I wrote this post in late January 2008, but it was lost in my archive of saved posts that were once started but never finished. I had some extra time recently and finished the review.

I recently picked up the new album from The Mars Volta called “The Bedlam in Goliath.” After grabbing it from the shelf at my local Best Buy, I was delighted to find that the album came with a Bonus DVD with 20 minutes of concert footage. I have always wanted to shoot a show for The Mars Volta, so maybe this little DVD would fill that void.

Performance

If you haven’t seen The Mars Volta live, let me just say that their performances usually last over 90 minutes, at least half of which will be improved. The 20-minute clip on this DVD consists of about 8 minutes of a “real song” (Cygnus….Vismund Cygnus) and the other 12 are a combination of seemingly random noise and guitar solo. Then again, if you’re a progressive rock fan, or have seen The Mars Volta live before, this is all nothing new.

Video Quality

The video portion captures angles of the band from all over the auditorium. While this is normally one of the safest ways to shoot a concert, the varying quality in the cameras angles makes for a sub-par viewing experience. The bleeding colors and chroma blocking come across as amateur instead of “artistic expression,” and instead make it look like a bad home movie.

The video looks as if it were transferred from a second generation VHS, and made more obvious through the poor-quality encoding of the video. Fitting 20 minutes of video onto a DVD at maximum quality is a trivial task for a seasoned DVD professional. Rather, whoever authored this DVD encoded the video at about half quality.

The quality of the video is not something you would expect from a retail release, and even more so from such a popular band as The Mars Volta. I can’t speak to the conditions surrounding the who or why this video was released, but I come across a better quality show.

Audio Quality

The audio feed with this video is straight from the soundboard. While this is normally a good thing, this feed is in mono. Mono audio is really only good for delivering things like spoken voice and AM radio, where the spatial separation of instruments does not matter. Considering The Mars Volta has many more instruments at any given time than most classic 4-piece rock bands, the mono audio was more disappointing.

While a concert audio recordist will often record a microphone source from somewhere in the room to later mix with the soundboard, this audio mix does not. We are instead left with a lifeless flat-sounding recording.

Overall

While you won’t pay any extra for the DVD packaged with this release, you won’t help but feel unsatisfied by the extra offering. Watching this video is like getting a free ice cream cone while marching across a desert, only to have it melt all over your hand before sitting down to eat it.

Maybe I hold too high of expectations considering the field we’re in. Whatever the case, I would expect higher production value from such a highly acclaimed band.

Categories: Concert Films, Screening Room | 1 Comment »

Sigur Ros have posted their feature-length concert film on YouTube for free viewing in its entirety. You can view the entire film here. (PS: It’s about 90-minutes long.)

Some might say, yay, great, free! But if you saw the HD trailer I talked about earlier, the YouTube video just can’t compete with the real deal. And I might even be pulling a David Lynch on this one and say that this film is not meant to be watched on an iPod or on YouTube, but viewed as a spectacle on the big screen.

I would encourage you to buy the DVD (it’s not available in HD!) and find the biggest screen and the best sound system you can; turn out the lights and turn up the volume. The surreal experience captured in this film is more like a work of art than any concert film I have seen. It was made to not just be watched, but experienced.

Categories: Concert Films, New Media, Screening Room | No Comments »

Start-up company Grand Central was bought-out by Google last year. You may have heard last week about how Google Gave All San Francisco Homeless a Free Voicemail through Grand Central. Well, Google recently opened the service as a private beta, and we were lucky enough to get in on it. So what does it do?

Think of Grand Central as like a social security number for phone service. If someone calls you at your GC number, it will ring any number of phone numbers you own, and the first one to pick up takes the call. So if you want it to ring your office, cell and home number when someone calls, it will.

We have setup our GC number to ring all of our staff when someone calls, so when you just can’t wait for us to check e-mail, you can get one of us on the line to answer a question about your project.

Want to give it a try? Call us for questions about our services or just to chat: 785.748.8076.

Categories: New Media | No Comments »

Many of you are probably wondering what happened to the concert taping guide I began last fall.

I was in debate when I first started the guide, whether to make it a blog series or to write it as a more in-depth e-book. Since starting it, I realized I wasn’t going into as much detail as I wanted to, so I will be going ahead with finishing the series as an e-book. The topics and breadth of topics will be more complete and written in a bit more of a formal approach.

I will be offering the book through a different domain, which will accompany a blog dedicated solely to concert taping and filming.

If you would like to be notified when the complete e-book is available, leave your e-mail address in the comments below, or you can send it to concertguide@titusfilms.com . I will send free copies to all who leave their address.

If you have any suggestions or questions you would like addressed in the book, please send those along too.

Thanks to everyone that has enjoyed the guide so far, and I thank you for your continued support.

John Kary

Categories: Concert Films, Tutorials | 13 Comments »

The goal of every website is to provide content and services to its visitors. You probably look at your website daily from your computer to make sure it looks great. But not all web browsers display the web in the same way. Little nuances between browsers can sometimes make sites unusable.

Things get even more tricky when trying to implement web video, which unlike HTML, has no “web standard” in how best to present it. You have to worry about users having QuickTime, Real Player or Windows Media Player installed, that their software is up to date, and that it doesn’t crash the user’s browser.

Video delivered through Adobe Flash has quickly become the best of both worlds, thanks to its cross-platform support and extensive developer community. If you are still embedding video using QuickTime or Windows Media Player, you are turning away visitors and potential clients.

1. Flash has an adoption rate of 98%

That means Flash is already installed for 98% of the people viewing your site.

98% Flash
83% Windwos Media Player
68% QuickTime
52% RealPlayer

While your PC viewers certainly have Windows Media Player installed with their OS, Mac users don’t usually have it. Same goes for QuickTime installed by default for Mac, and with some PC users having it.

2. High quality with low bandwidth

You have seen Flash video in use on YouTube. Most of it is a bit fuzzy and the audio might be out of sync. Don’t let this fool you. YouTube serves up millions of videos, and having them all at high quality would drain their bandwidth. But with proper optimization and encoding your Flash video on your own, it can look stunning.

3. Support for multiple video and audio codecs

Codecs are different algorithms used to encode video and audio to a smaller filesize while trying to sustain the quality of the original image. Codec support in Flash is based on Flash version the end-user is viewing with.

Most video codecs play in Flash Player 8 (98% install base) while newer HD video codecs were enabled in Flash Player 9 (95%). Knowing the right codecs to use, and their optimal bitrates is the key.

4. Custom player interface

Skilled Flash developers can whip up a custom interface to load and play your video. That way you’re not stuck with an ugly progress bar detracting from the actual content.

5. It can fit into any workflow

There are several flavors of Flash video encoding software on the market. Luckily, most of them will take any valid video file as input. But not so fast. Not all video files are created equally.

Getting the best quality from your Flash video can take a lot of trial an error if you’re not sure what settings to use. The optimal settings for a documentary are quite different from an action movie trailer.

I’m a visual learner, and I bet you are too. Our Portfolio uses Flash video to showcase our work, and we get a lot of comments on how great the video quality is. At the same time, each of our videos play back in real-time* with no annoying buffering. Because the last thing you want to give your visitors is a “Loading…” screen.

What are some sites you all have found that use Flash video particularly well? Be it in quality or unique presentation.

* = assuming you agree to be gouged by your high-speed Internet provider.

Categories: New Media, Software, Tech Corner | No Comments »