I’ve become obsessed with the Steadicam. No, really… an intervention is called for. I can’t seem to stop tinkering. At one point i firmly decided to remove the Sennheiser wireless receiver i’d attached to the camera with a rubber band and abandon the idea of recording sync-sound, only to reverse course after googling “sennheiser wireless lav mic” and discovering this.

The bottom line is i want this product, this “simple video” to be good, dammit. I want the camera to float like a soap bubble on a gentle breeze past the art hanging in the gallery while the vo explains why art is key to quality of life. I want the audience to be mesmerized. I desperately need a win here… i need something good to happen.

The main technical problem i’m wrestling with is the Canon Rebel 2Ti (with the cheap kit lens) is too light for the Merlin. The balance formulas help, but even when static balanced perfectly the slightest movement sends the system into oscillation. The added weight of the wireless receiver is actually a help, but my half-assed method of rubber banding it to the hot shoe of the camera added a maddening layer of balance complexity. I tried rubber banding it to the lens barrel, but despite the fact i could again static balance w/o problems the offset mass of the receiver seemed to make dynamic balance impossible.

Ok… must… do… something… else.

Ask 10 people what they think of a website and you’ll get 20 responses. What is it about the web that makes so many people feel that a) their opinion is relevant, and, b) see a). The tale of the bicycle shed offers insight and the UwebD email list reminds me that the grass is rarely greener* and we’re all dealing with the same problems when it comes to building stuff for the interwebs.

*This is, of course, not true. There are many instances where the grass is most definitely greener in another pasture. Frankly the bozo who came up with that tired old chestnut was probably from New York City as opposed to a farming community in Idaho where Bob’s water rights had been curtailed.

My day began at 6a and ended at just after 6p. Today i hacked together about six pages of “new” content, cooked up about 8 graphics, re-worked about 5 of them…. twice, and burned a fully charged battery “filming” an SOU tour guide. It was Steadicam practice. My arms are tired. I only glanced at the ingested video, but i have great hopes this video, when massaged and mixed with b-roll, etc., etc. will seriously kick ass. It will bring the “wow” i’ve been tasked to find.

Now it’s time to drink wine and listen to my just-downloaded hi-res Mark Knopfler tracks.