Cheap Mount for Zoom H4n

I am shooting video with a Canon 550D and using the Zoom H4n for audio. The quality is great, but when working alone, this can be a painful set-up. I carry a backpack with my camera gear and another small case that holds my audio gear (Zoom, lav mic, XLR cable, tabletop tripod...). The problem is that when I want to be mobile and "run n gun" I cannot carry my tripod, camera, Zoom, mics, cords... I have found several blog posts that offer great solutions, but all are more than I can afford right now.

My favorite set-up and the one I plan to use is the one Juan Pons posted. Today I went on a mission to find a budget-friendly solution that will help me move faster this weekend while I shoot the Symphony in the Flint Hills. I bought the PlatinumPlus flexPod gripper by Sunpak at Best Buy for about $20. I had an idea that I could find a way to wrap it on my tripod nice and tight and mount my Zoom on it.

I went home and tried it and it was easy to wrap it and stabilize it so my Zoom wouldn't jerk around and pick up noise. I am posting two photos (although I erased my messy home from the background) to show you how I set it up. I tested it out, placing my 550D on the tripod and the Zoom mount on the tripod's leg. It was easy to pick up and carry my tripod to a new location. The only thing I had to break down was the mic and cords that run to the Zoom. This cuts my set-up and breakdown time in half and makes me real happy... and all for $20.

CPL Filter Test

I saw a Circular polarizer (CPL) filter at Best Buy and decided to test it out. I was in class late, but got home and put it on my T2i and stepped outside to shoot. It was already really dark in the shadows, so I will have to test it again in the noonday sun. Anyway, all the exposure settings are listed in the video.

Funding Your Projects

OK! So you have this great idea for a project, but have no idea how to secure funding to make it happen. Before you put it on the shelf of great ideas that were never realized, check out Kickstarter, a funding platform for creative pursuits of many kinds.

I have read just about everything on their site and I have concluded that this is a great opportunity for producers, at least to get feedback on your ideas. The worst thing that can happen is a project doesn't get funded and you are back where you started... except you at least received feedback on the demand for your product. With easy tools that allow you to share and promote your project through social media, you may just muster up enough support to make some money doing what you want.

Creating an Online Portfolio

I chose to host my portfolio on a free blogging platform. I had a blog on Wordpress, but without your own server to host your files, you need to use the free Wordpress. I didn't like this, because they make you purchase many plug-ins to use the same features that you can get free with Blogger. I absolutely hated Tumblr. Not all Tumblr templates offer the basic Comments widget that allows users to comment on your posts. This annoys me as a user and it discourages interaction. I've seen blogs on Tumblr where people ask you what you think, but there is nowhere to tell them... no Comments section, no contact info.... Other popular platforms (I haven't tried) include LiveJournal and many of Six Apart's platforms (TypePad, Movable Type, Vox...).

The easy choice for me is Blogger. For beginners, they offer many drag-and-drop or click-to-add options for designing your layout and publishing your blog. For those who know HTML or CSS (and anyone can learn the basics easily), Blogger offers the ability to load your own XML document with your custom design, the ability to use one of many free templates online, or the option to just use one of their default templates. It is highly customizable in the simplest way and it is FREE.

I added a few features that I think are essential for any blog:

1. A custom banner at the top. (Your template should tell you the size. ex: 860 x 130 px)
2. Add This buttons (you can see them at the bottom of each post in my blog) make sharing info from your site as easy as the click of a button. You can customize the look, the list of sites you can share to (more than 200)...
3. A Contact Me form allows readers to contact you/give you feedback/interact. You can either write your own JavaScript code or use an online service. I use WuFoo. It is free and allows you to customize your form (choose what fields to include, which are required and which are optional...) and embed it on a page on your portfolio site. This helps by keeping your email private. Otherwise spambots (evil programs that search the Inernet for email addresses, so they can sell it to all those annoying marketers that send spam) will find it on your site and you will begin getting loads of spam mail.

As you can see on this site, Blogger also allows for several pages. I have my pages listed just below my banner: Home, Bio, Resume, Videos, Design, and Contact Me. Name them so that they are self-explanatory.

Starting The Wish List

OK... so I started the evening contemplating purchasing a Canon T2i.  Unsatisfied only with the audio collection capabilities (no surprise... it is a digital SLR), I stumbled across a thread in which someone recommended using a Zoom H4n to capture audio and then syncing it with Singular Software's PluralEyes in post production.

