Tools are always justified costs

Video production has always been an interest of mine. When I was a teenager my father brought home a VHS editing suite which had been used at his work. It was a proper one, and it was kept in the room next to mine. Before long, I was an expert at using all of the equipment. I was always keen to push the limits of the Fairlight CVI+, which was one of the first reasonably-priced digital effects units. My Panasonic MX-10 vision mixer was used until the sliders wore out. The Sony 3 CCD camera was the shit, for the time. It would still hold up today. I was disappointed when I was forced to sell the gear in 1996.

For a time this equipment was in a studio being used by Avent Video, a small business set up by a few of us. We did weddings and promotional videos. I was the most knowledgeable and as such was involved in most projects, and any graphics-intensive work was solely my domain. But by this time, 1991-92, the CVI was showing its age. I was desperate for an Amiga, unfortunately I had no money.

At the end of 1992 I moved out of home into a flat above some shops. I brought the gear with me. One of the shops below me housed the offices of John Hunter Media, and it was here that I first saw an Amiga in action in a working environment. John had an OpalVision card. What luxury! John helped me with titling for a short video I made for uni (56011 Film & Video Production), and for this I got a High Distinction, one of only two in my initial uni career. He later (in late 1997) was kind enough to give me a chance working with him, but I was going through a difficult time in my life then and squandered the opportunity.

Since then, video has been an interest but I have never had enough money to get any serious stuff, and having been spoiled I would not be satisfied with consumer gear. Well, times have changed. I am a bit older and realise that I don’t necessarily have to own the best possible equipment, and consumer level DV cameras can now produce an image superior to my old 3CCD Sony camera. And DV, despite its limitations, is vastly superior to VHS.

With this in mind, last year I purchased a consumer level DV camera for $1000, including bag, tripod, media etc. I haven’t really used it a lot as a camera, but I have used it. I use it as a pass-thru encoder, with my VCR plugged into the input on the camera. By this I have been “digitally re-mastering” my old video collection onto DVD’s. This lack of camera use is about to change.

I have started work on a secret video project that is taking up a bit of my time. This has required a bit of time investment but it has all been fun. I am using Sony Vegas 5.0 software for editing and I like it. I have tried a lot of other software and I find Vegas to be right at my level: easy to use but technical enough that I don’t get frustrated. It is interesting to note that with my camera and computer (value:$3000) I have several times the functionality and quality of my old gear costing tens of thousands of (80’s) dollars. I can do anything that I could then, in a fraction of the time. The only concession is that they do not sell edit controllers with proper jog/shuttle wheels any more (at least for PC).

The video I am currently working on is meant to look dodgy, that is part of the brief. I am putting in a lot of home movie clichés and this amuses me. With this in mind, I thought that I would test out modern chroma-keying technology. Screens were blue when last I used this technique, but green seems all the rage now. The results using my green t-shirt and desk lamp were less than spectacular. I knew what I had to do.

I was worried, but unnecessarily. Lincraft sell bright green fabric for $1.74 per metre. I bought 5m. There was only one remaining problem: lighting. Proper video and film lighting sets cost a lot of money. I do not have a lot of money to spend. Then it hit me. Bunnings. I am now the proud owner of a dual 500W halogen work light, with adjustable stand (maybe 1.8m high). That is 1000W of pure brightness. $28.95!!! And it doesn’t count as spending, because of one of my life rules. All tool purchases are justified. I might get another one. For fill.

Now playing: Thomas Schumacher – Eighties

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