A Post Produced Year in Review

ok, now it can be told.

This blog post will have to do with the year in review of my Junior year at Robert Morris. Rather than give you the same old schpiel on how I've gotten older or finally gotten rid of the whole dancing Gary thing, I'd like to focus this on one class in particular, and the two things I learned from it:

1) I never, ever want to work in professional video production.
2) The Media Center equipment is total crap and should not be used by anyone.

here's the timeline of events, with each event rated on their level of frustracity.

Project #1: take clips from three movies and making a 5 min film with a new concept. wrong type of external hard drive is bought two weeks before project is due. hard drive is replaced with firewire/USB combo drive thankfully assisted by Rose's boyfriend and tech guru AJ. Project is edited at the studio for 4 straight hours, including fumbling over the fact that I've never used a Mac in my life. Final Cut is the industry standard, but not the most time effective process.
Editing system used - Final Cut, Cool Edit Pro for narration and voices
Level of frustration: exhaustive.

Project #2: put a series of pictures to a song to be put on DVD. Wrong type of DVDRs are purchased at Radio Shaft (DVD-Rs needed for videos, DVD+Rs are for data.) While using the Avid system on a PC, it becomes too frustrating pinpointing the picture locations with the music. Project is instead done using Windows Movie Maker, taking approximately 1.5 hours to complete a 3 min song. the WMV file is converted to quicktime in Avid, and spots occur on the video. Video is burned to a DVD, finally putting the project out of its misery.
Editing system used - Avid, then Windows Movie Maker, then Avid for conversion, iDVD
Level of Frustration: Plentiful.

Project #3: Make a split-screen video that shows at least two screens. This is the Chess Club project. A Sony Handicam is rented from Rentway for $30 and Hi-8 tape bought for $10. A script is written, shooting and editing takes place over spring break, and the project is done one week before the deadline. Film is burned to a DVD with outtakes included. There were plans to include an interview segment but I felt it gave away too much. I didn't mention that on the DVD the audio goes off-sync with the picture near the end of the film.
Editing system used - Ulead MediaStudio 7 (for DVD menu and opening credits), Ulead Videostudio 8 for main editing, Final Cut Pro for audio touchups, iDVD
Level of Frustration: not present, motivated and elated.

Project #4: Tell an audio story using only sound effects, ambience, and background music. This is well within the element of my audio production talents. Project is completed in a fairly timely matter in about 1 to 1.5 hours and burned to a CD with no problems.
Editing system used - Cool Edit Pro
Level of Frustration - none

Project #5: Create a 7 min biography video on an assigned director (Quentin Tarantino.) The plan is to get footage from three of Tarentino's films but end up only getting a digital DivX copy of Pulp Fiction. The process at the Media Center is to 1) dub from DVD to DVC in real time 2) capture from DVC to digital using a deck in real time 3) save captured footage as a quicktime file in real time. The 1st dub attempt fails, the 2nd attempt works, the capturing works, but saving results in an error after 20 mins and an "I/O Error" and kills the tape. Citing this, a mental burnout from three 5 page papers in a two week period, and a case of depression Gary asks for and is granted an extension on the project, due originally the Thursday of finals week now extended to May 15th. Feeling rejuvenated and motivated Gary completes the project staying up all night and uploads it to his webspace at 10 am on May 13th.
Editing system used - Final Cut for attempted capture, DivX to MPEG converter, Cool Edit Pro for narration, Ulead Mediastudio for video editing
Level of frustration - oh you would have no idea.

so in short, always find alternative solutions to everything and one is the lonliest number.

The KM, posing for the new book "When Pets Start Mocking You." 

One (Liter) is the Loniest Number

I write to you this night with a problem that is increasingly growing more frustrating and hectic as I speak. No, it's not the incomplete final in Post Production class. It's finding any remaining 1-liter bottles in Armstrong County.

To give you some backstory Coke has one of those 1 in 6 Wins Free Coke promotions going on with the green caps. Since the campus sells coke and does not take the winning caps, that leaves me stuck with about 4-liters of pop in free caps waiting to be claimed. Instead of awarding the common 20 oz bottles, Coke in their infinite lack of wisdom decides to plunk you with a free 1-liter bottle. Worse yet, you can't cash up 2 of them to make a 2-liter bottle.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a 1-liter bottle of anything?

So far in the Kittanning area a grocery store sells them but I got the last one, drug store and gas station sell 1-liter Pepsi's, and anywhere else remotely I've tried it cannot be found. This afternoon's excersion, following a lengthy parallel parking test, I drove all around trying to find the lost middle child of the Coke distribution volume family. Exhausted, I gave up and bought a 20 ouncer of Coke. The cashier shares my pain, she doesn't know where to cash them.

And poetic justice knocks at the door. I win ANOTHER free 1-liter of friggin coke.

For anyone living in the Kittanning area, if the store you work at or if you know a place that sells 1-liter bottles of Coca-Cola products (excluding Dasani), please e-mail me at tm2productions@hotmail.com or AIM at Garycanranna moy pronto.