Panasonic continues to be the leader in broadcast quality camcorders, with over 80% of the NCAA Tournament being recorded on Panasonic camcorders.  P2 based camcorders now have surpassed 250,000 units shipped worldwide since the format was released to the public approximately 9 years ago. Panasonic announced some interesting new products at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) 2012.  The annual conference was held from April 16-19, 2012 in Las Vegas, NV and seeks to serve the diverse broadcast needs of sports networks, TV broadcast stations, and professional videographers across the world.  Each year this conference brings exciting developments to the world of professional video, and this year was no different. As high-speed, high-capacity formats continue to evolve, SD cards have surpassed P2 Cards as the standards for storage.  To continue the camera revolution for this new format and style, Panasonic has introduced a format, called the MicroP2 Card format.  The MicroP2 card format is a format that continues to build on the rock solid abilities of older P2 cards, withstanding

high vibration, temperature and humidity reliability, all now being delivered in the same form factor as a standard SD card slot. To allow higher capacity cards to be used in order P2 based cards, Panasonic also has announced the availability of the new MicroP2 Adapter, which is simply a P2 card that’s fitted with the new MicroP2 slot inside the card, to allow higher capacity 32GB and 64GB SD cards to be inserted into P2 based cameras.  This format change will ease the transition from P2 card based workflow to SD card based workflow for many broadcast stations all over the country. As Wedding video producers, we already have adapted the SD card workflow as our primary medium of choice.  We use the Panasonic ag-hmc40 as our primary camera.  The HMC40 uses SDHC cards up to 32GB in size, which allows us to shoot and record nearly 4 hours of video without changing cards.  We have enjoyed the high quality and stability that these pro-sumer camcorders have provided for our growing business. Do you have a thought or a question?  Leave a comment below!

As I was browsing youtube the other day I came across this amazing video production that was put together by Devin Graham. Devin and a group of friends took a trip out to Moab Utah at Corona Arch, a natural rock formation in the Utah Desert and constructed and flew on a giant rope slide! Check out the amazing result here:

Worlds Largest Rope Swing and Killer Videography

Filming the Event

The entire ordeal took two days to film, with many parties involved to rig up a harness that was safe, with many different anchors into the rock. Tests were also done on the rope by filling a bag of rocks up and throwing that over the edge in order to make sure the rope and the whole system would hold. The Rope swing itself was 150 feet above ground, with a 130 foot free fall, and at the lowest point you were 10 feet above the ground.

In my opinion this was a great video that took a lot of time and effort to set up, but completely worth it in the end, in order to effectively show how great equipment, film making skills, and amazing stunts can come together and create content that is as good, if not better than some of the best hollywood action scenes in movie theaters today.

Video Equipment

Some of the equipment that was used in the making of this shoot, included A Canon 5D Mark II, a Canon 7D, a Canon 60D, an IPhone 4S for one shot, multiple GoPro HD 1 cameras
and an Epic Red One camera. A Glide cam 2000 was used for a lot of the floating video shots, such as the introduction shot of one of the guys looking over the cliff.

One special moment on that day was Austin, one of the guys who help set things up, actually proposed to his girlfriend there. She took the plunge swinging down, and as she was dangling 10 feet above the ground after the swing, he lowered himself down, and proposed to her in mid-air. She said yes!

If you take a look at the quality of this video, compared to the quality of some of the other videos on youtube at the Corona Arch, you can clearly see that the quality of this video is far away better in many ways. The video angles, the music, the color correction and lighting all come together to make an amazing production. Congratulations Devin and keep up the great work!

Identifying high quality DVD-R disks

Have you ever made a really important document or movie that you burned on to a disk, only to bring it over to the work computer to use in an important presentation and realize that the precious disk you burned didn’t work?  This situation has haunted me in school and once again out in the real world, which is why it’s important to identify quality DVD-R / DVD+R media when burning your important movie clips and documents to disk.

What is a DVD-R?

