How-To Export Movies In Lion That Work On The Web

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Ulan

I want to post many of the movies I take on the web. Lion has messed with my workflow. In the pre-Lion days I could:

1) Open the movie in Quicktime
2) Move the playhead to the “poster frame” I wanted to represent the movie
3) Select File / Export for the web
4) Select the options I wanted and hit return

Quicktime would export a web-ready file along with the poster frame into a folder. While Quicktime would include additional files, none of them were required to get the video working.

That changed in Lion. The new format Qucktime uses to export no longer works in browser. Now you must upload and point to a reference movie. This reference movie (along with a bunch of JavaScript code that you have to clutter your pages with) will choose the appropriate movie format to display. This is all great if everything you want can be accomplished using Apple’s many assumptions. But, alas, it can not be used for my WordPress podcasting plugin of choice PodPress.

But worry not…

1) Instead of exporting for the web… first export it into iTunes by chosing Share / iTunes. (Simple really.)
2) Once it is in iTunes, choose File / Show in Finder
3) Now you can open follow the rest of the steps to get Quicktime to create a poster frame for you.
4) Grab the .jpg poster frame and the iTunes .m4v and upload them to your PodPress directory.

While it involves a few more steps, none of them are difficult.

Oh Happy Day!

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Max Eating

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Ulan

I find this fascinating. I need to video more people doing normal things as they go about their day.

Max Eating Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Jesse Get’s High

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Ulan

I have been watching some of the old Braking Bad outtakes and came across this one. I still think this is one of the best “getting high” plays I have ever seen. It really looks beautiful.

I am glad I never fell sway to the pull.

Jesse Get's High Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Posted in Life [or so it's called] | 1 Comment

The Power Of Nightmares

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Ulan

The Power Of Nightmares

I am very happy I found a free archive of these films online. They are excellent.

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Treme – Will the Circle Be Unbroken

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Ulan

Treme is a great series about New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The show is created by the same folks who made my favorite TV show of all time: The Wire. Many of the same cast members of The Wire star in Treme. [Note: I absolutely HATE HBO's website. It is a total disaster. I am only linking to it out of respect for the creators of The Wire an Treme. Ugh. What a horror show.]

The first season of Treme was difficult for me because I really wanted to like it, but something just did not seem right. One glaring problem was that the sound was off. You could tell that the musicians were not actually playing their instruments and when folks were dancing it was often to a different beat than the music we could hear. For a show that centered on music… this was a deal killer.

The second season was quite different. It started off with a bang. The writing was different. the annoying characters either disappeared or were marginalized and… the sound was much improved. By the second or third episode I was actually looking forward to the next show. By the time I had finished the 6th show I was totally hooked.

Anyhoot. The scene below is quite well done and I thought I would share it. The MP3-only version follows as does a nice version by the Staple Singers.

Will the Circle Be Unbroken Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Will The Circle Be Unbroken - Treme Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Will The Circle Be Unbroken - Staple Singers Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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Use Me – Bill Withers

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Ulan

This is my new favorite YouTube video of the moment.

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I’ll Stay – Funkadelic

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Ulan
I'll Stay - Funkadelic Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I saw George Clinton at Yoshi’s on Tuesday and Kendra Foster sang her standard Bounce To This. Iyad fell in love with her (as we all do when first we meet her ;)

While searching for some YouTube videos for him to check out I came across her doing Funkadelic’s I’ll Stay. Figured I would let him hear the original.

Lyrics are below.

I’ll stay
I’ll stay
For she’ll be coming back
You know her head went out to play
She’ll get over that
I know that my reward
When she returns
Woo-woo!
Keeps me hanging on
I’ll stay
I’ll stay
Though friends they ridicule
You know for her there is no substitute
Talk I can endure (I must endure)
But that’s alright, mother says “Son”
Know my reward
When she returns (whoo-whoo)
She’ll still come home, whoaah
Keeps me hanging on
I’ll stay
Ba ba-ba-ba
Ba-ba-ba
Ba-ba doo-whoo whoo-whoo
Ba ba-ba-ba
Ba-ba-ba
Ba-ba doo-whoo whoo-whoo
Ba ba-ba-ba
Ba-ba-ba
Ba-ba doo-whoo whoo-whoo
{continues to end}
You know her head went out to play
That’s all right
The girl will get over that
Lord, my reward is gonna be much greater
Every night, lord, is gonna replace her
And if another girl decides she wants to go home
Wait right there
Wait right here
Wait right here
I ain’t goin’ nowhere
Wait right here
Wait right here
I’m gonna stand right here
On this ground and wait
Hey hey hey hey

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/f/funkadelic/#share

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Hamza Al Khateeb

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Ulan

Learning about Hector Pieterson changed my life forever. I used a derivation of his name for many years as my alias. I carried a copy of copy of the photograph in my wallet wherever I went. I try to honor him to this day by fighting for justice.

Hector Pieterson

Today I have heard of a 13 year old boy who was tortured to death. My heart weeps. Hamza, I will remember you for the rest of my days…

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Podcasting Sound Help Request

Posted on May 29, 2011 by Ulan

So… at long last, I am finally jumping into this podcasting thing. I purchased a Canon 60D Kit and have spent the last month trying to get the thing to work the way I want. I’m having a lot of fun and enjoying the images I am taking.

I’m about to drop some coin on a prosumer tripod and fluid head.

Of course none of this is going to matter much if the audio sux.

The 60D has an internal mic that is unusable (of course). It has a mic input but I read the camera records terrible sound even from good mics.

As such, I hear that I should purchase a preamp. [I LOVE these preamp videos. I want to make loads of these - with better audio and video of course!]

I am confused as to why I need this if I run audio through the Zoom H4n (like the preamp link above shows in the section: Zoom H4n Dual-System Audio with Camera). Am I really spending $200+ just so I can monitor audio through headphones? If so, can’t I simply purchase a “Y” headphone adapter?

And that’s just the recording side! What mics should I use to capture interviews inside an office? I plan to have the subjects 6-12 feet from the camera and separated by about 2-4 feet from each other. Do I want lavalier mics? And if so, should they be wireless?

I feel so very out of my depth :{ Any help given is be greatly appreciated. There must be hundreds of people like me out there wishing for answers to these questions.

Onto lighting. That shouldn’t be too hard right…

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Zapping

Posted on May 21, 2011 by Ulan

I like this a lot. Well done =)

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