend $20 more to get free shipping, but the coupon keeps making the total less. So I add more items, and the total goes down again. Will I never get to $50??

Somehow I never get to $50, but am now frustrated and just want to submit my order, even though there is $16 in shipping, which I would love to put into photo products instead, but the $%!@#%:% coupons are making me crazy. When I’m done being frustrated with their shopping cart, I’ll give you a nice pleasant review of their photo book ordering process.

Meanwhile, I really only wanted $30 of products in the first place. I finally placed the order for $42 in products, with $16 in shipping. The next stinking morning I received a coupon for 25% off plus free shipping when you spend $30!!!!  Kodak, please take the hint, your coupons are great but they are thoroughly convincing me that I’d have to be absolute sucker to pay full price for your prints.

I spent many lively years between high school, college, and early years in industry developing friendships. Most of these I remember fondly, the ones I have forgotten are probably due to the plethora of tequila consumed during the budding friendship in those years. Either way, I’d like to keep in touch with these friends. When I say keep in touch, I mean actually know what’s going on in their lives, and what they look like… wrinkles and all. Hence, my list of Christmas card peeves.

1. Photo card of just the kids – I drank with you, not your kids, I’ve never met your kids… I want to see what you look like – fat and wrinkly like the rest of us.
2. Photo card of just the pets – need I say more?
3. Card with just a signature – Hey, I know it’s been years, but I really would love to know how you’re doing.

Seriously, is your life that boring that you can’t muster up a brief note about yourself… not just your kids, but you? And how about a photo? I know, we’ve all gotten older. So what?

So, each year I try to send Christmas cards to these friends. As I said in my last post regarding online holiday greetings, the list had shrunk considerably when I actually had to address them all and pay for postage. Now, that I’ve been able to reconnect with them on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, I just add them to the email addresses who receive our greeting.

This way many people get to be bored by/laugh at us. I gotta say, the results have been nothing short of astounding. I went to visit a friend of mine from out of state, whom I hadn’t seen in 8 years. His kids asked if I was the one with the ice rink in the backyard. They said they felt like they knew our family from seeing us goof around in our Christmas video greeting.

A link to our 2010 greeting was emailed this week. (Remember, never email a video itself unless you want 200 phone calls for IT support from friends and relatives). I already received personal email responses from at least 20 people whom I wouldn’t have spoken to otherwise. It’s hard to keep those lines of communication open with friends from so long ago – that’s why Facebook is such a convenience. Receiving those personal greetings from 20 people means so much – and it never would’ve happened if they didn’t have the convenience of simply hitting reply on our Christmas greeting email. How do you reply to a photo card?

Do I look goofy in our Christmas greetings? Yes, usually. Do I look older with bad hair? In some of the photos, yes. Do my out of town friends and relatives get a good feel for who we are and where we’re at in life? Yes, definitely.

Here’s a shorter sample of the type of personal feel that can be achieved with an online holiday greeting. Our 2010 greeting had video of backyard antics, a personal message and several photos with captions. It was a great way to share our story, without addressing any envelopes.

So what are your top holiday greeting pet peeves? And why exactly do you still bother to send out cards?

That’s right. You’re going to Flip over this one. Get it? Flip. Hehehe. Here is the latest sample of our beautiful brides to use our Storymix Media Flip Wedding Video Package. So convenient… rent the cameras in pre-packaged mailers, have friends and family shoot the video, send back the cameras, receive a finished edited movie. You can even extend the rental to take the camera on your honeymoon!

Andrea and Jeff read our blogs about the value of video from your wedding, but didn’t have the budget for a high quality professional videographer. Rather than simply have a friend video their wedding and hand them some useless computer video files, they decided to go for the convenience of renting our Flip cameras and having us edit a beautiful movie for them.

Some things I really like about how they filmed this:

• Andrea assigned people to either side of the ceremony site, one camera was near a speaker, so we used the audio from that one, but the video from both cameras
• Lots of details – her “videographers” were thoughtful enough to capture many of the details of the day

Another benefit shown in the full-length feature was all the behind-the-scenes footage captured by the multiple cameras. One camera followed Andrea getting ready while another followed Jeff. Well wishes were captured by guests from both sides of the family.

After the wedding, Andrea shipped the cameras back in the pre-paid mailer. We uploaded her finished video for her approval shortly after that. Within a month of their wedding, Andrea and Jeff received the finished movie, along with the all the original video files shot by their friends. Oh, and did I mention this was all for way less than the price of an inexperienced videographer?

John was digging through his old memorabilia one day when he found these tiny film reels. Oh, the memories. Off to West Point at the tender age of 18. Travels in Boston. Sure wish I could see these. That’s where Storymix Media came in to transfer his old film reels onto a custom DVD.

But we didn’t simply transfer them onto a DVD, without knowing what they were. Many places will simply run the reels continuously through a machine into one long movie. We separated them into the individual movies and color corrected them independently. This makes for much better storytelling. The DVD menu was then created with each reel as its own movie button.

Check out John as he marched with the other cadets in the summer of ‘68. Striking young fellow, don’t you think?

In 1965, at the age of 17, John went off to West Point, at the commendation of Congressman Bill Broomfield of Royal Oak, Michigan. John was in the Beast Barracks. The beasts are the upperclassmen all in white; the new cadets are in the white shirts and gray slacks.

John thoroughly enjoyed West Point, but realized during that first summer, that it simply wasn’t for him. Back to Michigan he went, and enrolled in Oakland University. He spent one year in the army reserve in Boston… which leads to our next film reel.