For those of you who are somewhat new to computers and the whole idea of making a portable copy of a video clip or files to take with you, a DVD-R is a disk format, that is written to once, and can be read many times.  DVD-R disks are capable of holding up to 4.7 Gigabytes of data, or 120 minutes of DVD quality video.  DVD-R’s are commonly used to burn home movies to disk, and then that disk can be taken to a home DVD player hooked up to the tv in your living room, and played for family and friends.  DVD-R’s can also be used to burn a backup of important word, excel, powerpoint or just about any kind of file that exists. The DVD-R format was first created by Pioneer in 1997, and a newer standard called DVD-R DL or dual layer, came out in 2005.  DVD-R DL disks can hold up to 8.5GB of data, or 240 minutes of DVD quality video.  If you would like to burn a home movie that you would like to play later on your home TV, then the DVD-R format is the best format to use, because it is the most commonly supported format on modern DVD players in your home.  For those of you who have Blue-Ray players, nearly ever Blue-ray player out on the market is backwards compatible with the DVD-R format, so you will still be able to play your old disks on a newer player.

Is the DVD-R name really important?

These days, not much.  Companies such as Memorex, and Imation to or a few often are outsourcing the manufacturing the production of their disks to third party companies in indonesia and malasia.  The Brand on the outside of the label is usually just a formality and is merely a marketing technique and price point that people have come to expect.

What makes a good quality DVD-R disk?

Essentially, the key factor that makes a high quality DVD-R disk is a low failure rate.  In other words, out of the 100 disks that come in a 100 pack of Memorex DVD-R’s that you burn on a computer such as a new i7 quad core Macbook Pro, less than 5 of them have errors or fail.  Generally speaking the higher the bulk of disks that are purchased, the higher likelyhood there will be failed burns in that spindle.  If you burning DVD-R disks, then buy individually wrapped DVD-R disks, unless your using a very high quality brand such as JVC Taiyo Yuden DVD-R disks.  Taiyo Yuden disks are known for their precision and high quality, and very low error rates when burning files to disk, and are an excellent choice for small businesses and individuals who make money with content burned to DVD-R’s.

The future of DVD-R and other forms of media

While DVD-R disks continue to be the most commonly available format on the shelves of stores today, there are several new standards that are now available.  One newer standard is the BD-R format.  BD-R disks hold up to 25GB of data per disk, and they can support video quality of up to 1080p, with multiple audio streams.  BD-R is also treated with a high quality finish that resists scratches a lot more than the standard DVD-R disk.  In order to burn a BD-R disk, you have to have a Blue-ray Disk burner, and you have to have a Blue-ray burner or Blue-ray player in order to play or view the BD-R disks.   Another trend in the world of video is eliminating the disk all together, and store your disks on a separate computer or hard drive in the other room, or even subscribe to a service that has many movies and tv shows already on their system.  The most popular company that is streaming content to day is Netflix.  Netflix offers over 15,000 movies and TV shows that can stream to your home TV, for only $11 / month.  No kidding!  A few years ago in order to save money and get the content that we want, my wife and I bought an LG 50PS80 50 inch plasma TV, specifically because the TV has the streaming Netflix interface built right into the TV.  As a result, we have cancelled our $60 / month cable TV service and we enjoy streaming content over the Internet any time we want.

No matter which format you choose to use for your home movies, make sure you do your research, and browse the different DVD-R formats on Amazon before you make your next purchase.  If anyone has questions, feel free to Contact us, any time.

Task List feel good

I love the feeling of getting things done.  When I can go to sleep an night with a sense of accomplishment, I feel very satisfied with the work that I do, for my full time job or with other jobs around the house.  There’s a satisfaction I wake up each morning, do my devotions, take some medication, then I focus on a task list that I have in front of me to get done what I need to for that particular day, and nothing helps me stay on target for my goals for that day than a task list.

My task list is broken down into tasks that I need to do immediately when I wake up in the morning, then I have tasks for my full time job, then after that I list out things that I try to get done at night, such as working on laundry, taking out the garbage, etc.

Task Lists and your productivity

Taking on a task list is a simple way that anyone can be more productive and focused in what they do during the day.  I’ve tried using a few different forms of task lists.  I always have a spiral abound notebook on my desk and that traditionally has been the place where I list out my tasks.  Lately I’ve also experimented with the sticky notes application in Mac OSX, and also the task list applet that runs inside of gmail.  Each one has their positives and negatives.  I like the paper copy because it’s always in front of me when I’m at my desk, and there’s a sense of focus and accomplishment in taking your pen and striking through that item on the list.  At the end of the day, you can look through all of the things that are struck through and have a sense of accomplishment.

On the other hand, having a task list in a place like gmail, which 99% of the time I have open on whatever computer I’m on, allows me to synchronize and coordinate my tasks when I work on different computers, which I do more and more these days.

