Spirit send-off weekend - Video or DVD

jools · 24 April 2002, 23:03

OK - I know its a few weeks after the event - but.....

Spirit Send Off Weekend Video!

I've now edited the footage I took over the weekend, namely

Pride of Bristol leaving Bristol
POB being escorted into Cardif bay by Topaz and Tsunami Rider
"Blessing" of Spirit of Cardiff
"River Cruise" starting TomKat, Cyanide, Topaz, TR, Dromedary, Chanel Spirit........
Spirit Party - See how a Canadian dances - very funny

Stills of Spirit leaving Cardiff (Thanks to Charles and MarineImage.com)
Spirit "Flying" past POB
Sea Cadets having the ride of their life on Chanel Spirit

oh - and I nearly forgot

Quicksilver in Wales

Total time - about 25 mins.

So if anybody would like a copy then drop me a PM

Costs
Video £5 + Donation
DVD £6 + Donation

The £5-6 should cover the cost of the tape & P+P - any extra over cost I will donate to the S-O-C by buying Miles - and the Pride of Bristol equally

The DVD will have "Additional Features" of any still images of the weekend

The video is "Just a bit of fun" - ie me playing about on my MAC in the evening!! but (I think) is a good memory of the weekend!

Jools

jools · 25 April 2002, 08:55

First "order" recieved - Thanks Keith!!

jools · 25 April 2002, 23:32

Keith - your video is all packed up ready for Cath to take to the PO in the Morning

Brian - Please send me you address - I've done your copy

Scubakid, Graeme - I will bring your DVD's on Sunday - or see you next weekend.

I bought some blank VHS tapes today (JVC) and they were cheaper than I thought - so my costs are

VHS - £1 + P&P

DVD - £5 + P&P

and a donation to Spirit of Cardiff and the Pride of Bristol would be nice !!

(So how come they are so expensive in the shops?!?)

So anybody else fancy a copy?

Jools

batfalcon · 26 April 2002, 07:31

Do you accept Euros as well ?

Alan · 26 April 2002, 08:23

I'd better buy a copy! Jools have emailled you seperately.

Alan

jools · 26 April 2002, 09:04

Alan - I'm not sure if "Crazy Canadian" will be speaking to me after she sees the Video!

Batfalcon - Hadn't thought of the International market.....

Hmmmm - let me think.....

If you PROMISED to buy some miles from the Spirit web site you could use your credit card which would convert to Euros.
Then let me know - and I would re-jiggle how many miles I buy - does that make sence?

See - I think of everything

Also - the Videos are VHS PAL (UK standard) - may have trouble in Europe
The DVD's are PAL - but most DVD players will play PAL DVD's I think

- have a look in your manual
I could produce a NTSC DVD without too much trouble

Hope that helps

Jools

batfalcon · 26 April 2002, 11:30

I never use a credit card on the web. Never mind about the DVD. I'll stay with the posted photos.

Keith Hart · 26 April 2002, 16:52

VHS PAL is standard in most European countries. We sell 2 videos (black Artefacts). VHS NTSC is the USA standard and is not compatible.

Keith Hart

Keith Hart · 29 April 2002, 19:36

BUY THIS VIDEO/DVD - NOW

I've just received the video from Jools. What can I say? Well it ain't an amature video for a start. Natalie, 'Er Indoors, and I have just sat and watched it together, to put it mildly we were IMPRESSED and more importantly, ENTERTAINED for 25 minutes.

It would have been very easy to throw together some crappy shaky footage of a few boats, but no, Jools has done a superb job. The quality of the picture is great. The editing is superb, making a flowing picture narrative that a TV doccumentary would be proud of. It is even accompanied by a sound track kindly donated (!) by The Coors (I think).

When the video starts you see PoB leaving Bristol and this is followed by some superb shots of Topaz and Tsunami Rider out in the Bristol Channel accompanying PoB. The sea is flat, the sun is shining, the Ribs look cool. It really makes you wish you were out on the water. It's what Ribbing (and Sibbing) is all about.

It's all there, the river trip on Saturday, the party on the evening. The gathering on Sunday morning with the service. Then the flotilla out into the bay and through the barrage. The video finishes with shots of PoB and guest crew. Fantastic. A superb souvenir of a historic event. Well done Jools.

BUY THIS VIDEO/DVD - NOW

Keith (film 2002) Hart

Sian · 29 April 2002, 21:14

The DVD is BRILLIANT

The footage of Topaz and Tsunami rider is brilliant and brought back some great memories. Its an excellent piece of editing and as Keith says it really makes you want to get back out on the water!!!

Sian

Ps Hope you checked with Nadia's Agent about filming her !

Alan · 29 April 2002, 22:50

Jools, fantastic job the video is absolutely brilliant! Thanks for a great memory of a great weekend.

