Another Vlog. This took longer than I had planned, mostly because I planned to do some crazy stupid graphics animation, which I decided was nowhere near necessary for a vlog. The first version I did I tried to do some motion tracking, but the software I was using wasn’t liking the long video. So after a few days of frustration, I was at work and decided to go into an empty room and film. the above is the result. Now I still tried to make the one shot above too complicated too, but I think for a long, talky video it’s about as complicated as it should be.

I’ve been shooting all my recent videos, except the Low Light test shot on the Kiss X4, on my old point-and-shoot, a Canon PowerShot SD960 IS. It’s a tiny camera, but I think it does better 720p video than almost all the vlogging cameras on the market. It was a gift, though. I wouldn’t buy one just for video. But it also takes some amazing pictures as well. I’d be hard pressed to get rid of it either way. My next vlogging camera will be the new HD Sanyo waterproof Xacti. I still love my SD Xacti, but I haven’t used it since I went full HD. I haven’t shot with my iSight either, which is what I did most of my old vlogs on. Hey Apple, when IS the 720p or 1080p iSight coming out? This should be a priority…. I want to get a new computer soon and I’d love to have a new iSight on it. I will be getting an iPhone 4 when they’re back in stock here in Japan (I think), but I’m not too sure if I’ll be using it for vlogging yet. I’ll have to do a side by side test with my little Canon.

Anyway, this is the first shoutout video. I will be making more. I don’t leave people out in these videos, I promote who is on my mind and who I have time to talk about. If I had my way I’d do hour long videos talking about how great my friends, subscribers, and the people I watch are. Anyway, here’s the list of links for the people in this video…

-Project Twenty1-
http://www.projecttwenty1.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/ProjectTw…
http://twitter.com/projecttwenty1
-Stephanie-
http://www.shinygrape.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/lotusdove
https://twitter.com/shinygrape
https://twitter.com/wiccanchicken
-Matt-
http://cinevore.com/
http://www.crystallinestudios.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/cinevorefilm
https://twitter.com/cinevorefilm
-James-
http://cinemassacre.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/JamesNint…

-Richard-
http://www.stupidfingers.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/vomitsaw
The Nintoaster Instructional Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDGR2M…

-Hikosaemon-
http://hikosaemon.blogspot.com/
http://www.zenremix.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/hikosaemon
http://www.youtube.com/user/hikotalk
https://twitter.com/hikosaemon

-Gimmeabreakman-
http://www.youtube.com/gimmeaflakeman
http://www.youtube.com/user/gimmeabre…
http://maggiesensei.com/
https://twitter.com/gimmeabreakman

-ZackScott-
http://www.zackscott.net/
http://www.youtube.com/user/ZackScott
http://www.youtube.com/user/ZackScott…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zach_Scott
https://twitter.com/ZackScott

-Justin-
http://hikikomori.posterous.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hikikomori/
https://twitter.com/justindoub

Lastly, I’m having a lot of fun working on music lately. I’m going to try and have original music on every video. Though I will contact some artists for permission to use their stuff for future projects, I like making quick stuff that sounds decent. If you have access to Garageband, you have no excuse not to have copyright-free, original music on your videos. I’m mostly using the banks of loops that come with Garageband and a few 3rd party plugins and expansion packs, but I eventually want to get back into creating 100% original stuff again. This is great practice, if anything.

Not sure what I’m going to do next. I filmed all my stuff for the “Life in a Day” movie project on Youtube yesterday. I have a lot of editing to do, as I recorded a lot of my sound in surround on my Zoom H2. One of the best recorders for the money, I highly recommend it.

Until next time!

Lazy Day Vlogs are exactly what they say they are: Vlogs when I have nothing better to do. The one thing I have in Japan that I never really had in America is tons and tons of free time. Even though I do have projects that I get commissioned or hired to do, as said above, I don’t have anything that’s be a long commitment. When I have a big project, I utilize this free time well… but when I don’t I feel a bit guilty and lazy. I’m use to having a 10-14 hour a day full time job with freelance on top of that. That was the reason I had a hard time making videos before I moved to Japan. When I came here it was a night and day difference and being burnt out and having time to recover was a deadly combination for laziness. It’s not as bad as I peg it to be, I just love throwing the guilt on myself. Helps keep me from staying in bad places.

