Desertrose

Thanks David Be reassured, I am as wary and as skeptical as they come and I fully realise that what I listened to last night was a VERY long advertisement for his online courses (and of course his books) Business is business, though it shouldn't be when it comes to spiritual matters. BUT, I found that within that "ad" there was some quite interesting food for thought. At the very least some perspectives that I personally hadn't taken the time before to consider at any great length. There were also some good stories, whether they be true or not, The thing with religion, (I reckon) is that so much of it is just basic common sense and a good foundation for humans to actually co-exist with some degree of peace and harmony but unfortunately, and far too often, it's marred by human individuals own personal agenda's which usually amount to greed. So I'm a "picker". Flitting about from one ideology to another and taking from them what resonates with me personally.

My head feels tangled. I feel tangled, strangled and frustrated. Its not been a good day. Why won’t the words come when I want to write a song? The things I want to say. Do I even have anything to say? It’s been a LONG, “not good day†as I woke up at 5am. Bloody ridiculous. One week I’m only getting to SLEEP at 5am and the next I’m waking up at that ungodly hour. All I know is that 5 am looks, feels and sounds different depending on whether it's the time you fall asleep or the time you wake up. I achieved nothing….much. Re recorded some vocals to an old song. Not happy with the end result though of trying to fine tune the piano. Shit, I’m just grumpy! Sometimes I feel so “separate†from my family, and it’s getting to be more and more so. I feel like they just look at me like I’m some floating around the house servant. Do any of them even wonder what I do all day? I’m rained in. It’s depressing now. Keira’s birthday tomorrow. I don’t feel like seeing people, let alone entertaining them. I’m too busy having a pity party of my own here. ********************************************************************************************** Wow. I suddenly feel "untangled". I just listened to a very LONG audio "thing" (Seminar? Don't know what you would call it.) from this guy who wrote the book "Conversations with God". I'm NOT religious.(I'm not, I'm not, I'm not!) I like to think of myself as Spiritually seeking.... I am deeply uncomfortable with being part of a group who all believe in the one thing- one God, and reject all other possibilities. What I just listened to made me feel equally "wowed" as it did uncomfortable, but somehow I've come away from it feeling enlightened and in a much better frame of mind than I was in earlier. I've got a numb bum though. If you are a "seeker" and happen to be reading this, and have a spare hour or so ....listen to this. It WILL make you feel "something." http://evolvingwisdom.com/nealedonaldwalsch/conversationswithgod/download

Thanks David. The pen got a bit rusty but I'm giving it a workout lately

That's pretty darned good for a first! Very nicely edited. I enjoyed watching it

Nature makes beautiful things. Remarkable, spectacular amazing things. We set off early for a trip up to Jenolan caves, two hours from home. The drive there is scenic….rolling hills, lush green country side and miles of pine forest plantations. We stopped for morning tea (but I forgot the tea cups, lol!) and I filmed for a while in one of the forests. Fairy tale white spotted red toadstools were pushing up from the ground everywhere among the fallen pine needles. Just magic! There were leeches too but when I want to capture the beauty I see, not even those bloody little nasties can stop me. Pity we didn't have more time. I could have spent hours wandering among the tree’s finding all the pretty little secrets a forest like that has to offer. We went on to do a cave tour - “Temple of Baalâ€. Fascinating and good to see it with lights this time (we went through it in the dark on the ghost tour we did of that cave recently.) It’s just amazing what goes on underground, in the dark totally without human intervention. Stunning formations! I kept thinking “Aladdin’s cave†- was THIS what they meant instead of a cave full of actual jewels? Walls full of tiny diamonds sparkling in the light. Sheaths of pure white silk draped from the roof…. Glistening icicles….Man, what a sight! On the way home the sky turned black and then with much cracking thunder and lightning opened up above us and we got caught in a terrific hailstorm. From inside the car it was absolutely deafening. Everyone on the road pulled over and just waited it out. It was a bit scary, but at the same time I loved it! (love, love, LOVE storms!) This is short because I’m tired. Tired from all that climbing about in the caves, but revived because I got out amongst nature and once again found my “churchâ€â€¦.my “God†- there. There is a song I found online. Yes it’s a Christian song and I don’t follow any particular religion but I absolutely LOVE this song (and can't see how anyone possibly couldn't!) so I’ll use it to sum up this day.

