I'm actually a converted still photographer who has come into the light...the hot lights in this case. I've finished one short that's been picked up by two film festivals and is being reviewed by a distributor, and am planning on starting a feature this fall.

We're fortunate here in Memphis that we have a media co-op with several up and coming filmmakers, office space and a 100 seat digital theatre. Our first film fest is next month if you're planning on being in the area.

Digital video is just a blast and filmmakers are, by and large, a pretty cool group to hang with. Looking forward to being a part of this forum. Hopefully there are some of you nearby.

You know what I think is the best thing about the digital revolution...that small groups of people can get together and tell a compelling story on screen without the need to put anyone through the meat grinder of the Hollywood establishment.

Make your mark. Make your movie.

Welcome aboard! Good to have you with us. Sounds like your
doing a thing you love, and you know what, that's great! Enjoy!
Some great tips too. Thanks.

Austin, eh? We might know the same people. Great to have you with us, Mark!

Hi All,

My name is Sjef Beekmans, born in Holland, and living in Montreal, Canada since 16 years now.

I always had an interest in videography, and got thrown into it a few years ago, and trying to keep my head above water doing pretty much everything on my own from pre to post production.

My knowledge is perhaps not deep enough in any of the fields I cover, but I am staring to get a pretty wide base of knowledge and sure am happy having found this forum.

I hope I can expect as much help over the next few months as I received in the last few days on one topic alone, and will certainly be helping someone should the occasion arise.

Keep in touch guys!!
( now I gotta find a way to get my email on this thing..)

I've got your e-mail link showing, Sjef... great to have you with us and welcome aboard,

just got my hands on this baby! any gurus out there? eating up the manuel like a condemed mans last meal. i'm sure i'll have a ton of ????? 's. like best price on tape... and so on. i cruised this site for hours last night,informative/provocative exchange. thank you all for your extremely valueable input.

chris shot

You're always welcome to utilize our Sony camera forum... although it's earmarked for the VX2000/PD150, Mike Rehmus and the gang should be able to answer any questions you have.

For DV tape, consider our sponsor Pro-Tape in Austin, Texas at www.pro-tape.com -- they have superior service at competitive prices. Welcome aboard!

Is there anyone on here who lives in the Denver area who would be interested in getting together to compare notes/experiences/equipment?

Hello all,
Boy am I glad I found this place! It sure beats some of the other discussion pages that seem to only contain the typical Sony vs. Canon/which is better/my camera can beat up your camera/etc threads.

My name is Greg Vaughn and I'm from the Kansas City, Missouri area. For the past year, I've been seriously getting back into video work after being out of it for over 10 years. I got suckered into the computer field and hate it now. Most of my experience comes from still photography (the old fashion film kind - remember?!?) and a brief summer stint at NYU film school working with 16mm film and a 35mm production. I hardly remember any of it - I seem to remember always being sleepy. Non-union hours I guess.

Anywho, I just purchased a new Canon XL1S and can't believe the quality compared to what I used over a decade ago (SVHS was just catching on - high end was 3/4" U-Matic). Most of the work I've been doing in the past year has been for non-profit organizations for experience. So far I have one mass market videotape and several cable shows under my belt.

Until I can get Santa Claus to bring me a FC Pro-ish or Avid-ish editing system, I use an old Panasonic Postbox NLE that was donated to one of the non-profits I'm a member of. Anyone else out there still use one of these? It looks like it was quite a machine for its time (still is). I also have an old Compaq 96 GB SCSI array that I'm hoping I can get to work with the P-Box. Even though a single hard drive could probably replace the entire array, it looks cool and uses the same HDs as the P-Box.

Well, hope to meet some of you and start picking your brains soon!

Best Reg's,
Greg Vaughn

This is formally known as the "Rumplestilskin Syndrome". To get over the shock of ten years of video quality improvement we recommend deep-breathing exercises at the earliest onset of your first "Whoa!" symptoms. If you feel faint, breathe into a paper bag for 10-20 seconds. Repeat as necesary.

Glad to have you aboard. It sounds like you're making the best of the gear available to you. Hopefully Santa hasn't been hit too hard by the recent market swoon so you may find a shiny new FCP system under your tree in December (if you've been a good boy, that is).

Hi Ken,
Thanks for the breathing advice! Now I know what the black bag that came with my XL1S is for. Heck, all this time I thought it was a lens bag. Boy am I dumb!

