[ 27th AIDS Walk in LA ]

It was still pitch black outside filled with fog and cold air.  The only sound that disrupted the silence was the sound of my alarm that was set to 5 o'clock in the morning.

Tired and sleep deprived from the previous night, I crawled out of my bed to get ready to join my teammates from CSUF-CSA.  Only to find out that my carpool mates were still asleep and not awake.  

As you enter Annie's home, you can instantly smell the aroma of fresh baked donuts and fresh toasted bread filled with egg and bacon.  Soft mumbles and yawning were heard in the dinning room along with loud sounds of crunches and slurps.  Silence was then broken by the arrival of the dynamic duo.  They filled the room with their giggles and smiles.  However, all that was received back were faces of sleep deprived individuals.

LA, a place filled with smog that looks like fog along with heavy traffic and terrible parking space.  Crowded with people from left to right.  As the sun began to rise, droplets of sweat began to fall.  Traffic lights flicker from red to green.  Then came a little push with a little shove.  The 10k walk began the day.

   

Filming Adventure 7

Today my sister was presenting the guest speaker. Our guest speakers for today was Eric Handler, M.D. and Paul Leon, R.N. and their topic address Health Care Issues with Homeless Children. Their speech was are very inspiration and touching.

Today I was unable to get my hands on a HDD camcorder therefore, I had to use a DV camcorder. There is absolutely nothing wrong about using a mini DV cam. It is just that I wish I could have used a HDD cam to capture this speech.

I had a choice between the JVC mini DV cam or a Canon mini DV cam. I chose the Canon over the JVC because I wanted to try something new. It was a horrible mistake and I really regret the choice that I made. The zoom on the Canon was horrible... It had a quick zoom instead of a steady slow zoom. No matter how I gently moved the zoom trigger it kept zooming fast. The quality is mediocre.

This time I had no issue with the tripod since the Canon camcorder was so small and compact. Instead the issue I had was the zoom.

Memo:
Stick with the JVC next time if I have to use a DV cam

Filming Adventure Week 6

Supposedly today was suppose to rain based on the weatherman daily five weather report. However, the clouds had change and it became sunny again which is a good thing.

Originally I was going to use a Canon DV camcorder today because my sister rented one by accident. In the end I had the chance to use my favorite camcorder, the Sony handycam HDD. Honestly, I would not mind using the Canon dv cam. Since I had extra dv tapes I might as well use them and having an opportunity to test out a new camcorder is hard to say no to.

Today's guest speaker was Dr. America Bracho who addressing Latino Health. She is an amazing speaker. Her speech is very firm that delivers a powerful blow on the students. Not only that she also interacts with the crowd of students. It was a privilege to film her.

The Sony handycam is heavy and big compared to most camcorders; therefore, it had tip downwards. Despite being able to capture every moment of her lecture I had technical difficulties. While filming I had to reposition the camera multiple time because it kept tipping downwards. I was also caught off guard a few time when she started to move again when she was interacting with the crowd of students.

Overall, great capture with a few bumps here and there.

Filming Adventure Week 5

Unfortunately, I was unable to get my hands on a HD camcorder for this week. I was really hoping to get the SONY handycam again. As a back up I have a JVC DV tape camcorder. Despite, not being a hard drive based camcorder it gets the job done. However, dv tapes can get a little pricey since four dv tapes can cost around sixteen dollars or more.

Today's guest speaker, Dr. Kuon is one of my favorite speaker! Therefore, it was my honor and pleasure to film his speech on international medicine.

As much as your trying to run things smoothly there are always a few bumps here and there. Despite charging the battery, it was not full and the speech was going to start in just a few minutes. I was unable to film the introduction because I was not going to risk the battery dying in the middle of filming. Therefore, I ran frantically trying to find an extension power cord. Fortunately, I had my sister do the filming while I was gone.

For this speech I had brought my camera to take pictures of the guest speaker. However, learning from my previous experience with filming and taking pictures I had one of the coordinators take pictures while I filmed.

I was a little sad that I was unable to record his speech in HD.

Overall, it was an amazing experience!

Memo:
-The camcorder itself is a little too heavy for the stand and tip back

Filming Adventure Week 4

Originally, it was suppose to rain today. However, the weather man lied and it turn out to be a somewhat sunny then it became cloudy. Fortunately, that was a good thing for me. Less worries for me worrying about my filming equipment getting drench by the rain.

For this week our guest speaker was Dr. LaTanya Hines who is a obgyn. Her topic was on African American Women Med. She used to be a student here at UCI. Despite being twenty to thirty minutes late because she had an emergency with a patient, she was able to deliver a powerful and moving speech.

Today I was using a Sony Handycam HDD to film our guest speaker. I had no clue what it looked like (ergonomics) nor did had time to play with it before hand. The Sony Handycam was the heaviest of all the camcorders that i used so far. Therefore, i was caught off guard because it tip downward while I was filming. I had to hold the camcorder for a majority of the time whereas, all the previous time filming I did not have to hold it.