Anyway, I’ve been working on a lot of personal things too. My speaking is one of them. I want to be a better speaker and work on my thought process when telling a story or idea. My goal is to have as little unnecessary edits in videos like these as possible. I almost want to start an “Edit Jar” that I have to throw a 100¥ coin in every time I have to do it. I don’t like having to re-do a video because of one mistake just so I don’t have to have an edit, so It’s best to try and do without them in the first place! Maybe I buy acting or speaking classes with the money…

That said, I’m having fun with the 8-bit theme. I have about five or six music tracks already done and some random graphics, so it won’t be going away for awhile.

I still like this blogging thing. I should do it more.

The problem is me. But I’m also going to blame this chocolate.

Real Food Porn?

Yes it's upside down. Yes this is an outtake.

That’s the Pleasure & Pain dark chocolate bar infused with naga jolokia chili. I ordered it from Handy Candy in the UK. When I first saw this bar on the website about a year ago, I was dying to try it. I love crazy spicy things. I checked around, and there were really no videos of people trying this. I was excited to make a tasting and reaction video.

Hoping that the chocolate itself would incite an interesting reaction I didn’t really make a plan. I’ve had plenty of spicy food before but I don’t think I’ve ever had anything with naga jolokia in it. I was hoping for something extreme. I even bought some milk for the occasion. The actual chocolate bar itself had a warning on it. I had seen videos of people trying naga jolokia stuff and even just habanero peppers and freaking out. Well I’ve had raw habaneros before and they made me sweat and I felt a bit of pain, but nothing I couldn’t keep a straight face for. I guess I should haven’t expected too much because of this.. but it’s the naga jolokia… the hottest pepper in existence.

Little did I know just how unexciting my adventure would be...

So I gave a bit of an introduction and tried some. I then sat there for 2 minutes waiting for something to happen. I’ve had the Lindt red chili pepper dark chocolate before (which I highly recommend) and it was a bit similar, it just felt like much thicker chocolate when melted. The spiciness was completely different, though. It’s kinda hard to explain. Like… super spicy melted mexican cheese. I didn’t even really sweat. I had two pieces and didn’t even have to go for the milk.

How boring.

I guess my tolerance for spicy stuff is a lot higher than I thought. I have yet to have anything here in Japan that’s really been too much for me. I’ve had the spiciest reimen (a type of cold ramen that is famous around here) and those crazy habanero chips that I saw on the net years ago. I know it’s me and not the chocolate, as when I brought the rest to share with my coworkers they reacted hilariously. There is nothing like this in Japan and they all tried it out of curiosity. Some of them can’t handle any spiciness whatsoever. Maybe I should have had the camera on them…

As for the video I did… It’s terrible. It’s just me rambling and then talking about how it wasn’t that spicy at all. I tried to edit it down and salvage it, but it just isn’t possible. So this video will never see the light of day.

BORING MAKES ME ANGRY

It made me rethink about my videos and all the videos I had planned. I think the biggest problem is, well, me. Even though I have been working on it, I’m terrible in front of the camera. I’m much better behind the camera. I think it’s because I’m a perfectionist, and yet I know I’m in no way perfect myself. I’m a good judge of my own talent. In fact, I see myself as a good judge of talent in general. I have a hard time making videos because I feel I don’t have the talent, my self or others, to reach the quality I want and need. The worst part is, when I just DO something, something that isn’t totally great or didn’t take that much skill… people love it. For example, the above is how to make a bad video. Well, here is how you make a GOOD video:

And not only that, it teaches you how to put a Nintendo into a toaster. I did the music, or shall I say… I pressed a few keys in Garageband and music happened somehow. I’ve known Richard for over 10 years now. Even his first videos had something in them that was good… he had a talent for this kind of stuff. I could see it. I still can. He has no training in video whatsoever. In fact, 10 years ago he inspired me to go to film school myself with something he made in high school.

And yes, I know that you can make videos without people. That’s hard too, but I’m working on some ideas using such. I could do more environment shots with my camera, those seem to do well. But that’s not all I want to do. I guess my real problem is that I do too much.

I’m going to try again. I’m going to see what I can do with myself. I’m going to collab with a few of my friends and then try to get a few ideas I’ve had written down actually done. That’s another thing, I have to find a way to get all of my long standing ideas done before somebody like MysteryGuitarMan does them, like he has many times already. Oh well, it’s my fault. It’s what happens when you wait.

