Tag: z2

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Video Installation

So we’re working on a video installation and we’re planning on putting up a big LCD TV, and want to be able to show photo slide shows and video on it.

Our first thought was, get a DVD player and connect it to the TV (behind the wall as the TV will be mounted flat or recessed to the wall) and we would then author DVDs and play as needed. This could work, but we’re then looking at the DVDs being standard definition versus high definition. So while this option is cheap, and somewhat easy, the quality would be low. (And burning HD or Blu-ray DVDs is not something we are currently doing.)

We also thought about connecting an old G4 to the TV. We currently have a G3 connected to an LCD monitor doing the photo slide show thing, and connecting a G4 might work, but we need to deal with actually connecting it to a TV, which would probably have HDMI but not VGA, and VGA would probably look like crap.

So, I’m starting to think an AppleTV, at $229 is the best option. It’s pretty much built to do what we want. We could manage the content through iTunes and the AppleTV interface, and make playlists that could loop, and… am I missing anything?

Update: It seem you can’t make playlists that loop on the AppleTV, which is a “WTF!?” type moment when people hear that…

Update See Video Installation (Part II)

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Video-Fu Time

I’m really getting into video editing again, this time with Final Cut Express…

iMovie was a great tool for simple video, and pretty much everything I posted on tinkernet between 2005 and 2007 was done using iMovie, but I’m enjoying the advanced editing possible with Final Cut. (Here’s the first quick ‘n dirty video I did with Final Cut Express, which I shot using a Canon ZR800: MilwaukeeDevHouse1)

Over at Z2 I just completed a much larger project, a behind the scenes film showing how we shot a large-scale commercial for a car dealer. This was a mammoth project compared to the few minute shorts I’ve done in the past. I ended up logging 130+ minutes of footage I had filmed on a Sony PD150, as well as going through 440+ photos for the visuals, and did a bit of homework watching a lot of DVD extras I had available, before writing an outline of the piece, and then having Eric write the voice over script. I actually recorded the 1st and 2nd draft of the voice over myself to get it in place for the rough edit, before I engineered the final narration which was voiced by Joe Haas.

I also ended up shooting another 20+ minutes of interview footage to add into the final piece. Eric ended up helping a lot by doing most of the writing, and much of the picking and choosing of interview footage to use. Cory and Deb of Z2 acted as the producers making suggestions and comments along the way. I got a bit ambitious on the titles, which looked great, but definitely increased render time.

There were a few things that I felt thing could have been improved, mainly the audio. I didn’t have enough time to clean up all of the audio using Logic, so I ended up doing much of the editing and leveling in Final Cut, which was not ideal, but worked OK for the piece.

We ended up showing it at the Majestic Cinema in Brookfield, which was a blast. The crowd seemed to like it, of course, they were the stars of the feature. It was a little weird seeing my work projected on a full-size movie screen, but it was definitely very cool. I look forward to more video editing in the future.



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Shooting Photos

I did a photoshoot with the kids over the weekend. The folks at Z2 Marketing were kind enough to let me use the studio. Here’s a few of the shots, and you can see more in the Flickr set.

Maddy slates

Maddy loves to have her picture taken, so it was pretty easy to get her in the mood.

Emma on chair

Emma is not as much an “in front of the camera” person, and like me, likes to be behind the camera.

Reflector in Black and White

I pretty much let them do what they wanted, and didn’t direct things too much. Next time I might push a little further and see how well they can follow directions, as long as they still have fun with it.



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Z1 (and Z2) Soccer

I wish the best of luck to Team Web414 as they compete in the F1 Web Site Challenge this weekend. One of the reasons I could not go, is because I am on another team… Team Z1.

Z2 United Team Z1 will be playing against Team Z2 (though we’re all Z2, but Z1 is the Black Team and Z2 is the Red Team, confused yet?) Anyway, The gang at Z2 Marketing will be playing soccer at the U.S. Cellular Arena on Sunday, March 2nd, before the Milwaukee Wave game.

The Wave plays at 2PM, so come early and see us run around the field like a bunch of total spazzes and attempt to score a goal. Bring your camera, it’ll be fun (and humiliating) for everyone! (I’m on the Black Team, so cheer for us…)

Update: My team lost, and I hurt my legs pretty bad. There is a reason goalies wear long pants, sleeves, and gloves!


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Biking to Work (Again…)

Well I managed to bike to work again. (I did it a few months back.) This time it was a 7.28 mile ride, which was slightly shorter due to taking a different route. I saw my lowest speed about 5 MPH and my top speed was 23.8 MPH. It took 42 minutes and my overall average speed was 10.2 MPH. I didn’t make any stops but I did end up walking up part of a particularly nasty hill.

The most embarrassing part was when a guy who was probably 10 years my senior passed me on his bike like I was standing still. I was probably going close to 12 MPH and he whizzed passed me. He did have a racing-type bike and the whole serious biker outfit, so I didn’t feel quite so bad. As usual, I didn’t bike home. The wife came to pick me up with the Honda and the bike rack at 9PM.

We also hit the Bugline Trail over the weekend. We took the kids, so we only went about 6 miles, but it’s a nice trail. There is a reason it’s called the “Bugline” though. We got completely bitten up by mosquitoes. We’d like to take this one again when it’s cooler out.

As long as we’re talking about biking, the Milwaukee County Zoo is holding it’s “Ride on the Wild Side” Family Bike Ride on September 16th, 2007. We might do this ride, depending on how busy it is that weekend.