John had the super cool job of Morse code interception. His parents came for a visit in 1968 and they actually went for a walk at Walden Pond, for all you Henry David Thoreau fans out there.

So, next time you find some film reels in your home, don’t just get them transferred, tell a story with them!

What good is it to spend money for one evening if you have nothing to show for it? That’s where the video comes in. Without a memento to look at every year, what do you have? That dress in a box.

As you know, I’m always espousing the need for video in your life. Throughout this blog I’ve offered several tips for how to take better video yourself. How do you know when it’s time to use a pro?

Bill & Joanna 9.25.2010 from Furla Studio on Vimeo.

If you really want to capture all the gorgeous details, like in the video above, filmed by Chris Chibucos of Furla Studio, you’ll want to consider a pro for the following reasons:

The Audio

The pro videographers, or cinematographers, as many of them are called, know how to capture good audio. They use professional equipment like wireless mikes to capture a clean track of the vows at the wedding. Your friend with the mini-DVD recorder will never be able to get those vows for you.

The Equipment

The pro’s have an arsenal of gear dedicated to sharp video. Your uncle will probably not think to bring a backup battery. Nor will your uncle be able to set the scene by manually focusing between you walking down the aisle and the look on your groom’s face as he sees you for the first time.

The Lighting

If your reception is like most, the lighting is pretty dark. Want some video of your first dance? Good luck if it was in the dark. A pro will have the proper lighting to capture that dance so you can actually see it.

The Final Product

When a friend or relative shoots your video, if you are lucky, you may get a poorly edited video to watch. Unlucky, and you get the raw footage which remains on your hard drive and your to-do list for an eternity. A pro will give you a polished movie to watch every year on your anniversary, or whenever you’d like.

The Video

Now that I’ve warmed you up, here’s the highlights of the Illinois Videographers Association meeting I attended last month. The IVA meeting was held at Shure Audio in Niles, Illinois. Shure is the premier manufacturer of audio equipment for the video industry in America. See a microphone on an anchorman on the news? It’s probably a Shure. Going to see some The Black Crows in concert? They use Shure.

Shure Audio is a cool place. They have this thing called an anechoic chamber. It’s a huge padded room. You go inside and all white noise stops. It’s like you’re in a vacuum. It’s a bit unnerving, but I loved it! Absolute silence. I want one for my house.

The true highlight of the evening, however, was the video showcase shown on Blu-Ray  on the big screen in the Shure Theater with amazing surround sound.

The first sample is from Keith Anderson of Wedding Day Cinema.

Alicia & David from Wedding Day Cinema on Vimeo.

The next one is from Scott and Barb Scheman of Chicago Cinematic Weddings.

Matt & Angie – Wedding Trailer for August 7, 2010 HD from Chicago Cinematic Weddings on Vimeo.

Lastly, this one wasn’t played that evening, but it was produced by my friend who was at the meeting, Maribeth Kocimski Ratajczyk. It’s a commercial for Doritos and Pepsi that’s in the running to be played at the Superbowl! Just click here to view the commercial. Imagine having your wedding filmed by someone who has a commercial shown in the Superbowl????

So, if all of this still hasn’t convinced you of the value of a professional cinematographer, yet you still want video at your wedding, there is one other option. Storymix Media does offer two packages for brides whose friends or family will be filming a DIY wedding video. Just keep in mind, for the reasons listed above, the quality of your final movie will be better if you opt for the pro.

Stephen and David Narens have a special bond… brotherhood. So, when Stephen approached David, an experienced amateur videographer, to shoot the promotional video for Stephen’s Chicago wedding photography business, David immediately agreed.

Stephen Narens has been in the business of shooting photos for over 25 years and has a real passion for his work. David Narens, of www.LetteringSpecialists.com, shot the video at several locations. Shooting at several weddings allowed them to showcase Stephen’s style at several different events. This would most likely not be financially feasible with a professional film crew.

Last week, Storymix Pro was pleased to present the promotional video of Narens Photography. Storymix Pro was launched to enable small business owners to produce their own promotional videos at an affordable price. The business shoots the video footage. Storymix Pro creates the movie masterpiece.

Stephen sent his footage and photos into Storymix, where we uploaded them to his online storyboard. He then arranged them to tell the story in his own way, with his own titles. We then added the custom motion graphics, editing, and encoding… all the creative and geeky stuff that takes hours and hours to do on your own. We were also able to clean up the some of the background noise that would have prevented him from using his best clips.

The Result

The best part is what happened after we uploaded Stephen’s video. You see, encoding video for the web is pretty easy. Making it look good on the web, not so easy. We took special care to make sure every photo and video clip looked as good as the original media, but loaded quickly for the viewers. There’s nothing people hate more than watching a spinning wheel while waiting for their improperly encoded video.

Stephen got the link to his video and immediately began emailing prospective clients, friends, and clients from years ago. I’ll let Stephen tell the story from here.

“Well so far the immediate response has been great with friends and family. More importantly, I was recently dealing with a couple out of state who where shopping on line for photographers. Having the video helped seal the deal for them. The told me that it really gave them a feeling of me, not only as a photographer but a person who will be spending a day with them and their family. It gave me that “personal connection” that you want to have with every client, with out being there. Thats huge…   I have not put it in on my main website http://www.NarensPhotography.com, just yet due to timing of the holidays.  I look forward to this. What I have done is contact all my business contacts thru, Facebook, Linkedin, etc… sent them the link, and in fact it has reopened several doors to people that I have not heard from in awhile. You have to keep your name out there in a creative way, and with Storymix Media you can now do it in such a professional way.”

Way to go Stephen!

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