I’ll try and write here more. I’m just worried that I’ll end up writing long winded posts like this all the time because I don’t know when to shut the hell up.

My apartment in Japan is surrounded on 3 sides by rice fields, is close to the Shinkansen, and in a small city. It’s pretty awesome.

Equipment Info:
Canon Rebel T2i
http://amzn.to/9uxM4y
Canon Kiss X4 (Japan)
http://bit.ly/c2Yq0Z
Canon 50mm f/1.8 II lens
http://amzn.to/amxGME
http://bit.ly/9u7QsG (Japan)

These were all shot on the Canon 50 mm f/1.8 II except the next to last shot, which was shot on the kit 18-55 mm. The sun had just set and I decided to see what the camera and lens combo could do in low light. All of these were shot in ISO 100 except the last shot of the spider which was ISO 400, I think. I don’t know about you, but I think the results are amazing. Absolutely no grain with very little light source. The spider shot has a tiny bit of grain in the render, but the raw has none. Also, that white circle is the crescent moon out of focus. There was no color correction or filters used in this video.

All the sound was recorded on my Zoom H2 in surround sound mode. Yes, the rice fields are PACKED with frogs and they are THAT loud, sometimes more. Usually the Shinkansen is the loudest thing in the area, but they almost drown it out. The song playing in the background plays every day at noon, 5 PM, and 9 PM throughout the entire city. It’s called “Nocturne for Kitakami”.

My original goal that night was to attempt to film or photograph the bats that were flying like crazy around my apartment the night before, but that night they weren’t flying in too much of a group. My goal is to somehow get a good picture of a bat before I move from this place.

Feel free to ask any questions! More tests soon!

See it on Youtube here. Pass around this link and vote: http://current.com/groups/sunchips/92369409_whats-your-next-change.htm

So earlier this year I had decided to enter as many video, animation, and photo contests as I can. I came across the Current VCAM deal from Youtube. I had been subscribed to Current’s Youtube Channel sine it was started, but I rarely went to the website. It’s recently become one of my main landing pages and I really like most of the original content there. Back in February I did a VCAM for their Lexus contest and the final video wasn’t THAT good. I was working on one with mosaics and lot of fun imagery but my computers just couldn’t handle the massive files I was trying to use and I didn’t finish it on time. So I took the concept that I had, rehashed a old video I did in my 2008 Video Month (where I made a video every day for a month) and just sent it in. I was pretty surprised to discover I was a finalist. But I was even more surprised I was a finalist when I saw the winners. I had seen previous VCAMs in the past and some of them were pro quality. The Lexus winners were TV, pro quality. The video I made didn’t even compare. But at least then I understood what was needed to pass to have a chance at winning.

Next came the new VCAM for SunChips. I was pretty excited about this one. I had tons of ideas and concepts. The only real problems I had were that I live in Japan (No SunChips here) and the due date for the video fell on the same time I was trying to get my Japanese Drivers License. (a nightmare, will make another post about it soon) After the bags of Sunchips my friend in the States sent me arrived I sat and thought, writing down what I think I could do. I read the Current VCAM conditions and what SunChips wanted very carefully and before starting I had about 5-6 concepts penned out. I started a few, but was forced to waste more than a week of dime dealing with the Japanese License testing center. I eventually settled to work on one or two, and then combined parts of both to make the video you see above.

To be honest, I really like it. I originally wanted to do some slick transitions and a few more layers… but I watched it a few times in it’s current state and decided that it was fine on it’s own. The only thing I don’t like is my voice. I hate using my voice, but I was working too fast and wasn’t really close enough to anybody who I knew could do it at the time. At least I have thousands of hours of recording and training people to do voiceovers under my belt. I may not have a good voice, but I can at least make it sound like a voiceover. In the end, I was proud that I did what I thought they wanted and I did almost everything myself. (Chip bags are from my friend Chris in America and the music is from APM. Everything else is me!)

