v3.5 – Now Smartphone/Mobile Device-Capable

Final Cut Pro & Multicams

I needed something a little more right-brained this weekend after a very hectic month at work.  I’ve been playing around with Final Cut Pro X and synchronizing audio and video just for fun.

Today I skipped the Superbowl and played around with some video.  Over the weekend, I got the radio broadcast of Todd Rundgren with The Metropole Orchestra, a show I was privileged enough to see live in Amsterdam on Sept 24, 2011 while on my way to Bangalore.   Just for fun, I pulled a couple of YouTube videos that were shot at the concert (one full clip, one partial clip), synched them up with the audio from the radio show, and did a multi-camera edit — just because I’d never done one before.  Once I wrapped my head around the FCPX approach, it was pretty straightforward, and didn’t take long at all.

It’s hard to describe the wall of orchestral sound that was coming at the audience from this 55-piece orchestra, in a venue that wasn’t huge, but if you look at some of the faces in the crowd, you’ll see it was a pretty special event.

I was surprised in viewing the final render at how much of a difference this approach makes in communicating what was happening (vs just a camera pointed at Todd).

Might have to go out and pick up another camera for my own videos .

Videos  here in various formats.  Pick your favorite!

• God Said – HD
• God Said – Standard
• God Said – Cellular

Well, the peace and quiet was bound to end sooner or later.  We came across this little guy today quite by accident while picking up fish supplies at the pet store.  The Oregon Dog Rescue was having an adoption day, and Samson needed a new home.  He’s originally from California, is roughly five years old, with only one eye.

So we’re foster-caring Samson for a week, essentially test-driving the pooch.   If, by the end of the week, it looks like he fits into this crazy house, he’ll stay,  but judging by the reaction he got when he walked in the door this afternoon, I’m guessing he’ll be with us for awhile.

We’re big believers/supporters of  the shelters,  and it’s very cool that ODR let us try him out in the family for a week before making a decision.  So far so good.

Samson

Samson

Thanksgiving 2011

Things have been a bit hectic around the house, so I’m a bit behind.

But, I have a little holiday 2-fer for you.  Part 1 is of the Thanksgiving 2011 celebration with Terri & Lloyd Phillips and the Davis clan.  We ate too much, definitely drank too much, but had a great time.

Here’s a video of the fun.  

Next up…Christmas, which is in full swing now!

Reed's 12th Birthday

Reed turned 12 this week, and we’re still in shock.  First that he’s 12, second that he survived the first twelve years….he can be a bit of a handful .  But we love him, and had fun celebrating his birthday.

Reed chose Thai for dinner, so we visited the Thai/Vietnamese fusion place down the hill.  It was purty good.

This birthday, Reed joined the cellphone generation.  We told him a couple of years ago that he could get a cellphone at 12, and we made good on that.

Here is some video of the celebration.

A trip to the canyon, hiking Squaw Peak, swimming in Cave Creek, dinner at the Conways….what more do you need to know THIS WAS FUN!

Here’s the video.

Banglore, July 2011

I had another trip overseas in July.  Back to Bangalore, but also included stops in Toulouse and Amsterdam.  I always have my trusty camera with me, so I collected a little video….

• H.264 video
• IPad Friendly video

Right before school let out for the summer, Rachel won a contest to design the cover for a local theatre company’s production of Rumplestiltskin.  We got the VIP treatment today at the showing.

Cover

Inside

Contest display

Rachel's Entry

Rumplestiltskin & Rachel

We are so proud of Rachel, and hope she keeps drawing!  Lots of fun today.

After a long hiatus, I’m back. Work/travel has been hectic and prevented me from more timely updates. But I had an opportunity over the long weekend to pick up the video tools again. I needed that.

Flag

We had a fantastic fourth, and again, hung out with The Davis Family over in Hillsboro. It was food, fun, friends, and of course, fireworks.   The event started with a good ’0l fashioned water balloon fight.  I managed to not get nailed with the camera too badly, but I don’t believe there was a dry person afterwards.

Then it was food:  burgers, hot dogs, and way too many munchies.

Water Balloon Fight

Grillmaster

Goofy

Blue Eyes

More Goofy Faces

Reed, Bob, Randy

The Davis Family

This was also my first video with the new Final Cut X, Motion 5, and Compressor 4.  The tools retain many of the “isms” that made the tool great, altho, it’s a totally new codebase, and not everything is there in the first version of the rewrite.  Still it worked pretty well for me.   No major glitches, I’m happy to report.

Here are a couple of screen captures of Final Cut and Motion tools:

Motion 5

Final Cut X

There are some nice time-saving features built into this rev of the tool, and I’ll post more on my experience when I get a sec.

And of course, there’s video here!

Hope your holiday was great too!  Drop me a note and let me know how you’re doing!

Work has taken me all over the place, but this week was the first trip to India…specifically Bangalore.

India

It was a short two-day meeting, but the travel time to/from India makes the trip 5 days.  The shortest routing I could find was through Frankfurt. It’s a mere 21 hours of flight time, not including airport layovers.  Door-to-door, I think it’s about 28 hours minimum to get from Oregon to the hotel in Bangalore.

I left the house in Oregon shortly before 8am on Monday for the airport, and got to the hotel at about 4:30am Wednesday morning Bangalore time.  I napped for a couple of hours then went into the office for a full day of meetings.    I got about 5 hours of sleep Wednesday night, then it was back in the office early for another day of meetings on Thursday, then off to the airport to catch a flight home.

One thing I like a lot is that the flights out of India leave at around 2am.  It’s about an hour drive to the airport at night (when there isn’t a lot of traffic out), and the 2am flight time means there’s time to grab a decent dinner, pack and get to the airport.  Works out just about right.

Some initial thoughts:

• It was hot when compared to home
• The visible poverty is shocking, with shanties next to very nice buildings
• Friendly people
• Good food.  I love Indian food.  It was much spicier than the Americanized version, but I love that.
• Traffic is unbelievable.  No way I’d ever attempt to drive there

I’d done a little homework, and knew enough to stay away from uncooked things, and not to drink the water or even use it to brush teeth.  I didn’t have any issues there.

There wasn’t any downtime, and I was either at work or in meetings at the hotel so I didn’t get a chance to get out and see anything.

But, of course, I did manage to capture some video from my cell phone in the taxi to/from work. We had meetings in the taxi, so I had to replace all the audio from the videos, and this was done VERY quickly.  So you’ll miss all the horn-honking that happens on the street, and lots of video mistakes.

Bangalore is the silicon valley of India, so I was probably in the nicer/safer parts of the city.

Looks like I have another trip there coming up, so I’ll get some pix next time.

It only rained twice during spring break.  Once for 3 days, and the second time for 4 days.

I really need a break, and if I needed one, Becky needed one (and deserved one) more.  Been working non-stop since January, and the stress was getting to me.  So we took advantage of the week, and after birthdays, took off for the mountains.

We like Skamania Lodge for quick getaways.  It’s a mountain lodge on the edge of the Columbia River, just an hour east of Portland in the Gorge.

So we camped at Skamania, and went sledding during the day @ Little John.  Little John is our favorite sledding spot that is about 30 minutes south of Hood River, OR.

The music for this one just seemed to fit.  Feels like I’ve been gone for ages, and missed a lot.  Can’t tell you how many times I woke up in foreign hotel rooms missing my family.  Lotsa time lost on planes and in hotel rooms.  I hope Becky knows how much I appreciate her, and all her hard work.

• iPad/iPod Video
• Windows