Well anyhow, nice to meet you.

Regards,
Greg

Hi all, will be purchasing an XL-1S soon. I'm in south wastern ontario, so props to any other enthusiasts in the same area :D

It was a toss up between the VX2000 or a XL-1S. I think the XL will provide me with a lot more flexibility and longevity.

Don't forget, the XL1s looks cooler too. :)
Where are you from in Ont? I was born in TO and grew up in the Niagara region.

I think you'll enjoy your XL1s. I purchased mine in February after much humming and hawing and worrying about the "money thing". I've been very happy with mine so far. With both shooting and editing I've learned more, in the last few months, than I have for years. The VX2000 looks like a good unit also, but like you said, flexibility is what sold me. I hope your experience is as good as mine has been. Good luck!

Welcome aboard Sjef, I myself am from Holland as well and am
currently still living there. Good to have you with us.

Groetjes.

Greetings,

Gaston(pop. 629), is about 35 southwest of Portland. I am a transplanted New Yorker who became completely addicted to DV in the last year.

I own a Sony TRV17 and I am currently editing with Studio 7 and Vegas Video.

I'm in the process of forming a non-profit to aid young people who fell through the cracks in school and need a medium like
DV to excite them.

I just finished Robert Rodriquez's book "Rebel Without A Crew".

Looking forward to participating in some great conversations.

Tnx SM for introducing me to this group.


Lenny Charnoff

Welcome aboard Lenny! Good to have you with us. You seem to
have some interesting projects to set your mind too. Great!

Thought the book was a very nice one to read. Very personal,
that made it interesting.

See you around.

Hello, My name is Ken Krakow and I am a commercial still photographer living in Macon, Ga. USA. I’ve been scanning film and delivering most of my work on CD since 1995. In 1999 I bought a Dicomed scanning back and DCS560 Kodak/Canon digital camera and have avoided almost all film since then. I've done a little video here and there since the mid 80's with various camcorders. A few years ago I bought one of the little Sony TRV103. I am now going to try and do a little semi pro video with my brand new GL2. I've already learned a great deal in the last few weeks and regard most highly the quality and integrity of the posts I've read on this board. Now, off to start a new thread with my first question.

Best,

Ken

www.kenkrakow.com

Welcome aboard Ken. Like yourself, there are a number of crew here that have backgrounds in still photography. Many of the principles you have learned over the years are the same in regards to composition, exposure etc.

It will be good to have someone with good digital experience as there are usually a couple of threads floating around with questions on the subject.

From what I've seen the GL2 is a great camera and you should have a blast getting to know your way around it.

Greetings to all from Miami, Florida. I have been a memeber of the DVi Community for a few months now. and would like to say thanks for all the help to my questions.

I am still looking to meet people in the Miami, Dade and Broward County area. that are into DVing and editing.

Welcome aboard George and thanks for registering with your
real name. Since you've already been here some time the forum
doesn't need introduction.

Cheers!

I started my journey in video when I was laid off from Level 3 Communications last November. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I received a good severence package and was able to slow down and think about what is important, the people I love. I also finally had time to start a project I had always hoped to do, but saddly never though I would really have the time to do. I have 7 siblings and my parents are in their mid 70's. At the start of this year I spent 3 months travelling to all my family members and as many of my parents siblings as possible. I captured video interviews from all off them and scanned as many pictures I could get while at each family members home. I prepared my questions for the interviews primarily from a book called "To our Children's Children" by Bob Greene. I also worked with most of my siblings to gather questions they have about my parents and my parents siblings, our Aunts and Uncles. I now have about 32 hours of video and probably 1000 pictures. I am a newbie to iMac, so I ended up purchasing a iMac G4 with superdrive, Final Cut Pro 3, DVD Studio Pro. I shot all the video with a Canon Optura 100MC and used lav mic and always used headphones to monitor sound (saved several shoots when had to find source of noise). I also made a b-roll list of shots as I interviewed. I was able to get shots of most places that family members mention in the interviews while I made my travels to everyones homes.

I decided to go with FCP and DVSP as soon as I realized I was going to have to manage hundreds/thousands of video segments and photos. iMovie while very capable cannot handle clip managment of that level. I also purchased DVSP to help handle the DV content that in some parts will have subtitling, etc that iDVD was not capable of (I also gathered old 8mm reels that will need voice over/captioning from my parents). Meaning many pictures and old movies have people I don't know the names of or their relationship or interesting stories about.

