If you have seen one spirit you have seen them all. Well, actually, we didn’t see any spirits but that doesn’t stop our clients from looking for them. Working with Veils Edge Paranormal, based in New Bedford MA, we have videod two locations in CT. The Hyland House Museum in Guilford and the Bee and Thistle Inn and Spa in Old Lyme CT.
At the Hyland House Museum, built in 1690, the investigators received historical background from Colin Mackenzie. During their investigation they recorded EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) and captured “white orbs” with their digital cameras. For a preview of the forth coming DVD please click here
At the Bee and Thistle Inn the investigators used different techniques to contact the “spirit world”. These involved having a group of people place a finger on a water glass and channel the spirit energy to move the glass. See it in action!
The other investigative technique was using a three-legged table, with people gently resting their hands on the table, and having the table tip in response to questions being asked. We can vouch for this since my able-bodied assistant and wife was part of the group at the table. See it in action!
One good thing about working with spirits is that we don’t need actor release forms, and until they figure out how to get paid, they are cheap labor.
The Trinity Episcopal Church (on the green in New Haven), is renowned for their choirs. Each choir sings most Sundays of the academic year at one of the morning services and in the wider community. The project goal was to create a comprehensive video of these two choirs to increase their scope of recruitment.
We began the project in the Fall of ‘07 videoing the holiday concerts, then the Spring concerts of ‘08. Spending time with these incredibly talented young boys and girls was an experience we will never forget. Then came interviewing selected choir members and their parents. Wow, what a rush to hear them talk about their experiences and personal growth. The finale to the project was videoing Summer choir camp. Ahhh, to be young again. (When I sing, people look out the windows to see where all the frogs are).
During the year, Director of Music, (the very talented) Walden Moore, worked with us in making rough edits. In the Fall of ‘08 the final DVD video was complete and sent off for duplication. The project came in under budget and on time. Why? Because Walden was willing to work with us, in our studio, making the edits in real-time.
If you are interested, the videos are on their web site: Boys Choir and Girls Choir.
Lately we seem to be getting more video gigs on spirit investigations. Or more commonly called “paranormal investigations”. These programs are prevalent on the TV and are conducted in the dark and made to look spooky. However that is not really the case. The investigators we video taped worked in normal light with their assortment of meters and detectors.
We have created a video of the Hyland House museum in Guilford CT and most recently a video of the Bee and Thistle Inn in Old Lyme CT. While we didn’t see apparitions in either location, there was still a googly amount of “residual” spirit energy which the equipment detected.
When we finish the videos we will make a trailer and post the links here. Meanwhile, here is a link to the trailer for the Wamsutta Club investigation in New Bedford MA: http://www.aldimarvp.com/paranorm.cfm
What a great Tom Rush concert at “The Kate” in Old Saybrook this past May. (Jonathon Moser is producing a documentary on Tom). It was a full house … great music … what’s not to love. Roberta got to watch the show from back stage, lucky her. I was invited to be part of the camera crew and was also back stage … but my eyeballs were glued to the camera view finder. Yeah I saw some, and heard some. But when your job is to listen on the headphones for instructions, and grab your camera shots, it is business, business, business.
We did have some down time, after setting up gear and before the concert began, to meet and chat with Tom. Those who remember him (the older generation) will recall his down-home humor and entertaining music … and he is just like that in person.
On a continuing note: we did finish that Paranormal Investigation DVD without any ghostly problems. If you are interested, hop to our web site and click on the menu item “Wamsutta Club”.
We would be producing a DVD about a Paranormal Investigation in New Bedford MA! Its not “Ghosts Busters” but it was the real thing. No we didn’t see any ghosts, other wise we still might be running. A team of investigators retained us to video their investigation of the Wamsutta Club which traces its roots back to 1821 when the house was built by James Arnold. We spent a day and a night (gasp) videotaping interviews with local historians and then trailing after the investigators at night. The DVD should be available within a few months.
When we had Premier Pro version 2, setting up a connection to our NTSC monitor was easy … Use the Matrox Parhilia card. Errr, no longer valid for CS4 Premier Pro. BUT reading through the Adobe forums, and doing some experimentation, I have found a solution … and for the nominal charge of nothing, I share the hard earned secrets of Al the tinkerer.
As you can see in the photo below (CS4 Production Premium - Part 1) we have two monitors, and until now, an unused TV monitor. We are using the nVidia GeForce 9800 GT card (Not even sure they still make this one).
Buried away in the bowels of Premier Pros menuing system is a place to change/set up playback settings. Yikes, I can connect an external TV … and best of all, once you set things up with the nVidia control panel, Premier Pro is aware of your changes … will miracles never cease to happen.
Until I get a second nVidia card specifically for the TV, I have to share my second monitor with the TV when I want to do color corrections.
Start by opening the nVidia control panel. Navigate to [Set up Multiple Displays]. You want to configure the two displays as independent. In my case I select [Display 1 of 2 + TV] and then select the primary display as [Display 1 of 2]. If you only have one display and a TV I don’t suspect you will see these options … but something similar.