There is something rather “exhibitionistic†about blogging. One wonders how far you could, or should go. This whole thing – the internet….billions of voices all crying out to be heard. (Imagine the energy that creates in the universe? Out there in cyberspace?) There's something rather pathetic about that, but then again also very human. You could conclude that human behavior then is – pathetic, or is it just that we’re all the same and like a dog pissing on a lamp post we all want to somehow connect, or just leave our mark? Saturday -the day for mundane chores like shopping. Why is it that it takes us ALL day to go and buy food? Ok, so I took hubby on a bit of a meandering journey through lots of clothes shops FIRST and surprisingly he didn’t complain “too†much. There’s something odd about those fitting rooms and I’m beginning to believe that there’s a conspiracy of sorts going on. Some form of consumer trickery. I mean, it’s bad enough that the lighting and mirrors in them make you look ten times bigger (and who looks at themselves THAT close up?) but why is it that when you try on jeans that in the fitting room they actually FIT, but when you get home they feel too big? Is it all that walking around looking for jeans that makes you lose weight by the time you get home or is there some kind of magic going on inside the fitting room that just makes them “fit†– there. It’s a ruse see. They impregnate the denim with some kind of chemical than makes them expand while you're driving home and then you either have to take them back – and wait in those damned frustrating refund/exchange queues, OR you just put up with the slightly too big jeans….until a few months down the track (when you've lost the receipt) you get sick of them sagging and just go back and buy a new pair! Or maybe its just the warped perception of myself (so I am told) that refuses to believe that I am a size smaller than what I think I am? I finally bought “the card†today. I’ve been meaning to, really I have. It’s just taken me a while. My Uncle, (who’s not really an Uncle, but back in the day when etiquette was different we called close family friends “Uncle†or “Auntieâ€) has been diagnosed with lung cancer. He lives in another state, but still he is a big part of my world in that he is the only person here in Australia from my way distant past where I grew up in Africa. I was so saddened to hear the news, and I think of him all the time. Yeah, he WAS a smoker but gave up many years ago. I guess it still got him though. So bloody unfair! So I want to send him a card, just to say I’m thinking of him as he undergoes all this chemo and radiation treatment. I know he’s putting on a brave face and is determined to “beat this!†I have the card….I’m still searching for the words. I just love people watching. (See, I am an exhibitionist AND a voyeur.) I could sit for hours and just watch people …imagining what their lives are like. What their thoughts are like. Do other people think the weird stuff that I think? Or even weirder? That’s a scary thought. It’s easy to pick the people who are not comfortable in their own skins….and those that are. Those that think of themselves as being “invisible†and those that think that the whole world was put here solely to rotate on its axis around THEM. Funny to think about all those “thoughts†buzzing around in people’s heads as they are walking around the malls. The internal dialogues going on inside them like a constant stream of mind pollution. It’s a bit like all the bloggers on the internet. Imagine the energy of all those thoughts going on in every single MIND on this planet! Is this what is causing global warming? The atmosphere heating up by the frenzy of thoughts being radiated from every frazzled, over stimulated human mind on the planet? Why can’t we SLOW DOWN and just be still? Just ….be…quiet…. Me too. I want to learn how to find that still-ness inside my head. That inner sanctuary of peace. I don’t know how though. Is it even possible, really? I’m supposed to be working on the balance between the mind/heart/body and soul. The four “houses†or something. I think I pretty much covered the first three today. (Clothes shopping is "exercise"...isn't it?) Now, for my soul -I want to TRY to “ just be quiet’. Tomorrow I will be venturing into deep dark caves – literally.

