My new Canon T2i
In part 3 I talked about the drawbacks to using digit still cameras for film. In this part I’ll be talking about the equipment we are looking at.
Picking the right camera
We are looking at a number of the Canon’s high end still cameras, spesifically the Canon T2i, 7D and 5D. Each of these camera’s are capable of taking full 1080p HD video. Thats a technical way of saying they take video at the highest video quality commonly used. While there are other brands that are able to take high definition video Canon cameras are more widely used for film projects.
Earlier this week I bought the Canon T2i. We probably will not be using this as our primary camera. There are some issues with focusing when using external equipment that would make it hard to use during the interviews. We would not want to do an entire interview only to find out later the focus was off.
The body is smaller than other cameras. This means it’s not as durable and it may not work with bigger lenses. I am getting this for more of a personal camera. It may also be used to film some “B role” material for the doc.
For our main camera we are looking at the 7D or 5D. These are the camera’s most widely used for filming. They do not have the focusing issues of the T2i and have other additional features.
There are also rumours that Canon will be announcing a new camera geared more towards video in the coming weeks. It could have a rotating display among other advanced video features. Since we are not in a rush to make this movie there is a chance a newer camera will be exactly what we are looking for.
Learning the Equipment
In order to better understand how to use shoot with these Camera’s I am attending an all day work shop with Philip Booom taking place this Saturday. I meantioned Philp Bloom in part 2 when I posted a video he did using these Cameras. I’m very excited to be learning from the best. I think it will be a good experience and it will cover everything from what lenses to editing.
About #140conf
The other week I went out to the #140conf Boston TweetUp. For those of you not in the know, a TweetUp is a networking event for people on Twitter. This event was all about the #140 Character Conference taking place September, 14Th. in Boston. Begin a pretty heavy twitter user I had herd about #140conf before but I wasn’t excatly sure what it was about. Thankfully, the founder of #140conf Jeff Pulver was there to enlighten us.
He described it as a confrence about the real time web, but also a platform for people doing interesting things to shine. Jeff tires to get celebrities and other big names to speak at the conference to build an audience then opens it up to lessor known people to speak. There are individual talks wich last no more then 10 minets and group talks that are no more than 20 min. The idea is to have lots of different people present a wide range of ideas.
My Pitch
Of course this sounded like a great opportunity for me to talk about the documentary project I am working on. I promptly wrote up a proposal to speak. Below is the proposal I submitted. Let me know what you think.
I would like talk about my family’s incredible story and how the real time web is helping us share our story.
This past December I sat down with my family in Central America to interview them about the past 12 years since we were reunited. We used ustream to broadcast the event to our friends and family. It was an interesting experience for some family members who had never herd or seen my father speak about what happened during the war.
From that first interview I started doing more interviews with other family members about different aspects of the story. My goal is not only to share our story with the world but to make a documentary from it.
The internet has always played a big role in my life and in reconnecting with my birth family. In 1997 our home number was found by doing an internet search. Over the past 12 years we’ve used, AIM, Skype, Facebook and many other programs to keep in touch.
I’m fascinated with the power of the web to connect people and share information. The #140conf seams like it is a celebration of this idea. It would be an honor to be able to share our story with a group of like minded people.
How you can help
Jeff was big on saying he wants people to tell him who should be speaking at the confrence. If you think I would make a good speaker at #140conf and you are on Twitter you can drop Jeff(@jeffpulver) a line. Please don’t spam him but you could say something as simple as:
I would like to hear @dewittn speak about #anasmiracle at #140conf
Every little bit helps!
I recently booked tickets to El Salvador for week in December. I’m going down for a cousin’s wedding. This will be my first time back since 1998 and I’m a little nervous.
Since the end of El Salvador’s civil war the situation in the country has steadily declined. The war was suppose to improve life for its people. Instead the country has become less economical stable and more violent. Now a country the size and population of massachuessts has an average murder rate of 16 people per week. Over 2,000 people have already keen killed this year alone.
My family is no stranger to this violence. A cousin of mine almost died when her husband went on a shooting spree, attacking her, killer their baby and himself. She recovered both mentally and physically but other family memeber were not so lucky. An uncle on the other side of the family witnessed his son’s murder when they were carjacked.
I hear a lot about how violent the country is. It always makes me ask if everything my parents did was in vain. They gave up so much to try and change things. Here we are 30 years later and it’s about the same if not worse. My family made it and are better off now but what about everyone else?
Maybe it’s the violence or the state of the country but the thought of going back “home” makes me uneasy. I don’t think anything bad is going to happen but I know this will not be like visiting Panama, which is much safer. My family has been asking to come back and I never go. I feel bad sometimes but its though when my immediate family is not living there anymore. Even though I’m nervous I think the trip will be good. It has been a long time coming and I can’t wait to see my family.
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