Online education is a huge growing market as schools and universities all over the world are putting their classes online both for free and paid versions. There are several online class platforms out there but one we have found to be very interesting and revolutionary is the NovoEd platform developed at Stanford University by Professor Amin Saberi and his team of engineers.
Rockk Video has now become the preferred video production partner with NovoEd to facilitate high quality video for educators wanting to integrate their course online with this unique platform.
To date we have shot five of these online courses for clients and hope to be producing many more in the coming months as this partnership grows and develops. DigitalEd is a service of Rockk Video and features partners Kevin Rockwell, Rusty Dornin, and Chuck Afflerbach. You can find the DigitalEd services located here.
Just took delivery of a new camera for our production arsenal today. The brand new Sony PMW-100 XDCam is now in hand. This great new full HD (can do full 1080 at 50MB/sec) camera will be a great addition to the toolset.
Here are the specs of this new beauty:
The PMW-100 is Sony’s first handheld camcorder supporting the 50 Mbps MPEG HD422 codec. It is a good companion to the PMW-500 XDCAM HD422 shouldermount camera. With its one 1/3″ (actual size: 1/2.9″ Full HD Exmor CMOS sensor (1920×1280), the PMW-100 is able to achieve high resolution, high sensitivity, low noise, and wide dynamic range in a small camera. The PMW-100 can be used for both SD and HD applications. It can be set to record 50 Mbps MPEG HD422 as MXF files on UDF formatted cards just like the PMW-500 memory camcorder or the PDW-700/F800 optical disc based camcorders. Or you can set the camcorder for FAT mode recording to shoot SxS cards which are compabile with the XDCAM EX format made by the PMW-EX1/R or PMW-320/350. For SD applications you can make DVCAM recordings as either MXF files or XDCAM EX compatible files.
Highlights:
Single 1/3-inch Exmor CMOS sensor (actual size: 1/2.9 – inch)
50 Mbps MPEG HD422 recording as MXF files (UDF mode only)
SD Recording and Playback (DVCAM) standard
10x Fixed Zoom Lens (f= 5.4 – 54 mm) (servo/manual switchable)
Two ExpressCard SxS Memory Card Slots
Record up to 4 hours 50 Mbps MPEG HD422 in camcorder using two 64 GB SxS-1A memory cards (must be purchased separately)
UDF (Professional Disc compatible) or FAT (XDCAM EX compatible) file format mode shooting to have similar high res files and workflows with existing Professional Disc and XDCAM EX camcorders
NightShot Function
Low power consumption
Compact and lightweight at under 4 lbs
16:9, 3.5 inch color LCD
Slow & Quick motion
Focus Magnification for focus assistance
Slow Shutter Function
Shutter Angle Settings
Picture Cache Recording
High-quality four-channel audio recording
HD/SD-SDI output and composite/HD-Y output
USB interface for connecting camcorder as card reader
Six Standard Gamma settings and Four HyperGama Settings
Rockk Video just finished posting a project for Aurora Algae of Hayward. Aurora had us shoot Broll of their laboratory facilities in Hayward and then edit that video with HD video of their production facilities in Western Australia into a video presentation for investors. The video details the process that Aurora uses to research algae, grow it and then harvest it for use in pharmaceuticals, animal feed and bio-fuels. They are proving that algae can be grown in large quantities and with minimal impact on the landscape.
At the 2012 MacWorld show in SF we provided two cameras to help the folks from ZeoBit Software show off their MacKeeper software at this annual show. They had us doing customer testimonials in HD, show video, interviews with journalists, interviews with software insiders and more. Our production helped them show off their brand for all to see at this important trade show for Apple products fans. We set up a production corner in their show booth that allowed them to gain visibility while at the same time gathering crucial video they can use to brand and promote their software around the world. We shot on the Sony HDV Z1 cameras. The crew was Kevin Rockwell and Chuck Afflerbach, both of whom have over 30 years of video production experience.
This is a recent science shoot for CNN I did using the new XDCam format. Very interesting research being done at Stanford University on climbing technology.
Many clients these days are moving over to shooting in HD and as you may know there area variety of formats to utilize these days including those which shoot on tape, flash memory, and now optical disc. But one of the very affordable cameras that is very popular right now and yet which can produce great HD video is the Sony PMW EX3 XDCAM HD camera. This light weight Sony camera can shoot in full 1080p HD onto SxS Express memory cards. It also can mount different lenses so you can have flexibility if you need it for various shots on your project.
Rockk Video can shoot your HD video project here in the Bay Area using the Sony EX3 HD camera. We have the ability to transfer the digital media to your hard drive on location, on your memory cards on the shoot, or create a back up media for you after the shoot is complete. Very flexible and versatile.
Here is some of the product info on this camera*:
The PMW-EX3 compact camcorder with an interchangeable lens system incorporates three ½-inch type Exmor™ Full HD CMOS sensors, each with an effective pixel count of 1920 x 1080, delivering stunning-quality HD images in 1080P, 720P, and 1080i HD resolutions. A rich variety of features for creative shooting are incorporated into this camcorder such as “Slow & Quick Motion”, which is also commonly known as “over-cranking” and “under-cranking”, selectable gamma curves, slow-shutter, interval recording and the Picture Profile™ feature. Additionally, the PMW-EX3 offers a convenient remote-control and multi-camera operation capability, which allows use with high-end camera systems.