Thanks Tom. Yeah, it's like all the sayings that add up to "Life is what you make it". It's so precious and not to be taken for granted. ...and it just goes so darned fast!

I'm supposed to be writing in a journal, every day for the next eight weeks of this Unveil class. Self discovery and all that.... So, towards the within I go. I'm kind of cheating by writing here, but I've lost track of all my other failed blogs that were started with good intention and I just don't "do" paper and pen anymore. It was one of those days where you just don't achieve much. Laundry - my God, for the third day in a row there was blue sky! I'd forgotten what that looked like. So yeah, how exciting. I did laundry. My second eldest daughter came home from hospital after her foot surgery. (bunions at 21 - that just sucks.) Hobbling around on crutches she is. She's always been the family hypochondriac though so finally she really has something wrong with her. Ugly feet. I'm sorry but there's no other way to put it. It's not just the bunions, she has really ugly feet! She gets them from her father. He has these freakishly long toes that curl over. Says it's from when he was a teenager and took diving lessons and his toes curled over the edge of the diving board. Pfffttt! What a load of bollocks! (This is the guy that says he took figure skating lessons!) He just got the ugly feet gene and now he's passed it onto our daughter. I told her she's actually very lucky. If ever she has the misfortune to lose fingers in an accident (don't worry, I knocked on wood) that she would have no problem having her (freakishly) long toes attached to use as new fingers. Ahh, but this journaling thing is supposed to be about "me" isn't it? Towards the within? I have nice toes actually. Except for the fact that they're aging waaay faster than the rest of me. In fact my toes were the first place I ever got wrinkles. Too much sun. I'm always barefoot. Growing old feet first. But, I have nice shaped toes, and feet. Slender and...kind of elegant. I think. I don't think I'm supposed to be talking about my toes though. God! What did I REALLY feel today? My other (eldest ) daughter thrust her cigarette in my hand as she rushed back upstairs to get something before her lift arrived. Weirdest feeling. I haven't smoked a cigarette in six months. Ok, so I'm still addicted to nicotine with my electronic cigarette - my hookah doodle - peace pipe - quit smoking vaporising device. Call it what you like but it's NOT a smoke! Oh for that dirty high. But no....not really. The thought of fouling my mouth and lungs with smoke was NOT a temptation. Quite a moment really. I feel like I'm trying too hard to write something here. It really was just one of those "do nothing days". I usually hate those, and feel guilty about those. Feels like a waste and makes me panic - "I'm wasting my life!" But really it's OK. I tell myself this now. It's ok to sometimes just do nothing, feel very little....just be. Besides, people in this house are running out of socks and undies! .......And here comes the rain again.....

Perhaps there's something you can buy to tape/glue? around the stands arms. Like that rubber stuff you put under rugs to stop them slipping on floors? The problem I have with my stands is how to tilt the bottom one so I can see my keyboards LCD screen. The keyboard is heavy and I'm afraid that even with the rubber stoppers at the end of the arms that it might slip off if the arms are positioned in a tilt. Easy fixed though with rolls of toilet paper wedged under the back of the keyboard at both ends.

