So what are you going to do with your iPhone v4

So two students from Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts made this video "Apple of my eye" using the new iPhone. It is not the best video I have ever seen but is cool the power of what the iPhone can do out of the box. I also liked seeing after the video the making of and the rigs that they had for their moves.

cnet article and video

"Apple of My Eye" - an iPhone 4 film - UPDATE: Behind the scenes footage included from Michael Koerbel on Vimeo.

The Ray Harryhausen Creature List

For the complete-ists, all creatures great and gargantuan, in honor of Ray Harryhausen's 90th birthday.



Mary

Why we should all get nice comfy chairs to sit in.

I saw this article on Wired. It talks about how when we are focusing on something how our sense of touch can alter our subconscious perception of the problem. I could see how if the chair that you sit in every day is even slightly uncomfortable it could lead to being grumpy.
Click here to see the article.

Now thats marketing

I thought that this was a cool marketing idea from Leo Burnett.

Oh, OK Go, you did it again!

In the music video for "End Love" the video footage was sped up and slowed down to produce impressive looking effects:

The fastest we go is 172,800x, compressing 24 hours of real time into a blazing 1/2 second. The slowest is 1/32x speed, stretching a mere 1/2 second of real time into a whopping 16 seconds. This gives us a fastest to slowest ratio of 5.5 million. If you like averages, the average speed up factor of the band dancing is 270x. In total we shot 18 hours of the band dancing and 192 hours of LA skyline timelapse – over a million frames of video – and compressed it all down to 4 minutes and 30 seconds! Oh and don't forget, it's one continuous camera shot.

The real key is to watch for when the band went to the bathroom and slept while on camera. You can spot it if you are thinking about it.

 

The more things chainge the more they stay the same.

$400 and an iPad will get you typing like you were back in the olden days. (Like the 70's)

New Media and What It Means to Discover Mediaworks

I read this article last week entitled "Five Things Old Media Still Don't Get About The Web". One area talked about that people don't want to pay for news. 

People pay for newspapers right? So, they should pay for it online? Wrong. What newspapers did was centralized a lot of information putting it into your hands. What the web does is de-centralized that information (for the most part), but also presents for free. Classifieds: Craiglist. Sports Scores: ESPN, Sportsticker, FOX Sports. Weather: Too many to count. News: Once again, too many to count.

Another thing that the article brought up was number 3 on it's list: The Web Needs New Solutions, Not Digital Replicas of Print. This is a big thing for us as a company, here is the text of the article:

So forget paywalls and other things – lets make people pay for fancy, shiny digital versions of newspapers, right? Nope. Here’s an example of why not.

Prominent Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail offers an iPad-friendly version of its paper for 20 bucks a month. Know what 20 bucks gets you? An exact digital replica of the print edition. It’s utterly mystifying as to why anyone would pay 20 bucks to read than on an iPad when they can simply open the browser and read the newspaper’s website for free.

This is what old media companies don’t seem to get: if you want people to pay for content, you have to offer something new and compelling, not simply a glorified PDF. Take the Wired iPad app. While it’s not ideal, it at least does things that print cannot. That is where media companies must go. It isn’t about ‘how to make the newspaper or the magazine digital’. It’s about what new forms can be invented that take advantage of the massive potential of today’s technology.

And I feel like this applies when we are talking about Web extras for Discover Wisconsin and Trail Nation. I don't feel like we should get into the habit of throwing web extras together for the sake of extras. And it can't just be more content that was left out of the show. It should be dynamic interactive content that enhances the viewers experience after watching the show. 

Example: While driving through Hill Country on Saturday on a shoot, I thought to myself, wouldn't it be great if there was a video/gfx extra on the DW webpage that guide give you a route to take through all of these communities. I mean, if they are going to come visit, why not take them on the scenic route we just did and provide information to that end, something that we probably won't be able to touch on in the show.

Somehow, we need to move beyond 'replication' on the web and this may be a place to start. And I know the arguments that would come, "Well, Trevor, most of the audience is older and not that savvy a web user." But, c'mon. I think the iPad and how the magazine/newspapers are trying to succeed (fail) on it is a perfect example of how you just can't carbon-copy one media into another. People are demanding more from their web experience. Plus if you are going to charge them (we don't) the same dollar for something they can have in their hand, why bother investing all that time and money into the that media clone?

Full Article:

http://www.techi.com/2010/06/five-things-old-media-still-dont-get-about-the-web/

Topographical map of San Fran crime stats

This is the most functional presentation of data I've seen in a long time. (via Gizmodo).

If San Francisco Crime were Elevation

- Sorry D.P., but prostitution doesn't look to be broken out into specific genders. Perhaps not as functional as advertised after all.

Ride Like the Wind (Only Faster)

While not about video production I thought that this was kinda cool.

wind powered car faster than wind