Task lists and co-worker productivity

A task list is also a great place to list out things that you want other people to do on your behalf.  For example, a task that I would list out for my wife would be to edit a wedding video that we just filmed for a couple, and by having it on my list, that keeps the job in the front and center of my mind.  One feature that I really wish that gmail tasks would give me is the ability to create tasks for other people so I can ensure that their getting things done that need to get done as well.  The closest I’ve found to this being possible is creating a calendar event of whatever thing that has to happen, then sending reminders to the person about how this task should be done by X time.   If the task takes multiple weeks to complete, then you could also set up sub-reminders on every Friday saying this task should be 25% complete, then 50% the next week, and so on.

Enterprise Task list applications

For enterprise level task and people and project management, a CRM or customer relationship management software is something to consider.  Sage ACT for example is a CRM that allows you to create business objectives, and functions, where multiple people are involved in a project, and a project manager can distribute tasks to each team member involved, and monitor the productivity of the entire project from a high bird’s eye view.  Tasks can all have due dates and times so that projects as a whole stay on time and on budget for getting things done, and each member of the team can then focus on their one niche specialty and do that well.

No matter which tool or service you use, I hope that adopting a task list helps you to get out there and accomplish the goals of your business.

Debt Regret

I’m proud of a lot of things that I’ve done in my life, and I also have regret, and today I want to talk about debt regret.  One of the biggest regrets that I have about the education that I chose and the business that I chose to start, is that I chose to go into debt for both of those items.  After all was said and done, my entire education to DeVry University when I graduated in 2004 totaled up to be about $37,000, and I ended up with about $18,000 of debt to pay back.  It’s now 2012 and I still have a few years to go to fully pay off the debt.

If I can offer one piece of advice to anyone looking to go off to school or start a business, I would strongly encourage you to do it debt free.  Here are some key sub-points to get started with your business:

1.  Learn to save $1000 to get started.  This is a point that I pulled from Dave Ramsey’s book, he calls it the “baby emergency fund” and it’s Baby step one on the road to financial success.  The same applies to a business, save $1000 for initial expenses, or enough cash to rent equipment to do enough jobs to triple your initial investment.  In other words, you should be able to make $3000 from the initial $1000.

2.  Keep costs low by working from the cart table.  In other words, work from home, the garage, the car, never take out a lease or buy property unless you can do it in cash.

3.  Borrow tools and resources, not money.  Friends and family can be a great resource when you need to borrow something like a circular saw, a carpet shampooer, or an old computer, until you can afford to buy one from profits in the business.  Grow slowly, spend slowly, get rich slowly.

4.  Craigslist and e-bay.  Craigslist.org and ebay.com are two great sites to test the waters on your business services, for virtually no investment.  99% of businesses can post to craigslist.org for free, and posting on e-bay w/ paypal takes only 6% of the total revenue of the transaction, so as long as your margins are high enough, you can make a profit on just about anything you sell.  Both sites are also great for purchasing slightly used or discounted computers, office supplies, all the way up to cars and properties.

5.  Rent equipment.  This is probably an obvious point, but any time you can get away with renting equipment for the day or for the week, that’s a much more effective way to keep costs down without going into debt.

6.  Learn from the wisdom of others.  One of the things that I did when I started my Wisconsin Wedding Videography business, is I called other videographers that did the same kind of work that had more experience in places several states away, and asked them a few questions for 10 minutes, just to pick their brains on what to do and what not to do.  Every single person I talked to on the phone was willing to give me 10-15 minutes, and who could be more helpful than people that do the exact same thing as you?  Local business associations and the local chamber of congress can be helpful too.

7.  Learn to find the sweet spot.  When we first started editing wedding videos, we edited on iMovie ’09, on a macbook pro laptop, with entry level handheld consumer camcorders.  Today we’re mostly editing on quad core Macbook pro machines using iMovie ’11 using well reviewed Panasonic HMC40 Camcorders.  The camera is where the investment needed to be made for the video quality and professional bit rate, but we were able to keep our videography packages priced very low because we didn’t have the $10,000 or $20,000 in equipment from the start.  To our surprise, iMovie has continually been good enough of an editor to get the job done, while keeping our costs low.

8.  Think about new marketing concepts.  When we started our business, we tried investing in marketing through wedding shows and associates, and they gave us almost no return or potential clients.  After learning at the school of life, and following the trends of our potential clients, we’ve learned that 90% of brides that search for wedding services start on Google.  Guess what, we’re there too.

