Ramblings of a Technology Addict

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Crafting an Image

So, I promised an entry on the project I've been doing for the past few days, and so, here goes. This is the third time I've tried to write it, but I just can't seem to find the right words today. Since high school, I've been doing video editing with the aid of a computer. My Dad taught me how it all went together, how to capture the video, edit it a bit, and then spit it out with a new soundtrack, or clipped up with graphics and such. I graduated to true digital my senior year in college, shooting all in DV and crafting in Final Cut Pro some swimming videos for Denison. It was great fun. Turned out, I was good enough that a small firm that would never make it, hired me to be their digital media guy. It wasn't to be. They went under right as I got to town.
I tried to get a job as a digital media guy at other places, in fact, I even interviewed at USA Today, but I got pretty much shot down by their guy who thought that my work was incredibly rough and that my demo reel was pretty much a waste of videotape. It sucked. I went to work for Westlake shortly thereafter and that place was, I'm not ashamed to say this, a complete waste of my talents. I worked my ass off for the pittance they paid me, and they didn't see the value in my work until I was gone. I did a ton of editing of classroom train the trainer videos that were very very taxing on my time, and didn't pay me jack, but I gave them images that they could really use and manipulate. They had content and story. It was great work.
Now, I hardly get to do editing. My job rarely requires it, which is kinda nice. But yesterday, when Gloria came to me with 100 photos to make into a slideshow, I jumped on it. This what I am good at. This the one place where I am infinitely confident of my ability, not politics, not music, not anything else comes close to my confidence in that arena. Since yesterday, I've begun to work in Final Cut Express on the project, having organized and trimmed all the photos in iPhoto, not because it was the best tool in my arsenal, mind you, but instead because it did the right thing in a way that was easy for my work to be transparent to Gloria. We handled all of the ordering of photos in iPhoto and then exported them to FCE.
Now I'm in the editing process, a process that I truly, truly love and find a lot of zen in. Her husband is an incredible man, having grown up in Southern California, gone to college in Idaho, served in the Marine Corps, come out of the Marines to teach at a high school there, then develop a career in the education field to the point where he has worked with kids in something like 10 different states and two foreign countries. He's now working with Secretary Paige in the US Department of Education. An utterly amazing man, with a vibrant family, who all photograph so beautifully, it blew my mind. This is the perfect project. It has story, it has power, it has nuance and detail and voice.
How far has technology come that we can do this! That we can use a laptop to make a video that's broadcast quality. That we can burn that movie to DVD or make a book of photos out of the raw result, and have it all shipped out in less than a week for less than $50? Blows the mind. This is why I love technology, it makes vision more tangible, you can create things that express your vision in more than just text. That is what gets me. I'm decent in text, I think I express myself better in text than in person, but where I really shine is in videography and in stills.
Alright, I realize this entry is sucking, so I think I'll end it here.
5:16:21 PM comment []

Some random linkage this morning

I'm a bit groggy this morning due to the excess of pollen in the air (and the fact that our front yard was mowed yesterday, smells good, bad for my head, though) and the Claritin-D running through my veins, so here is a quick roundup of the links this morning. Look for a bigger entry on digital lifestyle and the photo shoebox and a really swank project I've got going on the side for a coworker.
I've discovered Bob recently, and his writing is very interesting. Today, he talks about trying keep up with him at the bar. This is not for lightweights, ladies and gents. Professionals only need apply.
Chris talks about the holy of holies of Easter Candy, the Cadbury Creme Egg. <insert homer drool> So creamy, so sweet, so...so...delicioso...However, I must respectfully disagree with his opinion on Peeps. They do not suck. They are, however, perfect for Peep Jousting.
Note to self, next time Scott Bruce is in town at the Improv, I must go. He's a Mac Based Humorist. Of course the article links to his aol homepage. Good God man, we're way more savvy than that these days, get up to date.
My favorite author of all time wrote a great column on the future of Adventure Travel and its impending commoditization. I must say, Stan is in rare form:
They are led by Western guides through a beautiful landscape, walking and perhaps also riding, gliding, kayaking, parasailing, hot-air ballooning, or taking some other form of transport out of the entire Jules Verne repertoire of maneuvers over the land, in devices the tour company provides.
Read Part II, even if you don't think he's right (cough, cough, Mike) for this is important. How we travel seems to have become more and more sterile, and less and less of an adventure. I'm just as guilty as the next guy, finding myself longing for the highway this January, and not the by-way. Worth thinking about in more detail.
One more thing, but I'm not sure how to link to it, well, there is always the rundown page. Daniel Schorr of NPR was on last night as I was driving home from work spekaing about the success of the shock and awe campaign toward getting North Korea to shut up and talk deal, to pretty much get Israel to shut up and take notice, Sharon even admitted he would have to give up some land. I was blown away. My respect for Schorr went up significantly. Look for it, it's worth talking about.
10:27:14 AM comment []