I thought I’ve seen everything Madonna has done, but this condom commercial back in the ’80s was one that I never saw before, or knew it existed. I was watching the “Sex: The revolution” documentary on VH1 Classic TV channel tonight, and they featured that old ’80s commercial with Madonna, in the eve of the AIDS outbreak, asking people to use a condom. “It might be the most important thing you’ll ever do“, she says in the commercial. Based on her haircut, I’d say that the ad was shot around 1988.

Searching on Youtube about the ad yielded nothing. You can find pretty much everything about her on Youtube, including some very rare ’80s footage, but this ad is not there. So I snapped a picture from my TV to show to other Madonna fans that might search for that ad in the future. The ad exists, it’s just more rare than rare.

I have a video of the ad too, but I won’t be uploading it.

Apple removed the firewire option on the new Macbook laptops. This is a terrible situation for people with HDV and DV cameras. And there are a lot of them, among them prosumer and professionals. Only Macbook Pro laptops still retain a FW800 port, which needs an adapter to work with firewire cameras. Problem is, after tax and some RAM, the cheapest Macbook Pro is over $2200, and that’s just too expensive for most people, including most prosumers.

The firewire death was of course written on the wall when all camera manufacturers switched to AVCHD, but the thing is that Apple jumped the ship too early in my opinion. I would have preferred to see this firewire removal in the next crop of Macbooks, in ~1 year from now. Just give people enough time to switch to newer cameras first.

It is my opinion that the removal of FW400 from the Macbook (and the lack of 24p support on FCE) will send a lot of videographers over to the PC camp. Alternatively, just buy the older Macbook model for $1100 (after tax and some RAM). Sure it’s not the newest model, but it will be fast enough for DV/HDV editing and multimedia. Or just buy a DELL Vostro 1310 with Sony Vegas Platinum 9, which is more feature-complete than the older Macbook (more RAM, hard drive, ports) at the same price.

Having said that, I still suggest people use real desktops for video editing and not laptops, but hey.

Update: I forgot about our audio friends. Apparently, a lot of MIDI and other recording hardware uses firewire, and so all these GarageBand enthusiasts are in the red too now. So this makes both the iMovie/FCE and GarageBand users pissed off. It almost doesn’t make sense: Apple’s decision not only kills Macbook sales, but it also kills iLife/FCE sales! Some examples of disgruntled people: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…

I sent feedback to Apple about the lack of FW400 from the Macbook. I suggest you do the same too.

This is a frame from my recent pampas grass video. The dramatic look was achieved using the Magic Bullet “Bronze” and “Aged” templates, a harsh “Sony unsharpen mask” (500/500), and the “Sony flare” plugin.

Before

After

In off topic news, JBQ bought us an acoustic guitar today.

Let me know which video you like best, the one above, or the one on my previous post.

Another proof as to how great this little consumer camera is. This short film, shot for SciFi Channel’s “Battlestar Galactica” competition, was actually shot with an HV20. Great work by Philip Hudson.

Look at the vast majority of today’s major labels music videos. They all feature cellphones in many of their scenes, scenes that are not really needed. Their logos are always clear too. Obviously, cellphone companies are the No1 sponsors of music videos today. It’s getting extremely irritating to view such blatant ads every 10 minutes on music TV channels.

To the artists: Fucking sell outs.

Casual shooting
* A steady tripod, specifically with a fluid head ($120)
* A rubber band (info, $0.01)
* A bigger, extra, battery ($40)
* A spacious camera bag ($10)
* Enough tapes ($20)
* A polarizer filter ($35)
* An ND4 (0.6) filter ($20)
* A UV filter ($20)
* A petal hood ($15, fotodiox.com)

Special Interest (macro)
All of the above, plus:
* Tiffen 2x, 3x, 4x close-up kit lenses ($30)