Next, the secret ingredient (Kung Fu Panda). Navigate to the [Manage Custom Resolutions] selection in the nVidia control panel. Select the TV and create a custom resolution. Select the [Create] option and enter the TV resolution. I use 640 pixels wide by 480 pixels high - standard definition. Yours may be different.
You can also change the resolution of your second display if it is a computer monitor by using the [Change Resolution] option in the nVidia control panel. In fact, the choice you make here will be read by Premier Pro and reflected in one of the choices for an external monitor. In using a TV, as we are, this will have no effect since we have specified the custom resolution of the TV in the previous step.
Now we can start up Premier Pro. Highlight the Time Line panel. In the top menu select [Sequence], then [Sequence Settings], then [Playback Setting]. Under [External Device] you will probably have 2 or more selections. One of them should say “Monitor 1024 x 768” or something like that. This is the monitor selection you may have made in the nVidia control panel under the [Change Resolution] menu selection. Other wise you have some default value.
Next set the [Aspect Ratio] to Software. This should pick up the custom resolution you set under the [Manage Custom Resolutions] selection in the nVidia control panel.
If all goes well, when you click [OK] to all the changes, your TV monitor should show you the contents of the Premier Pro video monitor. If you get half an image on your TV, then reboot your system. That clears it in my system.
In all the literature, that I have read from Adobe, this marvelous little nugget of connecting an external TV via an inexpensive video card has gone unnoticed. Or am I just dense? Don’t answer that!
We like variety in life … but to video a Paranormal Investigation? Hey, what’s not to like. Roberta and I set off for the Wamsutta Club in New Bedford MA. The house/mansion was built in 1821 by Jame Arnold of Providence RI. In 1866, after a series of owners, the building and grounds were turned into the Wamsutta Club. Thus, with the antiquity of the building, the Paranormal Investigators judged they might discover some residual energy, or better yet, an encounter with a spirit … and not the alcohol variety.
We brought both our kits, the Sony PD-170 and the newer Sony HVR-Z5U. We also trudged along our lighting gear and a camera mounted light with belt battery pack. Our goal was to first interview the local historians, take a short tour of the property and then video the Investigators doing their thing. All of this and more would be used to create a salable DVD by the Paranormal Investigator groups.
Well, we didn’t encounter any spirits though some of the Investigators said they felt a presense in some of the rooms. For us it was a long afternoon and night with a lot of footage which we have begun to edit. They were great people to work and we had a fun time. If something shows up on our video, you will most certainly hear about it.
For additional information, here are a few links:
http://www.wamsuttaclub.net
http://veilsedgeparanormal.com
I have read with interest the many articles mentioning how to get onto YouTube and similar video sharing web sites and the value of doing so. We have produced seven travel and documentary DVDs, and in our attempt to draw people to our web site to buy the DVDs, we have placed many short segments on YouTube and other video sharing web sites. We have our own web site with complete information, short videos and an order form: http://www.aldimarvp.com.
I would like to share with you how YouTube has been driving business to my web site … is has not. Allow me to list a few YouTube statistics.
Stats on YouTube:
Joined in March 2006.
Have place 54 short videos (added in the past 3 years). Use search for: “AldimarVP”.
Have a total of 349,509 views for all videos as of today.
Average 350 views per day. Sometimes as high as 500+ views per day.
Age demographics: 28percent ages 45-54, 24 percent ages 55-64, 19 percent ages 35-44.
In checking my web server log statistics I have the following:
Referrals from YouTube.com in the past five months (Sept 09 - Feb 10): 4. Yup just four.
Referrals from Blip.tv, etc.: Exactly none, zero, zip, 0.
Now in all fairness, people could be simply jotting down my URL and then visiting our web site. However Internet sales have been bleak to say the least. And, considering the age demographics, this group should have money and be interested in our type of DVDs.
Additionally, to promote my business, I joined FaceBook.com in December 09 and set up a Profile and a Page. Now it is too early to tell, but here are some FaceBook statistics.
Sats on FaceBook:
Referrals in December: 6
Referrals in January: 20
Referrals in February: 8
No evident sales yet, but we will see.
I am also working on LinkedIn.com … gotta push on all the buttons.
In Summary - (betcha didn’t think I would get to this).
YouTube and other video hosting sites are great for getting the video out there to be seen. They’re great for hosting videos and setting up links for viewing in emails, web pages and etc. Promotional opportunities would seem to abound for those with and without a business web site. They are a good place for secondary use of videos for product branding.
As for driving purchasing customers to our business web site, our statistics indicate that YouTube and others are questionable at best.
I was going to wait until tomorrow to discuss the new video workstation I created. But, since I have time now, and who knows what tomorrow might bring, here it is.
Apple - PC - Apple - PC … sheesh, that theme has been playing out in my mind for months as I tried to decide which platform to build. Since I needed to upgrade to CS4 and build a new workstation, the question was real. The PC platform finally won out simply due to the mass of software I had for my other PC video workstations.
