Tag: Digital Video

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You will be missed

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I was saddened to hear that Red Burns, founder of NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, passed away earlier this week. Red was my academic adviser and one of the first people that I met when I arrived to study at ITP in the late 90s. Oddly enough, despite her small stature, she was also one of the most intimidating people I have ever met. And I say that as a person that is not easily intimidated. My first impression of Red was that she was not someone to trifle with, piss off, or just generally wind up on her bad side. Over time I was fortunate to see that there was a kinder and gentler side to her. Red cared deeply for her students, but she demanded the best from them. She was a formidable personality and utterly fearless in her approach to life.

Over the past few days my Facebook and Twitter feeds have been inundated by posts from friends and fellow ITP students who were influenced heavily by Red. She was truly a pioneer in the fields of tech education and digital expression. The overwhelming theme that comes through in all of the posts is that Red, and the program that she created, changed their lives for the better. Continue reading “You will be missed”

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Finally, new Mac Pros

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Apple finally is going to release an update to the Mac Pro desktop, and for the first time since they started producing these top of the line towers, I am NOT planning on getting one. This is because I have migrated away from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere Pro, thus eliminating the one reason why I would need a mac this powerful. So without a specific mac application to drive a purchase of this magnitude, I cannot see dropping this much money on the new system.

All of my other software, primarily the Adobe Suite, is cross platform and can run quite well on cheaper PC based equipment. Plus Premiere Pro already integrates much better with After Effects and Photoshop than Final Cut. And according to my research I am not alone in this belief either. It seems that many professional videographers have made the switch away from Final Cut to other platforms because of the debacle that was the initial release of Final Cut X.

All of the other mac specific applications that I use now, like xCode and iBook, can be easily be handled by lower end systems like my Mac Mini and my aging mac laptops. And while I will concede that the cylindrical design of the new Mac Pro looks cool as hell, the price, good gracious, the price is going to be astronomical. As a person more than willing to spend money on cool stuff, I just don’t see a single mac application that would necessitate getting this system. However the challenge for those intrepid people that do decide to get one will be in figuring a way of keeping this monster under 6 or 7 grand if they go with an 8 or 12 core option.

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Prepare for the Smackdown!

A few months back I was interviewed on the occupational activities of former LaGuardia Media Studies student and Cannes filmfest participant, Girard Tecson of Dayside Productions. The interview appeared in a new documentary on Girard’s unusual decision to make a career shift from independent Filmmaking to professional Wrestling. I wish him luck in his new endeavors. At 5’5″ and 150 lbs, I think he is gonna need it.

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The new baby

I just got the new Acer Aspire V3-771G-9875 17.3-Inch laptop I ordered as an early birthday present to myself. I bought it online from Amazon for a great price. My 2009 17 inch Macbook Pro was starting to show it’s age with the old Intel Core 2 Duo processor powering it. I was starting to worry that my Macbook  was going to have problems dealing with the new Adobe CS6 software suite, especially the video based applications like After Effects and Premiere Pro. So I put on my big boy pants and finally pulled the trigger on a new Acer system.

 

Now for the record I am not happy that I have switched from Macs back to the darkside, but this laptop was too good to pass up. I love my macs but the new systems are priced too high when compared to some Windows systems. The desktop system that I built a few months back had made me more comfortable about switching to Continue reading “The new baby”

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Visual Effects Course Development

On April 3, the New York City Investment Fund invited a group of educators and business people from the visual effects industry to a conference on changes within the entertainment sector. Over the past year the LaGuardia Media and Technology programs have been participating in discussions with the New York City Investment Fund (NYCIF) to develop a Visual Effects program. NYCIF has been working with local visual effects firms to help them to meet the current demand for VFX artists in New York City.  All of the firms have cited the shortage of skilled labor as a key restriction to growth and are interested in working with CUNY on developing training and internships opportunities for the next generation of NYC visual effects artists. It is my intention to research this opportunity to see if a viable VFX program at LaGuardia is possible. In order to make that determination there are key questions that will need to be answered  concerning funding, software/hardware, the structure of the program or option, and how to either attract or develop faculty to teach such highly specialized classes. We will see how this all plays out. But just in case I have been getting reacquainted with After Effects.

The audio recording from the meeting can be found below in mp3 format.

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Attention Filmmakers: HDSLR Video & Audio workshop

HDSLR Workshop

This past weekend I had the pleasure of taking a workshop on capturing video and audio with HDSLR cameras at Student Filmmakers. The workshop was a two day event led by Patrick Reis, an independent filmmaker and cinematographer. Patrick is a veteran freelance industry professional with a great deal of experience working with the new Canon DSLR cameras. I had been wanting to jump into the DLSR video waters for awhile so I figured that Continue reading “Attention Filmmakers: HDSLR Video & Audio workshop”

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The Slow Road Back: Solo Training

The kid is trying to get back into shape after a long and rough year on a number of fronts. It has been about eight months since I was working out on a consistent basis. Still, in that time I have been able to adequately maintain my weight and general health by eating right. However there is no substitute for regular exercise. Plus the wife and kids have been telling me that I am a great deal more pleasant to be around when I workout. Who could have guessed Continue reading “The Slow Road Back: Solo Training”

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Affordable Mini HD Camera setup

Kodak Zi8 mini hd rig

I frequently get a good deal of questions from students and educators on what type of video camera should they buy if they have limited money and they still want great quality. In order to answer these questions I have been looking around for the cheapest rig possible that can still offer decent image and sound quality to recommend to these budget conscious videographers. I did a little research and set aside a maximum budget of 400 bucks for the entire project. The basic criteria for the video Continue reading “Affordable Mini HD Camera setup”

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My new article on student motivation – HETS Online Journal

HETS Online JournalI wanted to share with you a recently published article on the topic of the student motivation that I authored. The title of the piece is “Motivating at Risk African Americans and Hispanics Through the Study of New Media Technology“. The peer-reviewed article was based on many of the interactions that I have had over the years with my amazing students. The primary focus of the research was on how to inspire African American and Hispanic students by using digital media. However, the principles and techniques described can be applied to students of all races and cultures. The article was published in the second edition of the Hispanic Educational Technology Services (HETS) Online Journal. The digital copy of the journal can be found here in pdf format.