A friend of mine and UU DMS alum were chatting this morning about all the changes in technology that have happened in our short 22 years of life. Since my first interaction with a computer, technological achievements ranging from the commercialization of the internet in the early 90s to a new era of mobile computers have been abundant. In the past 4 years, my flip-phone has lost all its cool-points, Flash has died (just being honest), the video editing software I learned in school is now antique (I’ll save this argument for another post), and with Apple’s release of its new operating system, OS X Lion, it is painfully clear to me that the days of personal (home) computers are numbered.

Bold Statement, I know. So as a recent grad who made mediocre grades and spent more time dreaming than listening, I have little credibility as any expert. However, hear me out, I want to entertain this idea. Last year, Wired Magazine declared that “The Web is Dead” on its September cover. The article by no mean implies the internet is gone but points out that the majority of online engagement happens through individual applications. As you can see below, only about 22% of internet use is done through a browser. (and these statistics are now a year old). The takeover of Apps is old news.

Apple, at least, has led people to be less dependent on their personal computers. The iPhone is now the number one selling smartphone and iPad sells are up 183% from where they were this time last year. Once iCloud is in full swing this fall, a user need never use a personal computer again. Pretty impressive. OS X Lion brings the functionality of the iPhone or iPad to the laptop/desktop. It’s redesign emphasizes the experience of an application and makes gestures and the need for a track-pad (goodbye days of the mouse) central to the OS’s function. After only a day of use, I am ready to jump aboard the iPad bandwagon. The interactivity makes sense.

Ok, so the reality is the personal computer isn’t actually going away anytime soon, but I think its safe to assume people will continue to utilize them at home less-and-less. Mobile and Tablet devices are the big thing and for the average user’s daily use, there is little these devices can’t do for them. They give you the flexibility to access the web anywhere and will fit in your pocket or small bag.

The computer, though, isn’t solely used for personal purposes. As someone working in the creative industry, I think the desktop/laptop computer will maintain its stride in the professional world (although if Apple’s approach in developing software is any indication, they won’t cater to the professional user). Right now, it is hard for me to imagine an efficient (professional) web/graphic/video workflow on a tablet device but I know it is being developed. I don’t doubt, however, that in a few years, the processing power to render media will likely be available.

All this to conclude that technology is rapidly changing. Today’s breakthrough is tomorrow’s antique. The skills and techniques I learned as a student at Union will stay with me but the equipment and software I was taught won’t endure. It is bewildering and exciting to see the world of media evolve so fast. I hope I can keep up.

How do you plan to keep up with new technologies? What are your thoughts on the future of the home computer?

Maybe it has something to do with the smell of a new magazine, that unique combination of glossy paper and ink.

Maybe it has something to do with my upbringing. I first subscribed to a magazine when I was in 6th grade. It was 1980, and my class received an election info packet from U.S. News & World Report. It had bios about the main candidates (Reagan, Carter, and independent John Anderson) and information about the electoral process.

It also included a subscription card that I took home and asked my parents to send in. I continued subscribing to U.S. News & World Report for several years. I was a little Alex P. Keating in the making. (I’m still a little sad about the end of the U.S. News monthly magazine)

Even today, I subscribe to a number of magazines, from Wired to Entertainment Weekly, from Southern Living to Parenting School Years. My mother used to give my wife a subscription to Woman’s Day every year, and I think I was the only one in the house who actually read it.

But I think my love affair with magazines boils down to a love of what’s inside each magazine. I love the conciseness and variety of the articles. I like that I can finish an article in an evening. I love books too, but I have never been one of those people who can finish a book in an evening, or even a few evenings.

I like being able to walk away from a magazine article with a little tidbit or an image or a statistic that I didn’t know before.

The magazine industry also helped fuel my addiction. After I started teaching full-time, I started receiving offers for free magazine subscriptions!

Magazines like DV, Studio Monthly (formerly AV Video and Multimedia Producer), Digital Content Producer (formerly Video Systems), EventDV (formerly EMedia magazine) came to my office every month for free, all I had to do is share some information.

