REVIEW: "Aerial Camera", What you need to know with Norman Kent

[LouDiamond 1]

I have just recently watched an early release copy of "Aerial Camera" for a second time and I must say that Norman and those involved with the DVD have done a truly fantastic job.

The two disc DVD is 4 hours long and covers everything a beginning to experienced camerman needs and should know about jumping with a camera. Done in a first person narrative,the 22 chapters of information accompanied by video footage and examples does an excellent job driving home the point he is making and has a personal one on one feel to it. Norman reveals his years of personal experiences and insights on how to be a camerman and offers tips and recommendations throughout the entire 4 hours. Everyone who flies a camera or is considering flying a camera should check this DVD out. You couldn't get the same amount of information out of Norman if you sat down with him for 8 hours in person and asked questions.

I am thouroughly impressed and all I can say is that the DVDs are fantastic. Norman has hit a home run with what I feel has been long overdue in skydiving, a definitive source about everything related to skydiving with a camera. Great job Norman.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[BlueSBDeath 2]

Thanks Scott, sounds like a great resource!!! When will it be available for us mortals to order?

Stay Safe,

Arvel

BSBD...........Its all about Respect,

USPA#-7062, FB-2197, Outlaw 499

[demoss99 0]

At the end of the sample clips on the VASST site says it will be available June 15.

"I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."

[snafuhere 0]

found this on youtube:
http://skydivecamera.com/?p=45
worth watching...

https://www.facebook.com/1skydive/

[DSE 5]

I've just uploaded a third part from Disc Two.

[aerialcameraman 0]

anybody know the price for this

[DSE 5]

It'll ship with an introductory $99.00 price for the two DVDs. MSRP is $129.00.

[guscabana 0]

As allways, Norman is THE Man! I know he wants to make a book to teach cameramans for years, thanks Douglas to make it happen, an in a better format...
Gustavo

[genfreefly 0]

oh my god dse! how can you rip people off like that!!!

just kidding
despite on seeing excerpts thus far, thanks for making a quality product and it costs what it costs to make...

thanks for enhancing the professionalism of our sport
max

[DSE 5]

yeah, we surely wish we could give it away for free, after all, it is just information. Didn't cost Norm anything to learn it, nor all those loads to shoot it, and the XDCAM's? We got those for free too, and of course, we're all sponsored so we got dozens of camera helmets, jumpsuits, ringsights, HypEye's, Conceptus switches, and all that licensed footage
People were just beating down our doors to provide us with great pictures and video...(not)
The list of people that helped out is huge; this was a large undertaking. Phreezone, AFFI, LouDiamond, Curt Bachman, and a few others helped shape the final product as it went from being a two volume, $79.00 each disc @ 110 mins per disc to a single dual layer at 3 hours, to a two disc set @$99.00 with over four hours of content. Pending the success of this one, we'll move ahead to some very advanced stuff from Norman, some of it already in the can.
Watching Norman fly, seeing how he sets up for taking some of his breathtaking shots is simply....simple yet amazing. It's more a thought process than anything else. Of course, with 30 years of flying in the sport and more than 20K skydives in every discipline one can imagine...no wonder he's one of the kings in the sport. It's been a huge honor and learning experience to produce this for Norman.
Hopefully we'll soon see a full-length review from someone as these start to ship in a week or so. They're in replication now.
Many thanks to the great sponsors that helped both Norman and I fly. PD, Bonehead, Skysystems USA, Sony, Canon, Manfrotto, and Skydive Utah was hugely helpful in getting us up in the air for many of the aerial shots. Additional footage was shot at Deland. Scott Campos also provided some terrific Birdman shots used for perspective commentary.
I'm currently on the road, but will upload some vid from Disc One as well.
It breaks down as Disc One providing nomenclature, gear, jumpsuits, cameras, mounts, and all the tools you'll want to have, and how to set them up. Disc Two gets into the flying, where to be, how to set up, danger zones, and LOTS of extras including discusions on HD, editing gear, and my favorite part where Norman sits down with me and we chat for over 30 mins about several subjects. He's a very personal and personable presenter/speaker. I'm a much better flyer for having had the experience with him, and we tried very hard to let the exact experience carry over into the DVD.

[DSE 5]

One short section from Disc One is up on YouTube.

[CKSCUBA 0]

My God is Norman Kent reading from a script???? Like in his head. The guy is so well spoken and makes it easy to understand.

thats amazing to me he doesnt stop talking he flows with it. i wish i could speak like that.

I would say that this DVD would be a huge investment i will buy one and ill promote it to my friends and ill have my son buy one.

I love this stuff i have the backfly and sitfly dvd's they are incredible.

dont you just love technology imagine if you had these resources 20 years ago.

DSE thanks for telling us about it and thatnks for answering my questions.

[DSE 5]

The Norman Kent "Aerial Camera: What You NEED to Know" DVD set is now shipping, they're out there now. Hopefully this reduces my PM's about it.

