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Here I will discuss more about videomaking and provide some clips.
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I don't really know how I originally got into videomaking. I suppose like so many people it just came up one day. You know, it seems everyone has made a film, or wants to. Just like how everyone has made a "newspaper" at some point in their life. Maybe it's because we are so exposed to it in daily life, I don't know.
I really got into it in 8th grade when I was able to shoot some video for a school function. We held a mock Presidential debate. Also around this time my aunt got a camcorder and I was able to use it. I still didn't really get into editing much tho. I mean I threw together a few things but nothing big.
My Junior year of high school a freshman started a video club. So I got involved with that. We didn't do a lot...this was in the early 90's, when video equipment was very expensive, and the school didn't support much beyond the basics. But as I was also in a class with the basketball coach, who needed people to tape the games. I volunteered the club, but I ended up doing most of the work. I hacked the tape together as a highlight video but it wasn't that great...and the team didn't do all that well either that year.
However, the next year, my Senior year, I did film the team again. I got one of my friends to help, and I managed to get crowd shots and shots from the floor at home games. Even better, we went to state...for the first time since 1980. When it came time to edit the tape I had a better idea what I was doing and some better equipment, although it was still primarily two VCR's wired together. Everyone loved the tape. The coach showed it to all the teachers. I made copies for all the players, and even sold a few.
In college I still borrowed the camcorder and shot tape now and then. Before graduation I did a lot of tapes with me and my friends, which is a nice thing to go back and reflect upon right now. I still didn't do much editing; I made one tape for a friend and that was about it. I did look into pursuing this as a career, and even took a class where the teacher was amazed with my highlight tape, but I ultimately decided against it.
After college...I finally got my own camcorder. I went with some older SuperBeta gear because it was the rough equivalent of Hi8 gear which was the best you could get until digital camcorders came out. And I was able to get it cheap, and I prefer a fullsized camera. I shot more tape: offroading trips, storms, my apartment, but still no real big projects. I did do a wedding reception and it turned out OK.
However in 2000 I worked with a friend of mine on a robotics project with my high school. I shot tape for them and edited it together into a highlight tape, which also worked out. But I had always hoped for better gear. Unfortunately I was a temporary employee and had other bills, plus little justification for more video gear.
In 2001 after I became a full-time employee I purchased an ATI video capture card, partially so I could work on editing videos on my computer, but I was unhappy with the supplied software. Well now in 2003 I have Windows XP, which ships with video editing software. I downloaded a beta of the second version of the software, which supports transitions, titles, audio mixing, etc. and loved it. I made a clip with it. Well now the software is available as the full version and it is way cool. It supports everything I wished I had had in 2000, in 93, with all my videos.
Since then I have worked on some projects with a friend of mine. I also taped our team's presentations and converted them into streaming videos. I even produced my first corporate video. And now, as I am looking for a new job...I may be moving even more in this direction in the future.
I had been shooting using Beta equipment, but I have since moved to MiniDV. I am now using Windows XP's Movie Maker 2 now. You MUST get this if you can't afford AVID, Premiere, etc. Or even if you could. It supports so much stuff, stuff I wished I had had when doing other videos in the past. Oh yeah and it's a free download :)
.WMV files, plays in MS Windows Media Player.
Seattle Thunderstorm 2000 (6.3mb .WMV file)
I edited these files using Windows XP Movie Maker 2. The videos were shot with a Sony BetaMovie camcorder.
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