This interview started over at Video20Q blog and podcast and seeing as Phil is a Mac user it is only right that I publish here on Mac20 Q also. I have cut out some of the interview that was more specific to film making and if you would like to get the full skinny on Phil, then you can listen to the interview in full at Video20Q.

Phil is working with an older Mac at the moment and is aware that he will have to trade up to a newer Intel based Mac soon.

Phil made the film short ‘Honest work’ using his editing skills with FinalCut Pro on his Mac and the video is to be found on YouTube. Nice idea for a short movie. I actually like the was he did the titles at the start of the movie too.

His advice to people that are thinking of doing film or video work is to get training first if you can but mainly the advice is to get out there and just DO IT. No point waiting around doing nothing because that will get you no where.

What Phil did was to buy the computer and software he needed to do the work he wanted which was to edit in TV and movies and learn how to do it well and found work from that. Excellent way to go.

Phil Holbrook goes by the name of Philontilt on Twitter and also has a web site called CreativeJinx. He works in the TV business editing footage and during his free time he makes films.

Phil runs a film festival entitled EgoFest Films and will be working hard on that up until February.

One of Phil’s’ films is ‘Honest Work’

Click here to view the embedded video.

See how you can set up active corners that will work with a modifier key so that it doesn’t just annoy you when you are trying to something in one of the active corners, like hit the Apple in the menu bar at top left.

I made this video with ScreenFlow to capture the screen and narrate, then I put it in Final Cut Express to set it up. It is really the first project I have set up in Final Cut so I was pleased that it went so well. I have been using Lynda.com to learn how to use Final Cut. It cost $25 to get Lynda for a month and I would say that with the quality of the screencasts it is well worth it. I have been doing the TrueType lessons as well as Final Cut.

I have been amazed by the capabilities of LiveType and being able to do some round trip editing between it and FinalCut Express. I have opened a Live Type section in FinalCut Express – gone in and changed it, saved it and returned to Final cut to see it updated ready for action.

Here is the Video and if you want to see in High Definition then go to the YouTube site to watch it in 1280 by 720

Click here to view the embedded video.

As I am making these screencasts I am learning more about the power that is in this application. There will be more Screencasts to come to show you what can be done.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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In this podcast I am talking to two people from Telestream, the company that make ScreenFlow. ScreenFlow is a super product that I use often to make screencasts. Barbara deHart and Christine Porter tell me all about ScreenFlow and also mention other products from Telestream.

I was able to give them direct a feature I would like to see in the ScreenFlow, they are keen to improve ScreenFlow and you never know my suggestion about being able to specify the placement of a clip within the screen might make it into ScreenFlow. It pretty good that they have snapping lines that let you snap a clip to the centres and to the edges but sometimes you might want a clip be at an exact position and for that you need some boxes where you can enter some numbers in the same way you can enter a number to specify the zoom level for example.

I also use VideoCue from Telestream and other people have requested some of the features in that to be merged into ScreenFlow, I agree with that for sure.

I know there are other screen capture applications out there and I have paid for a couple of them but in the end I had to get ScreenFlow because of what it can do with the editing. It really is handy to be able to do all you need to do in the one application, from capturing the whole of the screen to uploading it to YouTube.

See the Screencast I made about using ScreenFlow. I show some of the basics like adding extra media and using transitions in between clips. I will be producing more screencasts as soon as my cold/flu symptoms abate a little.

ScreenFlow

the best ScreenCapture Application

I use ScreenFlow and I am an affiliate for the application. I paid for the application initially but I was pleased to get on the Beta program to get version 2 upgrade without having to pay for the upgrade. I have tried other screen capture apps such as iShowU and SnapzPro, both of which I also paid for. It was the fault of Don McAllister that I lashed out more cash to get ScreenFlow when I already had to screen capture applications. When I met him at Podcamp Barcelona he gave me the recommendation. I tried it and decided that buying it was a no brainer for what I wanted to do. So you can trust me when I say that if you have not tried it yet then I would say give it a try. Once you have made a couple of Screencasts with it you will want to have it past the trial period too.

Here is screencast in which I show you the basics of ScreenFlow. How to put in video actions and callouts and set them up to work and look right. I will do some more screencasts featuring ScreenFlow soon. Why not hit the Leave a comment button below and say what you think yourself. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We get talking to the best people here on Video 20 Questions. Elliot Grove who recently got an honorary doctorate from the Open University for the work he has done with Raindance the Film Festival and the courses that Raindance runs to teach film making, has been talking to me about what Raindance does. How excellent is that?

I have visited the Raindance site myself and the Raindance.tv site and have found it informative and entertaining. I find myself wishing I lived in London so that I could take some of the courses in film making. Not that keen on London or any big cities really so that tells you how interesting the courses were looking to me.

Some course titles available. Script Writing, producing, directing and audio courses,  very inexpensive but packed with information.

