Online Video Production Blog

This was dropped in the letter box this week.  I like wandering through my local Clive Peters, a big stores lots to look at.  Staff tend not to be too knowledgable on specific topics, I dont blame them for this as they have to deal with everything from washers, rangehoods to video cameras to home theatre systems.

This is not what will be the traditional "Which One would you Buy?" like the post last week, Officeworks Stock Up for Christmas Sale, but I thought it important to bring this article to light here.

I monitor Twitter for various trends, I like the fact that "the cloud" as it were has so many answers and also so many questions to solve.  One of the most common complaints I hear from people in regards to video editin is why is the software so expensive, how can I get free video editing software?

I am not about to go into the hows and whys of why software cost so much or the morality of using downloaded/pirated software.  I will say that I do use legit software but have had the privellege to have been given a significant amount of free software by manufacturers to test and learn for training or sales roles I have held.  Personally at home I use Adobe Premiere, switching recently after about 4  years of Avid Liquid in all its various guises.  Ialso use and recceomend the "Studio" suite by Pinnacle, its is a low cost easy to use editor, I saw it being sold for $AU200 recently but I am sure you can get it better than that.  I have though recently found a free MPG/video editor for windows users.

In the last few weeks I have been wrestling with a decision about this very topic.  I wont go into the details of the decision in this public forum just yet but needless to say the decision hinges a fair bit on what I will be blogging about in this article.

Is TV Broadcast dead? Is PayTV Broadcast dead? Is Online video/TV the future? How Long until online overtakes free-to-air broadcast as an entertainment medium?  What skills will be required in the Online future? and How will the Free-to-air Broadcaster respond to the challenge?

I write this blog from a number of locations.  I have been stuck in front of a another computer away from my main 2 machines, my office machine and my home machine, with time to kill and blogs to write.  I like to try and finish an article if possible so when I get back to my main machines I can get back to whatever work I need to do there.  As such I have had to set up some procedures so that I can work effectively on this new blog while away from home base as it were.

One techique I have used is to store high quality versions of all files I might need in a hidden folder on my site so that I can easily adapt any images on the go or add them to my various social media sites.  I also had to find a quick and easy online image editing application.  I found www.picnik.com

I really like what Kent has to say generally and he has some great insights into media and human behaviour.  He writes an interesting article about Tech Novelty, where he uses Photoshop as an example.

He states that Tech Novelty is:

When I started this blog my intention was to come up with original content, I intend to do that but I also feel it is important to highlight great answers written by other bloggers.  I dont want this site to become a pointer to other sites rest assured I will continue to comment and write my own articles.  One of the most common issues I hear when it comes to editing, shooting and encoding (in fact a student here at TAFE just said "Why is this still picture flickering on the monitor)  comes back to interlacing issues.

Problems present as "shimmering" still pictures, jerky or jumpy moving shots to footage that "doesn't look right".  Usually it is caused by multiple software packages treating footage or stills differently or more correctly interpretting the interlaced image differently.  I wont keep writing about this as a far more intelligent and eloquent blogger than myself has written an excellent page of information with diagrams etc on this subject.  Check out http://www.100fps.com