February 2009 Table of Contents

Sound the trumpets! The Best Products of the Year have been picked by our editors and printed in this month's issue. Also included in our feature lineup are a step-by-step tutorial on how to perfect your pan-and-scan technique, known as the Ken Burns Effect, as well as some tips on how to incorporate still photos into your video projects. If you've ever been confused about video formats and the terminology that goes with them, check out this month's basic training column. Also, within the February columns, you will find information on how to create a storyboard, launch your own video blog, and make your own mic blimp.

Feature Stories

Tutorial - Perfecting the Pan and Scan Effect

Known as 'The Ken Burns Effect', the Pan and Scan technique has become the norm when combining still photos with your moving images. Step-by-Step tutorial.

Video Media Archiving

The future of video will have most of your work stored on bits of ones and zeros. What you do with that bittage when you store it determines how you'll find it later. It is winter, a time to reflect and get organized. That box of tapes sitting in your basement has been waiting...

DVD Authoring Hardware and Software
Buyer's Guide

Whether you're burning standard definition or have moved to Blu-ray authoring, it's never been a better time to jump into the realm of DVD creation. Producing standard-definition DVDs has become easier and more affordable than ever, allowing everyone to author simple DVDs.

Annual Best Products of the Year

The best consumer video production products of 2008, selected by the editors of Videomaker. So another year has come and gone, and it has brought a number of products through our doors. Many were good. Some were, um, not as good. We've culled it down, argued about...

Reviews

Camcorder Review: Sony HDR-FX1000 HDV Camcorder

Imagine That... Costing $3,200, the HDR-FX1000 is Sony's new version of the HDR-FX1. Sony has included three 1/3-inch ClearVid CMOS sensors instead of three CCDs, chopped off about an inch of the body, and added a new 20 x 29.5mm wide-angle G-Lens. With a few design and...

Storage Review: Proavio EditBOX EB8MS Disk Array

The Stacker: Professionals agree that disk speed is the biggest bottleneck in any computer system. Power-hungry users - video professionals included - eagerly snap up computers with fast buses, as well as fast disks. Proavio has capitalized on the ability to pair a fast bus...

Software Review: Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium

The Premiere Editing Suite: The Adobe CS4 Production Premium video-editing suite is a perfect combination of creative tools for the video-editing guru or post-production business. Enhancements to the CS4 Production Premium bundle include both the impressive

Camera Support Review: Manfrotto 503 HDV Tripod Head

Nice Head Light: Manfrotto released its 503 tripod head a while back, then updated the design, added a few features and dubbed it the 503HDV. As usual with Manfrotto, you can purchase most of the parts separately, so, if you have good legs, you might need to upgrade...

Columns

Viewfinder: Short Wonderings

Humans have always speculated with curiosity on the stars, ocean tides, plants and seasons. Curiosity is not limited to humans. Those of us with pets know how inquisitive cats and dogs can be. Humans have the distinct benefit of recording our observations for future generations.

Basic Training: Format Terminology

Once, there was VHS and there was... VHS. Now with AVCHD, DVCAM, Mini DV and more, recording choices are mind boggling. Let's decipher the alphabet soup. It used to be that home entertainment formats changed very slowly. Phonograph records spun merrily at 78rpm...

Distribution: Medium Cool: Launching Your Own Video Blog

Blog is simply a web log, or diary, that one shares with others. But when users were finally able to add video to these blogs, a viral phenomena was born. In the fall of 2001, text-based weblogs began to grow exponentially in popularity, followed a few years …

Directing: Storyboarding

Similar to a plot map used by archeologists, a storyboard is the best way to illustrate staging positions and camera angles for talent and crew. Remember the days when you would sit back and enjoy a good comic book? Or maybe now you cruise through the graphic novel section...

Producer PROFILE: behind the lens

Sandymontana: A newbie company in the land of giants. Meet Sandymontana, a youthful media production company with lots of hearth... ahem... heart. This Portland, Oregon-based group is getting cozy with their newest addition: a vintage fireplace complete with fake logs...

Editing: Use of Stills in Video

Dropping a still photo in your video isn't too hard, but making it flow well takes a special eye. Adding movement to stills is a technique that the masters have perfected. Movies, film, cinema, video - these are all, more or less, names for the same thing: motion pictures.

Audio: Make Your Own Mic Blimp

Owning the latest state-of-the-art video equipment is very cool, but making your own gear can sometimes be a lot more fun. Let's DIY it this month with Audio Accessories. A microphone

Departments

In box: readers' letters

This month’s letters: Vets' Stories - needing historical footage; Working in the Wild - Killarney Provincial Park; Editing Dirty Little Tricks - Sync the Dancers (running in slow-mo), Slap the Clackers (syncing audio with video), Time Adjusting (changing clip speed).

Quick Focus

Homemade Pan-&-Tilt Jib under $60 - We recently received this letter and photos from a reader and thought we'd share them with you. Bob Plate was inspired to build a jib following one of the two DIY Jib & Crane tutorials in our November 2008 issue.

Latest Videos

Best Practices for Using a Tripod to Stabilize your Shots.

How to set-up a tripod to capture professional level video. Learn the step-by-step process for setting up and stabilizing your tripod.

Lighting for Video
How to use indoor lights, natural light, and camera controls to create the best lighting for video production.
Audio for Video
How to capture Audio when shooting video. How to select the best microphone and location for the best audio and solve common problems videographers encounter wh …
Hand Held Video Camera Shooting Tips
This video shows you how to create better, more professional looking video by taking a closer look at hand held video camera shooting. Learn how to get effecti …

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