New Rules For Air Travelers With Lithium Ion Batteries

Effective tomorrow, new FAA rules take effect which restrict how and if lithium ion batteries may be taken on a flight. Rechargeable lithium ion batteries are commonly used in cell phones, notebook computers, digital still cameras and you guessed it, video cameras.

While the goal of the new safety restrictions is laudable, they're also unevenly applied which casts doubt on any safety benefit. The restrictions for passengers are fairly clear but as the folks at TechThoughts.org point out, "The problem I have with it is, in the belly of the plane, there’s cargo containers that are filled by shipping companies. There’s no regulation that says you couldn’t send 10 of those 160 WH batteries in one box with a cargo carrier- who then puts it on the same damm plane you sit in."

Free Music & Sound Effects - Part 1

Finding music and sound effects for your video can be challenging.

Simply lifting your favorite song from a commercial CD or a music download service is ill-advised. Almost all of that material is protected by copyright laws. Use of copyrighted material without permission is illegal and gaining permission means time & money - often lots of both. And as we've seen in recent news stories, greedy corporations are quite willing to go after individuals to assert their alleged property rights.


For now, I'll refrain from ranting about the damage the current over-reaching copyright laws are inflicting on the culture. But you can read more about it here.


However, there are great alternatives in the world of public domain and Creative Commons licensing. Public domain material is music, images or text that is uncopyrighted, or the copyright has expired, or is uncopyrightable. In other words, material that belongs to everyone.

Corporations in collaboration with a willing U.S. Congress have worked diligently to prevent materials from entering the public domain. The most recent abuse of the public interest came in the form of the Copyright Term Extension Act.

Creative Commons provides a flexible licensing solution for media makers. On it's website the following explanation is provided: "Creative Commons defines the spectrum of possibilities between full copyright — all rights reserved — and the public domain — no rights reserved. Our licenses help you keep your copyright while inviting certain uses of your work — a “some rights reserved” copyright."

Here's a short video on Creative Commons licensing:





In part two of this article, I'll reference a couple of websites which offer music and sound effects, most of which fall under Creative Commons licensing. Beyond providing a flexible licensing scheme, I thing you'll also find that it provides peace of mind for those of us who want to use the content created by others in our own work.

Video Sharing Websites

Video sharing websites enable you to distribute videos on the Internet. There are many of these sites available. Here's a Wikipedia link to the current list.

While I haven't tried them all, here are a few things I've learned using the more popular ones.

YouTube is probably the most popular although I'm not high on it for several reasons. First, YouTube limits the file size of the videos you post. Limited file size = limited duration. Meaning - most YouTube videos are no longer than about 10 minutes. Second, after your video is uploaded, YouTube arbitrarily selects a frame from your video and uses it as a thumbnail for the video. The results are often less than desirable.

Finally, the YouTube user agreement is onerous. Before you can post a video to the service you must agree to grant YouTube a license to modify the uploaded material for any purpose. Not good - yet another overreaching corporation.

Google Video lacks the file size limitation imposed by YouTube although it also arbitrarily selects a video frame for your video's thumbnail. Google's user agreement isn't as onerous as YouTube's (which is strange because YouTube is now owned by Google).

Currently my favorite is Blip.tv. Like Google there is no file size limitation. You may also designate a thumbnail for any video you share and the user agreement is acceptable.

In addition, Blip.tv provides users with a distinct URL for their show page. A show page features all of the videos you've uploaded. (YouTube offers a similar feature known as a channel, but the file size limitation and creepy user agreement make Blip.tv an easy choice.)

Each of these services is free to use and all enable you to embed your videos within any web page. Here's a piece I created and distribute via Blip.tv

Adobe Premiere Keyboard Shortcut of the Week

Zooming in and out of the timeline using the mouse can be tedious to say the least. Instead use the equals and hyphen keys ("=" to zoom in, "-" to zoom out).

These shortcuts work in Premiere Pro, Premiere Elements and earlier versions of Premiere as well.

Rule Of Thirds

As many have pointed out, this is more of a guideline than a rule. But applying "The Rule of Thirds" can help you achieve better shot composition.

Essentially you divide the frame into thirds horizontally and vertically. Then you attempt to place important elements of your composition where those lines intersect.

Here's an article from Videomaker Magazine which discusses how the rule applies to both 4:3 and 16:9 screen aspect ratios.

Hi Def Explained

Here's another great video from the Digital Juice's "TechKnow" Series which provides a brief overview of hi-definition video formats.

Premiere Elements 4.0 Released

Adobe recently released the latest upgrade of Premiere Elements. Here's the link to a review of the program.

While I look forward to the day when I can recommend open source software solutions for simple non-linear editing, for now there's no doubt that Adobe, Apple, Sony and Pinnacle have each released affordable ($100 or less) video editing applications that are very impressive. In the case of Premiere Elements, Adobe offers a powerful, entry-level application which allows the end user to experience non-linear editing without spending piles of cash.

Adobe Premiere Keyboard Shortcut of the Week

Here's a great shortcut to quickly view your entire sequence in the timeline window.

Just press the backslash key.

The Elusive Copyright Symbol

It's not uncommon to include a copyright symbol at the end of your video. But since that symbol isn't on a standard keyboard, how is it displayed?

In Windows, using the text edit tool in the Premiere titler (or Photoshop or a host of other programs), hold down the "ALT" key and type "0169" on the numeric keypad.

Adobe Premiere Keyboard Shortcut of the Week

Here's the the quick way to launch the titler in Adobe Premiere Pro. Press the "F9" key.

This shortcut works in Premiere Pro, Premiere Elements and Premiere v. 6.5.