Documentaries
All of the above, plus:
* A Canon or Raynox telephoto lens (make sure it’s specific to HD, $200)
* An HD wide angle lens (e.g. Canon WD-H43, the Raynox 7000Pro, $200)
* A white balance gray card (usage, $5)
* A shotgun microphone with windscreen support (e.g. Canon DM-50, $150)
* A lavalier microphone (e.g. the Audio-Technica ATR-35S, $40)
* Extension cord for the lavalier mic ($15)
* Tiffen Universal Dolly (to be used only on thick carpet, $50)
* A shoulder bracket (e.g. B&H sells one for $45)
* A reflector (e.g. the Westcott 5-in-1 Reflector Kit, $100)
* A focus wheel (DIY, or from Irvb, $40)
* A lens cleanser, blower, and brush ($20)
* A rectangle hood ($20, fotodiox.com)
* A lens hood ($20)
* [Optional] The Tiffen HDTV-FX3 filter (low-contrast movie look, $200)

Music videos
All of the above, plus:
* A steadycam (e.g. $170 Hauge MMC, or a DIY $15 one)
* 1000W Smith Victor KT1000 continuous lights (e.g. from Adorama, $130)
* A portable CD player for lip-syncing ($70)
* A clap, to synchronize the audio with the sped-up lipsyncing in post processing ($10)
* A 35mm adapter (e.g. TwoNeilHD, or JAG35Pro, with a 5m GG, achromat & condenser)
* Bogen / Manfrotto 293 Lens Support with Quick Release ($70)
* Actual 35mm lenses (price varies)
* Lens hoods for the various 35mm lenses (price varies)
* An external monitor: the Sony DVP-FX820 (NTSC) or DVP-FX870 (PAL) ($180)
* A female-to-female RCA adapter to connect the external monitor ($8)
* A DIY monitor holder (instructions, $7)
* A second, cheaper, tripod to hold the monitor and the monitor holder ($20)
* External monitor Hoodman H900, for when shooting in sunlight ($100)

[Alternatively, you can mount the monitor and monitor holder on the main tripod itself like this, above the camera (instead of on a separate tripod), but you will need the Shrig Rig ($125) for that, instead of the suggested 'Manfrotto lens support'.]

Short films
All of the above, plus:
* Rode Stereo Videomic ($250)
* Rode Boompole ($120)
* Rode Dead Kitten windscreen ($30)
* A second person holding the boom mic (beg someone)
* Good 3.5mm headphones, to evaluate audio during shooting ($60)
* Tiffen Steady Stick, or this trick, to be used as a small crane ($100)
* A smooth dolly (e.g. a DIY one, or the Glidetrack, $170)
* Car charging kit for external camera, mic, monitor ($70)
* A power strip for battery charging on location ($10)
* A folding director’s chair for the shots not requiring camera movement ($10)

Full featured films
You don’t use an HV20/30 in that case, silly.

In any case, you always need a good plan. Plan ahead your shots by sketching, and leaving notes on a notepad about camera movement and composition.

When all my data are moved to our new Vista PC (which will only be used for video/graphics and not for daily casual usage), I will be in the process of re-formatting my current P4 3Ghz PC and use it again as my daily computer. However, I am not sure if I want to go with Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux. Windows XP behaves and performs better than Linux (at least, I like it better), but the vast malware list for Windows is a problem. I use two anti-spyware, one anti-virus, and NoScript on my browser, but I still don’t feel safe. While Windows is full of malware, it also has a lot of anti-malware apps available for it — updating their DB daily. Linux only has one anti-malware solution, and it doesn’t update very often. Saying that no one tries to exploit the kernel or the browser on Linux is naive. So what do I do? Come face to face and fight the malware, or go to a platform with fewer malware but no tools in case you need them?

Tough call. Especially because even if Linux sounds like a slightly better choice, Windows XP wins in desktop performance and application support (I need a speedy Flash, and Flash under Linux sucks donkey balls).

The only serious contenders in the consumer camcorder world are Canon, Panasonic, Sony, and JVC. Because JVC has atrocious picture quality and Sony has no manual controls, they are both out of the competition for me. The game is between Canon and Panasonic.

Panasonic doesn’t have a cinemode and all its color settings are unnaturally saturated. However, where it really fails me is when some of its models are as dumb as this one (read “the back” section). Canon has better overall controls and features, and a more natural image.

I can’t wait for a good replacement of the HV series from Canon. Apparently the expensive HF series don’t even have zebra support.