DV for Teachers

“In this short video tutorial, Walter Biscardi demonstrates the basics of travel mattes in Final Cut Pro. Learn what travel mattes are and the difference between alpha mattes and luma mattes.”

I was able to save the clip to my growing library of FCP and graphics tutorials – don’t know if you’ll need QuickTime Pro or not to save it, but if you have Final Cut Pro, you do have QT Pro. I don’t know Walter myself, but he’s practically a neighbor – his facility is near Lake Lanier, about an hour north of us here in Atlanta. This is the latest in a series of video and audio tutorials from the Creative Cow folks – haven’t been to their site in a while, and they’ve been busy.——-

Defend yourself with your stick!——-

A lo-o-ng list of freebie software for teachers. All Windows.

Thanks for sending the link, Dan! via the EdTech listserv.——-

[O]ne of the best-kept secrets of Mac OS X is that it includes a number of astoundingly powerful digital signal processing plug-ins, including a 31-band graphic equalizer, a compressor, a limiter, and high-pass and low-pass filters. If you’ve used GarageBand you may have noticed these effects, but they are also available to any AudioUnits-savvy sound application – and that includes Audio Hijack Pro.

I use Audio Hijack Pro, and only recently have started using it to tweak the sound of the files I record. There’s so much great audio on the web: classic radio theater, speeches, conference presentations, archived and live radio, and now podcasts. The capacity to process the signal for better sound quality makes them more listenable, and provides a chance for production students to hone their skills. And the style of the company that makes Audio Hijack – Rogue Amoeba: Good Software with a Bad Attitude – should appeal to students as well.——-

“A reality TV show focused on the fine craft of digital video editing? Yes. There will be. The Fuel Network, a 24 hour cable channel focused on action sports, will air Cut Masters, a TV show that pits video editors against each other to come up with the most insane, yet crafty video segments, on January 28, 2005.”

While I generally don’t buy into “Reality TV” (it’s really contrived TV, like everything else), this sounds like a very educational series for any editor, aspiring or otherwise. For that matter, anyone who watches television of any kind could learn a lot from watching a group of editors all work on the same raw material. I wish I had The Fuel Network… but I don’t even have cable (except for the high-speed internet). :-)——-

Just as any teacher would, Charlie White of Digital Video Editing gets all excited about a good, cheap tripod:

My conclusion after using this tripod for a couple of weeks is that it’s probably the best $15 I’ve ever spent. The overall problem with using a tripod is that it’s too much trouble and it’s too heavy to bring along with you. It seems like whenever you need a tripod, you don’t have one. And even if you do have one, it’s just too hard to set up and is seemingly not worth the effort. But with this small, light, easy-to-set-up unit, there will be no more excuses for not using a tripod. Oh, did I mention how important it is to use a tripod whenever possible? This diminutive platform, with its user-friendly design, will practically invite you to take it along on your next photographic adventure. And, at less than $15, it represents a tremendous value. Highly recommended. 10 stars.”

Sounds good to me.——-

Say what you will, positive or negative, about the 43rd President of the United States, one thing is for sure: he’ll never be elected or inaugurated again.——-

At Engadget, Ross Rubin thinks through some of the implications of Apple’s new Mac mini as a home media center. Video educators and their students need to keep an eye on all the possibilities this implies for changes in distribution as well as viewing in the home.

“While the Mac mini’s hard disk options fall a bit on the wee side for a digital video recorder (especially if Apple continues to embrace its new high-definition religion), there are still plenty of TiVo-based DVRs being sold with capacities of 40GB and 80GB. The computer costs as much as an entry-level TiVo device and lifetime subscription before rebate and, unlike with TiVo, one could easily add an external hard disk for more storage. It’s a foregone conclusion that at least one company, perhaps Elgato Systems, will develop some combination to turn the Mac mini into a capable Windows Media Center competitor, but it will be impossible for anyone but Apple to market such functionality with the support that, say, the iPod has received.

There is at least one good reason for Apple to delay. Currently, TiVo and Microsoft are pushing the FCC to enforce mandatory adoption of CableCard by operators. While not a panacea, CableCard opens the market for alternatives to cable-supplied digital set-tops, much like a SIM card enables a choice in GSM cellular handsets.

Keep these things in mind as well: What are the implications for videos made by indies and educators, and their distribution via the web, rather than the corporate-controlled and FCC-regulated cable system? And what of DRM? It’s safe to assume that most Digital Rights Management systems will raise the barriers to entry for small producers like us. If they’re legally mandated, what does that mean for us as well? Media centers – explicitly sold as such or cobbled together – need to remain flexible and open, and video- and issue-aware educators need to stay on top of this.——-

I love this little app – I use it to record messages for emails, for quick voiceovers to put in QuickTime movies or presentations, recording meetings or my side of a phone call to augment my notes…. It’s just wonderful. The download is only 78k. Ben doesn’t even bother with an icon. The latest on this free recorder for OS X:

• Record from the default input device selected in the Sound preference panel directly to an AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3, MP4, or WAV file
  
• AppleScript support
  
• Japanese localization by tai
  
• French localization by Steve Hammond

  What’s new in this version:

• Added support for Apple Lossless, MP4, and WAV
  
• Added option to reveal the output file in the Finder after recording
• Added option to open the output file after recording
  
• The system won’t go to sleep during recording
  
• Added advanced option to set the maximum number of minutes per recording
  
• Added advanced option to set the file name format
  
• Scripting: The “next file name” property uses date formatters
  
• MP3 is supported through the LAME framework

This is another of those great little apps that make Windows users doubt their choice. My highest recommendation.

[Update: the LAME framework cited is linked from Audio Recorder’s help file, but there’s no information on where to install it, and Audio Recorder doesn’t automatically see it. I posted a request for more information on Audio Recorder’s VersionTracker Feedback page, and I’ll post when I get this fixed. In the meantime, stick with V. 1.4 if you need to record to MP3 with Audio Recorder.]

Graeme Nattress:

Native editing gives many advantages to digital video editors, and perhaps the greatest of these advantages is reduced costs. Although some of the equipment listed above is quite pricey, the computer and especially hard drive requirements needed to edit with them are much cheaper than was previously needed to edit at the quality of video they provide. Whereas once you needed an expensive capture card to edit high definition video, it can now be captured using a standard Firewire cable. Native editing is really, in my mind, the technological advance what sparked the DV revolution, and it should be remembered that the revolution is not over yet!

Graeme provides a good technical look at the format options available with FCP, and the hardware add-ons that may be necessary. A good one-source overview.

And take a look at the new capabilities of Final Cut Pro Express HD, announced Tuesday.——-