"The First Recital"
Leanna Trottman
A City of Expression
www.videopie.com
videopie@bigriver.net

Click Image Above to View Video.

Or View "The First Recital" by clicking on the link below.
http://www.videopie.com/Video%20Pie%20Dessert%20Tray.html  

The First Recital is an unedited video following the performance of little dancers doing a simple tap dance to Animal Crackers.  For most of the dancers, this was the first time performing.  This video captures the fear, excitement, and honest reaction of a few of the performers.  It also demonstrates:  Practice can pull one through moments confidence cannot.  

The video was shot with a consumer level digital video camera by one of the attending parents.  I recorded this clip from their tape to my tape using my dv camera.  Later, I loaded the clip from my camera to my computer utilizing a fire wire and high-end video capture program (Ulead  7.0).  I created an intro and ending in a simple user friendly editing program.  Finally, I encoded the entire dv avi to flash for small file size and Web usability.

The art in The First Recital comes not from the editing of the video but from the not editing of the video – the magical and horrific first moments of expressing oneself to a great big world.  Other videos will soon be available at the Web site listed above.

Leanna Trottman

Making Video Pie was taped with a consumer level hi 8 sony camcorder in my home with natural lighting.  At this time I do not have any professional training and do not own any professional dv shooting equipment.  I kept the natural lighting bright (by the open windows to the subjects right and side) to give the video an ethereal feel.

The  footage was transferred to my computer using a fire wire. It was captured and edited using a basic consumer level editing program in an AVI format.  It was further edited with a higher end prosumer level program (ulead media studio pro) and encoded with Wildform’s Flix Pro to both mpeg and flash formats.  The format utilized to present Making Video Pie on the website is flash for the small file size and web usability.

Leanna Trottman

The Gingerbread House Event was shot using a consumer level mini dv camera on location in Newport Beach/Costa Mesa CA at the Ayres' Country Inn Hotel. The footage was captured to a computer using a firewire connection. It was edited in Adobe Premiere. The photos in this video were captured from the same footage using Smart Capture software and the firewire connection. The introduction animation was created in After Effects with objects that were created from footage photos. The animation was actually made more for personal fun and practice than beauty. It is one of my first.

The true art of this video is the beauty of the event itself. Janet Ayres is renowned in her community for her ability to locate, develop and use an array of talented artisans for her holiday parties. Not to mention her keen ability to come up with a party motif and execute it perfectly. I hope next time to have better skills for shooting better footage. LESSON: Beware the small dv cameras with the auto focus button at the hand-strap position.

This fundraising event raised over $50,000. All proceeds were donated to a local Downs Syndrome organization.