I started a new belly dance course today called Unveil which focuses on “empowering the feminineâ€. Not that I have any problem in the feminine department because it seems I am 100% living in the feminine realm – which in itself can be a problem. (Its always about balance) I’ve been living, for so long now completely in the “heartâ€â€¦.too much emotion stuff going on. Too much being still and “feeling†rather than actually getting off my arse and DOING. There have been many years of slowly but surely shutting myself off from the world to the point where I’ve almost become agoraphobic again. Not good. Ok, so I’ve never learned how to drive, but in the past that was never a real problem (except for other people – those that do drive, who can never understand it) I used to meet so many different and interesting fellow travelers, mostly on trains and a journey would never fail to bring at least one interesting conversation. Lives touching lives, and all that. I enjoyed that! So why did I stop? My world shrunk so small – when we moved to Perth. New place, no friends, no family, except immediate family, and no desire to set down “roots†there because I knew it was just temporary. A three year sentence to be exact.( I hated every minute we were there!) The black dog found me again (depression) and there I was, entirely suffocated down that familiar deep dark hole. Then we moved back to NSW again…except to an entirely different location and suddenly there I was again, friendless and alone….except for family. God, I have been SO lonely, and alone. There I have said it. Oh the shame, to actually admit having no real close TRUE friends. At least not ones you see on a regular basis – not like how it used to be years ago when somehow the idea of friendships was not even an issue. They were just always “thereâ€. I seemed like a totally different person back then. Can’t even remember who she was? Confident… Yeah, she was so much more of THAT back then. Being alone- and lonely, robs you of your confidence. Makes you question (even more!) who you are and WHY you are. And then you start getting older…start noticing the wrinkles and the things that sag and bulge - start picking yourself to pieces bit by bit (even MORE than ever before)…the kids start getting more independent and don’t ‘need†you quite as much (hence more free time for “pickingâ€)and suddenly one day it’s like you’ve just plucked and picked yourself completely clean. Disappeared. That’s what I did. *I* disappeared. Today, while I was out – yes, I forced myself to catch a train- I focused on “breath and posture†(SO important in belly dance, and this weeks “homeworkâ€.) I envisioned, as taught, a string pulling me up from my core – up through my chest, neck and head. Opened up my diaphragm. I stood tall (well, as tall as my 5.4 frame will hold me) smiled from within (reminds me of "Eat pray love" - "smile from your liver!"), held my head up and looked people square in the eye. An amazing thing happened. Total strangers began talking to me….everywhere! In the supermarket whilst buying hair dye, at the bus stops, on the train station…on the train. It was the weirdest thing. And people kept LOOKING at me – to the point that I had to check myself in the mirror in the restroom , just to make sure that a bird hadn’t crapped on my head, or that I didn’t have a big black smudge of mascara down my cheek or something. But no…everything was as it should be. I spoke at length with a woman on the train. Even gave her my phone number (she saw me using my electronic cigarette and we struck up a conversation that lasted the entire trip) Another woman from the new belly dance class asked me if I would like to go bushwalking with her -next week. It was just strange. A strange feeling suddenly no longer being invisible. I think there’s something in the whole concept of "what you project into the universe is what you get back from it." There must be. I’m coming back. Slowly. It will take some time I know. I have to stick my feathers back on, one by one, just as carefully as I picked and plucked them all out. And.....I WILL find the blue bird of happiness and kick the chicken of despair fair up the stuffing end!

You really need to post a recording up with your vocals-singing, if that's what you will be doing, or spoken, whatever, using the NEW mic. Each microphone will have a different "sound" and bear in mind that the cheaper it is....well, it WILL make a difference. Also the kind of room (acoustics) you record in will effect tone as will where you position your mouth - in line with the mic - singing up to it, singing across it, singing down to it - too close or too far from it, etc. Nasal tones are a common problem and that could be just the way you speak or sing - the way you position your tongue in your mouth - whether you are singing from your throat rather than your chest. Experiment with all these things. Do a bit of acting with it - different characters and you'll hear just how vastly you can change your voice by the different ways you 'use" it. You may also need to play around with EQ on the vocals when you mix - this can vastly improve tone but won't do anything for the nasal problem. Hearing ones voice back from a recording is always confronting if you aren't used to it and many people say they don't like their voice. Perhaps this is because what we hear our spoken voice in our heads - through our own ears, sounding like - internally, is not exactly what it sounds like 'outside" of our own heads....if you know what I mean?

Geez, I'd forgotten exactly what I'd put in this "blog" here. I'm surprised my other 'stalker" daughter hasn't made me aware of it. Kinda weird when your own kids google you and read everything you write. LOL! Not to worry - she's a good girl and hopefully learns from my mistakes. I still have anxiety problems. Drives me nuts, but I guess this skin is the only one I have so I should be grateful for that. Without it I'd be a real mess.

I'd like to see you in the kitchen once you got your hands on the saucepans!

