modifoo

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Matt Mullenweg of wordpress fame recently did an interview with the Yahoo Developer network. This video could have been better.

As usual in my improve series, I’m not going to talk about the content, but the technical side.

The goods

They used a tripod, they used proper white balance.

Nice to have some opening graphics, it gives the whole piece more weight. Though for my feeling, the title should have the same graphic feel and sound as the opening graphic.

Camera

There is way too much headspace. Tilt down a bit. Or even better: use 16:9 widescreen format, which works much better for 2 persons.

Change perspective. Flat on is usually boring. In an interview situation, I would move the camera so we see more of the interviewee’s face, while getting the interviewer more in profile.

Get closer. When you see that a person is talking for a longer time, zoom in. Preferably, have one camera locked on a two shot, and then have a second operated camera, that zooms in — and follows — the interviewee. Thus you can cut between those two, hiding those ugly zooms. If need be, then close-ups of the interviewer can be shot right after the interview.

Watch your background. White background is about the worst for a camera, it draws attention. Jeremy’s head gets almost lost in the background.

Sound

This is the weirdest miking I have seen in a while One huge attention-drawing microphone on the interviewer, and one tiny lavaliere mike on Matt, where no effort was made to hide the cable.

Interviewer and interviewee really should have the same type of microphone, otherwise it just looks ridiculous. Preferably a lavaliere — this would also help the informal atmosphere. And a lavaliere that is hidden under the sweater. If you don’t have time for that, put the wire behind the back of the interviewee.

If you have to use two totally different mikes, do us the favor and use 10 seconds to even those microphone levels in-camera. As it is now, Jeremy is way louder than Matt. If anything, the interviewee should be loudest.

Gems from the Web:

• Witty Comics - Make a Comic - Make your own comic strip. Online. And free.
• 100 Million iPods and still going strong - Since the first iPod was introduced = 50,327 iPods sold per day since launch
• My Photo Booth Photo Blog » Why does the art die? - I decided to gather my thoughts in one and come up with the problem. And the problem is: the crucial moment in history of photography we are living these days: its end.
• It?s good to be back - I thought that Yvonne had stopped blogging for good, but out of the blue, a great writer is back again.
• Top 100 font downloads - Great selection of fonts, most of them free for personal use.
• The Fastest way to find High-Quality Freebies on the Web - Finding High Quality free files on the internet is every designers daily dilemma. Sometimes you don?t have the time to make your own swooshes, or seamless paisley background image. This is why we search, and from my experience, the search can be brutal.
• Film Exclusiv Agregator - RSS feed for film related content
• WordPress NiceAdmin Plugin Version 1.0.0 Released - It doesn?t change the usability or functionality of WordPress whatsoever, it just makes it a little easier to look at! Hope you like it!
• Can I get my money back, Wikipedia? - Now Wikipedia is adding nofollow to all external links. That basically knocks out a very key referrer to my blog, so no doubt I will lose search engine placement due to the decision.
• Ten Things You Shouldn?t Buy New - Some things are best purchased new ? lingerie pops to mind ? but lots of other stuff depreciates quickly while still having plenty of useable life left. Here are ten items where the cost vs. use equation strongly tilts toward buying used.
• The TV Is Dead. Long Live the TV - On the 80th anniversary of the first long-distance TV broadcast, the industry that evolved out of it is under siege. Old rules — defining who, where and what to watch — are collapsing, making room for new ideas and talent on air and online.
• Tactile 3D maps could help blind people navigate - A team of researchers at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece have created a system that can convert video into tactile, three dimensional maps designed to help blind people navigate.
• iPod saves soldier’s life - Wouldn’t have worked with a Zune, apparently
• Apple TV hacked for RSS and emulation, plus bounty for USB drive support - Engadget - The Apple TV has received two new abilities in its second week of availability thanks to a couple of new hacks: one, a fully functional and integrated RSS reader, and two, video game emulation for NES, SNES, N64, and Sega Genesis game consoles.

Gems from the Web:

• Inter-city beauties: 1927 - A Site posting 100 year old photographs, one per day. This one shows beauties from 1927.
• Afterglow: Home of Icon Designer & Illustrator Cian Walsh - Nice collection of icons from Ireland
• Animated cursor flaw discovered for Windows - Seems that MS is still sloppy… The update to this story centers on some important points which again call Microsoft’s security practices into question.
• Take Action: Pamela Anderson’s Explicit New Video - PA runs a petition agains KFC because of their alleged cruel tratment of chicken

Gems from the Web:

• SPHERICALROBOTS 2004 - Using plain water to display images. Wow. I would love to find out how much that costs.
• This Guy Can Get 59 MPG in a Plain Old Accord. Beat That, Punk - Changing your driving habits can make your car much more fuel efficient. This guy managed to get it down to 4l per 100km.
• How-To: Make a solid-state A/V switcher - Do you have more boxes than your TV can handle? Grab a soldiering iron, and off you go!
• Free Vector Downloads - Nice collection of free graphic, ahem, inspiration
• My Ipod - A frank iPod modification
• Upgrading iPod Hard Drives - If your music library is bigger than your iPod, you can upgrade rather than buying a new one. Cool
• Tricks For Saving a Dead iPod - Before buying a new one, you might as well try
• The Complete Project Precita - A properly geeky home. Many buttons to push, signs, fun.
• MATTER Pierre Sculptor - Amazing sculptures
• “Pocket” Gramophones from the ’20s - Music was already portable way before the iPod. Hey, way before the Walkman. 1920.
• Avid investors prepped for Apple surprises at NAB - …”the ‘talk on the Street’ is that Apple is planning an event for April 15th at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in Las Vegas”

When thinking of print design, I always find it very important to take the medium where your “art” will be printed on into consideration. This holds especially true for business cards. They are sort of the second impression you give - and the more useful they are, the higher the chances that they will be a) kept and b) remembered when a job comes up.

One way to achive this is by giving your cards an added benefit, such as putting a calender on the reverse side. I doubt the usefulness of this. Not only does it waste valuable space, that you could use for unique information about your business. But I wonder if anyone actually uses them. And if they do - they might just put them up on the wall next to their desk. Thus hiding your business information. Point lost. (more…)

Just had to share this one with you (from one who had his frustrated moments with Mactromedia Flash):

(Part II can be seen here.)