First day I actually filled all 3 activity rings on my Apple Watch. Proud of myself.
Tag: danny dileo
More of a nod to Gene Wilder than anything. That guy is so underrated. Watch the video below and experience how natural Wonka feels as a dark film.
Thank you guys for following along in my diary blogs with this project. It has taken around 6 months and many. many hours. But alas, here it is. Thanks again and any feedback would be invited.
The clock in the upper right corner of my mac reads 1:54am. And as I type the Camden Baptist Church “welcome video” is exporting to Compressor. Which means….. drum roll…. It’s complete! The CBC welcome video is finished! As always, I have a mixed bag of emotions. But the most prominent of those is happy!
It has been a crazy 7 months and this project has certainly served me the ups and downs. I’m always mixed with the “feels” when a project like this is over. Whether you know the subjects in the video or not, you do get attached to them. You spend late nights trying to get things to work. You spend countless hours staring at the characters in whatever film you are working on. And then like the best of relationships past, there gone. Just with one click of a button. Gone.
Nonetheless, I feel relieved. This (for me) was a major undertaking and I can’t stress enough; without the help of My wife Lindsey, John and Mandy Lynch and Bro Edward and his wife Ms. Faith, this process would have been an extremely difficult undertaking. I’m thankful I had a support group when needed and extra eyes on demand. The older I get, the more I learn nothing worth substance is usually executing alone. Most good results are spawned from teamwork. This project was no different.
A word on the finished product if I may. I’ve always had an issue with making things creatively and then letting them go in to the public. This is no different, but with this current project I feel “OK”. My only job was to put together a video to replicate the true heart of Camden Baptist Church. I wasn’t commissioned to make a super polished video by any means. (But I feel confident in the quality.) I wasn’t tasked to buy new equipment and shoot out of this world shots. (But I feel this time around I really stretched my equipment as far as it can go and reached it’s full potential). At the end of the day I looked at this project like such: It had to stand the test of time. This video’s main objective is to inform church searchers that there is a place called Camden Baptist Church and the people there will welcome you with open arms. The video must succeed on capturing the essence of CBC so when a newcomer attends the video doesn’t feel fabricated or convoluted. This was the goal.
I can sit here honestly stating I feel the video has hit the mark we were going for. Of course this is none of my doing, but the result of much prayer and grace. I’m thrilled it’s finished and in my opinion an accurate representation of the church. But I’m more excited of what the future brings. If one, just one visitor comes because they viewed the video, this was worth every second of the six months it took.
So whats next you ask? Currently I am working on the website. Brother Edward, Ms. Faith and I have discussed about how and where we would like to place the video and those talks are ongoing and still in discussion. Personally, I’ve always wanted to do a sort of “cover” page for the site introducing the video and simply presenting it. If the reader didn’t come for the video they can simply click the “continue to site” button. Also the video’s long term home will be one of the main pictures tiles on the bottom of the home page. I’m not sure how long the cover page will last, but ill be checking analytics on it to determine if the plays we are receiving from there are substantial or not. If not I don’t mind at all just placing it in it’s home on the homepage.
Well, there you have it. Thank you guys for following this diary of sorts. I originally planned for much more than 4 entires, but time is tough nowadays and honestly I’m just glad I got 4 out. I hope you somewhat enjoyed this and maybe learned something about Final Cut Pro in the process. I have been really excited to hear from some younger readers and how the young kids still have a interest in editing.
OH YA… the video! I almost forgot. I will post the video on this site as soon as it is live on Camdenbaptistchurch.com for your viewing pleasure. I am really looking forward to your guys take on it, positive or negative.
Once again, thank you guys a bunch and Ill be in touch soon with the finished product.
Well, I am pleased to report the video is moving along quite nicely. Not without a major scare though (we’ll get into that). November was an extremely stressful month for planning shots, executing angles, coordinating with people to make certain shots happen, etc. It was all worth it and I am happy to report, Filming is wrapped!
