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Often, I talk about work on this blog, but can't show it because it is showing in film festivals or otherwise not available for online distribution. So I'm always happy when I can post work. Here is the trailer I edited for the film Artistas: the Maiden, Mother and Crone -- a documentary directed by Sue May.
Wired has an article about a "television studio in a box" that I found fairly amazing. I teach a television studio class, and we use a fairly expensive setup including a large switcher, audio mixing console, monitors, etc. to do switching (live editing) on three-camera setups. So it's impressive to see the equivalent in a small package at a sane price.
TV Studio in a Box Enables Long-Tail Television
"We had to take a process that normally has 5 to 30 people creating a show and make it easy enough for one person to run, [someone] who has never run a TV show before," explained Philips. Indeed, the TriCaster allows a single operator to mix multiple cameras (higher-end models support more cameras) interspersed with graphics, pre-recorded clips, real-time effects and more than 300 three-dimensional transitions. The box outputs to the web, television stations or big screens in churches and sporting arenas.
NewTek's entry-level TriCaster, with support for three cameras, costs $4,000. That may seem like a lot, but considering that it can be used in place of a mobile production vehicle, four grand is small potatoes, relatively speaking.
Since my recent adventure in cutting a trailer for a documentary, I've been thinking this might be something I should do more of. It has several pluses: it's a relatively intense, fast, and direct process and allows me to focus on editing instead of all the myriad details that even basic doc production requires.
Which doesn't mean I don't love doc production. It's just nice, sometimes, to do something that is a direct challenge: take this stuff, cut it into a trailer. I kinda like that.
I admit it -- I've been doing all my posting over at my other blog: New York Portraits.
But I want to share one bit of good news over here: our film Bend & Bow will be screening at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in February 2009.
Here's a Frugal episode I forgot to post: Frugal Traveler: New York City.
I think it is my last episode with the series.
"The Frugal Traveler discovers that New York is really a city of small, manageable neighborhoods, and it's not expensive if you know where to go."
The latest episode of "On Par" is The Annoying Guy Part II.
I like the way the series is going. It has a touch of style, I think, and enough substance to make it interesting. As a freelancer, I'm not sure if I'll be cutting these next year or not, but I think it will be interesting to see it develop through another season. The humor, increasingly, comes out of the timing. Something happens, someone reacts, something is revealed. Usually, all in under 2 minutes 30 seconds....
Now that the "On Par" series is winding down I'm embedding all of the episodes I've been involved in. Enjoy.