Singular Software claims that PluralEyes can perfectly sync multiple-cameras without the hassle of using a slate, clapping hands or using a flash to set a common timecode. This sounds awesome to me, but you need Final Cut Pro or Vegas Pro to run PluralEyes. Unfortunately, I have Final Cut Express... for now.

I also found a link to The Levelator at Singular's site, although it is actually not their software.  The Levelator automatically evens out the sound levels of an audio recording, which will be very useful for interviews with both interviewer and interviewee audio or other multiple-person recordings.

I already have an unwritten wish list of toys I "need" to produce good video, but I am going to start documenting that list now.  By no means are the items on the list prioritized in the order that I want to get them.  Tonight I am adding four items to The Wish List:

1. Canon EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR Kit w/ EF-S/18-55 IS     $899.95
2. Zoom H4n Handy Recorder Kit with 8GB SD Card and Remote Control     $319.95
3. PluralEyes by Singular Software     $149.00
4. The Levelator Software     Free Download

Designing a Poster for World Hemophilia Day

This is the centerpiece of my poster and this is how it came to be:

I posted an image of the graphic that the World Federation of Hemophilia provided for use in promotional posters, but I wanted to create my own take on it.  First, I envisioned a 3D globe that better represented the hemophilia world.  I think of the color red (representing blood), not blue.  I had an idea to create a clipping mask of a crowd of people in the shape of the continents and to make the water red, then create a 3D sphere with this image.
I found a good image of faces painted, each with a flag representing a different country.  I made modifications to fit my purposes.  First, I eliminated the borders from the faces image I found:

Then I found a map of the continents to use to create a clipping mask:

I placed the map image on a layer below the wallpaper of faces.  I selected all the white areas of the map layer and deleted them, leaving only the black shapes of the continents.  Then I chose the faces layer and created a clipping mask to get the image below:

Next, I found a water texture I could use for the oceans:

I changed the hue and saturation to make it red, then placed it below the layer of faces to place the water behind the continents:

I have Photoshop CS4 Extended, which has 3D capabilities, so I flattened my image (to one layer) and made a 3D shape from that layer.  Since I am making a globe, I chose a sphere shape.  At this stage, I began following a tutorial I found at psd.tutsplus.com:

I added 3D elevation/topography and clouds to my globe:

Finally, I added a shadow and reflection.  Now I have completed the centerpiece of my poster:

I have several ideas I want to try out next.  I thought about creating some paper dolls walking to the globe from the left, going around the back and appearing from the back on the right side, then walking along the surface of the globe in a (-shape and ending with one sanding in the vicinity of Norway.  I also thought about having paper dolls holding hands in a circle around the globe, but since the poster will promote a fundraiser walk in Wichita, I think the walking paper dolls are more appropriate.

Better Audio for Voice Overs

I asked the ESC's resident audio geek what he recommended for capturing better audio for voice-over type stuff like I did in my second project.  He recommends the Audio Technica AT2020 USB mic.  My lav mic was horrible, so I had my son record using my built-in mic on my laptop, but I wish I had this.  I'm sharing an image and a link to the manufacturer's site, but google it to find it cheaper.
http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wired_mics/c75c5918ed57a8d0/index.html

More Royalty-Free Music Sources

As posted by Karen Abad ♥s Dinosaurs on Vimeo's Community Forums / Vimeo Projects / Great resources for finding music for your films:

Here are a couple places that you may want to check out that have royalty-free music that you can use:

freemusicarchive.org/ - The Free Music Archive is an interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads. Check out "10 Tracks to Sync" highlighting instrumental music that works well with video! - bit.ly/bugm0N

ccmixter.org/ - ccMixter is a community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons where you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you want.

freesound.org/ - The Freesound Project is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. Freesound focusses only on sound, not songs.

audiofarm.org/ - Audiofarm is an audio website for helping people explore, share, and enjoy Creative Commons Audio from around the world.

incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/
At this website Kevin MacLeod offers his royalty free music creations under the Creative Commons License. There are many different types of instrumental music at this site.

pacdv.com/sounds/free-music.html
pacdv offers a few instrumentals for you to use royalty free. They just ask that you mention "Music by pacdv.com/sounds/" in your credits.

sonnyboo.com/music/music.htm
Offers a few songs that you can use in your productions as long as you credit the songwriter - Peter John Ross.

loganlproductions.com/pmp.html
Offers a few royalty free instrumental songs under the Creative Commons License. Just credit the musicians.

taylorhayward.org/freemusic.htm
Taylor Hayward offers a few piano songs that are copyright free so you are free to use them in any way, commercial or non-commercial.