First things first though, about a month ago I made a mistake. (enter amateur hour) I accidentally misplaced my entire timeline. I know, I know. Basically the video just disappeared. I’m sure you could imagine my enthusiasm. There was a big moment of denial which lasted around an hour, followed by cold sweats and a pounding headache. I traveled my mac up and down to the ends of long lost file directories. No CBC.FCP (file name) to be found. It was like stealthy magic trick. Im not gonna lie, it was impressive. But frightening to say the least. After an hour of nothing, I caved and called Apple customer support.
Since I am using a “pro” software I am able to call Apple’s support line and reach for the safety raft. I was pretty confident Apple had a solution, they had always helped me in the past. So while on the inside I was crying, I felt Apple would pull me out of it. Nop. Not only could they not help me. A supervisor gave me a lecture on backups, especially working with a large video project (Thanks, Apple).
After about another hour of scouring my computers hard drive to no avail, I opened up Final Cut Pro and bit the bullet. I started rebuilding from scratch the entire video. This was months of work, but I had no choice. I was pulling down files to place into my timeline one at a time. Anyone who is aware of the process knows how insane this sounds. But really, what were my options?
All of sudden I pulled down a file with an odd name. It was labeled that days date. I dragged it to my timeline and low and behold it was my original video that went missing! To this moment, I still have no idea how my 5 minute edited cut of the video got removed from my timeline and mixed in with 400 clips of random footage. If I would have been allowed to run around with no pants discharging whipped cream in my mouth, I would have! I was extremely happy to say the least!
After that incident I directly went into filming. I have attended every church service I could with camera in hand. I went with the bus ministry with my clanky tripod and toted my camera equipment in the hallways of nursing homes for the nursing home ministry. I lugged my trusty tripod and camera around church to every Sunday school class, every special occasion. In all actuality it was pretty fun, but certainly exhausting. A mental note: filming is exhausting. I always forget this.
Last week is when I really sat down and dug my heels in with the editing. I had a goal of trying to make something cohesive and feel like “one” video after a 2 night edit session. This was hard because I had literally 400 plus clips of footage I had to condense into a 5 or so minute video. Luckily making the audio narrative really helped.
When I felt the product was about 80% complete I wanted to show it to Bro. Edward. After all it’s his video. I knew once achieving around 80% completion, the rest of the work would really be just polishing the actual footage in the timeline. Polishing is tough and takes a considerable amount of time. So therefore I dint want to be polishing video that wasn’t going to make it into the final cut. And I didn’t have the authority to claim Final Cut, Bro Edward did.
I was nervous showing him, but felt somewhat confident that the product told the story he wanted. But most definitely my goal was; if there was something in here he didn’t want or like, I wanted to know now. Before putting a final polish on it. Luckily, he loved it. He kept telling me he thought it was finished. Or that I didn’t need to do anything else to it. Of course I know, and every filmmaker in the world knows thats not true. But this was a good sign. I was on the right track.
Presently I am proud to say I have a picture lock and am deep in “magic” month. Really, just tightening the screw and polishing everything. It looks like I will hit my goal of launching sometime in January! I really, really can’t wait for people to see it at this point. I should be posting one more update to this series as time goes on.
Thanks for following along!
With all the craziness in today’s world I strongly demand things like this get noticed!
Sometimes when I’m having a not so great day, I watch this and it makes me smile. Trust me, It’s worth your time:
Told you it was worth it.
Did you smile?
The project is trucking along. In many ways I have been kind of surprised by how smooth some tasks have been. In more ways, frustrated by fixing some of my shortcomings as a filmmaker. Nonetheless, the project is in fairly healthy shape and still tracking a possible January completion.
Recently, I have finished my audio narrative. Basically that means the audio narration from Bro. Edward is in place and it seems completed. As of now, I am satisfied in how the dialogue flows. I think it tells the right story, at the right pace, in the right tone of delivery. I guess time will be the judge of all the elements at play. But at this point. That audio is a pretty firm lock, and thats good thing .
Moving on but staying with audio. I always knew finding the right music was going to be difficult. Exactly like my “Family Videos”, the tone of the music I know, but finding the actual track that will be placed is always a complicated feat. For me, the music is a huge element in a video like this. If we are going to try and recreate how the church feels accurately – which is the goal – then the music needs to feel the most spot on in my opinion. Especially because in a church like CBC, music plays such a big role as the general “feel”.