I loved taking my newly read magazines down to the computer lab and leaving them in the racks for my students to read. I required some classes to read related articles and write short summaries to encourage them to engage the ongoing discussion in their field.

But then something began to change. Most of these magazines started getting thinner. Then some of them moved to a pay-only model. Others stopped printing monthly magazines and went completely online.

This seems to be a growing trend in the magazine industry. In 2009, 64 magazines went online only, and in 2010 26 more made the digital jump.

A funny thing happened, however; something just didn’t translate. I didn’t go to the websites of these magazines that I read religiously each month. It doesn’t make sense. The articles are the same. They often had more images and links to the things they were talking about. And it’s not like I’m a technophobe. I could easily visit these sites on my MacBook Pro, or my iPad, or my iPhone.

I really can’t say why I don’t visit those sites. I can’t say why I resent assigning my students a list of URLs to visit instead of walking over to a rack of magazines. I guess I just prefer the magazine form.

But I’m afraid that I am the exception not the rule when it comes to magazines. The fact is that more and more magazines are closing their doors permanently.

"The End of an Era," the last issue of Layers Magazine, Jan-Feb 2011

According to MediaFinder, 428 magazines stopped publishing in 2009, 525 magazines ceased printing in 2008, and 591 shut down in 2007. And these are not just obscure, niche magazines that no one has heard of. Magazines like Gourmet, Modern Bride, Teen, Nickelodeon and National Geographic Adventure have all ceased printing in recent years, along with U.S. News & World Report that stopped printing its monthly magazine in December 2010.

Many magazines that have survived are doing so by virtually giving away their product. Some are severely discounting their subscription rates to keep their numbers up, so they can maintain their advertising rates to stay afloat. I recently re-subscribed to Southern Living for less than $5 for the entire year. Recently, I received an offer to subscribe to a magazine for 3 years (36 issues) for only $12. That’s 33 cents per issue!

Just like music, movies and books, the future of magazines is digital, but digital magazines need to work out a few kinks in the system. Instead of spending millions of dollars on a “Power of Print” ad campaign, the magazine industry should take that money to lower the cost of digital copies of their magazines.

I believe the future of magazines is on devices like the iPad, and I’m not alone. When the iPad was first released, many were predicting that the device would radically change the future of magazines.

But the honeymoon was short-lived. In the last days of 2010, dozens of articles focused on the drop in iPad magazine sales. One of the key statistics was that when Wired magazine’s iPad version debuted in June, it was downloaded more than 100,000 times. No one mentioned that the first Wired iPad edition was free!

But the reality is that Wired’s iPad sales did drop from an average of 31,000 downloads between July and September, to around 22,000 downloads in November.

This in no way surprised me. I am a Wired reader and an iPad owner, and I haven’t purchase a single iPad copy of the magazine. Why would I pay $3.99 for the iPad version of a magazine that I could get the print edition for $1 per issue?

Wired took a step in the right direction this week, making its iPad versions available to its subscribers at no additional charge. I truly hope that other magazines follow suit quickly. For the magazine industry to not only survive but also thrive in a digital economy, they need to address a few key issues:

First, digital magazines cannot cost more than their print counterparts. No matter how much industry insiders argue that digital copies cost just as much, because of server space, copy protection and legal services, the average consumer does not believe it. The eBook market has shown us that digital editions that cost less than the print editions do sell and do make money. The pricing issue is paramount to the continued success of the magazine industry.

Second, digital magazines need more outlets than the iPad. This one is tricky for me personally as an Apple person. I began working on a Mac in 1989, and I have never looked back. I also love my iPad. But if digital magazines are going to thrive, they need choice and they need competition. I know there are several companies hoping to dethrone the iPad as the tablet of choice, but someone needs to at least become a strong second if the magazine industry is going to make it through this transition.

Third, the magazine industry needs to figure out how to make money on their digital editions. This has been the elusive component for every traditional medium from music to movies to newspapers to books. For magazines, advertising is the key. How can they leverage advertising in the digital realm in a way that is valuable to advertisers? Right now it seems that most magazines are just transferring their print ads over to their digital editions, and Google is dominating the online advertising scene.

