Long-term archiving projects for Final Cut Pro X

400I wrote this email to Larry Jordan, author of the famous + awesome training website for video editors.  I was wondering how the new Library structure in FCPX 10.1 would hobble the economical archivist in me.  Since I end up doing some explaining and pontificating, and his answer is very useful, I figure I should share it here.

It’s a big relief to know I can keep archiving projects in a way close to what I’ve been doing all along: minimizing the amount I need to backup, to the safest medium, with surest results and minimal work.

Libraries are noob-proof, but they are not power-user-proof.  That’s good.

Hey Larry,

I love your website and I’ve found it helpful as I finally switch over to FCPX.

One thing I will miss from FCP7 and my 2 years on Premiere is the ease of permanent archives.

Continue reading “Long-term archiving projects for Final Cut Pro X”

City in Song at the Museum of Vancouver

So a couple of great music videos I shot for the Loose Affiliation of Millionaires are now online!

I shot David Newberry and Jenny Ritter at the museum, singing songs that were inspired by the museum’s collection.

I had a great time.  I love music vids because even after editing them over and over, I still feel like watching them again.

There’s a live show with all the millionaires at the MOV this Saturday, February 1 at 7pm.  But meanwhile, you can listen to these…

A Moving at the Dance in Vancouver festival

AMoving-SunsetThe film I made with choreographer Rob Kitsos is showing at Dance in Vancouver next month!  Please come down and see it on the big screen, along with other local dance films.  Details to come…

Thursday November 21, 6.30-8pm VIFC

Radar: Exchanges in Dance Film Frequencies is a program dedicated to the exploration and evolution of dance film through connecting artists scene by scene. Curated by filmmaker/curator Adam Sekuler and choreographer Shannon Stewart, RADAR features movement based films of many budgets, styles and perspectives, creating a platform of local/national and international exchange that allows artists to publicly screen their work, discuss, get feedback, and meet other artists working in the same form. In 2013, RADAR screenings took place place in Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Portland, and Minneapolis. Presented by Vancity Theatre and the Northwest Film Forum in association with The Dance Centre.

“A Moving” is a contemporary dance trio that was performed at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery in March of 2012. The trio was performed within an initialization of visual art by Michael Morris in his exhibit on Concrete Poetry. The dance was performed to music by Martin Gotfrit, choreography by Rob Kitsos and performed by Kim Stevenson, Katie DeVries and Rob Kitsos. The trio was then transplanted into different locations in and around Vancouver BC, filmed and edited by Flick Harrison. The title was taken from an interchange between Sally Banes, Noel Caroll and Monroe Beardsley on what makes the motions of our bodies ‘dance’.

“A Moving” is an interpretation of the presence of body, gesture and contemporary movement within non-traditional environments. The movement sequence continues throughout the film as the environments interchange between the original performance at the Belkin Art Gallery, to urban architectural locations –to natural environments in and outside the city on Vancouver BC. Through seeing the dance in places we inhabit in the everyday we make our moving bodies accessible, visceral and readable in ways that can become detached in the traditional settings of the theater. Through these sequences, we also perceive the design of our environments in relation to our bodies in a new context.

VANDOCUMENT covers Video Revolution! Making Your Message @ VIVO

(So it’s good to know my crazy professor hair gets attention, but they also say I have “an impressive portfolio of films…”)

One week tech camp teaches youth filmmaking with a purpose

Words by Alicia McLean
Photos by Sheng Ho

Sitting with the instructors of Video Revolution! in the trendy yellow chairs of VIVO Media Arts Centre, I admire the bright, sunlit classroom-to-be. Panoramic desktop iMacs: check. Compact DSLRs: check. Pair of enthusiastic and quirky teachers: check. So, what makes this week-long (Aug 5-9) workshop different than the others in Vancouver?

read the rest on Vandocument

Teen Summer Video Activist Camp @ VIVO

Video Revolution! Making your message

August 5-9, 2013
9 AM-4 PM
Final Exhibition: Friday, August 9, 4:30-6 PM

¡VIVO la revolución!

Youth ages 13-18 are invited to spend a week at VIVO immersed in the hands-on creation of documentaries, news, commercials, music videos, public service announcements, viral videos and/or other mediums for creating persuasive messaging. Use the powerful world of video to get your message out there.

This one-week intensive is ideal youth interested in media arts, video and filmmaking, and activism. Students will find and share examples of how digital media is used to influence what we buy, what we do, what we think and who we are through the internet, social media, TV and advertising. With increased media literacy and an understanding of techniques used to powerfully tell a story, students will script, shoot, edit and disseminate their own stories about the issues they care about.