This new system was built by my local and talented support people, SBCTECH, llc. We started by selecting two AMD 2.66MHz processors with dual cores … it was all I could afford. The dual processor mother board was so big I had to order a larger case. I only use the Lian Li aluminum cases … expensive but good. All four of our computer have these cases, but this one was a monster on wheels. For HD’s we installed 3-500GB in a Raid 5 enclosure for video data storage. Another 500GB drive was for the OS. These were all the high reliability Seagate drives. After this came 4GB of RAM, two DVD r/w drives and a Matrox APVe triple-head video card.
The Lian Li comes with so many fans that we had one left over. I am surprised it doesn’t hover in the air … and they are quiet. The only noisy fans are the CPU fans … they are noisy and will be replaced soon.
I think I am Raid 5 happy … with both the new computer and the NAS filled with Raid 5 drives. The new computer Raid 5 drives can be removed from the front of the unit. A bit more expensive, but impressive looking.
Okay, about the Matrox APVe card. I looked at Nvidia, and spoke with their people, but they didn’t have as clue about plugins for Adobe applications. Dual monitors, not a problem. But, connection to a TV set in addition to the dual monitors … not possible … perhaps I was talking to the wrong tech rep.
My calls to Matrox got me a tech rep that said the plugins for Adobe were on their web site. No problem. I found them and dowloaded them. Hmmm, strange, they had a modified date prior to the release of CS4. Should I be suspicious … well let’s try them. Okay, the Photoshop plugin works with a little futzing around. The Illustrator plugin works. the Premier Pro plugin doesn’t work! Call back to Matrox. WHAT? CS4 is not supported for this Matrox card!!!! AND there is no release date for an updated plugin. What the f*&^%$#. I just spent some bucks on a Matrox card and I can’t get it to work with CS4? Sheesh, can you tell that I am upset? My other Matrox cards work fine with the older versions of Adobe. Ugh!
Well, if someone out there knows of a triple-head card that works with CS4 on a PC, please let me know … I will buy you lunch … seriously, I will send $’s.
Oh, also, the desktop monitor for Matrox interferes with Photoshop and Illustrator. It causes them to crash when you attempt to save a project. I had to remove them from my start up services. Write me if you want details.
All in all, my new system is a monster processor. And that is what you need for CS4. My secondary video workstation is a single processor at 2.6 MHz, single core, 4 GB Ram and Matrox video card. CS4 runs like a dog on that system. The video preview stutters and the programs load slow. I don’t know, maybe it is me, but I would suggest the minimum configuration for CS4 is two or more cores/processors.
Now if only I can get my TV to work …
Okay, so I am getting ready for HiDef work. Step one is to improve my storage ability on the network. My two video workstations are on a gigabyte network which serves us quite well. I evaluated several NAS boxes and settled on the Thecus 5200. A bit more expensive than the others but it had 5 bays instead of 4 and a USB port where I could plug in some of my archival hard drives.
I bought four Seagate 1-TB drives. The newer kind with high reliability … a few more bucks than the standard drives, but I thought it was worth it. It was easy to install the drives since each drive had a slide out tray accessible from the front.
Shown in the photo you see my messy network cables behind the Thecus 5200 and the two USB 500GB HDs. The interface to the USBs is very slow, about 7 MBS so I only use them for archival storage. The Thecus also has a USB printer port that I am not using at this time. All in all, a great unit.
I was up and running in no time … not a problem … that is, except for me! My problem is that I have been around since the dawn of the microprocessor (really - I was a research engineer at GE when the Intel 4004 microprocessor was invented) - and still think in terms of hard drive as hard drives and not as Raid configurations. So, in my ignorance, I set the Thecus up in a JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) configuration. Expecting to get four 1-TB disks, little did I realize that I would get one 4-TB configuration … any disk fails and I loose it all. Yikes!
Easy enough to change to Raid 5 configuration. It just took a bunch of hours to reconfigure the NAS. Raid 5 appears to be a reasonable compromise for redundancy and maximum use of the disks. In Raid 5, assuming all the disks are of equal size, you only loose one disk to redundancy. Minimum configuration is three HDs. So, at 4-TB I get 3-TB of file space. When I need more I can slap in a 5th 1-TB drive and increase my capacity to 4-TB. I am a happy camper.
With the NAS sitting on the gigabyte network I can edit from either work station with only a slight hit in performance. Since Raid 5 needs to write to all 4 drives, there is a small bottleneck on writes.
My normal work flow is to work off the internal HDs of my workstations, but it is nice to know that if I have to tweak an old project I can do it on the NAS.
AND, the Raid 5 does work. Once again stupidity steps to the fore. While I was doing a transcode of files, and we all know how long those take, I noticed that when I installed the HDs in the Thecus I didn’t lock the trays … so guess what … I had nothing to do, so I started locking the HDs. Okay, you are ahead of me now. Yup, I jiggled one of the drives and it detected a fault and took the HD off line. The Thecus reconfigured the Raid to 3 HDs without missing a beat and I didn’t loose data.
When I got through flogging myself, I went back into the Thecus admin screen, verified that the 4th drive was healthy and then re-integrated it into the Raid configuration. Now this is the amazing part. It took many hours to reincorporate the drive … but I continued to edit the files on the Thecus with out a noticeable performance hit. Now this is my kind of NAS!
