Superfletch

The dropzone provides a sound mixing board and a Sony DVD Burner. I used to just hook up the camera and a music input to the mixing board and video direct to the Burner. It's very quick but there's no options for cross disolves or fades of the video. If you wanted to use those you have to use the controls on the camera when you're filming which can become quite combersome. Also no titles. The video is direct from camera. For slow mo you use the slow mo on the camera at key points during the dive, etc. Don't get me wrong. When this was all I had it was fine. It puts out a GREAT product that the customer is sure to be happy with. However, since I have been using my mac to edit on, the end product is 1000's of times better. To me, its the difference between a professional product and an amateur one. The customer deserves nothing less for their $100 in my opinion. The way I'm doing it now I can have variable speed slow mo, repeat key points of the dive (such as the exit) at different speeds, add titles and special effects, scene transitions, etc. It's limitless with the computer really. And the edits only take a couple of minutes more. It's well worth it in my opinion. My only problem is the time it takes to burn to disc. I like to personally hand the customer their DVD and sometimes even watch it with them after the dive. Sometimes that's the only way I get to see the final product myself even. It's just not feesible on busy days or days that I'm the only video guy. Usually there are 4 of us in the rotation and I have that time, but lots of times that's not the case. When it isn't possible to take the needed time, I have to send the customer home with nothing (or just the stills) and then mail their video to them. I hate that. When the customer has laid out that kind of money, I believe they should at least get to take the video home with them and start enjoying it immediately. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I'll check into it and give it a try. I'd be giving up the DVD menu screen that iDVD creates for me but I guess if I can save a whopping amount of time it might be worth it. I appreciate everyone's help. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I may have used the wrong terminology there. After I edit the video I export it to iDVD. I put the students name and my name on the title screen and drop one of the photos on there and then I hit the burn to disk button and that's what I'm calling rendering. Perhaps I meant encoding or whatever... Anyway, once hit the burn to disk it takes approx. 18 minutes for the DVD to kick out finished. I do get requests "OFTEN". The videos I'm handing to the customers at my dropzone are second to none there or at least that is what everyone is telling me... :P I would have a hard time going back to doing things the way the others are doing them even know it's much faster doing them the other way. I am constantly receiving compliments. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

PC9, 101 & 105 are all comparible cameras with great video. The video gets better in the order that I listed them. They're great cameras... all comparible in picture quality and size. All have LANC ports and video out requiring no docking station... 105 uses the d-shaped connnector where the 9 & 101 use the mini plug. Anyway, I've used all three and would use any of the three at any time if I got a good deal on the camera. At the moment I own two 105's. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I'm using a Macbook Pro 2.4 Ghz Core2Duo and iMovie. I've got my edits down to about 13-15 minutes (this includes real time dumping to disk and then editing the movie.. sounds and video). I'm shooting approx. 4 minutes of tape and then doing cross disolve transitions between scenes. I do the exit in slow mo and real time with a few slow mo freefall shots and then sound edits during the interview and post interview. I usually drop a hi res still in on the end of the movie fade to black. It then takes about 16-20 minutes to render in iDVD in which time I pack and grab a drink and a smoke. I'm using all standard equipment in all this (built in DVD burner etc.) My questioin is this... CAN I DO IT ANY FASTER? Can I do it any faster on my laptop? Can I do it faster on a desktop? How do I churn out a faster video? What kinds of times are others turning out? HELP? My videos are WAY better than the other videographers, but I'm not making any more. In fact, I'm making less because they can turn loads quicker than I can, I've just got the satisfaction that I'm turning out a nicer product than they are... Any thoughts? Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I work at a small Cessna dropzone. The TM's I fly with are my buddies. Hell, I taught two of them how to skydive. If they want the photos.. I give them to them. They would do the same for me. On several occassions they dropped their instructor fee's to do tandems of my friends for me. Whatever they want, I give it. We're family. Jim P., Jim M., Justice, Brad, Terry and Bryan... I love you guys! Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Ask Zach Mullins... Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I am using iMovie HD 6.0.4 on a Macbook Pro 2.4 Ghz 2GB RAM and I output to iDVD which makes a great little DVD on standard DVD-R discs. I'm burning with the built in superdrive. Works great! Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Yeah... what a joke. It said that it would give me $50. for my 105. I could probably get $350 all day long on eBay. Oh well... it's a nice gesture from Sony I guess... Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Well... the site seems to be down now... perhaps they thought the whole notion was crazy too. :P Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I would try as best I could without compounding the issue... It would all depend on the situation. I KNOW if a tandem had a leg wrapped around a drogue I would definately see if there were something I could do before the deployment time for the tandem was reached. I'm sure my tandem masters would allow me to take a few seconds. However... at 6K I'd be backing off and just watching from that point to see what the TM would do at that point. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I just recently purchased a MacBook Pro 2.4 C2D SR 17". Any suggestions on ways to configure it for optimal editing capabilities? I'd like to be able to do tandems on it at some point but I have aspirations of larger projects as well. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I recently purchased a new Macbook Pro 2.4 SR 17" Laptop computer. It's got 2GB RAM and a 160 GB Hard Drive. I plan on using it primarily for editing skydiving videos. I'd like to be able to churn out tandem video edits eventually but I'm going to need to SPEED things up a bit. I've heard about templates in some of these posts etc. and was hoping some of you Skydiving Mac Guru's would have some valuable advice for me. I'd like some advice on hardware setup as well as sofware. Please, Please don't make me figure ALL of this out through trial and error. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I've got nearly 1000 jumps on a PC105 in a Bonehead DBox on an Optik. The camera has taken a bunch of abuse but still shoots a good video. I'm getting ready to send it in on warranty because the warranty is about to run out. It's got a few broken plastic parts and could probably use a good cleaning so I'm going to take advantage of the last few months of the warranty and get her tip top again. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

