Robert Thompson on all things China.
W I D E S C R E E N is the new black.
What it looks like in the morning at YRGZ (never saw it before.) Gotta clean the wide-angle adapter, or remove it. That reminds me, we need to get a mirror for our bathroom.
| Title | House Video #2 |
| Video | 600 kbps, 2-pass VBR |
| Audio | 40 AAC, mono |
| Dimenions | 600×310, preserve aspect ratio (crop) |
| Format | Quicktime |
| File Size | 7.1mb |
| Length | 1:21 (FCP compression time= 10 mins) |
| Sound | Narrative |
| Rated | G (All audiences) |
| Notes | Never using 600 vkpbs again. |
-BOB-
Update:
SEE FOR YOURSELF. Screen Mimic initialized recording at the same time I clicked Dreamweaver on the dock.
On this brand new $3,000+ laptop, with 2 GB of RAM, it takes Dreamweaver 36 seconds to load and get to a “new” HTML screen. 
-BOB-
To all the people (aHEM) that are may be in the market for a new HDV widescreen mega-cam… Quick way to save yourself a load of cash.
1. Borrow someone else’s DV cam and use it for free!
2. After you watch the FCP tutorial and have the basics, export you movie like this:
This screen is at (… are you ready?):
File > Export > Using Quicktime Conversion > Options > Size
While in this dialogue, set the Dimensions to Custom and enter any widescreen ratio (help with good widescreen ratios, bottom of the page) and then check the “Preserve aspect ratio using” and set it’s menu to “Crop”.
By doing this, you are cropping your DV from the center (essentially trimming off the top and bottom equally) to give it a “widescreen” feel.
And when you read the reviews on Amazon about how “normal” DV cameras look like s*** with the internal widescreen mode enabled (or look like s*** when you crop them in post-production because the resolution is terrible), I encourage you to take a look at the quality of my last export and see for yourself. Keep in mind that this was shot on a 3.5 year old model Panasonic (3CCD!) and was cropped in FCP…
-BOB-
Currently, at 1:59 am, it’s 54°F outside.
The range is 45°-70ish°F. In direct sunlight, you experience “very hot” and in shade, your fingers are uncomfortably cold. I’m at 5500 feet, but closer to that equator, blah… It’s nice during the day. That’s why people in Beijing buy second homes in Yunnan — because of the good weather. Doesn’t rain that much.
-BOB-
Just a note: I edited this video with the intention of using all the new information I learned from Total Training: Final Cut 5. It’s not a very stimulating video, but I did make use of the ‘Viewer’ and ‘3-point editing’ (as opposed to drag&drop, razor method, as described in my last tutorial.) Also I learned about how to effectively use the browser (or what I called the ‘library’ window).
| Title | Bob & Fam Visit Heijing, Yunnan |
| Video | 1024 kbps, 2-pass VBR |
| Audio | 80 AAC, mono |
| Dimensions | 640×480 |
| Format | Quicktime |
| File Size | 21.7 mb |
| Length | 2:42 min |
| Rated | All audiences |
I compressed this video twice, same settings, except for 2-pass.
1-pass = 21.8 megs / lots of crap on screen
2-pass = 21.7 megs / much less crap
But, the 2-pass very little of the artifacting that 1-pass does when you move the camera more that the speed of “slow”. What that means is, for a talking head, yes, 1-pass could be useful at saving you compression time, but really, I’m now convinced that 2-pass must always be used.
-BOB-
WATCH TUTORIAL (10+ mins, 88 mb)
The video is a little over 10 minutes. When you have 10-15 minutes, watch this, it’s very dry, but a helpful video outlining the basics of FCP. Should be informative for beginners, and definitely will allow you to use FCP with the easiest key commands to get a video out the door.
-BOB-
VIEW GALLERY
We just walked around Yi Ren Gu Zhen (YRGZ) and I took some pictures with the Italian Tripod and my trusty Rebel Digi.
Keeping you all in the loop.
-bob-
As you can see, via Safeway.com, about 2.5 lbs of bananas costs $2.00, for five bananas.
In Chuxiong, it costs $0.20 USD for five bananas (at $0.19 USD/kilo).
-BOB-
I’ve been watching these really helpful Pro Tools DVDs. Tutorials on everything related to Pro Tools, from setting up a unit, to editing, recording, file management, keyboard shortcuts, plugins, blah blah.
Anyway so I just watched chapter 13, “File Management of Pro Tools Systems”, and guess what! It turns out that Pro Tools automatically saves every take on your hard drive, whether or not you delete it inside the program or not. So I was advised to go and delete all the excess files (or “takes of ideas” I didn’t want, or bad takes, or whatever). I went through 6 different folders (or, 6 different songs/ideas) and by deleting all the garbage, I cleared out 6 GB.
To give you an idea, I have about 40 folders (or song/song ideas) to go. So it should give me more space.
I see no smoothie recipies, so either a) no one reads this blog, b) no one knows any recipies, or c) I should just keep making my own. I think I got a good one:
1 pear (skinned, de-seeded), 1 small banana, 150 ml whole milk, 50 ml water, little sugar = pretty good. Our blender also has this coffee grinder think, so next time I get coffee I’ll have to test out Helen’s “bigger coffee ground” theory. Okay, sleep time.
-BOB-
WATCH MOVIE