A Perfect Day
march 2006
I woke up early. Earlier for most, but not so surprising for me and my crazy body clock. On a sunday, I was brewing coffee and checking email at 4 a.m. And I'm not a fanatic...there wasn't much to be read at that hour so I slipped into a cool HBO film about high school chicanos in LA walking out of schools in protest to substandard human rights issues...Of course, Edward James Olmos was in it, and of course, it was a good piece.
I discovered a bit of necessary technology last night. I learned how to rip video from DVD's, which in my profession, is a skill I should have learned ages ago. But, I'd been at a stalemate in the world of technology as it relates to my profession ever since the puny capture card I had wasn't compatible with Windows XP, nor did my station have an accessable way to use any nonlinear workstations or digitize video. Those had been reserved for promotions, commercial production, and basically everyone outside of the news department, to which I belong. So, at a stalemate, I have no way of passing along the stories I have done to my friends, family, and beyond, aside from a cheap VHS tape that reduces video quality to a medieval standard.
Then...a spark. A talk with my friend Mike about burning DVD's, a new workstation in my editing department where the station burns "airchecks" to DVD, and an informational walk-through with my Asst. Chief Photographer, another Mike..aka Master Yoda in Television Production, who gave me the grass roots instructional in burning Beta SX tape video to DVD, the tape format being what we shoot on, and up to this point, what I had to record to VHS to have a take-home copy of anything I might have shot and edited and been proud of...until I played the VHS copy in my aged VCR, thinking, 'I just shot this today...why does it look like it's from the 70s???"
Last night, I downloaded some DVD burning software and encoded our Navy Christmas DVD, a 60-minute special we do every year that chronicles the different branches of the military in our area, focusing primarily on the folks to be deployed over the holidays, so they can get their "Merry Christmas" and "I Love Yous" in while they are away in unfriendly lands.
The three pieces I ripped, encoded, then converted for the internet, were shot during a two-day odyssey in which myself and reporter Carl Leimer, had the opportunity to go to sea onboard the USS Austin on deployment day. We cruised south from Norfolk along the Outer Banks to Moorehead City where the ship onloaded Marine Corps troops and heavy equipment for Iraq. We produced three stories of which I am quite proud of, and my dad even called me back to tell me how much he enjoyed them. The beauty is that they are on my website and accessable by all; a dream I've had that finally found fruition...
So, after my cups of coffee, I hit the gym, had a great workout, considering a St. Patty's weekend full 'o Guiness, Corned Beef, and Cabbage, then found my way to the local elementary that has a 16-hoop basketball court, minus homicidal gang members, secluded in the dunes of Ocean View. After 45-minutes of March Madness a capella, I went home, showered and went to the station in downtown Norfolk.
Going in to the station on Sunday reminds me of weekends at KSN in Joplin. You can walk in and if you see one other person, it's a surprise...the news slows down on the weekends, at least staffing-wise.
I burned some 50 stories to two DVD's in a few hours...my favorites of the bunch, and as I type this to y'all, my friends, family, and beyond, the first DVD is burning to my hard drive.
Suffice it to say, there will be a considerable amount of video clips for y'all to check out on my website now...this makes me very happy...I mean, this opens doors to me that have been closed for years...I can dump raw video now and edit projects at home on the computer...it's awesome to be caught up with everyone else!!!
Next step, learning to author DVD's: creative menus and all that...
And...
payday is friday...a much overdue DVD burner will be bought...
So,
enjoy the video clips...I'm proud of them....feedback is encouraged, as always....