DV for Teachers

A starter list if you’re considering a very inexpensive video camera; note that several of these are not digital.

“In the market for a new camcorder but don’t want to spend a fortune? Here’s a list of ten camcorders that received high marks from users who own them. They may not be the absolute latest and greatest (some of them are last year’s models) but for the aspiring videographer they should do the trick.”

Note that I’m not endorsing here, just linking….

A very specific guide to understanding and setting up your Final Cut Pro projects for stability and good organization.

Choosing the right settings for a project may seem confusing at first, but it’s important we don’t skip these steps or it may easily lead to larger problems down the road.

Includes several screenshots of menus and settings dialogs; bookmark and/or print this, as it can save you many tears.

We have enough new and old Macs around the ITC (we’re mostly a Windows-centric place; I’m the prominent Mac-head here) that this will prove to be of use:

“Learn the version(s) of Mac OS included with computers produced since 01 Jan 1998.”

Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.——-

Free Images and Visuals

It’s not software, really, but this links to a long list of sites offering free images – for presentations, videos, brochures… need a picture? Check this list.

“Finding quality images and photos for complementing an important article, essay or news report is already a challenge for many. Imagine when the goal is not only to find good images, but also to find some that you could openly and freely use without needing to pay royalties or one-time publishing rights. [....]

But as long as your subjects do not require photos of art masterpieces stored in world museums, or faces of popular stars, you may be likely to find highly interesting visual alternatives by exploring the world of free and grassroots image clearinghouses.”

“Celtx 0.9.4 is an open source application, built on the Mozilla Application Framework, that combines scriptwriting, preproduction support, and online collaboration for film, TV, theater, and other media. This release adds tabs (for content viewing, script, title page, database, and web research), script editor improvements, improved dialogs for find/replace and for creating new projects, a Storyboard category, and other changes. Celtx is free for Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows.”

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“MovieToGo 0.9 converts QuickTime-readable movies into 320×240 H.264 format movies for video iPods. It includes the option to place movies in a queue for simple batch processing. MovieToGo is free for Mac OS X with QuickTime 7.0.3 and iTunes 6.x.”

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An impressive array of free and cheap software downloads for Mac and Windows:

“DontCrac[k] hosts a community of passionate audio software developers who collaborate with final users in order to offer them the best audio products.”

They link to several tools I use (or want to). Go browse and have fun.——-

Discusses six “hacks” for digital video:

• Create a Two-Column Script


• Roll Your Own Dolly


• Wrangle Your Music and Sound Library


• Turn Video into Matrix-Style Symbols


• Create a Credit Flag (I like this one)


• Take Donations Via Paypal

These are great ideas.——-

I don’t know if these are the best for under $100, but it’s a starting point if you’re looking. There probably will be more at this price point by the holidays.

“If you are in the market for an inexpensive digital camera here is a list of the top 10 rated cameras for under $100. Most of these cameras are designed for the casual snapshot taker and many of them fit in a pocket or purse. While they may not have many of the features found in more expensive digital cameras they still take reasonably good pictures and best of all they won’t break the bank.”

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David Battino at MacDevCenter:

“This clever tutorial explains how to make an enhanced podcast with Windows Media Audio (WMA) files instead. That means that anyone with an Internet connection and Windows Media Player (even Mac users) can enjoy the enhanced playback. You’ll need Windows to make the files, but the process is simple. You simply embed URLs at appropriate points in the audio file using a free software tool. On playback, those links trigger Web pages to open.”

Nice – clever use of Windows Media File Editor, which is bundled in the Windows Media Encoder download. More great free multimedia capabilities. I wonder if the URL could be a local graphic file, or is it limited to web URLs? Some testing is due….——-