Some may disagree with my prescription for the magazine industry, and others may see a new, more interactive form replacing the traditional magazine. No one really knows what the future will bring. The big question is what to do next. I could just sit around and bemoan the fact that many of my favorite magazines are gone, but for now, I’m going to enjoy downloading the last year’s worth of Wired on my iPad and hope for the best.

[NOTE: This article was originally published on the International Digital Media and Arts Association website www.idmaa.org.]

Scribd

Scribd claims to be the worlds largest social reading and publishing company. Scribd was launched in March 2007 and has about 60 million readers a month and about 20 million embeds. Scribd allows individuals to read books, magazines reports, documents, business presentations, news, poetry and much more. Anyone can upload files and turn them into webdocuments. Members can have discussions with fellow fans of various topics, rate and comment on post. Scribd allows for connections through Facebook, Twitter, WordPress and other social networking sites. Scribd also makes uploaded documents discoverable on major search engines such as Google and Bing.

Scribd is very user friendly, its easily navigated and has a fun look to it. It doesn’t look intimidating and professional like most of the other document sharing sites. Its more of a individual site rather than a business site, however some business do use Scribd for sharing business documents. Files can be viewed on many viewing platforms such as ereaders, mobile phones, ipads and more.

SlideShare

SlideShare claims to be the best way to share presentations, documents and professional videos. SlideShare offers a free version of its services while offering a “pro” version which allows for more options. The Pro version has 3 pricing options.

SlideShare is a business media website while individuals can upload presentations. SlideShare provides a community that comments shares and downloads documents presentations and videos. . SlideShare helps many presentations become viral through various social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and others. Anyone can view the presentations. SlideShare allows for easy embedding of slideshows to own blog or website, sharing public or private, marketing by self, and joining groups of same intreats.

SlideShare is a video and graphic based document sharing rather the text document sharing.  The site itself is easy to navigate like Scribd was and it does have a look about it that is not overwhelming and intimidating. It still has a professional air about it but it still looks interesting and fun. It is somewhat like youtube but with slideshows. You can view the site download and share slideshows without subscribing to the site. If you do however decide to subscribe you then get the community part by getting comments contacts, groups and more.

Edocr

Launched in 2007 Edocr is much more business oriented document sharing site than the previous sites. It allows users to upload documents and allow others to access these documents, letting them download share or embed them. Edocr offers a free version as well as a version offering more options for a price. Edocr only allows however doc or pdf files and spreadsheets and presentations. Edocr allows for documents to be discoverable also among major search engines. Edocr is geared more to business uses. Mostly sales, marketing and operational documents are uploaded on the site such as brochures, user manuals, datasheets, guidelines and press releases to name a few. While edocr is geared more towards business applications it still has a simple interface making it ways to navigate and use.

This article is the third in a four-part series on Social Media resources.
The first part focused on Video Sharing Services.
The second part focused on Photo Sharing Services.
Come back next week for the next article, focusing on custom social networking services.

Most all picture sharing websites such as these listed give you the ability to not only display your images, but to also search through anyone’s public images as well. Frequently, you can also comment on the images or share them with other people. Often, pictures will be accompanied by information about the photo like ISO and the location it was taken.

Photobucket
The first one I’m going to cover is Photobucket. Photobucket is a free photo hosting service that offers a few bare essentials that you might expect from a site such as this. You can upload pictures and put them in albums and arrange them with various searchable tags. The most popular tags are displayed on the front page for ease of searching. There are also links for the top categories (such as color splash or funny cat pictures) or the most popular pictures. Another thing I thought was really cool was the competitions hosted by Photobucket. Many of the contests are daily and offer extra exposure for the winning image. One of the competitions, the embarrassing family photo contest, actually offers the chance to win an iPod or a Flip Camera.