Continue reading “Teen Summer Video Activist Camp @ VIVO”

Time for a Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera?

So camera upgrades come more and more often these days.  I had a crap-sounding, rugged and reliable Sony EVO-9100 Hi8 camcorder from CBC which I used and abused from 1992 until 1998, then a Canon XL-1 from 1998 to 2007 (Man, that one shot a lot of video!), then I moved to an HDV Canon XH-A1 til 2011 and lately, an HMC-150 which is very cool but has some serious drawbacks.*

Right now I am starting to look for a new camera package for what I do:  mostly shooting live events, some interviewing, documentary, corporate gigs etc. and, well, drama.  The HMC-150 isn’t the best dramatic rig, since it has a typical video small sensor and wide depth of field.

POSSIBLE BLACK MAGIC CINEMA CAMERA ENG PACKAGE

But wow, is it ever hard to beat a dedicated ENG-style camcorder for features and function.  What I need is:

Continue reading “Time for a Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera?”

Summer video camp for teens at VIVO

VIVO Youth Camps 2013

Video Revolution! Making your message

(click above for the application form and contact info)

August 5-9, 2013
9 AM-4 PM
Final Exhibition: Friday, August 9, 4:30-6 PM

¡VIVO la revolución!

Youth ages 13-18 are invited to spend a week at VIVO immersed in the hands-on creation of documentaries, news, commercials, music videos, public service announcements, viral videos and/or other mediums for creating persuasive messaging. Use the powerful world of video to get your message out there.

Continue reading “Summer video camp for teens at VIVO”

Video from the Vancouver Biennale!

IMG_2293Finally completed the amazing video installation with Windermere, Nootka and the Vancouver Biennale’s Big Ideas project. This video explains how we mixed old media (polaroids, betamax, 35mm film, typewriters) with high schoolers from Windermere, elementary students from Nootka, and made a video installation at Kits Beach arund the Echoes sculpture by Michel Goulet.

Thanks to Katherine Tong  and Terry Howe at the Biennale, Laura Treloar and Damian William at Windermere, Hank Ferris at Nootka, Carmen Rosen and the Renfrew-Collingwood Seniors Centre for all the support!

 

 

 

Nootka/Windermere from Vancouver Biennale on Vimeo.

Big Ideas in Transitions

Flick teaches video journalism at VIVO

Learn on-camera reporting, off-camera interview skills, documentary shooting techniques, polished journalistic writing skills, and documentary editing.

February 23, 2013 – 12:00pm – 5:00pm
February 24, 2013 – 12:00pm – 5:00pm

Video Journalism

At VIVO Media Arts 1965 Main St @ 4th

To sign up email us at education@vivomediaarts.com or call 604.872.8337/ext.1

Participants will develop a documentary concept (or bring one you have in mind) and shoot footage that will be analyzed and edited over two workshop sessions.  You are welcome to use VIVO’s video cameras, or you can bring your own.

1. Camera Skills & Interviewing: Saturday, February 23, 12-5pm
Learn how to set up a great interview with lights, camera, and appropriate questions. In this session we will also cover documentary shooting and sound skills. Homework: Shoot some footage!

2. Documentary Editing: Sunday, February 24, 12-5pm
With footage you’ve shot as homework from session one, we will learn to cut together a short news story with a voiceover, on-camera introduction, and develop a solid structure.

Make docs that ring true!

Prerequisites: Suitable for participants who have previously attended Camera, Lights, Sound! and Video Editing workshops, or those familar with the basics of video production and post-production.
Duration: 2 sessions: total 10 hours
Schedule: Sat/Sun, February 23 and 24, 12-5pm
Cost: $200 or $160 with VIVO Producer Membership (Extended)

To sign up email us at education@vivomediaarts.com or call 604.872.8337/ext.1

Instructor: Flick Harrison

Flick Harrison is a self-made nobody, a renegade artist, an underpreneur, a premiere Vancouver poorfessional, and now a member of the Sunset Community artists-in-residence “Something Collective.” His film, theatre, video, acting, writing and camera work has been seen by millions, been nominated and won awards internationally, and slipped into, under and through almost every Canadian funding niche. Chretien’s chief strategist Warren Kinsella called Flick “offensive” and “unfair,” the Globe and Mail called him “hilarious,” and the Georgia Straight called his work “gorgeously sophisticated.” His work includes teaching media art to kids, engaging community through art, designing projections for theatre and dance, and international journalism and criticism. http://www.flickharrison.com