I will hopefully finish the production by the end of this year. The info I read about how documentaries take the most time to compile and edit where right.

But, one of the greatest things is that no matter if I ever produce any DVD''s or Tapes from my project, I had the time of my life. I was able to reconnect with family all over the states and spend real quality time with them not just a visit for a holiday. I talked about things with my parents and Aunts and Uncles that I would have never known, things that would be lost forever had I kept my job and tried to do this project 10 or 15 years from now.

So long story short, I don't know where my relationship with the video camera will take me in the long run, but it was a tool that helped be experience and capture a lifetime of stories and memories from my family.

John Schuster

Thank you very much for your introduction and story John, it was
a real nice piece to read! I must say that your story is one of the
most unique uses of a video camera I've heard, very touching.
What more can one want then be in contact with loved ones. I
myself am going to move back to the northern of my country
for the same reason: I want to be with the people that matter
in my life.

Thanks again for sharing and welcome aboard! I hope you'll
have a great time here. You have a lot of footage to process
(I already find myself in agony when scanning through 60
minutes of footage deciding what I need) and I wish you all
the best with your project.

Glad to have you with us.

I was introduced to this board by my husband Ottotune. My expertise is not in cameras and video although I really enjoy a good point-and-click. My expertise is in massaging words.

My husband pointed out that a good video uses a beginning, middle, and end, which is very similar to a good story. I am interested in how the video community tells a story and what types of techniques are being used.

Currently, I am publishing my work in various literary journals and even an article or two in the "Stars and Stripes." If you need an amateur editor, I am your woman.

Also, my husband said I am really good at holding a mike boom pole!

Everything is grist for the pencil.

Welcome aboard Cyn, good to have you with us. Currently there
are not much posts about "story"... yet, I hope. This is ofcourse
a very fascinating and important part of the independent movie
maker! I hope to see some interesting discussions on this subject.

Thanks!

I would like to get in touch with Montreal based freelance videographers, sound mixers, boom operators, NLE assitants, and road ready location crew. I am in the process of putting together several shoots in Montreal, Bermuda, Seville, Lisbon. and other destinations and will require a pool of hard working staff. Everthing from multilingual talent to DV cinematographers, PAs and experienced post people. Please reply to this thread or send a message to electronics4sale@hotmail.com with general CV details, ambitions, and a return email contact, and shortly I will contact you offline.
R. Charles

Hi all.

I'm Jim from the Boston area.

I got started with DV by going out mountain biking with friends and a friend bringing his Sony PC5 DV cam along. We started making videos for fun and put them up on the internet for people to get a kick out of. We decided to call ourselves Half-Assed Productions, if you see the movies you'll know why.

After a while I realized I really enjoy working with video both shooting and post productions. I just recently picked up a GL2 and I work with Premiere 6.5. We've also decided to change our name to DownFall Productions.

Check out some of our videos if you have some free time.
I recommend the top video, as you go down the list the videos get older and our in-experience shows more and more.
They are definately fun to watch though.
www.half-assed-prod.com

i'm a newbie myself, so I won't offer a real critique, but definitely fun to watch!

-jenn

Always lookign for work in these areas....will do anything from weddings to wakeboarding.

BTW...check out my video on the Vans Triple Crown event in Oceanside this past weekend...need flash player 6.0 and a fast connection.

Jay Reilly
http://www.jayreilly.com

Welcome aboard Jim! It sure sounds you are having a lot of fun
doing things you love, great! And with the GL2 you have an
awesome camera to make some very nice movies!

Good luck and I'll check out your site.

hello, i am marco,was born in luxembourg <small country in europe>,left at age 14 on a merchant ship. in south-america,i got introduced to indigenous cultures from various nations,now,my main focus is in support of their causes. documentary -film is my field of interest. i am on location in south-east asia and australia for the next 15 month. my camera of choice would be an arriflex super16mm. at the moment i am using 2 pd 150s in pal,pcm-m1 DAT and g4tita.with final cut. i would like to connect with someone ,who could advise me on the ideal<?>field-editing addition<s> to my g4. i heard of "firestore", could i bypass a field-VTR with a unit like that? i am also looking to find a strong but light travel-tripod,fold-up steady-cam, a camera rain ,mud and dust-guard. and some very strong travel-cases. my gear will be exposed to some strong vibrations due to rough road conditions in some of the places. humidity is one of the tough issues to deal with.....i have been filming up in alaska,in the brooks-range at 35 below,and i got the footage i wanted <with a battery-belt under the heavy coat and keeping the camera running,covered in polarfleece....but dealing with extreme humid conditions is no fun at this point. thank you for allowing me to post my joys and troubles here. i have been on the road for 9 month since i left alaska in january and have not met <1>other person with whom i could have shared any info regarding this line of work. so, i found dvinfo...and became a member late last night. thank you again,marco