Photobucket offers the chance to customize your profile with various preset themes. None of the profile options look particularly stunning, but they’re serviceable. With the free accounts you are given up to 500MB of storage space with the maximum single image size being 1MB. Basic stat tracking is available as well. When you upload your images, you have the option to share your images on sites like Facebook and Myspace. You can also choose to upgrade your account to pro for $2.99 monthly, $24.95 for a year, or $39.90 for 2 years. The pro account grants you unlimited storage space and high res images up to 4000 x 3000 pixels. Other features include links remaining active, SWF/Flash support, FTP access, full stats, no ads, and premium tech support.

Lastly, Photobucket has many different tools to access and upload pictures. There is a mobile site and apps available for both the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android systems. You can also pay to have your images printed on mugs, cards, prints, and other things of the like. Another nice feature was the ability to edit images in a fairly robust image editor that included red-eye reduction, cropping, and even fun filters.

Flickr
Flickr, for me is the photo sharing site I was most aware of. Flickr offers many different ways to explore the photos that are present on the site. For example, you can explore photos that were uploaded in the last 7 days or bring up an interactive calendar view that displays photos based on the date taken. In a feature similar to Photobucket, there is a list of popular image tags on the front page that are searchable as well.

One really cool feature available on Flickr is the Galleries option, which allows you to display 18 public images of other members’ creations as a way to share other people’s creativity. Other networking options in that vein include Groups, which are (appropriately enough) groups that contain a pool of related images and discussion boards. There is another feature called Contacts, which is basically the same concept as “friending” or “following” someone. It allows you to keep up with their latest pictures and comment on them. On top of that, Flickr offers RSS feeds for group discussions, photo uploads, and specific tags. Finally, just like Photobucket, you can order prints of your photos on mugs, cards, etc.

Unless a picture is marked private, you can comment on anyone’s work. You can also leave what Flickr calls Notes, which are areas within the image itself that you can tag with a comment. Think of this as a similar feature to what Facebook offers for image tagging, but for comments instead of people. Though, also like Facebook, it is possible to tag other Flickr users in images as well.

From a personalization stand-point, Flickr does not offer much customization in ways to display your images. Pretty much the only options available are to change the sizes of your thumbnails available. Once again, much like Photobucket, photos can be arranged in albums that Flickr has named Sets. Within your personal page you can check out what your most popular images are, how many times they have been viewed, and how many times it has been favorited by other users.

Flickr has two different types of accounts available. The free account has a 300MB photo upload limit a month, with 15MB per photo being the maximum. 2 video uploads a month, clocking in at 90 seconds each with a max file size of 150MB. Only the smaller versions of photos are displayed, though the original sizes are saved and used if you purchase a Pro account. In addition to those limitations, you are restricted to having photos in only up to 10 group pools and your photostream is limited to only the 200 most recent. However, for $24.95 a year, you get unlimited photo uploads a month that are a max of 20MB per photo. On the video side of things, you are allowed unlimited HD videos a month at a 500MB max file size, however they are still restricted to 90 seconds. Unlimited storage and bandwidth is also provided, and all of the high-resolution original images are archived. Finally, you get an ad free experience, the ability to replace photos, and can place your content in up to 60 group pools. The stat tracking is much more in-depth with a Pro account as well, including graphs and a referrer count.

Picasa
Google’s own image-sharing site, Picasa, seems to be focused more on providing editing for pictures and a basic platform for sharing. It is nice because it is integrated with your public Google account. This allows for a great deal of interactivity between the various platforms Google offers. For example, clicking the Share link opens an email template that includes a link to the target image and the option to mail it to your contacts. You can also share the images through Buzz, Blogger, and Twitter, which are other Google owned sites.

Generally, the ability to explore Picasa is nice and simple. It is very much like the two previous sites, in that you can just aimlessly browse through images or search based on tags. While you’re viewing the images, you can leave a comment for others to view.

Picasa did have one piece of technology that I found impressive. It has a fairly accurate face-recognition system that auto-chooses faces in the photo and allows you to tag them with a name or one of your contacts. In the example image I uploaded to play around with the features, I was entertained to note that the puppet in the image wasn’t tagged, but some background people were.