• 22-Step Great Screenwriting
• Writer’s Foundation Certificate
• Write and Sell the HOT Script
• TV Writer’s Lab
• 99 Minute Film School
• Filmmakers Foundation Certificate
• Producer’s Foundation Certificate
• Lo-To-No Budget Filmmaking

Elliot talks a bit about the Macs they use in the office for the Mac20Q podcast but mostly we talk about film making. I learned a thing or two, for sure.

“Record breaking crowds, sold out screenings, live music, loud raucous parties and great films. This is what an independent film festival should be. Raindance has become what Sundance used to be fifteen years ago.”

Why not contact me and arrange an interview so you can be featured on the Podcast. Lets talk video, film, movies and anything moving pictures. I will even talk to actors.

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Click the photo to listen to the Podcast

Ross works in the Canadian Military has a 20 in iMac which came with the keyboard without the numberpad – uses neo Office and likes it – not had any problems with it at all. He had MS Office on a previous laptop and it bugged the system down too much so it had to be got rid of.
Uses a spreadsheet to catalogue his DVDs and I suggested he might look at Delicious Library
Ross has an ipod nano that he uses when exercising – there is a sensor that goes in the running shoe that somehow gives feed back about your work out. How cool is that?
Has used iMovie and tried to make a DVD with some movies downloaded from YouTube with not much success, but that could be due to the format that YouTube put out the videos in. Next on the list is to buy a guitar so that he can make use of the lessons that are in Garageband.
No iPhone yet due to the high costs of a Data plan with Rogers Communications in Canada, but would like one. Instead has the iPod touch.
Has a Gadget blog on Blogger and was using Word Space also, His wife has an art based site
FTP – I mention that I use Cyberduck
Would like to see a touch screen mac because it would just be a cool thing to have.

• Leo Laporte
• cranky geeks cnet
• dignation
• geek news
• geek brief
• lab rats
• the Mac Cast

Click the picture to listen to the podcast

I had an interesting chat with Pat Mahon from Carlow in Ireland about how he uses his Mac. He has  a MacBookPro and a MacMini. We go through the 20 questions and talk about loads of stuff along the way.

Links to some of things we talked about

• SuperDuper for back ups.
• Screensteps
• Tweetie
• SwitchMac
• MyMac
• ScreenCastsOnline

and of course mine which is not up yet! – patmahon.com

I use ScreenFlow to capture video from my Macs and also VideoCue, both from telestream. ScreenFlow has video editing capabilities that make it a worthy purchase. You can do lower thirds and titling really easy. I like the way I can easily zoom into an area of the captured video to highlight something with a video action. I can even highlight mouse clicks. I sometimes record myself with the iSight camera at the same time with ScreenFlow, sometimes with the computer audio as a separate track from the microphone audio. Good for doing narration over clips recorded.

I have other interviews lined up that will have some interesting angles, like a sailing connection and video and audio set ups to discuss.

Me, I am keen to know what applications my interviewees are going to recommend. I am wondering how you all interact with your Mac. Everyone is different so this is going to be good.

Here is a guide to the questions I plan to start with, may change as time runs on as I may think of some better ones or drop some questions depending the responses I get.

1    What is you name and where are you from
2    Name rank and serial number please – What hardware are you using
3    What was your first mac
4    Recent switcher. always used a Mac, Still using other systems
5    Geek in training, Card carrying Geek or Uber Geek
6    Do you have a halo? ipod or iPhone came first?
7    Just a tool to use or are you a fan boy?
8    Which Browser do you prefer? do you use more than one?
9    Bootcamp or virtual machine
10    Anti virus on the mac ??
11    Are you a creative individual
12    Do you create content anyway with the Mac Apps
13    Favourite application
14    When you work on your computer do you have lots of apps open or just you concentrate on one or two
15    Do you switch it off at night or leave it running always
16    If you spend a whole day working with your Mac how does that go generally, a bit of this a bit of that
17    Do you organise your life with the Mac, Mobile me, address book, to do lists
18    Wish list for a next machine or what are you lusting after now
19    Do you have a web site that you would like to tell us about of your own  / or one that you just recommend to Mac users
20    Do you consume podcasts.

Some people just use the browser of choice and email and not much else, On the other hand there wil be users that will spend a whole day on a specific task like making a movie or a podcast and move on to using other apps on following days. Computers can do so many different things and people are all so different so a day in front of any computer is going to be unique and interesting.

Of course seeing as I am talking to Mac users there is going to be a lot of creativity and even the normal user is going to be a content maker of one sort or another. I presume that will  be the case anyway, we will find out as time goes by and the podcasts give us some evidence to go on.

I am a bit of a butterfly in the way I work. Even when I have a task that has to be completed by the end of the day I will still do other things as I go. A little bit of email checking, some twittering, I’ll research something or other or check out a video somewhere. Obviously being a podcaster and blogger I spend a lot of time using the applications that I need to complete those tasks. Amadeus Pro, Garageband08, Quick time, ScreenFlow, VideoCue and more. I have just been conned into making the newsletter for the Girona Grapvine which is a group of English speaking socially networking each Wednesday in Girona, for that I have been using Pages which is a super application for arranging things on a page. I will be outputting those as PDF’s when they are done.