Why are new apps so addictive?

[Applespider]

Why are new applications (or at least, new to you) so addictive?

I bought a camcorder recently and today was my first chance to take it out for a spin. Since I'll mainly be using it for touristy type stuff, I headed off to the South Bank and pretended I was a tourist; which was interesting for entirely different reasons!)

I got home about 6.30 and figured I'd try capturing the DV to my external drive, which led to me starting to mess around in iMovie (which was going to be tomorrow's activity) and now it's 1am!!! Where did the last 6 hours or so go? I've only got 2min 31 secs of edited video/audio!

To bed before I get caught up in the next chunk!

PS Anyone with any suggestions for music that can go alongside video footage of a fruit and veg stall? I'm flummoxed other than 'you say potayto and I say potahto'...

 

[Lacero]

You should try Final Cut Pro 5.0. It sucks big time!

I find iMovie difficult to use, more cumbersome than FCP. Happy editing.

 

[mad jew]

It's the curiosity. That's what makes me stay up for hours on end playing with new (and relatively useless) apps.

As for the music, I think Zorba The Greek by The Gypsy Kings would be cool.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

All that's new, fresh and exciting generally takes up too much time... not just new applications but all things, from gadgets to boy-/girlfrends...

As for music suggestion: Vegetable by Radiohead (from Pablo Honey).

 

[iMeowbot]

PS Anyone with any suggestions for music that can go alongside video footage of a fruit and veg stall? I'm flummoxed other than 'you say potayto and I say potahto'...

Frank Zappa, "Call Any Vegetable"

 

[Stampyhead]

Anyone with any suggestions for music that can go alongside video footage of a fruit and veg stall? I'm flummoxed other than 'you say potayto and I say potahto'...

That's when I head over to the good ol' iTunes Music Store and do a search for whatever; in your case, "fruit" and/or "vegetables."
Try "The Fruit" by Sander Kleinenberg, or "Vegetables" by the Beach Boys. Actually, there are a lot of good choices. Have fun!

 

[njstaffer]

Good 'ol video editing. Ahh, nothing more enjoyable, frustrating, and time consuming. You hate doing it, but can't seem to make yourself stop.

I would also suggest Final Cut Pro/Express. Although, I would use iMovie for a while if you are a first timer. Then once you get the basics you should move on.

Good luck w/ the editing, and welcome to the club!

 

[Abstract]

Where did the last 6 hours or so go? I've only got 2min 31 secs of edited video/audio!

Are you using the one of the latest, fastest Powerbooks?

I want to get a digital video camera very badly, but I'm a poor student and i don't want to get a p.o.s. just so that I can have one. I think that's a big waste of money.

As for a song suggestion: "Alone in Kyoto" by Air, "Flim" by The Bad Plus, or "It's the Sun" by The Polyphonic Spree. It really depends on what you're going for.

 

[Lacero]

Where did the last 6 hours or so go? I've only got 2min 31 secs of edited video/audio!

You're actually quite fast. For feature length films, it takes each editor a day to make 4 finished edit cuts, on average. So in a team of 3 or 4 editors, it takes them several months to cut a film together. Editing is hard work and you need a lot of patience.

 

[Applespider]

Are you using the one of the latest, fastest Powerbooks?

Nope... just my 1.25Ghz Powerbook I've been pleasantly surprised by how it's gone so far - just amazed at how the time flew. Of course, I haven't had to really render much so far (aside from reversing a few clips and adding a transition or two) which is where I'll probably realise exactly how slow things can be!

Thanks for all the song suggestions - I'll go for a hunt on iTunes (again!). Some of those aren't there but will see if any of the others are. The iTMS has been a boon in song hunting during this - there's no song about a French chef cooking 'Les Poissons' in my music collection to go over the fishmonger stalls!

 

[dcv]

Anyone with any suggestions for music that can go alongside video footage of a fruit and veg stall? I'm flummoxed other than 'you say potayto and I say potahto'...

How about the theme tune from M*A*S*H? or even CHiPs?
sorry!

 

[Bote]

I feel your pain. I never mention it becasue i thought i was the only one. The first time I used iMovie it took me 6 hours to edit together 4 different clips that were only 2 min each.