SmugMug
SmugMug is a paid service to host images. There are 3 different account levels possible: Basic, Power, and Pro. They are $5, $8, and $20 a month or $40, $60, $150 a year respectively. It does look like the site could very well be worth the money though, when you consider the feature-rich applications and the control over design that is possible. This is definitely a site aimed at working professional photographers. The clean design and ease of use could make this an excellent alternative to hosting your own portfolio website. On the subject of design, with a Pro account you could use custom CSS or hire a design firm to customize your page.

SmugMug included quite a few things that the other sites did not have, such as custom watermarks on images, or the ability to outsource post-processing on images. With SmugMug, there seems to be a major emphasis on selling the content you have created, rather than just simply displaying it like on Flickr or Photobucket. Anyone can request to purchase prints of various sizes of any of your images, unless the image is not enabled for sale. I was impressed that SmugMug offered search engine optimization for your galleries and provided you with the tools to make use of Google Analytics to judge who and when people are browsing.

Multiply
Multiply, to me, seemed to resemble many other social networking/blog sites, rather than the previous picture sharing sites. I say this, because there isn’t a single emphasis on photographs present on Multiply. Instead you can post any kind of user-created content such as videos, blogs, links, and events. That is not to say that photos aren’t present on Multiply, they just aren’t the main focus of the content.

Multiply does have a Shop that is free to place your items on, but it is possible to pay to advertise it. However, to be verified, you have to pay yearly fees ranging from $40 – $100. In addition to that, Multiply offers a premium account that gives you more benefits in the marketplace. For $19.95 a year or $2.95 a month you can get high-res pictures, HD videos, better placement, and an ad-free store.
On the social side of things, Multiply’s social sites have a place to post videos, photos, blogs, notes, and a guestbook. These are pretty vanilla social network features with most of them being self-explanatory. I should point out that the notes are more akin to Myspace’s notes, where they are posted to all of your friends as a type of bulletin, rather than Facebook notes which are more like blogs. One last thing of note about Multiply is the Inbox, which seemed to fill up with spam pretty soon after I joined.

Overall, I hope this paints a picture of the many different websites that provide image-sharing capabilities. These are some of the more popular ones available, but there are other sites out there. If you have a favorite one that isn’t on this list, leave a comment!

This article is the second in a four-part series on Social Media resources.
The first part focused on Video Sharing Services.
Come back next week for the next article, focusing on document sharing services.

The question is not “what magazine/paper should I put my article in,” but rather “where do I host my video?” Well, in this post, I’ll be reviewing a few popular video-hosting sites in order to help target your posting regardless of the purpose.

YouTube
Let’s get the popular site out of the way. Everyone knows about YouTube. This site features very easy method to upload videos, a huge user base, and even an in-browser editor. The problem with the intense popularity of this site is that, due to the high volume of videos, more popular posts might overtake the video you post. It’s really easy to make a video about a popular topic, but it’s more difficult to have that video about that topic be popular.

With YouTube, there are a lot of additions that helps creators make their video popular as well as Insight that acts as an analytic tool to see how your videos are doing. YouTube has also done some amazing things with the quality of video uploading, including uploading in 4K. The quality options are definitely a big advantage if you are uploading a creative work for display.

With the creation of YouTube Mobile and Leanback, as wall as the services addition to popular media streaming set top boxes, you can be assured that your message will have a wide audience, but there is a huge chance that, unless the user is searching for your video specifically, your video may not be seen.

Vimeo
Vimeo’s tagline is “Vimeo is a respectful community of creative people who are passionate about sharing the videos they make.” With just a quick glance at their website, that is easy to tell. This is a site geared more towards the filmmaker than just an average Joe who wants to post a video rant or a video of their friend falling down a flight of stairs.

They have a stricter rule set than YouTube, but that is the allure of filmmakers to Vimeo, the fact that not every video will be allowed to crowd the network. They are about distributing creative content, which, if you are a filmmaker, is great. They don’t allow commercial advertisement, gameplay videos, or even music videos. If you don’t own the copyright to it, they will not allow it. This is to make sure that only purely original and creative work is let onto the site.