I searched high and low for literally weeks on end and nothing came. To be honest, I was getting scared imagining a future where the music would fall short. Then at church 2 weeks ago something hit me. Bro Edward does so much of his talking with piano playing in the background. And what is this video? It’s him mostly speaking. So soft piano music would work. And it would be a precise representation of what church is actually like there. So my idea of “big production feel” music was left at sea and my search began of old gospel hymns, softly played. Nothing big, just subtle. Blending in instead of demanding attention. I found a keeper and pleasantly am surprised how well it is working in the current cut. Check and moving on.
Like I mentioned earlier, all of the audio nearly is finished, so my focus now is on shots. I need a bunch of them. Mostly every service I attend in the month of November I will be shooting. Thats the level of shots needed in a video like this. Sure the final cut will end up around 5 minutes, but I’ve discovered by doing this, you need shots and shots and more shots and back ups and fill shots. So shots it is.
So, It seems all of November will be big on picking up shots of various things. Bus route, Sunday School classes, Super church, in service shots, Nursery etc. Anything really Bro. Edward speaks on in the video, I need ample coverage.
More words on shots and cinematography: I’m shooting everything with the idea that when I go back to Final Cut, I have the option to play with these. I am shooting a tiny bit wider and zoomed out then normal. The main reason for this is to play with the notion of a Ken Burns or dolly effect to be added to everything. Im not sure if that idea will pan out in the final cut, but I like the idea of leaving that option open. So there’s that. Of course I don’t have to do that, but I want to make this video as good as possible. So I’m willing to put in the extra work and try it. if it doesn’t work, I’ll revert to my originals.
Then comes December. If all goes well and according to some sort of plan, December will be my magic month. This is common phrase in the filmmaking world. Basically by then, you hope that you have all the footage you need and all feels right to where you can really maneuver the video and tweak elements to really make it a strong project.
Anyhow, I’m moving forward and all is going decently right now. Like I mentioned, November is going to be a shooting month and December will hopefully be a Magic Month with the hopes of release on the website sometime in January!
Thanks for following along and I will certainly update this video diary some point in November. Any questions as usual you could use the contact tab on the site.
Happy Shooting!
I understand technology is not for everyone. It hinders and enables. In many ways, a double edged sword. I respect everyone’s own opinion on the subject. But whether your opinion is positive or negative, 8 years ago today (6/29/2007) something revolutionary happened. From time to time I’ll take a moment and rewatch the keynote, just to see the pure excitement on Job’s face during this. It hasn’t happened since. Not while Jobs was alive and not at Apple.
iPhone was announced and Steve Jobs solidified Apple’s dominance up until today. Who knows what the future holds, but no one can deny the impact that day had, 8 years ago today.
If your a fan of cinema in any capacity, you will love this. Basically it plays back the entire length of Jaws with the most in-depth commentary I have ever personally experienced including Steven Spielberg, Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfess and Robert Shaw. Along with all sorts of interesting input from crew members and locals. It’s truly fantastic and plays like a righteous commentary to Jaws that seemingly we will never get. Enjoy!
At the beginning of all this, I confessed my history of Apple products and my pending “issue.” In the past I have had some problems with keeping devices for a variety of my own reasons, but mainly caused by my personal indecisiveness. To be sure this wouldn’t happen again, I documented and held myself accountable for the research that went into my decision to purchase an Apple Watch. Well, I said all that to say I returned my Apple Watch after the 14 day grace period. Largely in part of another project I am committed to that needed some expensive software from Apple and that situation very quickly became a need vs. want thing. Need being the software and want being an Apple Watch. Although I enjoyed my time with Apple Watch, there were some bumps in the road. All in all, Apple Watch and I didn’t sail into the sunset together, but made a few lasting memories that certainly weren’t all bad. Below is my ramblings of what the 14 day experience for ME was like.
This is I guess you can say, my review. But really the word “review” would be setting this up for failure. I’ve tried really hard to not be biased (because I am huge Apple fan) and give a fair account of my opinions on Apple Watch. It is important to keep in mind that all these words are indeed opinions. Meaning no one can have a “right” opinion or a “wrong” opinion. It is also equally important to note that I only used the Watch for 14 days. So in no way is this meant to be an in depth review or even really a valid one. Just one guy’s thoughts, that’s all.