soundclick.com/business/license_list.cfm
I recommend that you sign up with a free account at soundclick.com to take full advantage of its many differnent music artsists and genres. To find royalty free music at no charge under the Creative Commons License click on the soundclick link above and then change License Type to Creative Commons (Free), select the Genre and click go.

jamendo.com/
This site includes many different genre's of music by many different artists under the Creative Commons License. The difficult part at this site is just downloading one song. When you go to an artist's page and click on an album it wants you to download the whole album. But if you are listening to the album with the jamplayerweb there is an option at the bottom to Export this playlist: M3U. If you pause the music and click on M3U then the songs should open up in your Media Player and you can click the next and previous buttons in your Media Player and also click on File -> Save As... to save the song you are listening to.

derekaudette.ottawaarts.com/music.php
Derek Audette offers his royalty free music under the Creative Commons License. Most of these are instrumental pieces that are either dark, moody, or hard driving.

publicdomain4u.com/
This site contains recordings of songs that were published prior to 1922 and are now in the public domain which means the public is free to copy and use the works in any way.

opsound.org/
This website offers a collection of music from a variety of artists and genres under the Creative Commons License. In the left hand menu click on artists or genres.

openmusicarchive.org/
Open Music Archive offers recordings of songs that are over 50 years old so their copyright has expired in the UK so the recordings have become Public Domain. However, if you are from another country other than the UK then the recordings may not be Public Domain yet. See the FAQ for more information.

archive.org/details/audio
This Audio Archive contains free recordings of many popular bands. These are usually recordings of live performances. The bands that allow their live concerts to be recorded and traded are known as Trade Friendly Bands. For a list of bands that are Trade Friendly and to view their policies see Trade-Friendly Band Information and Furthurnet.org Band List. The FAQ page and the details page make it clear that these recordings can only be used for non-commercial purposes.

freeproductiontracks.com/
Free Production Tracks has a few styles of music that can be downloaded for free and can be used for anything, commercial or personal, without any royalty fees.
Royalty Free Music royaltyfreemusic.com/free-music-resources.html
royaltyfreemusic.com mainly offers royalty free tracks for a price, but they do offer some 30 second music clips, beats and loops that can be used for personal or non-commercial productions. You must credit RoyaltyFreeMusic.com as the source of the music.

internetaudioguy.com/iag/freemusic/freemusic.htm
InernetAudioGuy.com usually sells royalty free audio tracks for a price but they also offer a few instrumental 30 second samples that you can use for free for anything you want.

Using Non-Royalty Free Music
If you already found a piece of music from a professional artist that you want to use in your film or other production then go to ascap.com/filmtv/faq.html to find out how to contact the copyright owner (usually the publisher) and acquire the appropriate license.

Midnight Blog Re-Design and Webmonkey

I made some significant improvements to my blog's design. I googled free templates for blogger (my blog is through Blogger, but you can put tumblr or wordpress... whichever you use). I found several good designs and downloaded them. I chose this design, because I wanted a darker background. It makes videos and photos stand out better. I had to alter the xml slightly, so if you don't know html or xml, if your template doesn't work, you may need help tweaking a few settings. It is simple enough you can probably even google enough info to get it done yourself.

I went to btemplates.com and found hundreds of templates. Check it out, or search google. I did all this in a few hours, so it wasn't too bad.

When you're adding a color to your Web page with HTML (or XML), sometimes you can just type in the name of the color. But more often than not, you'll need to use what's called the hex code, which is something that the browser will be able to understand. Webmonkey provides an easy to use Color Chart that allows you to search for colors and get the hex code. The bonus is that because it is a Web site, you can see what the colors actually look like on the Web (as opposed to books or printed charts, which don't look the same as they do online).

Creative Commons Files

Besides jamendo.com, I used beatpick.com for creative commons audio files. You have to provide an email, because they send a link to the file download (and direction for attribution), but they do not send spam mail and it was quick and painless downloading the track.

I googled creative commons to find other sources and other types of files (photo, video...).
Rather than post the many sources I discovered, I will just provide a few searching tips:
Search creative commons and add the words audio or video or photo to find other sources

If you will be doing many projects and want unlimited choices, contact ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. They are the three largest music publishing companies in the world. Most of what we hear on radio, TV, film, commercials... is licensed through these companies. It will cost an annual subscription fee (for non-commercial purposes, I think it starts at around $300). I personally would love this freedom of choice, however I do not produce enough video to justify it.