Vimeo is great for budding filmmakers, but not so good for business. You can tell that they are trying to help creative uploaders by the way they take their involvement. They have a support line you can call and even live AIM help. They also have Vimeo Plus, which adds more features and uploading capabilities for those who are serious about having a place to house all of their work. This site is truly dedicated to the creation of creative content.

Viddler
If Vimeo is for creative content, then Viddler sits another side of the spectrum claiming that they help you build your brand. They claim to help your video get seen and even distribute it to other sites, like iTunes. They have a lot of customization options, including video overlays that link back to your homepage.

Viddler also has “interactive” elements that allow your users to comment on your videos on the actual video timeline. They have a lot of options unique to them, including the reselling of their services.

I was truly intrigued by the bevy of options that are offered by this service. However, a lot of the neat options that are available to video uploaders only come with paid and business accounts. Based on my research, those premium accounts start at $100. Considering that you can get video hosting for free and also find ways to get the same features that they offer, not exactly the same way that they offer them, but with a few creative work-arounds.

Unless you are serious about making money with your videos or branding is a concern, then Viddler isn’t the best option for you. However, if your site heavily relies on video, than this site offers video player customization, brand overlay, and even an incredibly powerful analytical tool that monitors everything from bandwidth to attention span.

Vimation
Vimation is unlike any of the other sites I’ve listed above due to its inability to have outside users upload their own content. Instead, they take clients and make an interactive video site. This is great for big companies to make a neat user interface.

Sadly, if you are a small company, you will, most likely, not be able to afford their services. However, you probably not need their services if you don’t have any huge project or huge budget. Judging by their past cases, they have done great work. So, Vimation is an amazing service, but it is definitely not open or easy to get into.

These are just a few of the video sharing and creation sites that are available on the Internet. DailyMotion and XtraNormal do get honorable mentions.

DailyMotion is an awesome site that has it advantages, but to me, it is poorly organized. I couldn’t find my way around that site. It, to me, seemed like a YouTube knockoff. That’s just me and your opinions may vary.

Then there is the XtraNormal site, which, at the time of this publishing, has taken off. It takes pre-drawn characters and allows people to add some music and voice without having to record a single thing. However, there aren’t that many videos up on the site and it does cost to make films as spectacular as you might want them to do.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to whatever site you like the best as well as what site best fits your purposes.

This article is the first in a four-part series on Social Media resources.
Part 2 in the series focuses on Online Photo Sharing Services.

The extent of the damage in Japan is not fully known, but thousands, likely tens of thousands, died, countless homes were destroyed and the damage has been estimated in excess of $30 billion, making it one of the worst natural disasters of all time.

Stay Strong Japan! by Kent Ng., on Flickr

In these difficult times we, as Christians, should pray for the suffering people of Japan. We should also seek to be the hands and feet of Christ, doing what we can to help the Japanese people in their time of need.

In times like these, the words of Jesus should speak to us: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me . . . Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25: 35-36, 40).

At this moment, we are being encouraged to not try to travel to Japan, but the needs are so great. There will be numerous opportunities in the coming months and years to help Japan rebuild after this great disaster.

Now the greatest needs are for food, potable water, clothing and shelter. The most effective and efficient act of charity is to give to an aid organization that can provide food, water and clothing right now.

Here is information about how you can give (courtesy of cnn.com):

The humanitarian group World Vision is rushing personnel into the affected areas and providing food, water, medical supplies and shelter for victims.

It also plans to establish one or more “child-friendly spaces” for kids “affected by disasters to resume normal childhood activities and experience structure and security that are often lost following emergency situations.

Follow World Vision’s blog for updates, and visit its website or text “4japan” to 20222 to send a $10 donation to the group. It will show up on your next mobile phone bill.

The American Red Cross also accepts donations via text message. Text “redcross” to 90999, and you can make a $10 donation to the organization.

You can also keep up with updates from the nonprofit by following its Twitter feed or watching its Facebook updates.

