CoLin filming

[Julie T]

Hi,

After Ben mentioned photos in his last missive about CoLin, I PMd him asking if he'd like me to take a video of the proceedings with my DVD video camera and tripod, and he didn't say no.

My idea is that I set up the tripod where the camera can film most of the room, and change the discs when necessary. Not much more than that, since I'll be competing too.
I'd possibly move it occasionally since it'd probably only pick up the sound from the nearest table.

I'm setting up a vote to hear your views on this. One alternative is that I just film the awards ceremony if more than one or 2 contestants think it would be off-putting to film the games.

Feel free to post comments as well as voting, please only vote if you're actually going to CoLin. Thanks.

P.S. If I do it, and make copies, I'll only charge how much the recordable DVDs cost (not much these days) plus postage.

[Peter Mabey]

Please ignore my vote, as I'm not going.

[David O'Donnell]

I'd love it, pretty please. I can never justify the expense of attending these events (coming from Ireland) so would love to see just what goes down. .... Is it true about the orgy in a pit of gelatine?

[Ben Wilson]

I'd love it, pretty please. I can never justify the expense of attending these events (coming from Ireland) so would love to see just what goes down. .... Is it true about the orgy in a pit of gelatine?

Sadly Jim hasn't signed up yet.

[Julie T]

I'd love it, pretty please. I can never justify the expense of attending these events (coming from Ireland) so would love to see just what goes down. .... Is it true about the orgy in a pit of gelatine?

Oooh, I hope so!
Pity there isn't a puking icon.

[Joseph Bolas]

I really hope you do this too.

[Jimmy Gough]

Similarly, I am all for the idea and it would be much appreciated if you do.

[Dan Vanniasingham]

I've added my voice to the "Yes, why not" camp. I'd have no objections to anyone wandering around with a camera recording the action, so long as it's done quietly.

I'm unavailable for the orgy though as per usual...

[Julie T]

It's looking good. 16 votes so far, and all OK with the filming!
I'll keep the voting open for a few days though, for those who don't pop onto the forum often.

[Julie T]

There were 17 votes for, and 2 saying they'd rather I didn't film it.

If the 2 against are happy to go with the majority, then that's fine.
I'd be happy to try and avoid their table if they want to PM me though.

[Julie T]

Hope to be able to check and edit the DVDs in the next day or 2. I'll keep you posted. Should be good!

[Julie T]

I've finalised and reviewed the discs.

Good news: the opening and closing bits from Ben are great, as is the awards ceremony.

Bad news: although my son concentrated on one table at the time, the chat is difficult to make out, since there were also 7 other tables of people in an echoey church hall.
Also, it proved impossible to aim the camera to see the letters/numbers without getting in the way.

Personally, I still think it's watchable, but some may not think so, so thought I'd warn you.

If I ever did it again, for it to be more watchable, if players didn't think it too intrusive, I think I'd put a specific microphone in the middle of the table being filmed, and work out a way to point the camera down at the table.

Sorry it's not better. We've only filmed am dram stuff and home videos before.

We live and learn!

[Howard Somerset]

I look forward to seeing it, julie

[Charlie Reams]

Yeah, it was a nice thought, and a slightly crap video is no worse than no video at all. Hopefully next time you'll have more success.

[Julie T]

Thanks Howard and Charlie!

It's my son Robert's 14th birthday today, but I hope to start copying onto DVDs on Sunday.
I'll only do a handful till I know how many want them.

[Julie T]

Thought I'd give you an update in case you were wondering what was happening with the DVDs:

I've uploaded them onto my computer, but I haven't had to combine lots of discs onto one before.
The free software won't play ball, in that it'll take the video but not the sound.
I've been meaning to buy an editing suite for a while, so I've ordered one, and that should solve the problem.

So, hopefully I should be able to have it sorted by the weekend, fingers crossed.