9.  Find consultants to branch out.  Life happens.  As it turns out my wife and I are pregnant, so we are now planning our shooting and wedding schedule this year, we will need consultants for filming and editing from August – December.   Having people to go to when life happens is essential to keep a business running when your feeling 100% and when your feeling like blinking takes energy.

10.  Have patience.  Building a business and referrals and a network of people takes time, and it all may not come together in the first or second, or even the fifth year.  Stick with it, have patience and have fun!

How many people have vowed to lose weight through some new form of discipline, diet or excercise routine?  Millions of Americans make a vow every year to do something different, something better, or something just to change their lives.

I myself have made some goals that I want to accomplish this year, mainly in business goals and accomplishments, but in the past I’ve I’ve tried to lose weight, through choosing to do something different.

Ironically the simplest solutions are sometimes the best.  I’ve had good success in losing weight safely and comfortably simply by drinking water.  I recently heard Dan Miller, author of 48 days to the work you love, share his simple formula for losing weight.  His concept is to eat only fresh fruits and vegetables, and drinking 1/2 of your body’s weight, in oz, of water.  In other words, if you weight 200 pounds, then you would divide that in 1/2 (100 pounds), then drink that amount of water in oz, so you would drink 100 oz of water per day.  That breaks down to a little over 8 – 12 once glasses of water per day, which should be easy to accomplish, if you stick to it.

What are your goals for this year, and do you intend to drink wanter in order to try to lose weight? What things have worked well for you?  I welcome all thoughts and comments.

The Ultimate Time Waster – TV

American culture can be very interesting sometimes.  It’s Sunday night, at about 10:30PM and I’m relaxing with my wife watching American Idol, thinking about how much of a waste of time it is, to sit here and just numb out to the Boob tube.  Ironically I grew up doing what I was taught to, just watching sports, movies and tv shows, as that’s what evenings are all about right?

My favorite recent time wasters include Private practice, The event, Bones, Psych, and Monk.  Calculating the amount of time that I waste watching TV, I could probably have blogged about 10 times today, but all I have to offer is a few paragraphs, and a few questions.

How many hours of TV do you watch per day?

How do you invest in yourself?  Are you striving to learn something new every day?  How many books do you read or listen to each month / year?  Are you pursuing any form of higher education?

I’ve found success through listening to audiobooks and podcasts while driving on the road for my full time job.  By utilizing the time that I’m in the car, I can effectively learn for several hours per day as I’m driving to the Minneapolis area, during frequent commutes to various locations around Minnesota and Wisconsin.

If you find yourself watching hours and hours of television or playing tons of video games, them maybe it’s time to take a time journal, and document what your doing during each hour of the day.  By documenting what you do during each hour of each day, that can help you identify the time wasters, in order to focus on what it takes to be productive.

As always, I welcome any thoughts or comments.

The Country Inn Boomington West

Growing up my family decided to go on mini-vacations 2 or 3 times a year.  We went on budget vacations and went to hotels.  My Mother and Father with my brother and I, my Aunt and Uncle and their two daughters, and my Grandparents with their third daughter all got together, usually in winter and decided to go to a hotel for a weekend.  I grew up in Eastern Wisconsin, so common hotels that we stayed at were usually within an hour.  Sometimes in the Milwaukee area, and frequently in Fond Du Lac, WI.  Going to a hotel, and just chilling out, playing in the pool, and playing shuffleboard.  Here’s a video that outlines the Hotel.

Now that I’ve grown up and I have my own family, I”m starting to learn the neccesity of having min-vacations, even as our family is working hard to try to pay off debt.  My wife and I just had our 4th anniversary and we took a budget vacation staying at the Boomington West Country Inn and Suites.  Traveling and taking vacations on non-busy times helps you get a great rate.  We also were really blessed  We also enjoyed going to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater. It was one of the best experiences of our lives.

What I’ve learned from all of this is to Budget for vacations, but at the same time, don’t be afraid to spend money.  Taking a mini vacation has helped me to free my mind from all the business of work and getting things done, and I’ve learned to simply let go.

Ultimately I believe in giving Glory to God in all circumstances, and that means giving Glory to God through vacations, through budgeting and through finances.  What have you learned through vacations and budgeting?  I welcome all comments and thoughts.

Gratitude is a term that refers to an expression of feelings of thanks and appreciation. Gratitude is something that is essential to living in a social group as it inspires social connectivity and stronger intimate bonds between group members. What is truly amazing about gratitude that most people do not realize is that it offers amazing health benefits to both your mind and body. For this reason, it is something that we all need to learn to express more freely and frequently.