The Salvation Army, which has had a presence in Japan since 1895, is sending a team to Sendai to assess damages and hopes to provide food, water and other necessities. In Tokyo, the Salvation Army opened its main building to house and feed commuters who were unable to reach their homes.

The aid organization is issuing updates via its blog, its Twitter feed andFacebook page. It also is accepting donations via text message. Those interested in contributing $10 to the group’s efforts can text “japan” or “quake” to 80888.

Also, Baptist Global Response has a team in Tokyo, working to distribute aid in the affected regions and formulate a long-term response to the tsunami. BGR is providing updates online, on its Twitter feed and via Facebook. Go to its website if you would like make a donation to help with the disaster response.

The BGR post on the Japanese tsunami response give the following suggestions for Christians to pray:

— for survivors, for opportunities to minister, and for God to use the disaster to help people understand his great love for them.;

— that Christians will know how best to serve the Japanese during this time of crisis, that relief efforts will touch the hearts of people in

— that those who hurt will receive aid and comfort, that all will recognize there is only one Rock who will never be shaken.

Jina gave a few tips when it comes to web design today.  The tips sound simplistic but they are a good reminder as you work on different projects.

1. be creative. to stand out, do something different.
2. be efficient. do yourself and your clients a favor by managing your work time.
3. be realistic. compromise can be ok because the goal is to get the project done and for everyone to like the product.
4. be psychic. think to future trends.

“It use to be that designers made an object and walked away. Today, we must design for the entire life cycle.” -Paul Safro

Movie Poster for In Remembrance of Her by Tyler Litton

The films featured this year were: Alice’s Adventures in Art School by Mary Annis, senior Digital Media Studies major; Boy Meets Girl by Colt Dixon, junior Digital Media Studies major, and Sarah Palmer, junior Journalism major; For the Love of Rugby by Beth Spain, senior Journalism major; Gwen McReynolds: 800 Tangible Memories by Beth Spain; Homogenized by Tyler Litton, junior Digital Media Studies major; In Remembrance of Her by Tyler Litton; Pretty Soldier Sailor Sun by Ellen Kay, Art/Film Studies alumna; Thanks for the Tip by Rachael Kapavik, senior Digital Media Studies major; and The Storm by Tyler Litton and Caleb Stallings, senior Media Communications major.

On April 12, all the films were screened and the filmmakers were interviewed after each film by Cam Tracy, Web Development Agent at Union University and sponsor of the festival, and Dr. Chris Blair, coordinator of Digital Media Studies and the Film Studies minor. Attendees voted on the SAC Student Choice Award, given out the next evening.

On April 13, after another screening of the films, an awards ceremony was held, announcing the winners of the festival. The 2010 Union Film Festival awards went to:

Jury Awards

SAC Students’ Choice Award: In Remembrance of Her by Tyler Litton

Best Documentary: For the Love of Rugby by Beth Spain

Best Short-Form Film: The Storm by Tyler Litton

Best Long-Form Film: Thanks for the Tip by Rachael Kapavik

Acting Awards

Best Supporting Performance: Colt Dixon in Thanks for the Tip

Best Female Comedic Performance: Lori Landon in Boy Meets Girl

Best Male Comedic Performance: Rodney J. Smith in Homogenized

Best Female Dramatic Performance: Caitlin Riggs in In Remembrance of Her

Best Male Dramatic Performance: Tyler Litton in The Storm

Technical Awards

Best Title Design: Homogenized

Best Production Design: Homogenized

Best Original Score: Cameron Goss for Alice’s Adventures in Art School

Best Editing: Rachael Kapavik for Thanks for the Tip

Best Cinematography: Caleb Stallings for In Remembrance of Her

Best Screenplay: Rachael Kapavik for Thanks for the Tip

In 2006, Panasonic introduced the HVX-200, combining the 24p look of the DVX-100 with DVCProHD high-definition video formats, and pushing the industry toward a tapeless format with its P2 card recording system. Most digital filmmakers were still forced to combine the new HVX-200 with a 35mm lens adapter like the Redrock, or other low-cost systems such as the Letus35 or the Cinevate.

