by Dave Riley
I posted before on how easy it is to create video -- even good video -- with very limited resources to hand.
It's called editing.
So I've been doing the leg work and some others are also getting passionate about the prospects this simple technology offers: a cheap digital camera with a video setting -- Voila!
While we're not quite ready to for the Six O'clock News I've archived tips and DIY here on The Activist Toolkit.
Unfortunately the audio on these cameras is pretty rough but if you have another recording device or can create voice or music over you get a sweet mix.
I won't bore you any more with my early experiments but here's a sample despite the fact it was shot indoors at low light. My tricks -- and I'll post them to the Toolkit wiki -- was to attach the camera to a 'monopod' (a tripod with one leg) which was my walking stick with a mini tripod strapped to it.(Get em for $9). This gives you a much more stable shot.
The audio was done on Audacity the excellent free audio editing software which I rely on for podcasting. It was a simple two track record and a play with the Audacity extras. (That's the most difficult part as audio is a much steeper learning curve than video).
In the Socialist Alliance we are sponsoring albeit by baby steps a richer multimedia culture especially in regard to photography and slideshows; Powerpoint presentations; and more and more video. You can watch samples here on SA TV.
If you spend any time on YouTube you'll know that at least we cannot be as bad or as crude as some of the many offerings published there.
We can't wait to start mixing it with the struggle. In the meantime....
