Over dinner this evening, my wife, a close friend of hers, and I were talking about the phenomenon where single folks can’t get a date to save their lives, but as soon as they start seeing someone everyone starts flirting. I noticed this back in my single days and developed a theory - when you are single, nobody wants to take a chance with you because there might be a good reason why you are alone. But, when they see you with someone else, you’ve been vetted. Another human being has gotten close enough to see flaws and stayed. The mind begins to wonder, “maybe I missed something - I ought to take a closer look!”

When I got home, there was an email in my inbox from Yaro Starak, The Blog Traffic King, talking about ’social proof.’ This is when people visit your website and think it is valuable because they see proof that other people are visiting your website. The fact that others stop to look implies it’s worth looking at! How’s that for synchronicity?

If you haven’t already, check out Yaro’s blog: www.Entrepreneurs-journey.com. I came across it while surfing back in December and have really enjoyed his writing. He writes about marketing, but he’s run non-marketing web businesses that have made money. That perspective makes a difference. (The hairs on the back of my neck go up when I hear someone selling their marketing expertise and all they’ve ever done is run a business selling marketing expertise. Reminds me of the stories of the people who sold mining and panning equipment during the gold rush - they made money, but their customers rarely did.)

Hope you enjoyed my moment of synchronicity,

The Go-To Guy!

I worked on a web page that has some great resources related to the controversies behind “Da Vinci Code.”

My work consisted of creating the background graphics and coding the style sheets for the special content, but the articles and interviews provide a great background on the issues behind the story without all of the hype.

If you find the whole “Da Vinci Code” story interesting, check it out. Otherwise, check it out and let me know what you think of the graphic design.

The Go-To Guy

“I felt like a fly on the wall..fascinating!”
“A fantastic show!”
“Surprisingly funny - and then I was in tears.”
“Uplifting, engaging…deserves all the fine adjectives I can muster. … A gem of a production - wholly satisfying. I didn’t want to leave. “

For the past few weeks I’ve been working on the set-design and construction for the Theater Forum production of “Angels Fall,” by Lanford Wilson. We just finished our first week of a three week run and have already received great audience feedback and our first review.

OffoffOnline calls the show “compelling, intimate” and refers to it as “a moment of communion…a minor miracle”. Our actors are praised as “exceptional…refreshingly layered” and “well-nuanced.” Read the whole review at www.offoffonline.com. (I even get mentioned by name when she talks about the set!)

If you are in the New York City area, make a reservation and see what everyone is talking about. “Angels Fall” is running until May 7, 2006.

The Go-To Guy

I recently spotted this message on the Videomaker Magazine blog. They are co-sponsoring a contest where the prize is a new Sony HDR FX1 HDV Camcorder. The contest runs through April 15, 2006.

Current TV is the cable/satellite station that is the partner on this contest. They are looking for short form documentaries they call “Pods” to air on their channel. Contest details are available at the Current TV website.

If you’re handy with a video camera, here’s a chance to get a better one. Go to it!

The Go-To Guy

One of my current projects is as technical director and set designer for a production of “Angels Fall,” by Lanford Wilson. The show is being produced by the Theatre Forum at Church for All Nations, in New York City, and my wife Ellen is producing.

The Project: 6 Rustic Benches

My first construction project for this play is a set of 6 benches for the set. The director requested I make them first so the actors could get used to them during rehearsal. So, this past weekend, I sketched up my design and built 6 wooden benches.

The play takes place in a poor southwestern church. The director wanted something that looked like it was put together from leftover materials. I decided to use 2×10 floor joists as my primary material as scraps of these can be found on any timber frame construction site. The design consists of two 1.5″ uprights supporting a 4′ wide seat with triagular gussets at each joint for extra strength.

Overall, the design of the benches is very consistent with the type of benches that you might find in a location like the one described in the play. We bought four 12′ long 2″x10″ floor joists and had less than 11″ of scrap left when the benches were finished (Ellen helped me with the math on getting the most useable materials out of each board, as well as how to get each board cut down at the Home Depot so it would fit into our car.) We bought one box of screws and the last one I needed was also the last one in the box.

Finishing Work

All that remains for these benches is to sand down the rough spots and paint them. I’m going to use either a pickeling stain or milk paint to add a bit of color but let the grain show through and give them a weathered look. The stain and milk paint both have a flat finish with a chalky look that will make them look worn out and dull. After that I’ll rub them down strategically with a little dark paint to ‘dirty them up’ and let the director determine if they need any more ‘distressing.’

Counting the trip to Home Depot, I’ve got about 4 hours of work into this project and they turned out pretty nice! It will take another 3 hours to do the sanding and painting.

For more info on the play visit the Theater Forum webpage.

The Go-To Guy!

I had a chance to spend a couple afternoons this week at the DV Expo East. It was like spending an afternoon at the candy shop.

I’m still looking for HD solutions for shooting and editing and got to put my hands on the new Sony HDV cameras and the new JVC HDV camera. The JVC booth was pretty crowded, so I didn’t spend as much time with that camera, but I got a chance to play around with the new Sony Z1U. It’s nicely laid out and comfortable to control. The images looked great (at least the direct feed to the monitors did) and I liked the overall feel of the camera.

I spent a little time at the 16×9, Inc booth playing with the Z1U they had tricked out with rails, mattebox and follow-focus. It doubles the cost of the camera, but what a difference having solid controls at your fingertips. The rep there told me you need to use larger than 4 inch wide filters (4.6 I think she said) when shooting HDV to cover the full field of view on the lens. Something that’s pretty annoying is that none of the matteboxes are interchangeable with other cameras. The new design of all these cameras places different pieces (like the Z1U’s on camera mike) right over the lens so the box has to be re-designed to fit the nuances of each camera body. That wouldn’t be such a big deal if the accessories didn’t cost so much. Fortunately the follow-focus units only need to have the lens gears swapped out to adapt to new cameras.

The Panasonic P2 HD presentation may have me dropping all thoughts of HDV. Their new P2 camera (due out in November) boasts support for DVCPro 25, DVCPro50, and DVCPro HD. This means HD with no MPEG compression artifacts. The P2 storage system means a silent operating camera with no moving parts (bye, bye head clogs) and no more tapes.

The P2 card will pop into any PC’s PCMCIA slot and show up as a hard drive. Dump the footage to a big, cheap external drive and wipe the card clean for another round. The on-set workflow will be similar to a film camera - an assistant dumps the footage and clears off the card after it fills (although you can keep shooting on the second card while the first is being transfered.) This roughly parallels a loader swapping out film mags - minus having to check the gate and thread the film. Current 8Gig cards hold about 8 minutes of 1020i HD footage, but the P2 cards memory is made up of 4 SD cards, the same standard type as are used in still cameras and Palm Pilots, so as the capacity for SD cards increases so will the capacity of the P2 cards. I think the prices for P2 cards will come down pretty quickly once the camera gets out there. Plus, there will likely be a direct to hard drive solution available very soon after the camera is released for folks who need longer record times.

I’m planning on spending some time with this new camera when the start shipping. I’m going to schedule some time over at Abel Cine to play with it.

That big frustration now is, if I use the Panasonic solution for HD, how do I edit the footage in Premiere Pro??? It doesn’t have DVCPro HD codecs.

There’s more cool stuff that I saw at the Expo, but I’ll have to wait to write about it.