The tripod that I was using was not sturdy enough to carry the weight of this camcorder. Despite being caught off guard, I was able to capture the introduction of the guest speaker this time. She was like the first guest speaker where he moved around a majority of the time.

A few things I have to mention about the Sony Handycam HDD are:
-The quality on the screen was almost equivalent to the Canon Vixia
-The film exporting was fast and easy
-The film quality is great! Even though it is not in Hi Def
-My laptop wasn't overheating during the export

Overall the Sony Handycam HDD is an awesome camcorder! Good job Sony! You cannot go wrong with a Sony.

Now I am very curious how a Panasonic will be like. Hopefully my next camcorder will be a Panasonic or a JVC. I will keep my fingers cross.

Memos:
-Use a different tripod if I am going to use the Sony Handycam HDD again

Filming Adventure Week 3

Despite it was pouring down hard along with strong winds, I had to bring my filming equipment. As they all say "The show must go on".

I was really worried and concern that my equipment would get wet and it would get damage from being wet. I was lucky enough that my equipment was nice and dry from point A to point B.

Unlike last time where everything went terrible wrong from the beginning then running smoothly, this time it was more organized. I was able set up before the guest speaker arrived and was able to capture everything, except the introduction because of miscommunication.

The guest speaker I was filming this time was Dr. Gibbs who was addressing the topic on geriatric.

The camera that I was using this time was a Canon Vixia like the first time I was filming. Although, I got my hands on a previous camera used before, I shot in standard instead of high def to compensate hard drive space. Before I was provided with a 32gb memory card while this time was provided with a 16gb. I also changed the camcorder setting a bit. As a result this time the quality came out mediocre compared to the previous capture. The camera shake was more visible this time.

As an improvement I will
1) shoot in Hi Def instead of standard (the imported video size was equivalent to the hi def size)
2) not tweak the settings

Self-Reminder
-Splitting the video up was a great idea while filming!
-Guest speaker using the mic had a tad bit effect in audio level
-Increase the class lighting at least to 75% or 100% to reduce noise level/grainy

Filming Adventure Week 2

This week I had a change in my equipment. I was no longer using a Canon Vixia, but instead I was using a JVC mini dv. It was a huge change from using a hard drive/flash drive based to mini dv tape. I was clueless to how to extract the video that was recorded from the dv tape. I had less than a day to figure how to use it. After a few hours I basically gave up.

The plan was to use connect the JVC camcorder via firewire to my Macbook and use Final Cut to record the video. After testing it the video quality recording via firewire I conclude that it produced a video in decent quality.

Our guest speaker today was JB Fenix, a fourth year medical student.

However, I brought all my equipment except the tripod! Everything went wrong during the preparation before the guest speaker arrived. The cords to the camcorder was not long enough to reach the outlet. Therefore, I had to run around trying desperately to find a power cord extender. As a result, I started filming a little late and missed the introduction of the guest speaker.

To compensate for a tripod I used a podium adjacent to the main podium where the guest speaker was at as a laptop stand and camcorder stand. Fortunately, he was going off his powerpoint slides and did not move around like the previous guest speaker.

However, after ten minutes into filming my laptop started to overheat even with a coolant underneath it. The noise itself was not as loud and noticeable until an hour had past. I hoping and praying that it would not blow smoke out from overheating.

After producing the film I can conclude several things.
1) It produced below mediocre quality (HORRIBLE QUALITY)
2) It took over 30gb
3) Shrinking the video size took a heck of a long time
4) It had the best audio after increasing it to 12dB+
5) I will not record via firewire again

Filming Adventure Week 1

It was my first day filming again in about almost a year now since I last film. However, unlike the previous time where I was shooting a movie and producing it; this time it I was filming in a totally different environment and scenario. It was to film guest speakers for a class hosted by Diversity in Medicine at UCI.

Our first guest speaker was Dr. Montoya who was speaking about "What is diversity in medicine?".

The camera I was using was a Canon Vixia which was a nice small portable camera that had the capability to shoot in Hi Def. The drawback was importing the film into the computer. I found out from forums and from myself that the only way to import the film was through IMOVIE by Apple. (I tried using Final Cut and Premiere and It did not work) The alternative was to find a program that would translate the file into either mpg, avi, mov. However, that would be such a hassle.

I was a little shaky at first while filming from running back and forth caring and bring supplies. Therefore, I was afraid that the film would come out shaky. Also it was hard to film and take photos of the guest speaker at the same time.

When everything was exported I found out that the Canon Vixia had an amazing image stability capability. Even though I shook the camera a few times by accident, the image came out crisp and you can hardly notice the shake. (very smooth) However, many editing need to be done to the film itself before finalizing it.

Despite increasing it over 12dB+ the volume was horrible! I suggest that the upcoming guest speaker use the mic.

Overall, it was a great first time experience!

A keynote, DSLRs can get very noisy and distracting.