DV for Teachers

This is the first in a new department: Switching to Mac, a series for folks learning to use Mac. I’m doing a workshop on Macs for Windows users next month, and I’m gathering my support materials.

“The most notable difference is that Window’s Explorer and most Windows programs have their window control buttons in the upper right hand corner of the windows, whereas the Finder (the Mac equivalent to Windows Explorer) and most Mac programs keep these buttons in the upper left hand corner of the windows. The function of these three buttons vary slightly as well.”
——-

Elizabeth Van Ness in the New York Times: “Is a Cinema Studies Degree the New M.B.A.?”

Some 600 colleges and universities in the United States offer programs in film studies or related subjects, a number that has grown steadily over the years, even while professional employment opportunities in the film business remain minuscule. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are only about 15,050 jobs for film producers or directors, which means just a few hundred openings, at best, each year.”

This kind of video literacy is of immense importance. It cannot be underestimated; the power of film and video is so strong that its viewers must be educated in its uses and effects. It’s a legitimate rhetorical tool, whether you agree with the position being argued or not, but just like newspapers and books, there’s always a point of view behind the camera and in the editing.

There are tons of examples, of course, from old Soviet, Nazi, and U.S. propaganda to modern uses: U.S.-controlled local news in Iraq, attempting to sway public opinion against those attacking American troops and Iraqi police; recent government-produced video segments aired by local news stations as straight news; a phone-cam video posted on the net of a teacher yelling at a student for not standing during the anthem (and its subsequent discussion on cable “news”); and so on.

One of Van Ness’s examples in the article is what she calls a “highly produced video” made by a brokerage firm about the proposed changes to Social Security. Let’s see: proposed “private investment accounts”... they’re a brokerage firm… the changes likely to be financed by as much as $2 trillion in new federal debt… what position do you think this video supports, and how well-equipped will its viewers be to discern its truth or falsity? Remember the Harry and Louise commercials over the Clinton health-care plan? The Swift-Boat ads attacking John Kerry? Videos can convey facts well, but that doesn’t mean they do convey facts. Viewers have to know how to interpret what they watch just as they need the skills to interpret what they read.——-

DV.com posts ten tips for FCP you may not know. (Login needed; go to bugmenot.com for a login and password if you don’t want to register.)

1. Timecode Window Burns

2. LiveType and Motion Projects

3. HD, G5, Cheap Drives

4. PowerBook Video Out

5. More Output Options

6. Better Trimming

7. Get into Motion

8. Copy and Paste Changes

9. Print to Video

10. Expose and FCP HD——-

Matthew Phillips:

This document describes how to setup a system for automatically backing up a Mac (OS X 10.2 or later) to an external drive using freely available software. This applies to any kind of external drive including FireWire, USB and network drives.”
——-

The self-proclaimed World’s Greatest Compressionist: “In the October issue, I covered the field of Web codecs (“Web Delivery Codecs,” Oct. ‘04 DV). This time, I discuss codecs for higher-bitrate delivery on shiny disc-be it CD, DVD-ROM, DVD, or a next-generation high-definition disc format.”——-

For $18, BenoÓt Joossen says his SimpleMovieX does all that QT Pro does, plus edit and export MPEG 1 & 2. I’ll be playing with the free demo download of this one, count on it.

SimpleMovieX is a multi-document application, like TextEdit for example. Whereas TextEdit natively edits rtf documents (Rich Text Format), SimpleMovieX natively edits mov files (QuickTime movie). TextEdit can import txt and doc documents, edit them as rtf documents, then save them back as txt or doc. Similarly, SimpleMovieX can import several other file formats, edit them inside the QuickTime framework, then export them to several file formats. Check the list of available formats and media types here.

SimpleMovieX is based on QuickTime technology, therefore it can operate on any file that QuickTime Player can open. It also has the same editing and export features as QuickTime Pro. In addition, SimpleMovieX has a good MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 support, since it allows true editing and export.