[jtval 0]

Ordered mine and waiting.

My photos

My Videos

[steelyeye 0]

Got mine in the mail the other day - AWESOME!

"Better a has-been than a never-was. Better a never-was than a never-tried-to-be..."

[cj1150gs 0]

Quote

I have just recently watched an early release copy of "Aerial Camera"

Hello,

I can't find anywhere on the site how to order this. Can anyone help, please?

Thks

Carlos Martins
Portugal www.cj.smugmug.com

[monkycndo 0]

You're welcome.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[DSE 5]

Quote

Quote

I have just recently watched an early release copy of "Aerial Camera"

Hello,

I can't find anywhere on the site how to order this. Can anyone help, please?

Thks

It's also available from ParaGear if you'd prefer to purchase from a dealer you know.

[jtval 0]

Quote

Got mine in the mail the other day - AWESOME!

Got mine yesterday ,won't be able to watch it for a week though.

My photos

My Videos

[jtval 0]

See my next post.

My photos

My Videos

[jtval 0]

See my next post

My photos

My Videos

[jtval 0]

It has come to my attn that my questions may have seemed presumptuous and inflammatory. That was not the intent. I'll explain in bold

Quote

I guess I have a different view than scott.

So far I have watch 15 minutes of it and that is all, because the DVD keeps stopping.

not thrilled at all that I spent 100 for that.
True. that's not a thrilling aspect. and I shouldn't have come to the post first. DSE is a very respectable person and I owed him more than that. He did offer to fix this issue.

I didnt like that there is a crazy hiss on the first part of the dvd. either. is that just my copy?
the hiss was for about 7 minutes. It stopped. It was not overbearing but I was told that it does not play through out the video.

DSE,
I am sending you a PM hopefully you have a return policy for defective copies.

I was hoping that this dvd would be more than beginner stuff but it keeps locking up on me so I don't know.

I REALLY hope I didn't buy the video equivalent to pack like a pro.
My intended point of this comment was not to bash this dvd (I only watched 1/16th of it) it was in hopes to create a conversation about what the contents were. I was super excited to see the dvd and super disappointed when it didn't work. I wanted to be sure this wasn't just a beginners video, since the first 15 minutes deals with the basics.

What did the DVD teach you? I have only been able to watch 15 minutes of it but are you so excited that there is a video that can teach novice cam flyers? are you thrilled at the production value because you can appreciate it or did you actually learn something from this dvd?

This is a specific question to Scott. I was asking him what he got out of the DVD because he reviewed it. I wanted to know if he reviewed it as someone who deals with production value or if he learned anything from watching it as a customer.

As I said, I only watched 1/16th of it. I didn't intend to under-mine the efforts of anyone who worked so hard to bring this dvd to us. (I Know how ridiculously difficult it can be.)
Sure I could have come in here and deleted my posts, but that would leave a level of ambiguity. I wanted to be clear that I haven't seen this video and that comparing it to Pack like a pro was more of a question then a comparison

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[AFFI 0]

Quote

It has come to my attn that my questions may have seemed presumptuous and inflammatory. That was not the intent.
As I said, I only watched 1/16th of it. I didn't intend to under-mine the efforts of anyone who worked so hard to bring this dvd to us. (I Know how ridiculously difficult it can be.)

I have had a decade and a half of production work experience in 3D animation, digital post production and graphics. Having negative things said about ones work in production is just part of the daily grind; it is a big part of being in that business. Certainly, not everyone is going to like any given production, no matter what it is or how much money is spent on its creation. Some artists in production can be quite sensitive about their work and overly defensive when individuals do not like certain aspects of their efforts. Over time, they either grow out of it or do not last doing production work…

Sure it is a lot of work, but so is laying bricks – there is no need to accept someone shaming you for stating negative problems you may be experiencing or expectations you may have had that were not fulfilled – that is just part of the deal.
Some will like it and get a lot out of it, some won’t – it is a great investment of $100 for some, for some it is not…

I worked with Douglas before and found that he is very professional and open to suggestion, and he understands the business quite well. He has supplied enough samples of the production to allow people to review and decide if they like it before they purchase it (don’t see that everyday), so any individuals this product will not appeal to will not be disappointed after viewing it because you should know what you are getting before you get it after reviewing all the information available on the VASST website.
More than fair and upfront...


So don’t feel bad or a need to defend yourself for any of the comments you made, if someone don’t like it, they can talk to their therapist about it…

Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

[jtval 0]

No, I don't feel bad about the comments.

I Just wanted to be clear about them.


I only watched 1/16th of the video so I don't know what the dvd contains.
I also wanted to be clear that DSE is doing everything right as far as customer service goes.

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My Videos

[cj1150gs 0]

Thanks!

I just received mine (very fast shipment, BTW). I just watched a random chapter, Norman Kent describing _his_ deployment procedure. I am thrilled! For me the investment is already worth. I can't wait till I get to see the rest.

Carlos Martins
Portugal www.cj.smugmug.com