Now, I had looked around on Youtube and Vimeo to see if anybody had uploaded their progress or completed commercials. It was pretty shocking to see that so many people had completely missed the point of what SunChips wanted and didn’t follow some of the simplest rules. But I had only seen maybe 20 of the 100+ VCAMs that were eventually done. When Current announced that the videos were going to go live before the winners were announced, was was pretty shocked. I thought they didn’t do this. The thing I loved about the Current TV VCAM deal was that it was between me and the sponsor, not a popularity contest. There are too many people out there with crappy videos that have huge networks. I mean, I have a pretty good network myself, but most of them are college kids who have nothing better to do but upvote and refresh their buddy’s videos. That aside, it was a HUGE eye-opener to see the competition. What little confidence I had was almost completely gone. There was some real professional productions, some shot on a RED, some with beyond amazing design, and a few with great graphics. After I saw the 5th or 6th one that I knew was amazing I almost stopped watching, but I went and finished them all.

To be honest, if they want a slick commercial that looks exactly like one they would have paid a production crew to do in the past, that they wrote and fits their current design scheme, they’re set. There are 5-6 that they can choose from. To be honest, from what I got in the write-up and conference calls, a lot of people just made a basic SunChips commercial, not something that follows what they’re trying to say. They don’t give the message. Some people even highlighted the bag noise (which was specifically hinted NOT to do) and didn’t mention the website at all. Everybody knows what to do to recycle and make our planet better, or at least that they should. Preaching the same stuff that every other company and website says gets old. I guess I wanted to give something that was at least relating to the main audience and hopefully made the “click” to understand how easy it is to change things for the better.

I don’t know what the people at SunChips actually want. I’ve already picked the four I think they’re gonna pick, but we’ll see. I’ll keep you guys updated as the process goes along. Maybe Al Gore (a judge for this as well) likes sqiggly line animation. I guess it’s not as much depressing as it is… well… what it is. I still have really far to go as far as improvement. But that’s one of the main reasons I moved to Japan and that I’m making videos again… I now have the time to do it. So let’s go, and hope for the best!

I swear I didn’t mean to neglect this thing. It took me forever to decide on and find a blog layout that I was happy with. The previous one was WAY too busy and sometimes even hard to read. What’s the use of having content of it’s difficult to deal with? I’m absolutely in love with this layout and it’s going to be really easy to edit and expand upon. The banner at the top with all the links is going to change a lot, but my goal is to make it interactive. I’m still learning more CSS and such, so the overall blog design isn’t going to change.

As for videos, I have SO MANY VIDEOS coming it’s not even funny. The one above is my first youtube video in awhile. After I finished that I was busy working on Current TV VCAMs. (There will be another post about that made today) I’m still trying to decide if I want to make another channel for vlogs, keep them on my main channel, or just cut them out completely. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

No matter what happens, you can still keep in touch on my Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, or Flickr.

Video soon. I’ve been passing around tests to a few friends and they seem impressed so far. Will start updating Youtube again this week, and as soon as everything is rolling I will take some time to work on some stuff for contests and contracts. I want a new computer and some lenses for the camera. Fun times!

Speaking of the camera, I just updated my Flicker with some new stuff. Lots of fun! And speaking of Flickr, I’m going to slowly switch all of my images hosted on my blog to Flickr.

FUN.

I swear I’m going to get into real post soon and stop talking about this camera all the time, but I’d like to document it when I can.

Overall opinion so far? Fantastic. A learning experience, but fantastic.

Photos look amazing right out of the camera. Video looks the best I’ve seen for a digital file. I’ve edited Canon EOS 5D Mark II footage before and in the same lighting (Though with not the same lens) I am just as impressed. Speaking of editing, I’ve become a fan of Adobe Lightroom for quick photo editing and sorting. I used Apeture for a little bit about a year ago and quickly switched back to Photoshop and iPhoto. So far I can deal with the quirks of Lightroom for it’s speed and ease of use. As far as video, once I made my own Sequence Preset, Final Cut Pro handled the footage great! It was really easy to edit. I will have a sample reel up soon, as I have a few more things I want to shoot.

More photo and (soon) video samples will continue to go up on my Flickr.

Now on to the problems. Some mine, some the lens, some the camera. One of the first worries I had is when I tried zooming with the stock lens. Well… I noticed a jutting in the picture, like something that was automatic wasn’t turned off. Turns out it’s the aperture of the lens. It’s slow and not fixed… or so one of my friends tells me. Still looking into it. I’m still getting use to shooting video on an DSLR. I know how to shoot photos… and video… I’ve made a few mistakes trying to get the video look I’ve wanted. But oh well. Will go out and about in the next few days and hopefully get some video out. Though I already know that I really want a new lens…..

