At this point in the age of YouTube, it’s not that a big of a deal when some hack makes a “look at me” video and foists it upon the world, only to have it wind up in the same box of rocks as the robo-dancing teens and the puppy-vs-kitten smackdowns. But when that hack is me…well that’s a horse of a different color.

This Easter weekend, I got focused and finally got to work playing with digital video. (Being a graphic designer, I guess I felt the need to play with yet another medium, to avoid making it big in the ones I’ve already mastered.) For several years now I’ve wanted to experiment, and also to involve my kids, whose last association with videography was probably running around with their pants off on an 8mm tape; sorry guys. (And yes, that was looooong ago.)

Sidenote: It just occurred to me that this will probably make for a weak story, in that I’m not offering much technical insight for those as inexperienced as me, and I’m certainly not adding to the body of knowledge out there, in terms of making movies on the Mac. On top of that, [the 4th version of] my first video is kind of lame. But I may not be able to resist including it here, if only to ensure a thoroughly unjustified blog posting.

Oh – Now I remember the human interest angle! First, after reading a David Pogue review in the New York Times, I ordered a Flip Ultra (60 minute) camera from Amazon; I should receive it any day now. It is what it is…a fairly inexpensive plaything that I suspect will be a nice fit for my planned spontaneity(?!) Anyway, for the interim, I said , “Dang it, I’m going to put out the twenty bucks for QuickTime Pro software, so I can do some basic editing.” With that, I exhumed some vintage footage from my still camera (yes), buried deep in one of my half-dozen hard drives. The “reel” I chose was circa 2003, starring my two boys carving jack-o-lanterns in the kitchen.

Hang in there; it gets marginally better…

Yes…Well I’m not all that proud of this fact, but the real tipping-point motivation on this Movie Weekend was to embarrass my 18 year old son, with whom I have… let’s call it… a stressful relationship. With that guiding light, I cut up the footage with Quicktime Pro and put it into iMovie to lay down some audio tracks (I sound like I know what I’m doing, right?). I also saw it as a blessing that the original file, from my digital still camera (yes) was silent – no microphone on that puppy – and no ‘talking’ in the scene either, so no lip-syncing to deal with. I was totally free to besmirch whoever ended up appearing on this future classic.

Adding sound clips – and distorting them a bit – was fun, especially the mocking laughter near the end (at 20 seconds total, I suppose the whole thing is the end). Layered on that is my thoroughly slack-jawed, nasally and delightfully guttural voice, perhaps actually my sleeping voice. This also was my first chance to post a video online. I’m at least happy that my publicly-lost virginity with YouTube didn’t consist of me apologizing in front of a webcam saying “well, this is my first YouTube video…”

And there you have it. The nominations are in. May I have the envelope please. “…and the Father of the Year award goes to…”

Via PSFK, and ultimately Smith magazine, I came across the Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure concept and book. Though I’ve not yet read the book, the teaser video (see below) is simple and nicely made, and was inspiring enough to get me thinking about poetic brevity. The exercise of constraining an author to 6 words to summarize – or capture the essense of – his or her own life, is a difficult process, but ultimately a clarifying experience.

Even though my own six-word memoir is still ahead of me, I’m familiar with a similar soul-searching process. Being a [lately silent] member of the Startup Nation community of small business owners, I joined in on a particular forum thread last year that challenged business owners to craft an eleven-word “elevator speech.” (The premise of an elevator speech involves finding yourself in an elevator with a potential investor; you had better be able to succinctly communicate the value of your idea before your captive audience steps off at his or her destination.) Before contributions to the thread morphed more into tag lines, I managed to posit my own, followed by a stinging review from a particularly sharp forum member. His words sent me back to my notepad, redoubling my efforts and grinding my pencil and eraser into smoking little nubs from the iterations. But I emerged the wiser for it. I made those eleven words dance; they eloquently carried meaning, but more importantly, very specific meaning.

Strangely, my business focus has changed enough that I don’t actively use that honed elevator speech. You’ll just have to trust me that I did well with the project and that I discovered the power in economy of words.

Back to six-word memoirs. Take the challenge yourself, and invite your friends. I’d like to read what you come up with, in comments here or at the project’s own submissions site. Perhaps first have a look at this video before you explore the site and then (hopefully) share your own, really-short story with the world.

Six-Word Memoir book preview from SMITHmag on Vimeo.

What in the world would one Wovel? Why, snow of course.

Background: last night I had a self-promotion idea for my graphic design consultancy business: a tongue-in-cheek , snow shoveling-themed postcard. (We just received a few inches of sleet and snow here in north Jersey, USA.) I imagined the mailer employing some kind of infographical treatment, perhaps illustrations of a shoveler with call-outs of Dos and Don’ts. It’d be based in truth, but there’d be some fun in the liberties I could take.

I needed some inspiration, fueled by research. Initial Googling found plenty of lame “advice” articles (“1. Wear warm clothes…”). I lose all respect for the article that starts out that way; we are talking about snow here, not sand.

I drastically veered from my mission when I came upon The Wovel, and I knew I just had to wax rhapsodically. The manufacturer does have rather pedantic Quicktime videos on their site (for those of you hell-bent on dominating the Wovel cocktail chat this weekend), but the above YouTube video seems simpler and, I dare say, more…dramatic(?!).

The world will always need a good ergo-gadget (think post-petroleum now), and this one positively screams fulcrum! It actually helps you propel the snow, something no over-engineered, space-age, bent aluminum scoop-on-a-stick creation can.* I own a rather new and large snowblower but I’m not all that fond of the bulk, weight, noise, exhaust vibration and maintenance that comes in tow. This here woveler may be a tool worth trying, though at $78.00 I’ll need to think more on it.

Okay, now I’ve found the SnoLift Easy Shovel, but it rolls on two tiny wheels. Right away, the Wovel (yes, it still is weird to type that with a straight face) comes across as superior, like it could handle any depth of snow. “Big wheel keep on turnin’,” if you know what I mean.

There. Do you now have a firm and loving grasp on modern day, environmentally- and skeletally-friendly snow removal? I didn’t think so.

Finally, this product badly needs a viral video. Surely someone can edit the available footage and maybe set it to something like Devo’s “Whip It,” accentuating the wrist-snap that sends your cakey precipitate flying. Who knows, it could be the stuff of a white-hot national craze, or at least get some sedentary people outdoors safely in winter.

Thanks to Smashing magazine for introducing me to this beautiful little video, one of the best examples of information graphics in motion, what with the little story going on in it. Sure, it’s from 2002, but so what? It’s a classic. I’ve found many references to it on other blogs, including that it won a 2002 European MTV award for the French motion graphics studio H5 (I’d like to give you a link to them but after 30 minutes Googling, I gave up). There’s also a video to be found out there that H5 made for a nuclear power company, but it isn’t nearly as charming. If you’re asked. “what’s an info-graphic?” point ‘em to this (or this or this). Enjoy

An exciting look at the progress – and the cumulative impact – of the web on humanity.

Comment posted by frs
at 1/6/2008 3:22:00 PM

Looks interesting and clever but after waiting about ten minutes I had to give up and fix supper.