lots of animation

One thing I've always really liked but never totally got into was video. I took the required video courses in college for my Visual Communications degree, but opted for all the photography course over the video ones... hell, Kelly actually took more video courses then me. With that being said, I think the same art applies to both. It's just a different technical hurdle to overcome. One that is very different than photography, and photo processing in MANY ways.

I've been doing a lot of video lately. From 3 minute audition clips, to HD b-roll for Jekyll Island. My newest project, while only partially video, has me real excited. Jekyll's requested a time-lapse video of a four month construction project. They are going to remodel the old indoor tennis court and turn it into a state of the art conference center. So, after doing a lot of research I've figured out my angle of approach. I looked into wildlife trail cameras, thinking they would be best... already set up to do that right out of the box, waterproof and can last for months on a single set of batteries. Problem there is the lens isn't wide enough. It's pretty much telephoto. After much research I stumbled on the Canon Hack Development Kit (CDHK). It's an open source firmware that you install on a canon digital camera that really unleashes the potential of it. You have to hack into the camera basically, but once it's all installed, there isn't much you can't do. You can use the camera's microphone to trigger a photo... say, when someone walks by and the sound is picked up.... snap! In my case, I'm using it to take a photo every 15 minutes for four months. Then, I'll string all the photos together and it will be an animated short film of the whole construction process... much akin to those flower-growing videos we all watched in BIO 101.

So I bought a Canon SD1000, a little point and shoot the smaller than a pack of cigarettes (used for a $100!), a wide-angle conversion lens (because I need a WIDE shot) and an AC power adapter. I'm going to work on the CDHK this weekend and will test the video out in a day-in-our-office setting the early part of next week. I'll be sure to post it.

So for now, stay tuned!