? Compact camcorder with an interchangeable lens system,
allowing use of 1/2- and 2/3-inch type lenses*
? Three 1/2-inch type Exmor Full HD CMOS Sensors, each with
1920 x 1080 pixels
? Professional manual focus and auto focus operation
? Slow & Quick motion capability
? 3.5-inch type** color LCD viewfinder
? HD-SDI output, down-converted SD-SDI output, i.LINK (HDV
stream) input/output, analog composite/component output
and USB interface (USB 2.0)
? Built-in gen-lock input, timecode input/output and remote
control interface for multi-camera operation
Here is some product info on the memory:
The SxS PRO Memory Card
The SxS PRO memory card adopted by the XDCAM EX series for recording is an ultra-compact nonlinear medium that uses flash memory, and is based on the SxS™ memory card specifi cation. The SxS PRO memory card achieves an extremely high data transfer speed of 800 Mb/s*, allowing users to quickly transfer recorded footage to a compatible PC or nonlinear editing system.
Shot three feature stories for the National Science Foundation recently. Not many stations or networks are doing science these days so it is nice that NSF is doing a fine job of putting out good science videos.
Worked with producer Marsha Walton on these stories. She is an old colleague of mine when we both worked at CNN.
Fire Arts Festival Coverage for G4′s “Attack of the Show
The Crucible is an Oakland, CA based organization that teaches classes in blacksmithing, welding, glass blowing, and a whole host of other interesting industrial arts skills in a way that is nothing like your old high school shop classes. They do it with flair and with style. Each year they put on a couple of fund raising events to keep the doors open. One of the is the “Fire Arts Festival” where they take over a ten acre parking lot in West Oakland and basically let fire roar. Artists bring their sculptures and art work that literally breathe fire and show them off for an adoring crowd.
It makes for quite and evenings entertainment. G4 came to town for this years show for a segment on their “Attack of the Show”. We lived fire with their host Blair Herter who even dared to swallow fire on camera….
This was a Beta SP (Ikegami HLV55) shoot for this client.
It was a busy few days of shoots last week for Rockk Video as it was one of those times when all the shoots happen in a space of a few days.
Monday began with a shoot for Blue Turtle Roofing documenting their install of a cool roofing system for a client in Santa Rosa CA. They were installing cool roof shingles and a solar attic fan that can reduce summer home temps by as much as 17 degrees. Should make a big dent in energy costs for this client. Then it was off to BR Cohn Winery to shoot stand ups for our wine program. Great day in the wine country as temps were high and the breeze was just right.
Tuesday brought the first of three days shooting stories for the National Science Foundation web site. We started off in Oakland at the ASA Academy summer program for girls where they teach wonderful science curriculum to young women. The camp consists of mornings in classroom getting hands on education about astronomy, computer game building and more and afternoons spent on science field trips.
Wednesday was frog day. Over at SF State researcher Vance Vredenburg is looking into the extinction of frogs and particularly the problem of frog populations dying off in the Sierras of California from a fungus infection. This problem could be reflective of our global climate change issues and what we are doing to the Earth. We shot in his lab and then out in the field as he gathered samples in a pond east of SF.
Thursday we hopped over to UC Berkeley to do a story on researchers there who are building small helicopters in the lab and creating new algorithms to figure out the thorny issues of collision avoidance in air traffic control as well as flight control innovations.
Then came the fire.
Literally.
The Crucible is an Oakland based organization that teaches classes in blacksmith, iron work, glass blowing, wood working and more. Industrial arts taught in a cool way and not the dorky way of high school classes. Every year they put on a fund raising show called the Fire Arts Festival. They set up in a ten acre lot in west Oakland where artists can come and shop off their best fire breathing, turbo charged sculptures and performances. It is a wild night of music, fire, art, and creative folks. You have never seen anything quite like it. The image below is of the installation called the . They literally shoot liquid propane into a fire and with fans creating a vortex of wind they sculpt the fire live and from only a few feet away from the incredibly hot flames. We were shooting for the G4 network show called “Attack of the Show”.
G4 Talent – Blair Herter
Friday we wrapped the week up with two shoots that featured style and comfort. A business shoot at the Hotel Vitale, a boutique hotel on the SF waterfront owned by Joie de Vivre Hospitality entailed interviews with the CEO about his use of psychology techniques to better his employee relationships and hotel ambiance. Then it was off to shoot stand ups for KaylaCookson-dot-TV, the cooking and food show for college students and young adults. We shot stand ups and broll at a local farmers market in Oakland CA to illustrate the bargains to be had if you shop wisely.
New Blog Talk Radio Show scheduled for Thursday June 11th at 11am PDT. Join me as I interview Dave Kaminski.
Dave and I will be discussing web video production, techniques and tools as well as how people are using web video to make money these days. Get some good tips and strategies to energize your web marketing!
Dave is a veteran web video guy who teaches folks how to do web video and educates them on how to make money for their businesses using video. It should be an entertaining show.
Online education is a huge growing market as schools and universities all over the world are putting their classes online both for free and paid versions. There are several online class platforms out there but one we have found to be very interesting and revolutionary is the NovoEd platform developed at Stanford University by Professor Amin Saberi and his team of engineers.
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Video Production Services, San Jose