Here is a real quick AVForSale primer. We help folks manage the life cycle of their audio / video / lighting equipment inventory. We do this by providing them with an industry only consignment model for selling this gear for them. If you are not familiar with our business model, go check out our “Sell Your Gear page” http://www.avforsale.com/syg.htm and then come back and finish reading this post.

Ok now that you have a better understanding of how we help AV companies manage their gear, it seems silly that getting companies to let us help them is the hard part – doesn’t it? You know a company right now that could use our service, don’t you? They have a shelf or a warehouse full of gear that they should move out of their inventory. They continue to spend good money storing this equipment. They spend time (& money) counting every year at inventory time and every year someone says, “We counted this last year and it hasn’t moved since.” But there it sits because they don’t know what else to do with that 32 channel console they spent so much money on 12 years ago. Well, we do. Tell them to contact us and if they sign a consignment agreement with us we will give you a green rectangular piece of paper with a picture of President Grant on the front.

So there you go. We have a service we are really good at and you know folks that need our service. Help us, help them and help yourself to $50 bucks.

I tell you all that to set up my real point – making decent looking and sounding video is hard. Hard probably is the wrong word. More like painstaking. It takes time, proper planning, decent equipment and technique to make a professional looking and sounding video. Unfortunately, in this YouTube age of video it seems that just about anything is acceptable. But we are old production guys that sell audio, video and lighting gear; so we have set the bar a little higher.

First we had to decide how we want these videos to look and feel. They need to be informational, short, conversational but not informal and in a repeatable format. So we spent some time just hashing through what they would look like, writing different scripts and laying out the story board. We had to decide where we would shoot them, what gear would be required, etc. After considering many options and playing around in front of the camera we decided that in most cases sitting would be better than standing. After watching some of the video, we came to the conclusion that middle aged man bellies are not very attractive in HD – and yes video does add weight, although how much depends on who is in front of the camera. If it is Bob, he says it appears that he is about five pounds heavier on video than in a mirror. Looking at me on camera and I say video adds at least twenty pounds…….

We decided to use the conference room with the whiteboard as a backdrop but the overhead lighting made the white background overwhelm the camera, so we bought a muslin backdrop. This helped a bunch with the background, but now we had to get foreground lighting right so we killed the overheads and added a couple of Lowel Omni-lights. After playing around with position of these, we ended up shooting one through a bounce umbrella with the black cover off and the other one we bounced off the white projection screen on the wall that is to the left of the backdrop. With a frost glass in front of each lamp, we now have a nice key and fill light. The backdrop gives enough bounce that we do not need any back light and we have placed a reflector on the table in front of the “talent” to bounce some light under his chin and into his deep set eye sockets So after plenty of experimentation, we ended up with only two lights and a couple of reflector / diffuser devices. We now have nice, warm video lighting. The process of getting the lighting was not too hard, but it was painstaking. We would set something up, shoot a little bit, go look at it on the edit system, make a decision, change it up and do it again until we found what looked good on that camera in that space.

Speaking of the camera, we are using a Canon Vixia HG-21 High Definition camcorder on a lightweight Bogen tripod. It is a little-bitty thing with a flip out LCD screen. It takes nice video, but the view screen in no way represents what you are shooting. You frame the shot on the camcorder and then it is a couple inches bigger on either side of the frame on the edit system. So after playing around with this for a while, we now know to compensate for this effect and block the shot accordingly. Again, this has not been hard but it is a little time consuming to get it right.

These are supposed to be short and informative videos, so staying on point is important. To help keep the person in front of the camera on track, we have created bullet point PPT slides with the information we want conveyed. We can edit out some of the bloopers and misfires, but it is easier just to get it right. To help in this effort we have placed a 19 inch monitor just under the camera lens. This low rent tele-prompter helps keep the “umms” and the editing time to a minimum. Audio has been the easiest part. We are using a Sony ECM-44B lav mic connected directly into the camcorder with a Shure A96F mic to line level transformer and XLR to mini jack adapter cable. The camera has an auto gain feature which works very well in this application.

So after spending the energy to get the lighting, camera image and audio correct, we don’t want to get lackadaisical in the editing process. For the finished product we (Bob) are using a PC based NLE system from Sony called Vegas Movie Studio 9. For less than one hundred bucks, it is feature loaded. It took several hours of reading and playing to figure it all out, but now we can upload from the camera, lay down multiple layers, key or picture in picture still photos and graphics, manipulate the audio and then render to YouTube fairly easily. All from the convenience of Bob’s desktop – pretty sweet. Once we have a couple in the can, it will get even easier. Many of the edit transitions will be the same and none of them are tricky. We will have the intro and the exit established and we will simply have to drop the middle content in place. This combined with us simply becoming more comfortable in the process should make each one a little better looking and less time consuming.

So next time you watch a well made video, think about all the elements that go into making it right. If they did a really good job, not only will it look good it will also look effortless. We should start posting ours in the next few weeks so please watch for them and let us know what you think. Hopefully our pre-production work will pay off and they won’t end on some blooper reel.

1. The uncanny ability to act tough and hard nosed while composing an email and then not have the backbone (balls) to do anything about the subject matter while in person or in a meeting.

2. Sending cc emails to anyone in order to prove a point, asking idiotic questions with poor grammar, Exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!

I point this definition out because I was a little surprised (although I suppose I should not have been) to find that there is not only a term, but a proper sounding definition for this type behavior. And, yes this is the same site that gives us some pretty disturbing definitions that Merriam Webster’s must have missed, but it is out there for a reason.