Finally, in 2008, a low-cost solution to offering high definition images with film-style depth of field without a lens adapter came in the form of the HDSLR, namely the Nikon D90 followed quickly by the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Still cameras with HD capabilities provided the right combination of large sensors and interchangeable lenses, but other video must-haves, like balanced audio and timecode, were missing in these HDSLRs.

On April 11, at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas, Panasonic announced a game-changing AVCCAM HD camcorder, the AG-AF100, the first professional micro 4/3-inch video camcorder optimized for high-definition video recording. That is 4/3-inch! Not 1/3 or even 2/3, but a 1-1/3-inch sensor.

Panasonic shows off the new AG-AF100 at their booth at NAB.

“3D was supposed to be THE topic of discussion on the NAB show floor this week, but Panasonic snuck a 2D camera model into the show that grabbed more than its fair share of attention,” according to Bryant Frazer in his blog for Studio Daily.

Targeted at the video and film production communities, the AF100 delivers the shallow depth of field and wider field of view of a large imager, with the flexibility and cost advantages of use with a growing line of professional quality, industry standard micro 4/3-inch lenses, filters, and adapters. The full 1080 and 720 production camera offers superior video handling, native 1080/24p recording, variable frame rates, professional audio capabilities, and compatibility with SDHC and SDXC media.

The design of the AF100’s micro 4/3-inch sensor affords depth of field and field of view similar to that of 35mm movie cameras in a less expensive camera body. Equipped with an interchangeable lens mount, the AF100 can utilize an array of low-cost, widely-available still camera lenses as well as film-style lenses with fixed focal lengths and primes.

“Designed in consultation with the filmmaking community, the AF100 eclipses the video performance of other cameras in this price range,” said Joe Facchini, Vice President of Sales & Product Management, Media & Production Services, Panasonic Solutions Company. “Ideal for film schools and independent filmmakers, this affordable, digital cinematography camera employs an advanced professional AVC/ H.264 Hi Profile AVCHD codec compatible with a wide range of editing tools and affordable players.”

The AF100 incorporates a 4/3-inch, 16:9 MOS imager. The camcorder records 1080/60i, 50i, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) and 720/60p, 50p, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) in AVCHD’s highest-quality PH mode (maximum 24Mbps).

The AF100 maximizes the potential of its high-resolution imager with built-in ND filtering and dramatically reduced video aliasing. Standard professional interfaces include HD-SDI out, HDMI, time code recording, built-in stereo microphone and USB 2.0. The AF100 features two XLR inputs with +48V Phantom Power capability, 48-kHz/16-bit two-channel digital audio recording and supports LPCM/Dolby-AC3.

This newest Panasonic AVCCAM camcorder is the first to enjoy the benefits of advanced SDXC media card compatibility in addition to existing SDHC card support. (SDXC is the newest SD memory card specification that supports memory capacities above 32GB up to 2TB). With two SD slots, the AF100 can record up to 12 hours on two 64GB SDXC cards in PH mode

The AG-AF100 will be available by the end of 2010. The cost has been estimated at $6,000 without lens. Official pricing will be announced at a later date. [Update: AF-100 list price is $4995.]

RED is one of the hottest new developments in video cameras with its RED ONE aluminum alloy body weighing in at 10lbs and providing more than 5 times the amount of information available per second than other HD cameras.

RED’s true innovation is its 12 Megapixel Mysterium™ CMOS sensor and its capacity to shoot with a depth of field equivalent to 35mm Cine Lenses.

The official website red.com boasts:
“It combines low noise with superior charge capacity for dynamic range and color fidelity that allows you to finally have a no excuse digital imaging alternative to shooting 35mm film.”

RED also gives the power to add new accessories and obtain free firmware updates. This allows the basic RED camera to be customized to fit every shooting occasion, whether you are a pro-amateur or Peter Jackson filming his new film “The Lovely Bones.”

Other notable movies shot with a RED camera include “Gamer”, “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”, “Angels and Demons”, and “Knowing.”

For more information, pictures, and galleries visit the official website:
www.red.com