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I first heard about dimdim back in December 2008, back then I never put too much thought on this product mainly because I didn’t have a need, but things have changed. dimdim just turned 5.0 and with this new version, dimdim is now better than ever. With dimdim you can host a videoconference on the web, you can share your screen with others, share documents like PowerPoint presentations, etc.

You may be asking yourself what is so special about this software? Well, to start this is not a software based service, you don’t install anything on your computer, everything happens on the web. You just have to set up the conference on your end, using a web tool, and send the invitation, that’s it. You don’t have to install anything on your computer, neither has your invitees, everyone connect using a web portal that it actually works, and if you still have questions you here is a link to a video explaining how to use the service. Read the rest of this entry →

Read the rest of this entry →

Capturing and Logging are terms that professionals in the film, television, and other media related industries hear everyday. What is logging for the media enthusiastic? Think of it like a way of organizing your videos so that you can find them later. I know it has happened to all of us, we record and record until the tape has not space left, then we throw it around, when it comes the time you want to use the material you recorded you spend hours looking for it.

While the professional industries have different methods from date and time-stamped to specialized software that logs while recording, the media enthusiastic has to be creative to manage your media without spending a lot of money. One thing to keep in mind is that the process of logging is a very boring task, which is why we don’t even bother. However, if start being organized and create some type of system for logging your footage, soon you will get used to it and see it as just another to-do on the list.

To log is simple, grab a piece of paper, and write down the date, time, place, names… oh, no, not really. You need to think about the use you will be giving to this material, if this is the first steps of your son or daughter, you know that eventually you will want to compile a first year movie. With that thought in mind, label that take or whatever the media is, and write down some basic information.

Date: Important to keep things organized chronologically, make sure you take into consideration ranges of dates if you used the media for more than one day.

Place: Make sure to include the place you recorded to keep some consistency when editing.

People: Write down the names of everybody on that video, if the video is an specific event then use that to save some space, like wedding, birthday, etc.

That was easy but those tips will only work for the media enthusiastic that does not plan to do much with their media. For the rest of us that need more control because the plan is to make the next big home movie we have other needs. More detailed information is needed to assure compatibility in the time line. In addition to the tips mentioned above, you will need to log:

Format: The format of the movie refers to the file format, for example DV, HDV, MPEG, etc.

Quality: Frame rate, size, and all the metadata you can get about the specification of the format you are using.

Details: Number of scenes, time of start and end, location (whether the shot is a primary or secondary shot).

Let’s not forget that the purpose is to edit your movie with the less amount of files open possible. Logging is a boring process, nobody wants to do it, but is a must to have an organized environment in you office. Plan ahead, remember to have lots of hard drive space, and read as much as you can. Use our forums for all the questions you may have or email us at lumencreativegroup@gmail.com. Thanks.

Whether you are working on a photo slideshow, video project, or other consumer media work you will find yourself having to deal with sound, music, or plain audio files. As a media enthusiast, I think that one must take very seriously the audio in any project to get the best out of it. Whether you are working on a Mac or PC you must first familiarized yourself with basic audio software, some systems comes with audio software, some can be found free on the web, other you’ll need to buy it.

If you are working on a Macintosh, iLife comes with GarageBand a great audio solution for almost any purpose. On a PC unfortunately comes with no audio software other than “Sound Recorder” which is not good at all, but there are multiple solutions. For PC’s you have Audacity 1.2.6, Studio Buddy 1.0, and more to the Pro side Adobe Audition 1.5 among others. I invite you to share your favorite audio software with everybody, leave a comment on this post, and tell us what you use.

In the Mac platform, GarageBand 3 take your audio skills to the next level with easy to use controls that lets you take control of your audio on any other application within iLife 06. The solid integration with iPhoto lets you create breathtaking photo slideshows with almost any type of music. If you are importing music from iTunes, careful with copyrights, remember that it should be use only for your personal amusement. While in the PC platform is hard to find any similar integration, almost every photo slideshow creator lets you add your own music, as long as it doesn’t has any DRM, check out Picasa from Google.

Back in the Mac platform, iMovie add some interesting features like extracting audio from a video clip, sending your whole project to GarageBand, and two audio tracks to add effects, music, or anything that comes to your mind. In the PC platform, this type of feature can only be fund in software like Adobe Premier Elements, now this one I whish it was available on the Mac, the picture in picture feature drive me crazy, even thought you can do that with QuickTime.

Whether you are on a Mac or PC, your creativity can always be challenge with great software, audio management covers many fields on a media enthusiast life. You can do Podcasting, sound effects creation, movie scoring, record interviews or conversations, etc. The most important thing is to know what the final output is so that you don’t waste your time working on a file that may not be suitable for your project.

I will create a forum discussion thread for all your audio questions, visit www.lumencreativegroup.com/forum for all the questions you may have. Digg this post, add it to your delicious account, become a forum member, and participate in great discussions. You can also reach me at lumencreativegroup@gmail.com. Thanks.

I spent some time debating about the title of this post, my blog is guided towards the media enthusiast and I didn’t want to drive away my audience by selecting the wrong title for my blog post, but that was the best I could do. I was reading an article over www.filmspecific.com about distribution tips and immediately started thinking how to apply some of those tips to my audience.

Sometimes media enthusiast work on some small projects that require them to think of small-scale distribution for their video content, lately this task has become easier and more distribution channels are open to the public. We’ll go over some of the distribution channels but first let’s think about examples of why you would need to distribute video content in small-scale.

The first example that comes to my mind is schoolwork or church, if you school is trying to get parents involved in sports with their children a good idea is to create a video of the different types of sports available and the facilities, schedules, and “how-to-help” invitations. Maybe your church is trying to distribute a video of the service, or other church activities to raise funds, these are just some examples I’m sure you are thinking on so many right now too.

There are many distribution channels that you can use to spread the word, you can start as simple as displaying ads on a bulletin board. Get peoples email, address, telephones, or other channels of communication. Flyers, posters, and other types of media are all great ideas but the first thing to take into consideration is whom your targeted audience is?

First thing you can do is to create DVD’s of whatever the video is about, there are enough tools to create a professional looking DVD. Another option is to create a Podcast, if is for a recurring activity. Promote the event or video, you can do some small postcards, shirts, mugs, etc. I encourage you to share tips, things that have work for you in the past and what not, do so by leaving your comments on this post.

I love to send family members’ video DVD’s of my kids as they grow, is not that hard to edit some footage, crate a DVD, grab a bubble envelope, and mail them my masterpiece. Need some ideas, email me at lumencreativegroup@gmail.com, also visit my website www.lumencreativegroup.com for more great content like this one. Thanks.