THE PREORDER
I guess its fair to start with my situation since we last spoke. I was on the fence regarding Apple Watch. So, update time: I did indeed preorder a 42mm Space Grey Sport, but not at 3am like my usual practice. I actually showed some resilience and waited until I was dead set on the size. I’ve never worn a watch before and was completely unfamiliar with the sizing. I didn’t know what a 38mm or 42mm watch felt like. Once I went to the Apple store to try on the Watch, I settled on 42mm and was ready to preorder. The issue was, by this time (4 days after preordering started) the watch was pushed back till June. That didn’t matter to me. And the preorder was executed.
I received the watch on June 3. I was excited! There was so much possibility of fresh and new ways to interact with people. I reminisced of the iPhone’s release and how I could never have known the impact that device would inevitably have. I looked at the watch similarly which maybe was my first problem. I thought the watch could be a revolutionary thing that changed the way I personally communicated.
So the Watch arrived! I was psyched, like a kid on Christmas morning. I strapped it on. Immediately it felt odd. Not anything of Apple’s doing, but because the realization hit me that i’ve never worn a watch before. Funny, I was looking forward to the Watch, even convinced myself it had a place in my life, but I forgot it was indeed a watch. It was like being really excited for cheese and then when you eat it you realize you’ve never ate cheese before. Anyways….
HARDWARE
First things first, I don’t mind saying without hesitation this is bar none the best physical product Apple has ever made. I purchased the “cheap” model and it still was “take your breath away” stunning. Apple never ceases to amaze me. I can spend months staring at promotional pictures of a product and when I finally see it in person, it’s still amazing.
Jony Ive and team completely outdid themselves. I mean I can’t say enough on the quality of the device. My best friend has the stainless steel model and a fancier band, and they are well worth the steeper price point. The craftsmanship shown on the device is breathtaking. The digital crown moves as smoothly as you would imagine, with a slight bit of resistance but enough slide to achieve a luxurious feel.
Personally I loved the feel of my sport band. It was supple, yet strong. It fit like a good glove. The actual Watch I decided on was the Space Grey model. From the get-go I really clung to the look and I stayed with it. Even seeing all in person I ended up happy. Again, it was awesome. There is so much positive I can say with absolute zero negative comments, that I’ll just end on it’s a flawless design!
To me this is even more impressive considering hey, Apple has never made a Watch before! Or any wearable for that matter! They make screens and keyboards! Amazing they were able to nail and I mean nail this on their first try.
SOFTWARE
OK, here is where things get a little hairy (for me). So let me speak on the good first. The Watch faces are fantastic. Simply put, I loved, LOVED the watch faces and the “complications” (little widgets in the corners displaying info) Some days I would sit there and just play with the faces. They were polished, well done and purposeful. Bravo Apple!
The BEST, BEST, BEST feature of the watch in my opinion was the fitness tracking. I absolutely loved it. Apple really cares about Health and it shows in how much attention they put into fitness. I constantly was checking my 3 rings and was obsessing over filling all of them. The one feature I will miss the most no question. I really think the mark of something great, whether it be film or anything is learning or discovering something new about yourself. Apple’s take on fitness really made me more aware of my situation and was a delightful feature that made my experience really special.
So the bad, (again these are opinions) if you swipe up from the Watch face you will find “Glances.” These are supposed to be quick references you can flick through to get some fast, but needed info. The idea sounds great and reciprocates the philosophy of Apple Watch. But when I started to use them problems became very apparent. Besides the little dots on the bottom of the screen, you have no navigation whatsoever. It was odd. Glances were meant to be fast and efficient , but overtime I tried to use them I would lose my place and have to swipe around to find where I was at in my list. Also, they needed to be refreshed every time you accessed them.
I will give Apple a bunch of room for error here because I’m aware it’s a first gen product. But my sports app “glance” was stuck on the Mets game from 6 days ago and just wouldn’t update. I’m unsure if this is Apple’s issue or my App. Either way it made for a bad experience for me personally.