When you take the face to face (or voice to voice in the case of phones) out of the exchange suddenly people become just a little more civilized. How many times have you received a message in caps and red letters with !!!! following every sentence only to call the sender and they say – “Oh, no big deal.” or “I’m sorry if you misinterpreted what I meant.” Like there is any possible way to misinterpret the meaning.

We get tons of E-mail from our customers everyday and 99.9% of these are from perfectly well adjusted folks that are simply trying to get or give information and they understand how to go about it in a business like manner. But every once in a while we get a message from the complete %!$&*#@ who finds it acceptable to insult, berate, lie, include facts, exclude facts, use nonsensical examples and non sequiturs to make the point that they are somehow put out about something. Of course as long as you continue to correspond with them via the written word they will continue to be the same huge %!$&*#@ as in the beginning; but once you get them on the phone everything changes. Now they are your buddy or at the very least much less threatening. Funny how that works.

I have found that this type of behavior extends beyond E-mails to many of the other ways we currently interact with each other. E.g. facebook, my-space, twitter, forums and text messages. I’ve recently experienced the first part of this behavior while posting on Twitter and on different audio Forums. I don’t know what they call it on Twitter, but in the Forum world it is called getting “flamed”. It happens enough that folks will say stuff like “flame suite on” before they even begin a post because they know it is a subject that will get the dander up on some of the regulars. Seems a bit odd that folks you don’t even know can get so upset about something that they could just as easily let pass right on by – water off a ducks back, my Dad always says. I posted something recently which I thought was pretty well reasoned, concise and topical only to get called names (sticks & stones) while they completely missed the point. I posted a “tweet” yesterday that said “Happy 40th anniversary Apollo 11. One of the prouder moments in our country's history!” to which a guy from Boulder, CO responded “@avforsale there was never a man on the moon you idiot!” I guess the fact that he responded to 127 other folks on twitter with the exact same message should make me somehow feel less singled out, but Dude, really! This is how you spend your life - Waiting until the 40th anniversary of the moon landing to call people on Twitter idiots and tell them that Armstrong & Aldrin never went to the moon? Its one thing to be delusional, but that is just a complete waste of one’s life. I wonder if he would have called me an idiot if I were talking to him in the line of the grocery store and I said that it makes me proud that 40 years ago today our country put the first man on the moon. I’m betting not. He may have told his whole conspiracy theory about how it was really a movie shot at Area 51, but I don’t think he would not have called me an idiot.

So speaking of wasting time, I guess I am done. Think about it though – next time you want to go off on someone via E-mail, ask yourself “would I say the same thing to that person’s face?” If not, you may want to back it down a notch or better yet, just let it go. Thanks for listening.

Re-everything is now what. Refocus, recommit, re-energize, re-whatever-it-takes. We were talking this morning about how the year is half over and while it has been a pretty good year, we have time to make it a great year. It is not an excuse that the economy continues to lag behind as expectations continue to surge ahead. It is not an excuse that timetables shrink while the work expands. There is plenty of time to make this a really great year. There is plenty of time to make the last year of the first decade of this century one of the best ever.

But, while there may be enough time, we have to start now. Next week is too late. By the beginning of the 4th quarter just isn’t going to get it – it must be now. Why such a sense of urgency? Because it is in our company’s culture to move ahead while others fall back. So far, we have held our own this year. While many other small businesses have faltered in 2009, we have stayed even which is pretty good. And all year we have felt pretty good about this fact; but pretty good doesn’t get it.

So while we have completely redesigned our home-site, added new equipment to our product offerings, began to twitter and left infoComm09 with a sense of success there is more to come in the second half of 2009. Drivers, start your engines!

Have you ever wondered what happened to the fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the fixty six fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well death would be the cost if captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education.

They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes this year while enjoying Independence Day and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

To those meeting us for the first time, we heard a lot of “wows” and several compliments on our business model. We look forward to working with you. As the 300+ customers we’ve already helped can attest, we can help clear out that inventory you thought had no remaining value.

Right until the last minute of the show, while other exhibitors were breaking down and packing up their booths, we were still answering questions from people who sought us out after hearing about us from other people on the show floor. What a great show it was!

With LDI coming up and other shows in the works, we look forward to catching up again with existing customers and meeting new ones at the coming shows.

The greatest compliment was to have one of our current customers look at someone walking up who hasn’t worked with us yet and say “you need these guys. All of us here this week have unused gear sitting around. These guys at AVForSale get old gear out of your hands and get a check into your hands. They’re great!” That’s what we like to hear!

To all who stopped by – past, present and future customers, we thank you! Watch for our mailings coming your way!

While I will check in on this year’s Open at some point, my focus this week is the infoComm09 trade show in Orlando. The odd part is that I am not attending. As I read all the Twitter messages coming from those who are there, I feel a little voyeuristic. I know that @AVDawn got a late start, but is heading to a business meeting and then hitting the exhibit floor. I know that Gary Kaye of @ravepubs has been to the NEC and the Omnivex booth already this morning. You can get Shuttle passes for $15 (cash only) and @CliveDYoung wants to know what booth is giving out the best swag. It really is a little spooky.

We have a booth in Hall C, #1655 that Bob and Steve are manning. When I talk to one of them about non-infoComm-related stuff, I also get an update on what is going on in Orlando and then I will post for our followers. Again, all a little spooky. I wonder if this is how President (for now) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad feels? Oh, and if you see Clive Young, please tell him we have mini Sharpies with our logo – stop by 1655 in Hall C and we will take care of his swag jones.