I’m excited to see what I make with this camera. I’ve had the Sony HDR-HC1 since the day it came out and at the time it was the next big thing: Consumer priced HD. The flood that came afterwords made it impossible to make a decent, real choice for the Prosumer. Some people were buying the Canon HV40 and buying prime lens adapters for them. Some were still touting the Panasonic DVX-100 because a lot of the HD cameras lacked the quality, picture, and colors that the already maxed out DV cameras had. The Prosumer HD cams were still really expensive and they all had their problems. Before the Canon EOS 5D Mark II was announced everybody I knew was dreaming of an affordable RED and dying to get their hands on one. Then the video DSLRS hit. It’s when we hit the peak of or a new age of a technology that I see the best stuff from people. They get their hands on something new, something everybody is excited about and wanting to see, and it gets the creative juices flowing. We had out DV revolution, our 24p revolution, our HD revolution, now it’s the DSLR revolution. I’m happy to be part of yet another one.

After I get a bunch of test videos done with the new Canon, I’m going to get all my cameras together and make a test comparison video. I think the only surprise is going to be my Canon Powershot SD960IS, which I still think is the best small point and shoot on the market. Just check out what people on Flickr have shot with this amazing little thing…

I still have a bunch of stuff to change around on this blog and a whole slew of links and blogroll links to add. Eh, I’ll get to it when I get to it.

Lastly, I went out photo shooting at night, one of my favorite things to do, to test my new camera. I almost never use a flash, so I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this camera’s night shots. I only shoot in manual mode, so I’m still getting use to using this camera’s settings. Expect the photos to get better and progress rapidly as I learn how to use this camera better.

Here’s some of my favorites from the shoot:

Yeah! It’s that time! My Canon EOS Kiss X4 / Rebel T2i / 550D grand unboxing!

So here’s a quick unboxing and a few test pics. I am working on some more serious tests this week and will have them up soon. So far I’m very pleased! Some of the photos are a td blurry as I was a bit to excited. Enjoy.

My first feeling was how light it was. Except maybe the Pentax K-x, I don’t remember any of the DSLRs that I looked into and tried being this light. Even the Panasonic GF-1 felt heavier with that pancake lens. This is fine, as it makes it easier to carry it with me everywhere (I got one of those Kata photo backpacks) and I use a monopod all the time anyway. The manual is in Japanese, but I had already downloaded and had been reading the English version. I haven’t thought about how I would register it, as I’d have to get some help reading and writing the Japanese. Overall it feels really robust. The 18-55mm lens seems like a good start, but I really, really want a good zoom lens. I’m going to have to wait and decided what I’ll get next, because I’d still like to get a battery grip and a few more things.

Since I got the camera the weather has been pretty crappy, but I did manage to take some test shots. In another post I’ll have some more test with downloadable raws for your viewing and scrutinizing pleasure. Until then, be sure to check my Flickr for up to the minute uploads.

Down the street from me is a crazy car dealership that has a beautiful Nissan GT-R. I had to stop by and take a few pics.

The also had a large shoe, er… a Daihatsu Copen.

Then I just walked around a bit so I wouldn’t just have pictures of cars.

Yeah, I’ll have more later. On another important note, I’ve become a huge fan of Adobe Lightroom. As an advanced Photoshop user I still get a bit frustrated with some of it’s limitations, but for quick photo editing it’s really great.

New stuff will continue to flow! Videos soon! I also have some other editing and updating to do to this blog and some non-camera related posts to make….

That’s right! It finally came in! Photos were taken for the unboxing, but I will post them tomorrow. Battery is charging now. Hopefully I’ll go out and do some shooting tomorrow! Keep watching my Flickr for photo updates! The image above was taken with my current camera, a Canon Powershot SD960 IS. I put the new camera on a black t-shirt next to an cracked open door and lit the side with a photo on my iPhone. A 3 second exposure, I think.

Also, it seems that the T2i is sold out almost everywhere in America already… Seems Amazon in Japan still has some, though. Will try and keep updating for everyone who is interested…

Yay!