Sunday, January 31, 2010

First edited video for your viewing pleasure

Well, I finally did it. I was going to see Avatar this afternoon but all the screenings were sold out until 10:30 tonight (I cannot believe it is still so popular after weeks in the theater). So, with a full and rainy afternoon (not that I'm complaining - today was the first day it was cool enough to enjoy a cup of hot tea) and nothing interesting to do, I sat myself down in front of my computer, opened the video editing software that came with my rad and tiny Panasonic video camera, and got to work editing the first videos I shot.

I have to be honest, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Which is not to say that the video I am about to subject you all to is in any way good. No, no, no. These are among the very first videos I have taken in my adult life (when I was younger my family had one of those awesome brick cameras that held an entire VHS tape and I remember shooting some pretty fine school projects with it) and it's also the first editing job of my adult life so it's hilariously amateurish. The videos are semi boring, I do some random tilt-action to see if the picture adjusts itself (it does not), and one scene is partially blocked by my finger. The editing is an experiment in scene transitions - I really like fade black and 'mix' as you will see if you make it all 4 minutes 28 seconds through.

A few things I couldn't figure out: 1) how to put music to it. 2) How to put text on scenes other than just the title. Anyone have any experience working with VideoCam Suite for Panasonic? I will keep messing with it but I'm afraid it's so basic it doesn't actually have these features. Any recommendations for free or reasonably priced video editing software? Also, the load time on YouTube is really slow and it's fuzzier than it was on my computer. Any and all video editing and/or YouTube advice greatly appreciated.

I would have loved to label where we are in each scene but instead I'll just tell you here. Special thanks to Renée for being an unwitting participant in this experiment.

1) Lobby of my first apartment. 2) Waiting for the A line subway at station Acoyte (after the subway we walked to each location shown). 3) Pedestrian walkway on Florida street near Plaza de Mayo. 4) Puerto Madero, the new "it" neighborhood surrounded by condo construction. 5) Puente de la mujer aka "Bridge of the woman" which has won some architectural awards. 6) A random Frida Khalo exhibit, not in a museum. 7) Costanera Sur, an ecological reserve. 8) The many, many food carts which line the Costanera Sur selling barbecued meat sandwiches.

Here is a map of the city, marked with where we went. Click on it for a larger image.


And finally, here is the video itself. Enjoy, if possible! I will continue on my editing spree and hopefully have some more interesting videos to share from my recent vacation.





p.s. Totally coincidentally, I am wearing the same purple dress editing as I did taking these videos.

8 comments:

Renée said...

It says it's a private video and won't let me watch it. :(

ElizaBeth said...

Whoops! I went ahead and made it public. Hopefully strangers don't make hateful comments.

Renée said...

We should have got those fries...

I can't wait to be back in BA to star in more videos with you!

Momma Archer said...

The video worked! Fantastic! Now I'll be expecting regular video updates.

Now go be cool at the beach. Love You!

Unknown said...

Love it - especially hearing your laugh. Enjoy the beach!!!

Desomniac said...

When you get back to Seattle we'll have to make some kind of crazy video about aliens eating panini's while they plan to take over Mt Rushmore and use it as a base of operations to save all of the bees (their brethren) from the evils of humanity. That'd be bad ass.

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