Anything from the Beastie Boys would work.

 

[Applespider]

I feel your pain. I never mention it becasue i thought i was the only one. The first time I used iMovie it took me 6 hours to edit together 4 different clips that were only 2 min each.

There wasn't really much pain; I was quite enjoying myself. If it had been irritating and frustrating, I'd have stopped! The time it was taking was more because I was tweaking things a lot and testing things out since I hadn't really used iMovie before. I had about 35 minutes of footage which is now a 7 minute movie and playing on my mobile phone just to irritate those in the office (although the quality is v bad!)

The music was a struggle since nothing really seemed to work with the style of what went before/after and the footage. In the end, I found one of the old iTMS freebie songs which seemed to work - but it really was on the last trawl through the iTunes library and the final bit to go into the (mostly) finished piece.

 

[condor]

Do you have any webspace where you could post your finished movie online? It would be interesting to see what you ended up with!

 

[katchow]

The music was a struggle since nothing really seemed to work with the style of what went before/after and the footage. In the end, I found one of the old iTMS freebie songs which seemed to work - but it really was on the last trawl through the iTunes library and the final bit to go into the (mostly) finished piece.

not having seen any of the video its hard to say, but if you'd like a nice little bossa nova feel this Bebel Gilberto would be nice:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/...tId=14120613&selectedItemId=14120609&s=143441

or the remix:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/...tId=64436779&selectedItemId=64436379&s=143441

 

[Applespider]

Do you have any webspace where you could post your finished movie online? It would be interesting to see what you ended up with!

Well... you asked! I'll stick it up for a bit on .Mac tho it's 16MB at the moment - not exactly sure what to tweak to get it smaller and keep it reasonably good quality.

Bear a few things in mind before the critiques start... It's my first time using a camcorder and my first time using iMovie so part of this was just to see what I could do rather than supposed to be a masterpiece. If I was going to keep this for real rather than as a test run, I'd probably shorten a few of the scenes. Having given the caveat, feel free to have a look...

London's South Bank

 

[katchow]

few of my favorite things

wow. nice job. now i'm officially hungry

 

[aricher]

Wow - I just had lunch and that made me hungry again. Nice job for a novice attempt. A bit on the long side but well done. If you're working in iMovie in the future try some of the more subtle transition effects - they'll help to keep things flowing smoothly between cuts.

Other music suggestions:

"Vegetables" by Brian Wilson/Beach Boys - off of "Smile."

"Suddenly Everything Has Changed" by The Flaming Lips of of "The Soft Bulletin" Just for the opening line "Putting all the vegetables away, that you bought at the grocery store today."

 

[Erendiox]

wow. nice job. now i'm officially hungry

Ditto that man.

YUMMY YUMM YUMM....

 

[efoto]

I think you did a great job, especially for your first time. Although I was a little lost at some points (more or less due to my multitasking and ill-attention span) I found the camera work not too shabby and the music additions were quite well done

Good work, can't wait to see what else comes from the new director (or whatever film-personality position does what you did ).

 

[Applespider]

Thanks for the kind comments! I did have a few extra transitions in there but some of them just ended up looking cheesy. I guess a few cross-dissolves probably wouldn't have gone amiss!

I know it's a little long but like I said, it was more to see what the different shots/colours from the camera looked like on screen/on web/on DVD rather than to make a great movie. Although the South Bank is a fun place, I suspect it would be a 2 minute clip in someone's main trip to London rather than a lone feature!

 

[XIII]

Wow, nice work. The music selection was very fitting.

 

[dcv]

Very nice work... are you sure that was your first time with a camcorder? I'd love to have a go at this (might have to get some camera details from you) but i think my efforts will be very wobbly!!!

Was that the Market Porter pub about half way through the film? Looks like a place i was in just last week, right on the edge of the market

 

[Applespider]

Was that the Market Porter pub about half way through the film? Looks like a place i was in just last week, right on the edge of the market

Yup... it's a great little pub - I had to stop in there to get a little refreshment on Saturday afternoon. I did have a shot with the name but it ended up horribly overexposed when I checked back so I cut it.