MediaStorm’s Advice to Multimedia Producers

After my last post, 10 Ways to Improve Your Multimedia Right Now, I thought it might be instructive to take a step back from technical issues and focus instead on some of the underlying ideas that help shape the production process at MediaStorm. The concepts below have been compiled by members of the MediaStorm team over the course of their careers. Most of these ideas will hold true whether you are creating multimedia in Final Cut Pro, iMovie, or Soundslides. Equipment Never update your hardware or software in the middle of a project. After you've completed your project, backup to a separate drive, then update. If Final Cut is behaving oddly, try deleting your preferences by using FCP Rescue or do it manually, using the instructions detailed in this previous blog post.    When building an editing suite, purchase the fastest computer, largest display, most accurate speakers, and the most comfortable chair…

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MediaStorm’s Ten Ways To Improve Your Multimedia Production Right Now

Often, as multimedia producers, we are given work to edit that others have created. Some things simply cannot be changed, like an out-of-focus photograph. But there are some things we can do right now to improve the work no matter how challenging the original assets may be. (Note: This list is not meant to be dogmatic. I've broken all these rules. They're offered as a suggested starting point.) 1. Don't use dissolves between images. As a general principal, these are unnecessary. 2. Avoid excessive pans and other Ken Burns-style effects. Animation on stills is effective only when done sparingly. These techniques should be a surprise like an exclamation point in literature. And as Elmore Leonard teaches, "You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose." So let's just say two still animation effects for every 10 minutes of your project. See Finding the Way Home for an…

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MediaStorm produces ‘Condition: Critical, Voices from the War in Eastern Congo’ for Médecins Sans Frontières

Médecins Sans Frontières and MediaStorm have collaborated to produce Condition: Critical, Voices from the War in Eastern Congo. Hundreds of thousands of people are on the run, fleeing a war raging in eastern Congo in the provinces of North and South Kivu. They are frightened. Many are sick or wounded. Others have been harassed or raped, or have had everything they own stolen. For more than a decade, several armed groups and the army have been fighting each other in the Kivus. The violence has made it impossible for people to lead normal lives. Life isn’t just hard in the Kivus: this region is in critical condition. And things aren’t getting any better. The destiny of everyone in this region of Congo is shaped by the war. The story of their struggle to survive needs to be told. Condition: Critical features the photography of Cedric Gerbehaye.

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MediaStorm Collaborates with Open Society Institute

MediaStorm and Open Society Institute have produced Zimbabwe: The Fight to Free a Country, a multimedia documentary that highlights the human rights abuses of Robert Mugabe's government. The piece can be found on OSI's Eye's on Zimbabwe website, as well as additional resources about the country. From the site: Zimbabwe: The Fight to Free a Country combines footage from inside Mugabe’s police state with testimony from torture survivors, activists, and lawyers who have witnessed the regime’s repression first hand. As the humanitarian situation deteriorates and election season draws near, activists call on the international community to assist Zimbabwe’s people in their struggle to overcome repression and establish a democracy.

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MediaStorm Twice Nominated for Broadband Emmy

MediaStorm is a two-time nominee for this year's broadband Emmy award. Kingsley's Crossing by Olivier Jobard and BLOODLINE: AIDS and Family by Kristen Ashburn were both recognized in the Outstanding Documentary/Nonfiction Programming category. Other nominees include Frontline, Washington Post, Detroit Free Press, San Francisco Chronicle, National Geographic and Newsweek. The awards ceremony will take place on September 24 in New York City. For more information, visit emmyonline.tv.

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