Benchmarks (page 3)

The Cobra Crane is surprisingly easy to set up. We attached the mounting bracket to the tripod's quick-release plate with no problem. Mounting the boom arm on the tripod was the next step. At only eight pounds it easily snapped into place. The camcorder was next, which we easily mounted with the sliding plate and thumbscrew. The last step was to add weights until the arm was sufficiently counterbalanced. We fine-tuned the balance with an adjustable sliding weight attached to the boom arm. Finally, only minutes after we began, we plugged the video line into the camcorder, plugged the other end into a monitor, and we were ready to fly.

Learning to operate the Cobra Crane took only a matter of minutes. The boom moved smoothly and the tilt function was easy to operate. We were able to start a shot with an extreme closeup, raise the boom a few inches to a top view, and pan across the subject within this same view. We boomed the camcorder around the studio in an arc and stopped with a wide shot of our set. All the movements were smooth and graceful, and created a very slick, dynamic look and feel to the video footage that we shot.

Although it's typically not a good idea to use crane shots to video tape an entire production, crane shots are effective in industrial videos, training videos, promotional videos, performance videos, wedding receptions or in establishing shots that set the stage for any of these productions.

The Cobra Crane is a great, low cost way to achieve very professional- looking camcorder movements. It is portable, quick and easy to set up and simple to operate. Most of all, it's a lot of fun. The Cobra Crane is a great product for the prosumer, professional or advanced hobbyist.

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Scriptware Scriptwriting Software
($300, $180 for DOS version)
Cinovation, Inc.
1750 30th Street, Suite 360
Boulder, CO 80301
(800) 788-7090
www.scriptware.com

Tech Specs

Scriptwriting is one of the most overlooked steps in the video production process. Ironically, it is also one of the most important for a well-made video. Comments like, "We'll figure it out as we shoot," doom too many productions. One of the most common excuses for skipping the scripting stage is, "I don't know how to write a script." Cinovation has helped eliminate that roadblock with Scriptware, available for Macintosh, Windows and DOS, a scriptwriting program aimed at the serious producer who wants to create dramatic productions.

Over the years the film and video industries have standardized scripting formats. This makes it easier for writers, producers and directors to communicate their ideas. Cinovation created Scriptware to help writers and producers of all experience levels, from the first time producer to the seasoned professional. Scriptware is a scriptwriting program that takes care of the script formatting chores and helps to organize and arrange your script. With Scriptware you don't have to worry about where the different elements of the script are supposed to appear, how they are formatted or what the differences are between television and film scripts. You don't even have to write your scenes in order. Scriptware makes it easy to reorder your script by scene.

While working on a script, writers will often outline scenes on 3x5 note cards and then mount them on a wall or bulletin board. That way the writers can look at the flow of the script and reorder scenes by moving cards around. Scriptware simulates this task by giving the user the option of displaying outlines of the scenes in individual squares (which can be resized as needed). The scenes can be reordered quickly and easily using the scene shuffle tool. Unfortunately, Scriptware only formats for dramatic or screenplay types of scripts. Scriptware will not format a script in the side-by-side, A/V (audio-video) format.

We tested the Macintosh version of Scriptware. Installing the software was easy and took less than five minutes. The program is intuitive and quick to learn. Menus include lists and tools you need to create a script, such as characters, transitions, scene intros, scene locations, time of day indicators and shot intros. You add the names of the characters that will be in your script. Don't worry if you forget someone, you can add new characters at any time and you don't have to put the characters in the list first. You can add them in as you write. Once a character is added to the list you will not have to type that character's name again. The program does that for you. If you know all of your locations before you start writing you can enter them too.

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