A bit late in my thanks but.... thanks for watching I know these high definition clips are a pain so I appreciate you taking the trouble.

Actually I have quite a few more tips to offer based on what I have learned SO FAR. I don't mean to sound like I know everything because that is so far from the truth it's not funny! But........for the complete novice, perhaps some of what I have listed below might be of some help? I hope so....because this is darn complicated stuff! Really gives me an entirely new appreciation for those who have been doing this kind of thing for years and are really good at it! Just some thoughts on what I have read and learned so far... I hope to hear some more from others round here that have many more years of filming and editing experience up their sleeves! ******************************************************************************** **************************** To paint a picture through moving images is far more complex than it first seems. It's nowhere near as easy as pulling a video camera out of a bag and pointing and shooting something that appeals to you. That's perfectly fine for home movies but if you're wanting to get arty farty, or make something aimed at a wider audience then there are some things that can help you make a more "interesting" video. The most important thing I believe is required to make your filming appealing to the eye, is that you use a tripod! Unless you have some kind of steadycam, flycam device, hand held filming, despite the decent internal image stabilisers most home video camera's have these days, is NEVER that comfortable to watch. The exception is filming action stuff like sport and perhaps to create an atmosphere of unease and tension like in something horror related. Tiny snippets of hand held footage could be worked into a whole piece but it doesn't work when the whole thing is hand held....as I have learned. When looking at piecing a whole bunch of images together in an editing program it's really important that while you film you think about HOW you are going to join it all together. For example ....when filming a waterfall video I ran around randomly shooting all the "pretty water", completely disregarding the angles at which I was filming it. Therefore I had water running from left to right....from right to left.....directly towards the camera....away from the camera....down the cliff and with the camera pointing AT the cliff. It was an absolute NIGHTMARE to piece it all together when I edited it in order for it not to be "jarring" to the eye when I cross faded the images. So perhaps to be aware of how you "might" edit it as you are filming is advisable otherwise you end up in a mess! Or story board the whole thing prior to filming if it is more complex than just nature stuff. As I mentioned before......it's also a good rule of thumb to count eight seconds when you press record before you do anything like pan or zoom etc....and then leave another eight seconds after you have "got the shot" you want. This way when you edit it together you have some wiggle room. As I have discovered while dabbling in making my few music videos, when you want a scene for example of someone singing/miming, and they immediately drop their eyes from the camera as soon as the line has been sung/mimed, it's impossible to avoid that "Ok I'm done now!" eye movement when you fade to the next scene. Holding the eye contact/head position etc for a few seconds allows for much better editing. To make your footage more interesting it's a good idea to combine distant, middle and close up shots. To film everything at a distance - say a landscape, quickly becomes boring, no matter how spectacular it is. Our eyes have learned to be "entertained" though movies and television and though you're not aware of it, everything you watch on TV combines these three elements (and more) CONSTANTLY. Except perhaps newsreaders faces? lol! The trick though is to combine all these different shots smoothly so they are not "noticed" as being shot from different perspectives. The thing is, when we look at a scene with our eyes they take in EVERYTHING they see and transmit all those images as one thing to our eyes. If you look at say a river....You see not just the river, but the glistening texture of the water as the sun shines on it....you see the water moving....the tree's on the far side of the river.... the sky in the distance, the clouds, the bank of the river, peripherally you are aware of things, movement, tree's, reeds, etc....and probably SO much more! With a video camera you point it in one direction and it captures THAT, but is unable to capture ALL that your eyes take in, in one single shot. So combining all those little elements of interest takes the viewer on a journey OF the river, much as your brain or eyes would. Video is NOT the same as photography where "stillness" is what is intended. Video is about movement...about "the journey", made up of hundreds of images. For a music video as another example....When filming even something simple like a person singing while playing guitar, it's much more interesting to incorporate things like... say the hands on the strings of the guitar as they play, as a closeup shot. A