Haven't shown it to the Crazy Canadian yet, save that for tommorrow night.

Cheers,
Alan

jools · 29 April 2002, 22:51

Keith has asked what "equipment" I have.....

Camera
Most of the video was filmed using my Sony TRV30 onto MiniDV tape
A couple of shots came from my old camera a Cannon Hi8 - which I have now donated to my Dad!!
The Hi8 footage then has to be copied into the Sony onto MiniDV tapes so that all footage is now "Digital"

Editing
I use a Apple Mac G4 running OSX to do the editing - It comes with basic editing software which would be fine for the family holiday video - but I soon found its limitations.
The footage is copied into the mac using a high speed firewire cable - This takes up lots of diskspace

1Gb for every 5 mins of footage

About 14Gb for the footage from Cardiff!!
I now use "Final Cut Pro 3" - this is used by the BBC to file news reports in the field aswell as many other pro users - so I havn't scratched the surface of all its features yet!

Video
After editing I then write the video back to a "Final Cut" on MiniDV tape - so far this is all digital and so no loss of quality. To make a VHS copy I then play the MiniDV tape through the camcorder to a standard (Akia) VHS machine

DVD
To create the DVD first I create a quicktime movie from Final Cut Pro. I then use the iDVD software that comes with the MAC to produce the DVD and then "burn" disks on the "Superdrive" in the MAC (a CD/DVD writer)
The first DVD takes a while to burn as the 8Gb quicktime movie is converted to MPEG-2 format for the DVD
After the first one - as long as you don't make any changes - it takes about 10 mins per DVD
Again Apple make "professional" DVD authoring software and with that you can add chapter marks, directors comentaries, multiple angles, region coding - basicly anything in the DVD standard!

I'm still experimenting - this was the first video that I have done other than a few 5 minuite practice runs.
The most time consuming part was getting the camera shutter with sound effect right!

and Keith..... Special prize if you can spot the bit thats actualy played backwards in the video

OK... who else wants a copy!

Ribald · 29 April 2002, 23:57

I agree with all that's been said - a true masterpiece. Thanks for all your hard work Jools - the cheque's in the post

Charles · 30 April 2002, 08:57

Ok, ok, I submit......please send me one Jools. I'll send you my address via PM, that way you will locate me, not like breakfast on PoB?!

Mike Garside · 30 April 2002, 13:31

I'm a sucker for great product endorsements like that. I just gotta have one NOW. Have emailed you direct Jools.

Cheers...

Brian · 30 April 2002, 15:26

I totally agree with all the plaudits. Well done Jools. An excellant piece of work and a real pleasure to view.

Alan · 01 May 2002, 08:49

Jools, Couldn't get the DVD to play on my laptop. Running WinTV which just seemed to freeze although I also occasionally got a message saying that the DVD wasn't formatted and would I like too?! It ran Ok on my Desktop at home which runs PowerDVD.
Any thoughts? (Haven't actually tried it on a proper DVD player yet)

Consequence is that Crazy Canadian hasn't seen it yet and wont til next week now. So you're safe for the time being!

Cheers,
Alan

jools · 01 May 2002, 10:33

Hmmmm.....

What can I say - Microsoft!

Not having a PC DVD-ROM drive - I havn't actualy tried running it on a PC - but as you say it runs fine on your Desktop PC so the disk should be fine

If you have the software for your desktop machine (PowerDVD)you could try installing it on your laptop - thats if its a software problem - or maybe its the drive in the laptop thats incompatable? - It plays other DVD's OK though I take it.

Sorry I can't be any more help
Anybody else had problems? - I hope not!

Alan · 01 May 2002, 10:43

I've played other DVD's on the laptop so its not the drive. No bother though as it works on the desktop and should be Ok in the DVD player. (So I can enjoy the surround sound experience, I trust it is Dolby 5.1

!)

Cheers anyway,
Alan

jools · 01 May 2002, 13:08

If you want Dolby Surround - it can be done

"Projects authored with DVD Studio Pro can include every feature that the DVD-Video standard allows, including motion or still menus, web links, multiple language tracks, up to 99 video tracks - each enhanced with up to 8 different shot angles, 8 separate audio streams, and up to 32 subtitle streams. DVD Studio Pro even includes a Dolby-certified AC-3 encoder for top quality audio"

So the question is do I spend £829 + VAT

on DVD Studio Pro (software) so that Alan can enjoy his "surround sound experience" - or do I spend it on a GPS Plotter and VHF radio for my new RIB (see getting back to Ribs)

I suppose I could then do a Greek soundtrack for batfalcon - and add subtitles in any other language required

Tough choice.....

Some people just arn't happy

Jools