You can always just take your helmet off and hold it for the post landing interview. Rather than go to a sunshot at the end which in my opinion is great, BTW... you can just lower the camera to the ground burying the lens in the grass until it "fades" to black... That way you can still have your fade to black without using affects... just a suggestion. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Nice Vid... Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Also, depending on where you are located in Oklahoma, Freefall Express Skydiving in Mt. Vernon, MO is a great little DZ and we'd be happy to teach you how to fly. We're located about 25 miles east of Joplin. We do several hundered AFFs a year and we have 7 AFF Instructors on staff to choose from. If you have any questions concerning our program call 800-598-JUMP and ask for Bryan Wolford. http://www.freefallexpress.com Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Right on my brother... and congratulations on the upcoming nuptuals... Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Did you guys ever get a hold of a copy of the new video? The '07 is in the works right now. I'm proud to say that I shot the majority of the video in the '05, '06 and '07. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

1st Annual Industrial Haze 12-Pack Boogie! September 21, 22 & 23 Freefall Express Skydiving, Inc. Mt. Vernon, MO www.freefallexpress.com 800 598 JUMP That’s right… a Boogie for everyone by everyone. Air lifts provided by Mike Mullins Super King Air 7 Minutes to 13,500’ Helicopter & Balloon Jumps Load Organizing, Gear Manufacturers, Demos, Prize Give-Aways, Beer! Friday Night Wedding Reception For Joe Thomas & Christina Tokarczyk Registration Fee: $15 & 12-Pack of your favorite Beverage Stay Tuned for more information… Industrial Haze is an internet forum of about 125 members consisting of skydivers in Northwest Arkansas, Missouri, Eastern Kansas and Oklahoma. The members are all banning together to create the best boogie in the Midwest. You don’t want to miss it! See you there! Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

that sounds like a limitation of a beta version to me... however, I could be wrong... :P Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

It's scarry what a skydiver will do when he gets bored... Hahahhaha Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

REALLY?!?!? Sweet! Perhaps I should submit some more photos... hahahaha I got lots of good ones! Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

WOO HOO... I got my first photo published in Parachutist Magazine for the month of March 2007. It's on page 16, upper left hand corner. Best part is... The photo is of my best friend, Phil. It's the first photo I've ever submitted so I guess I'm 100% for now. :) I know it's not a whole lot but I was pretty excited. I guess I can check that off the list. Next, I need a full pager, then a cover! I guess you can never aim too high. ;) Anyway, I just thought I'd share that. Looks like I'll be buying the this weekend. On a side note, if any of you ever just throw away your parachutists, I'd like to have a couple extra copies so I can give one to Phil. He may be my best friend, but he can't have my copy. Plus, I'd like a copy or two for myself. It's not often you get to celebrate a first. Gary Fletcher 104 State Road BB Urbana, MO 65767 I'd appreciate it. Thanks Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

The 2006 video is a good one as well... very nice tribute to my father in that video. I believe Brad Henson "skydiver555@hotmail.com" is who you'd want to get a hold of for copies. But if you ask me... The "Superfletch" Year End videos are WAY better... :P :) Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer