Now

Well, the camcorder has arrived!  Praise God!

It is a JVC Everio GZ-HD7, and I tested it out this evening by recording a message given by Dr. Narendra Singh, and also interviewing him personally afterwards.  I recorded some additional footage of people’s conversations with Dr. Singh, etc., but I will most likely not be posting that.  I hope to post both the message and the interview online sometime soon.  (I recorded them in SP, though sometime in the future I may do most of my filming in FullHD.)  Oh, and Dr. Singh said I did a good job, and that he would be praying for me.  😉  Praise God for that!

Praise God!

I hope to start doing some film making, inteviews, and more, but I can’t forget to do my other duties in life, or forget my talents.

Well, I guess that’s all for now!  Going to be trying out my camera in nature, filming Green Bank, working on film pre-production, and brainstorming film ideas!

God bless,

Thanks for listening! (and I always appreciate your prayers.)

-b

P.S. Dr. Narendra Singh believes he will die as a martyr (for Jesus Christ.)  May God protect him till his time comes, and may many more come to Jesus before, and after, that time.

Soon

The Super Nintendo game “Illusion of Gaia” is quite fun!  You can check out the rom.

Just found out real recently a way to do the subtitles for “Miracle In Gansu” (filmed play to DVD) by hand!  This is great!  Finding some LOTR subtitle files for The Fellowship of the Ring (check out this subtitle site, Subscene,) I opened one up in GVIM, and I can edit it! Yahoo!  That means I can do the MIG (Miracle In Gansu to DVD) subtitles and work to finish up the project. (I may post more about MIG later.)

Tomorrow the Everio GZ-HD7 camcorder should arrive, and in the evening I will test it out on a service with guest speaker Dr. Singh, a man of God from India.  He risks his life for Jesus Christ, and he will not back down!  Glory to God.

God bless,

Thanks for listening!

-b

Leap

It’s ordered!  Praise the Lord.

Leap.  Yes, this was a leap.  A leap of expectation, uneasiness, hardware, and more.  I hope it all works out!  Leap!  I wonder… leap!  Well, my last cameras I’ve used are the Canon PowerShot A510 and the Quasar VM-L450, so this new camcorder is a great leap indeed!

This evening (or shall I say, morning) I finally ordered my camcorder, an Everio GZ-HD7.  Quite expensive if you’ve never actually bought your own camcorder before.  (Boy, that was anti-climatic.) ;D  Before I bought it I did some final research into the proprietary file format it puts your video files into, .TOD (HD video) and .MOD (SD video.)  I primarily researched the .tod issue and found out about the .mod one along the way.  You can read up on it here: Struggling with TOD at The Digital Video Information Network, and some solutions: JVC Workflow and Squared 5’s MPEG Streamclip.

As I have no personal experience with the camera and the .tod issues yet I cannot recommend anything beyond what I have read, but I may post on this later.  Basically you can use the software that comes with the Everio GZ-HD7 and save-as the video, or rename it to .m2t, or something… boy, I need to read up on it already!

Anyhow, I better start making some films now that I will have the first step in the equipement.  ;D  I may get Sony Vegas MovieStudio soon, to handle the HD.  (I don’t think Adobe Premiere Pro 1.0 does HD.)

So, perhaps this is the end of the tunnel, (or just starting?)

Thanks for listening,

God bless,

-b

P.S. Hope to be making films soon… I may be starting a graphic design company as well, so, we’ll see how all that goes.  But may I not forget my roots.  Thank you one and all!   Thank you John Calloway (http://johncalloway.wordpress.com/) for the help in camera research, and Andrew Duncan for insight into the digital video world!  Thank you all my other friends, supporters, comrades in the arts, and brothers and sisters in Christ… may we all find the path.  God bless, your friend, b

New Film Ideas

This evening a new idea came on how to extend the short film “Is This Love?” (not yet filmed.)  With this extended beginning sequence you will get a better awareness on the beliefs of the two main characters and (hopefully) get some background story on both of them, as well as setting up the film better for the climax.

Besides that it there are some other ideas floating around, not so much ideas as concepts.  The difference (in this situation) being that ideas would imply actually having some sort of film plot or overall concept, whereas film concepts would be “Oh, wouldn’t it be cool to make a sci-fi film!” or “Hey, we have to film here“.

So, anyhow, whether they be ideas or concepts, or some of both, they are circulating around some.  For instance, recently I have seen that others are/have done sci-fi (science fiction) films, and it would be really neat to do a good sci-fi film, totally unique and more realistic than “Star Wars” or “Star Trek”.  Also, I have brainstormed with a friend a little about doing film about brother inventors.  Filming in old rural towns is a wonderful location solution, and such buildings as the Whipple Company Store & Museum (www.whipplecompanystore.com) would provide an interesting backdrop for a story (or at least to be included in the film at some point.)

After looking at some success stories featuring the Adobe products I can get pumped up and scared at the same time.  “Wow, look, you can make your film dreams come true right at home on your own desktop computer”, and “Oh, yikes.  You are mentioning things I have no idea of how to meet” and “They have a whole post-production crew”.  So you are confronted both with the beauty and mystery of the challenge – the hope and the fear.

I am looking very keenly on a certain model for the HD camcorder.  I know which one I will most likely buy, and I may make the purchase very soon.  News on that later.

Looking at the Adobe CS3 Production Premium (http://www.adobe.com/education/products/creativesuite/production/,) which would be a great solution but would mean a lot more saving up again.  ;D  Oh well, that’s OK.  A different option is the Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Edition 8 (http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/products/product.asp?pid=447) which I am wary of, considering I have no personal experience with that software and would be much more comfortable saving up for a product that I know will meet a great many of my needs (than one I might wish to upgrade from in five days – but I can’t effectively say, since I am not a Vegas user.)

As you can see, things are happening even when they don’t look like they are.  🙂  All I can ask of you now is your prayers and I humbly beseech your support.

I know you will not always be able to act in a film, be there on filming days, or understand why I am so insanely driven to complete a film, but I ask you to bear with me and be as dedicated as you can.  Without you I don’t have a film.  I need you.  I could make solo documentaries, interview people, or even do one-man films – but not a full cast and crew short film.

We will see what happens.  Likely it will be a few of us who stick together and make it all happen, but I do appreciate it whenever any of you can help.

Thanks!

Regards,

-b

Working Towards Rewards

As of the past three weeks I have been working towards getting a DV camcorder.  I am looking at the Everio GZ-HD7 (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/479003-REG/JVC_GZHD7US_GZ_HD7_Everio_60GB_Hard.html) which is much more expensive than anything I had imagined I would look for at this time.

So, with working, events, and living, I find myself in moments of solitude, set apart for God and thinking.  Thinking “do I even want to get that camera?  I’m no sure I care…”, wondering, and praying some.

I will probably get this camera, (praise the Lord!,) I will likely endeavor doing interviews, making films with the members of Minosa Films, my friends and family, and even some commercial work.

But in every new step up in the tower of life, I must recall my duties and check my burdens – have I accomplished all that people have required of me to this moment?  Am I free to move on?  And I must decide and make action upon that conclusion.

I do not want to abandon the talents that have dogged my life so divenely my whole life, but I am eager and curious to move forward in this direction of film making.

Thank you for listening and God bless!

Can’t wait till the future, wondering about it all,

-b