The Brain’s Response to Gratitude

The human brain is really a remarkable organ. It has the ability to grow and evolve instantly in response to new stimuli in your environment. As your habituate behaviors that are negative, however, the brain can reduce its pliability and flexibility, limiting your ability to experience joy, health and wellness. One way to overcome this problem is to mindfully practice gratitude on a daily basis so that your brain can experience positive emotions and so it can respond physically in a more pleasing manner.

Ways to Practice Gratitude

There are several ways that you can practice gratitude on a daily basis without feeling forced to demonstrate insincere emotions. The first way is to simply think about everything that you have that you truly appreciate in your life. Think about your family, your job, your pets and possibly your health for five to ten minutes a day. You can also think about one blessing in your life for five minutes. For example, you can think about your children and all the wonderful moments that they have added to your life. Think about birthday parties, the first time that the talked or the first day of school. These happy memories will infuse your brain with positive chemicals that will reduce your stress level, increase your ability to think clearly and will make you feel happier and healthier overall.

Another way to practice gratitude is to be appreciative of what people do for you in your life. Each encounter that you have with someone in your life you need to think about their contributions. Think about the effort that they have made to provide you with something, even if it is as simple as offering you a cup of coffee. When they are with you tell them thank you, and actually mean it. Make this verbal interaction meaningful and purposeful.

If you own or manage a business, express gratitude to the people you work with on a daily basis. Tell your customers that you appreciate them.

The final way to practice gratitude is to simply write down five new things you are grateful for each day. Do not repeat items on your list. This will make you think about your life and really be aware of all of the good that surrounds you.

“Ethical Wills are now being implemented as a means of creating a wholistic vision and strategy,” explains Madeline Binder, the author of this article and Spiritual-Ethical Will.

I love the feeling of going to bed at night, having accomplished my objectives for the day.  There are few feelings like it.  Getting things done in the day takes focus, and discipline, and a fine tuned work environment.  Here are some key things that have helped me stay productive.

Identify your Goals

One of the first things that has always helped me get things done, is to decide what it is I want to do.  In other words, you need to have Goals.  A goal should be specific and measurable.  For example, a bad goal is “I want to lose weight.”  This isn’t specific or measurable.  I want to lose 20 pounds, is specific, but not very measurable.  “I want to lose 20 pounds by June 1, 2012.”  That’s a specific goal.  Doing the math, 20 pounds in 6 months, equates to 1 pound per week, with a little wiggle room.   I’ve found that it’s helpful to break down goals into monthly, weekly, and daily increments just like that, so I have to know what I need to do.  For example, losing 1 pound per week equates to burning 2000 more calories than what I eat.  2000 calories / 3 days on the treadmill walking.  1 hour walking for my body burns about 400 calories, so in order to accomplish the goal of losing one pound per week, I need to eat only 2000 calories per day, and walk an average of 5 hours per week on a treadmill or outside, that’s one our per day for 5 days, or 3 days at 100 minutes / day etc.

Identify Productivity boosters and dampers

Another key point in the productivity world is to identify things that boost your productivity, or damper productivity.  Can you get as much done when you have 4 hours of sleep vs. 6 or 8?  Can you skip a meal and still be productive?  How is medication affecting you?  What drinks or foods have helped or hurt?  How about exercise?  Are their certain e-mail mailing lists that you need to unsubscribe from in order to have more focus?  Do you need to start saying no to friends and family members that are holding you back?

I’ve personally found that 2 big areas that help me stay focused, are to unsubscribe from everything so my inbox stays clear.  The occasional family member or friend e-mail is fine, but I’ve found that unsubscribing to every mailing list, unsubscribing to facebook and twitter notifications, and anything else that doesn’t directly contribut towards your goals on a weekly or monthy basis should be unsubscribed from.

Another effective way to De-clutter is to clean off your desk or workspace.  Toys from think geek are fun and all, but ultimately they don’t help you get things done, so why not just take them out of the equation.  If you need time to focus and write, turn all your phones on silent – not even vibrate.  Sometimes it’s even helpful to get out of your house and go to a quiet corner of a coffee shop, book store, or Applebees.  As long as your online, most businesses can function well.

Eat Breakfast

I’ve found that nothing tends to get me moving in the morning more than just simply taking the time to eat something.  It tends to get everything moving for the day, and often times gives me the brain power to function when I need to kick it into gear.

Enough talking for now, let’s all Get ‘er done!