First of all welcome aboard Marco! You seem to be in a very
interesting line of working and it takes you to some interesting
places too! Great. There are a lot of questions in your post and
I suggest you re-post each question (on its own) in the correct
forum which you can choose for when you click DVinfo.Net
Community up above. Not everyone reads introductions, so posting
each question on its own in the relevant forum will get a lot
more reads on your question. Thank you and good luck with you
decision!

You can best post these questions in Open DV Discussion,
(tripod question goes under Support Your Local Camera forum)
naming them something like:

- field-editing addition needed (perhaps an apple ibook?)
- replacement field-VTR
- humid & dust protection needed
- looking for very strong travel-case

etc.

Good luck!

hello Rob,thank you for showing me better ways to reach people at DV i community. i am catching train to malaysia in a short while,will do the changes in a couple of days,thanks again-marco

Sa Wa Dee, Marco! Kuhn subi dee lu? Pom chew Otto.

Obviously I do not have a Thai keyboard Marco and my Thai is getting rusty anyway. I see you are down in the Phuket area. I spent most of my time up in the northern areas around the Burma, Laos, Thai border region above Chaing Mai.

Will look for your questions in other areas of the board.

Good to have you aboard!

Adrian, I'm just off the beach in South East Florida. What a life to live. Do they have surfing there? We get great surfing when there's a tropical storm off the coast.

Joe C.

You're making me want to go to Japan.

Hi there i am from australia and a performing artist living and working for what was the summer here in germany based in Hannover.
Am going to make an on the road doco next year about my adventures in this industry.
I have just purchased an MX500 and am starting to climb a very steep learning curve.
I have a G4 apple laptop. for editing and will get hold of final cut pro in the next few months.
I love these boards so much good info i am reading them for hours daily at the moment.
I need any and all advice cause i have no clue but am learning very fast.
I got the mx for size and image quality and budget reasons due to the project i am working on. So any hints on doco styles is also appreciated.

good to be here
looking forward to aussie summer
bb

heya blake,

I am in Melbourne :)

Germany sure is cold, especially for an Aussie like us.

If you need any help drop me an email, but i am a PC man, don't know much about macs.


kermie

Glad I could be off help to you. And good to have you with us!

Welcome aboard Blake! As I'm next to germany I know how cold
it can be... brrr... Good luck with your docu!

I am looking for DP's who are good at shooting live concerts! We will be shooting on Nov.18 that 24 for far. I have the XL1s but I will need more cameras for better angles. If you have any experience and are in Japan at this time, cotact me ASAP.

Thanks.

William White
Asian Music Underground
E-mail: amuhome@jcom.home.ne.jp
Tel/Fax 042-332-0319

Hello:

This is my first post with the DV community. I have been working with DV projects at different levels for a couple of years now and have really enjoyed working with independent filmmakers complete their projects.
I manage GM Studios a small personable post production studio in Burbank,CA. We do Protool work primarily for FCP and Avid projects. Often times new filmmakers bring in ideas for sound they would like to have for their picture, without any real idea of the complexity and time involved in making really great audio not to consider the expense.

We put together great sound packages which include sound design, foley,adr, dialogue editng,mixdown and layback. If anyone is interested in pricing or would like to drop by for some sound advice please email me anytime.

Best Regards

Murray Proska

I just got back 2 hours ago from Tokyo. Shot a swedish metal band at a tiny club in Shibuya called Cyclone. A friend and I went up there, we live in Osaka, shot it with an XL-1 and XL-1s.

I sometimes go up to Tokyo to do video gigs, (fashion shows, Goth events, live bands), if you have the budget for train fare, then I can make it.

John Locke is in Tokyo, he was busy last night so he couldn't make it, Adrian should have his camera back by then from Canon. Get me and my friend up there and you can have 5 XL-1's. I also have the fisheye adapter and that fisheye was great in the backstage stuff.

