Synaptic Light – a Journey in Filmmaking and Social Media

This site does not generate a much traffic as it has the potential but visitors do click on the advertising elements in my sidebar. Considering that my efforts towards more awareness and community are generating results (in terms of visits, comments and outgoing links), I am considering the idea of paid advertising.

Why
It would be great for this blog to pay for itself; for hosting(free at the mo), backups, it’s own advertising, and in the use of more professional tools/plugins. But more than that – a group of us are working towards making a movie; at first we are taking baby steps – and each step requires time effort and money. So basically the money would go in the direction of: Continue Reading…

[Photo By(Modified): Akira Ikari]

Wikipedia defines Aperture as:

In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane.

In the physical world we need to close the Aperture or Iris so that we do not over exposure the sensor. We even have to squint our eyes to cut out the light that would otherwise hurt our eyes.

However, do we do this as well when the light of truth shines on us? Do we close ourselves to it, only letting in what will hurt us the least (if it would hurt us at all).

I am a Christian; a disciple of Jesus Christ, but I am forever closing down the Aperture of my Soul. Trying to manage the Light. I should  trust God. Continue Reading…

• The Coming Revolution: A Warning (RED Scarlet)
• Rumored Intel 6-core i7-powered Mac Pro
• FxAndy is a Sweet Film Simulator for Final Cut Pro
• Video Editing on the iPad: Is it Possible
• Canon 7D and 5DMKII Greenscreen Examples
• SimpleMovieX Video Editor
• Interview with Editor Brian Kates

Last night, in the shower singing So lo Mia, I thought of something. Ok, that’s half a lie – I don’t sing in the shower, people will complain. I thought that; “Isn’t amazing that there is always soap”. You see we forgot to get soap at the shops but if I dig around there is always a bar of those gift soap things or a shower gel received from some Christmas long gone. Continue Reading…

The 8Bit Experiment has begun.

The 8BIT Network’s Mission is to resource the Church with timely, relevant, practical, and exceptionally valuable content. Our properties receive tens of thousands of pageviews a day and are widely regarded as online epicenters within their respective fields of coverage

Committing to one year of blogging; success or fail (but of course it will be successful), the members of 8Bit will provide posts relating to the following spheres (spheres for want of a better name):

• Web: ChurchCrunch
• Media: ChurchCreate
• Tech: ChurchIT
• Mobile: ChurchDrop

For me and the strategy of this blog I have registered to contribute at ChurchCreate – Media; specifically in the area of Video (how it pertains to the Church, usage, leveraging Video and tutorials on relevant tools).

Here is the ChurchCreate break down:

• Art and Design : Creativity Unbound
• Community: Me, You, We
• Production: A Fine Art
• Video and Audio: Engineering Awesome

I feel that this is an EPIC WIN because it leverages an already integrated community and allows them to offer their own skills and knowledge to empower and help the greater Church community. I have tried to champion this with building a Christian Video and Filmmaking Tribe but I am small fry in regards to my reputation and reach; ChurchCrunch and it’s community is not.

Will you come and join us?

Well the first question is: Will someone create a Video Editing Application for the iPad for $9.99 (is that a limit?). I think that Apple will: a scaled down version of iMovie or something. Or can you perform the editing by means of an online editing service like JayCut (by the way – what ever happened to JumpCut?).

Next Question: Can the hardware do it?  Lets take a look at the specifications:

• Processor: 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip

• Capacity: 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive

• Audio:
  • Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
  • Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV

• Video:
  • Support for 1024 by 768 pixels with Dock Connector to VGA Adapter; 576p and 480p with Apple Component AV Cable; 576i and 480i with Apple Composite AV Cable
  • H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

• Connectivity:
  • Wi-Fi
  • Bluetooth
  • USB through Dock Connector

It has been sometime since I have edited on my 1.6GHz Single Processor G5 PowerMac. Is this customized 1GHz A4 processor any better? I am sure it could handle a bit of DV work with minimal effects. Watching a compressed HD movie (not > 4K) won’t be a problem according to the features.
But that is not the problem. The problem is the maximum of 64GB Flash Drive – where would you store the files? Could they be accessed through bluetooth, wi-fi or the Dock Connector? Maybe.
I am not an expert in comparing the hardware of the Apple iPad to another device of similar processing capabilities. Also I don’t even know what kind of OS will be running on the Apple iPad – the same as the iPhone?

One thing is for certain is that the possibility is not far off.

Yet for now the iPad could be a great interface for specific applications already running on a MPB, Mac Pro or other computer. I for one am looking forward to an app that will provide touchscreen interface controls to Apple Color.
What do you think? Is is possible? Now, in the future?

You have probably noticed that I have not only changed themes – from Thesis to the new Beta StandardTheme by John Saddington. So over the next couple weeks I will be trying out a few things in order to help smooth the theme into Release Candidate status. I ask that you please tell me if you see any anomalies or funnies while you dig around.

I was always going to perform a complete style overhaul so this has now become my opportunity to put a few of those ideas into effect while testing the StandardTheme. So please let me know what you think of the style – recommendations are welcome.
I do not mind any opinion or thoughts. Each will be considered and , when appropriate, submitted to the StandardTheme Development Team. Your input is important.

Well it has been one and a half months since self hosting over at OurChurch. Very cool

• Self Host – Done, thank you Paul Steinbrueck and OurChurch.
• Non Template Theme – thank you human3rror
• 200 Subscribers – bouncing between 388 and 351. Thanks if you have subscribed,  if you have not I encourage you to. Maybe I need to readjust my goal to 500.
• 1000 comments – Very close to this, that is why I posted the competition post: Competition: 1000th Comment – Stuff Christians Like Book. So get cracking with those comments Actually I removed a number of trackbacks and spam comments that found there way in some time back, so I have fallen back somewhat. Please help me make up that ground.
• Community - Tough one to measure. I am not really seeing this on my blog other than connecting with a few cool people through the comments. Pretty much all the community is happening in Twitter and facebook. However I have signed up to postrank to measure this through their engagement points and also with ubervu for reations, both look very hot.

How are you doing with your goals? Got any tools/plans in place to achieve them?

[Photo by: keylosa]

The Apple iPad as it stands (or lies) now does not seem to be capable enough to be a video editing system. I can’t refute it’s usefulness as a great tool to assists pre-production, production and post. Yet the potential that this new interface is huge.

It won’t do as a stand alone system for editing. You certainly could not take it to the coffee shop for some quick editing could you.

However. Continue Reading…

One of the major milestones of this blog is nearing Completion; that of 1000 comments. In celebration of achieving that particular milestone I will be sending a copy of the Stuff Christians Like Book. I feel that such a milestone is deserving of a prize because I value comments more that other statistics. I don’t expect that this will mean that I will get more comments but if I do achieve the milestone faster than expected then I will send out two prizes for comments 1000 and 1001.

Thanks you for your comments so far; each one is valued highly so please do not hesitate saying anything you like.