Lastly is the App grid. Press in the digital crown and you will be introduced to an array of tiny app circles that move impressively as a grid. This also turned into an overwhelmingly frustrating. I completely understand why Apple has included this, and why Apps will be a very big deal. But it just seems it was handled somewhat clumsy. I found myself actively trying to avoid going to the screen which i’ve never done on an Apple product before.
REAL LIFE USAGE
Like I said, I loved using the Watch faces. I found myself checking them all the time just to see what time it was, which was cool. I never wore a watch before so this could have been just the new effect of having time on my wrist but either way, I enjoyed it.
Also its important to note I am a firefighter 1 day out of 3 and I learned very quickly the Watch was a no go there. The job is just too physical and wearing it just one day produced a scratch on my screen. This wasn’t a deal breaker for me, but it bummed me out seeing those activity rings being blank 1 day out of 3!
Real life usage is where I had a love-hate relationship with the Watch. I can break these down into 2 simple groups:
LOVE = The way the Watch makes me aware of my surroundings.
HATE = The way the Watch enabled me to interact with people.
Lets talk about LOVE first :) There were some aspects of the Watch that really spoke to me. It sounds silly, but knowing the moon phase and current temp was super fulfilling to myself. I don’t know why but I loved being informed of my surroundings. And I admired how they updated. Apple Watch made me feel connected to the Earth in a way no other tech product has. I really enjoyed this, and will miss it severely.
OK now hate, I had high hopes for notifications. I thought the process of feeling a non invasive tap would be great. Would put my mind at ease knowing OK, when I have time I will check that. But, it never worked that way for me. Instead, just like I would check my phone when a notification came in, I would immediately lift my wrist when I felt something. To the point where I couldn’t control it and would display open rudeness to my loved ones and strangers alike. I do understand this could be a “me” problem and not a “watch” problem, but these were my experiences.
That was my biggest issue. I really felt like I was making people feel unimportant. I would check out of a conversation and try to do heavy tasking with a watch the minute I was tapped. Whether that be reply to a simple text message or try and expand some notification into an action. It felt morally wrong and more so, like complete overkill with a small device. The last thing I wanted this to do was give myself another screen to manage, and at the end of 14 days, instead of being an efficient person with more free time for loved ones, I was an overly rude conversationalist with too many devices.
Honestly, I got to the point where I even asked myself: “Do I wanna be a guy who needs to know every alert as fast as possible?” And for me, that answer is no. I have a good system on my iPhone where my phone is always on silent besides phone calls. Meaning, my phone works for me, I’m not a slave to its noises. I understand everyone’s needs are different, so the idea of getting up to the second alerts on wrists may be amazingly enticing for some, for me it turned exhausting.
CONCLUSION (yes, there is one)
Looking back I should have stuck to my mind’s first thought when the keynote took place. I was puzzled. Personally I thought the Watch did too many things and it was a “confused” product. I never really got a clear message of what the watch wanted to be. Over the months of researching and podcast listening it seemed either I forgot about that or I just was really hoping I would find a use for it. After using the Watch for 14 days, I must admit I am still a tiny bit confused. But I also want to be clear, I’m sure there are thousands of people for which the Watch is great and fits perfectly into their lives. For me it was just more of jamming a puzzle piece in the wrong spot. I’m still unsure as to who’s fault that was, me or Apple Watch.
I am more than willing to admit 14 days is way too short of a timespan to make a valid opinion on any device. But like I said, this was my attempt. It’s not at all that Apple Watch is bad. It’s very, very far from that. And maybe theres a day in the future where Apple Watch and I reunite? I wouldn’t say no if history has taught me anything. I’m also extremely aware I am not great at change in general. So maybe the 14 day period was enough for me to roll Apple Watch into my life comfortably?
At some point I think we all have to realize that EVERY device is not for everyone all the time. The Watch and I clashed on many levels and were in perfect unison on many other levels. It was a tough decision to return it, but like I mentioned earlier, other factors played heavily and I had to make choice based on priorities. I feel I made that right one. I am at peace with my decision, Who knows what the future holds, but my present day status is the Apple Watch is a Phenomenal, 1st-gen device. Just not for me, just not right now.
*ddileo 