I shot an autograph signing at a small record store and I used the fisheye the whole time, with the stock lens I wouldn't have gotten usable footage, I also have the .7X wide adapter that I leave on most of the time. My friend used the fisheye off and on during the show and we got lots of great shots, now I have to start editing all the footage. We shot it on short notice so we used a friend's friend and he had a small sony and we put that on the back wide shot.

The asian underground scene is where it's at. I've been submerged in it for the last 9 years in Osaka. Gigs in Tokyo have been at Torture Garden at Club Pylon, a Gothic event at the Liquid Room, a corset fashion show in Shibuya, last night's live show. I'll make it up there again in the next month or so.

If it's not feasible to bring me up, I would still like to meet up with you the next time I'm up there, I'll send you my keitai number

Welcome aboard Murray! Pretty interesting thing you do! Perhaps
you can answer some audio questions that pop up now and then
around here. Thanks. Good to have you with us!

William, as soon as I know when my camera will be back from Canon I'll give you a ring. If my XL doesn't get back in time and you need someone to shoot stills I can do that for you.

Thanks for the hospitality I'll help as best I can.

Regards

Murray

Hey, I am Phong from California and dv is becoming a part of what I do. I started out in the year 2000 with a Canon Optura Pi and Apple's iMovie on a slow PowerBook G3 400 Mhz Lombard via a VST firewire cardbus card. I progressed through iMovie and wanted to work in something more professional; I turned to Final Cut Pro. I got a iMac G4 800 Mhz with a gig of RAM in March and used iMovie on it for awhile. I decided to take a FCP class at Digital Media Academy at Stanford University (www.digitalmediaacademy.org). There I bought FCP 3 Academic Version for $299 because I had an ID from DMA. I have been working in FCP ever since. I make movies and videos with friends and enjoy editing a lot. I got a Canon GL2 about a month ago and have not used it yet. I am in a film class in high school and we have a lot of equipment there (a couple of GL1s, GL2s, 6 PD-150s, 4? DSR-250s, and a whole avid editing suite costing the school about 150 grand and not to include lights, decks, monitors, etc.). I just got a Manfrotto 3046 legs yesterday and a 3433 (501) head yesterday and I am excited with the things I will be doing with that and the GL2. I am making progress in dv, and NLE editing and I can do quality/professional work. If anyone have something I could do, please contact me. Also look for www.phonghuynh.com once I get the website up.

Thanks, this is a great community.

God Bless,

Phong

Welcome aboard Phong. Looks to me like you've got your thing
pretty good figured out and running. Great! You have an awesome
camera and also your editing setup is good!

Good luck with your projects and see you around.

I am looking to meet and network with fellow Camera, Video Editors. In the Dade and Broward Counties of Florida.

I can be reached at (954)441-4446

Hi.

I own and run a small production and post studio in Chicago, IL. I've been doing this full time for about eight years, in addition to teaching various film, video, and computer classes at Columbia College Chicago. My degree is in film (yep, I spent most of college clutching a springwound Bolex 16mm), majoring in film directing, but my technical interests led me really enjoy the technical aspects of production and post in addition to the aesthetic.

Most of the time clients come to me knowing only that they want a video. It's up to us to conceive it, create and deliver it to them. Mostly I've worked for public schools and private corporations, but I've done plenty of broadcast (mostly local) as well.

I'm a long time Canon fan. My father had Canon cameras, and my first video camera was the L1, followed by the XL-1 soon after its release. I even have a Canon Super 8 camera that I've used on a project or two.

The XL-1 has served me well. I finally got to use the ersatz film look on a local TV ad that I did last year, and it looks brilliant! I wasn't planning on upgrading for a while, but have a project coming up that could be broadcast nationwide as well as screened at some festivals. The XL1-S is looking better and better, but I can't shake the appeal of the new Panasonic miniDV that shoots in 24p. Anyone else caught between these two cameras?

Welcome a board! Good to have you with us. You're coming from
an interesting background and you'll find some other people here
who come from a similiar one.

There are some rumours floating around that an XL2 might be
arriving next year (summer perhaps?) so that might be an
interesting thing for you (ofcourse nothing is sure on this yet!).

You'll find a lot of discussion about the new Panasonic 24p camera
at our forum here: http://new.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=47
Check it out for more information on this new camera!

See you around.