mid shot of head to waist.....a closeup shot of the face....even closer of the mouth or eyes... Not JUST a pull away shot of the entire thing filmed from one perspective of the guy sitting on the chair singing as he plays. Even more interesting is to add in different scenes relating to the song then coming back to the singer? Framing the shot too is important. The golden rule of thirds is something I'd never heard of before - you photographers would probably know all about that! What it means is USUALLY the shot looks best when the point of interest is two thirds up the frame of the shot. I did find a link about that at some point so I'll try and find it. Worth having a play around anyway experimenting with what position to film a shot in looks best to your eye, before even starting to record. Also included in that of course is getting your horizons straight! This is my biggest problem! I must veiw the world lopsided or something because I RARELY manage to get them straight! A tricky thing with horizons in editing is getting them to match. When floating say one ocean scene over another, if the horizons are at a different level it will look "funny". To fix that you can either be meticulous when filming all your horizons or you can add a contrasting scene - with NO horizon, to put between the shots so it's not so obvious to the eye that the two horizons are different. OR you can use a crop tool in editing to match them up - though of course any zoom done in editing is digital and will affect the image quality. One very obvious thing to remember - you would think, when filming is to make sure your shadow is not in the shot! I don't know how many nice nature scenes I've recorded only to notice afterwards that there is me AND my tripod in the shot! Being aware of ANYTHING that spoils the overall image is important....no matter how tiny it is. Cars driving past in the distance between tree's are a real pain in the bum! When editing, it's tempting to use all the effects you suddenly find at your fingertips. I believe, less is more. The simpler the better. All of those cheesy wipes and transitions, like page roll overs etc are really better left for something you want to look like has been made in the eighties, lol! This is personal preference I guess, but I have read people say that the minute they see a "wipe" of any kind it screams "amateur!" Dissolves and crossfades used to smoothly flow one scene into the next is much gentler on the eye. All depends of course on what you're filming. You wouldn't gently cross fade scenes of a football match Matching your fades and scene changes I always find is controlled by the pace of the music you choose. It's tricky to "time" the scene changes to the music, but by expanding the time line you expand the music track and can "see" (more or less) where to line up your cross fades or dissolves. If you have a shot of something and it's not quite long enough to fit where you want it, you can change the properties of it in your editing program and slow it down a little, which lengthens it slightly. You can also speed it up slightly.....or a lot Back to what I said before though......always film MORE of what you think you'll use in editing just to be on the safe side.....(but never use SO much that it becomes static and boring.) There's nothing more frustrating than having a scene you love but its over in a heartbeat! Always film in good light! Early morning and late afternoon offer the best light to film in. Heat haze here in Australia is a HUGE problem....even on cloudy winter days it STILL distorts the landscape images! I'm so jealous of those that live in countries that don't have heat haze problems! No camera's out there, despite what they say, work well under artificial light conditions. You always need LOADS more light than what you think you'll need, even if you're trying to create a night time effect. Just look at the horror/suspense movies... Haven't you always noticed how "light" it looks for night time? When filming indoors with ordinary light bulbs they cast a very orange light that you don't notice until you try to film with them on. I was quite startled to see just how orange they make everything look! Apparently you CAN buy light bulbs that have a more "white" light. Something I'm looking into. Remember though, the camera lens is just like your eye.....without light it becomes hard to focus. Lighting in itself is a whole other learning curve to master....there really is an ART to it! Bouncing light....reflecting light....pin pointing light....It's all VERY complicated! Makes my head hurt. When you use a video camera on "auto" settings it WILL automatically adjust itself depending on how much light is getting into the lens, therefore fading and brightening as the level of light changes. Turning it to manual will give YOU the control. Much trickier, but creatively much more freedom is available. If you know anything about aperture and shutter speeds it's probably worth experimenting in manual mode to see what can be done. Depth of focus can be very rewarding creatively when using your camera's manual setting. Ok, that's a start. When I think of more.... read and learn more, I'll add them to the list.

Thanks Nightwolf. Oh I'm so pleased you noticed all my fades and layers. God they drove me INSANE! I used SO many effects in Sony Vegas that it slowed everything down SO much that each little BIT that had a layer had to be rendered down separately just so I could check the timing of the fades. I had to do this literally hundreds of times with all those little "bits" in order to get everything crossfading and fading in time. This final clip is the fifteenth render of the whole entire song (THIS version...I did another one before this one!) - and each one of those took about 40 minutes! I was like a woman possessed though - determined not to miss one little section that was slightly too quick or too slow on a fade. I surely hope I've suceeded, because I tell you what, if there IS one tiny bit that some one tells me needs fixing I'm NOT FIXING IT! LOL! And thanks too for the support on the closed minds. Poo to them! I just love that face.

I'm using a JVC Everio HD 7. The image stabilisation is CRAP on this camera. Get's very bad reviews for that, but that is simply solved by using a tripod The best thing about it is the ease of all the manual features which are all external on the camera - not on the LCD screen, which I personally hate. I'm not sure if this model has been superceeded yet but I would highly recommend it for anyone who is not afraid of using the manual features of a camera. John, skyclad in HD.....no thankyou very much, LOL! Thanks for watching

Thank you Steve

Nothing wrong with mucking about and having FUN. It SHOULD be fun. Ever since reading this thread and watching the video I've toyed with the idea of making something quirky that runs "backwards" - since I have discovered how to do that in Sony Vegas. Only thing my simple mind can think of at the moment though is filming someone applying makeup and doing their hair - then reversing it... I keep seeing lipstick peeling OFF. Or what about someone slurping spaghetti? Now that might be fun to film and then reverse? My dog pooping? LOL! Now I AM getting silly.... AND gross! I just watched my two dogs attempting to each eat a boiled egg for the first time. It was the funniest thing, seeing them pop the eggs out of their mouths repeatedly. You had to be there.

Anyone got any? How to make day look like night it what I want to know! Bugger all this filming AT night, trying to fiddle with lighting and make it look "dark" and still try to focus the damn camera! In Sony Vegas I have discovered an effect in "colour curves" that says " night". It casts a very blue darkish look to the clips shot in day light. Still needs some desaturation done in order to look semi "night-ish". I'm wondering if this indeed will prove the way to go. I still have a lot of fiddling to do before I'll know for sure. Anyway.....just thought I'd start this subject in case anyone has ANY sort of tips to offer those of us eager to learn! One tip I have to offer the novice, is.........always shoot a clip longer than what you expect to need to use. 8 seconds in front and 8 in back for ease of editing. Nothing worse than shots that finish too quick.....or a line mimed and then the eyes immediately drop with that "Ok I'm done" look that you can't disguise in editing when fading to the next bit. If you know what I mean?

Hi Rudi! Hey thanks for taking a look and your nice comments. I forgot to mention that if these huge HD files are too big - take too long to stream, you can always click the HD button OFF so it's standard definition. You didn't mention that you had any problems watching it, so I hope you didn't!

Well hello again! I've seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth as I have been totally consumed by trying to make this music clip. My biggest challenge so far, even though it probably looks so darn "simple" ! I know the symbolism "may" disturb some of different religious faiths. I have written my thoughts about that on Vimeo, so be aware that if you have a really strong dislike of anything "pagan" then you would probably not feel comfortable with this clip. In fact I came across one person who was very disturbed by some of the images and probably no longer wishes to associate with me. Reactions like that perplex me, but...well, each to his or her own. Anyway....hey, from a technical point of view all I had to work with was household lighting. Desk lamps and bedroom lamps, balanced on cushions and strung from the ceiling, lol and I had to film it entirely inside instead of OUTSIDE, which is really what I would have preferred to do. Would love to hear your thoughts on the results, especially from a technical/editing point of view. Here it is. http://www.vimeo.com/2026660 Tracy

I watched it and enjoyed. Very quirky

A photoshop thread would be great. Like maybe photoshop for dummies? I'd be interested in learning more about it.

Ahh see I'm not very photoshop savvy...When it comes to "layers" I get confused...I might at some point fumble around and give it a go though! Thanks!