To wish you all happy holidays, my family made this video!

I hope this season is wonderful for all of you!

What do you do when someone wanders into your image, and you don’t have permission to include them in your video? You could try to track them down to get their permission. Or, you could try to use their image anyway (exposing yourself to risk), or you could blur their face. Most editors choose to blur the person’s face. It’s less time-consuming than the other options.

This is an easy effect to create in Final Cut Pro, as long as the subject stays still. Once the person with the blurred face starts moving, things get a LOT more difficult.

In this installment of Izzy Video I show you how to blur a person’s face in Final Cut Pro, and then I show you the easy way to make sure it stays over a moving face inside of Motion.

Very useful information for an editor. It’s an effect you tend to use frequently.

This week’s episode is for the members. If you want to learn more about an Izzy Video Membership, please visit this page.

What else is going on?

I’ve been trying to decide what I should do with all of these great links you send me via email, in the forums, or on twitter. I get so many of them throughout the week that I thought I’d post a few of them right here:

• An DIY project for a soft panel. Sure, it’s for still photography, but it would be simple to revise for a video light. Give it a try if you’d like. Just remember, Safety First!
• Greg Brown posted a video of himself working his new jib behind the scenes. In some ways, I find it more interesting than the final result.
• A free transition plugin for Final Cut Pro that creates a flash of light between video clips.
• Tim Seley and Patrick Largen posted one of the most visually entertaining songs I’ve seen. You’ll see what I mean when you watch/listen to it.

Do you have more interesting video links you’d like me to see? Please post them in the forums so everyone can see.

The Short Film Competition Is Still Going Strong

You’re running out of time! If you’d like to enter a short film into the competition, head over to PubFilms and get it uploaded. The grand prize includes a trip to Arizona for a couple days with me.

I suppose this post was more like a miniature newsletter than a blog post. Hmm… I guess there’s nothing wrong with that.

Anyway, thanks for watching and reading! That’s it for this week. I’ll see you next time on Izzy Video!

At long last, I’m excited to announce the release of my first DVD. It’s a collection of 13 of the best Izzy Video episodes on the subject of lighting, and you can check it out here:

https://www.createspace.com/258849

Since you’re all video producers yourselves, I thought I’d share a few insights about the whole making-a-DVD process.

** The top five things I learned by making this DVD **

1) I love Final Cut Studio. (Okay, I knew this already, but making the DVD reminded me.) The whole process was much easier than I thought it was going to be. Having the right tools certainly helps. I used Final Cut Pro for editing the video, Color for color-grading, Soundtrack Pro for audio sweetening, Compressor to transcode, and DVD Studio Pro to assemble the DVD. These tools worked very well together and ultimately allowed me to assemble the DVD in a fairly short period of time.

2) I’m very critical of my work. Every time I watched the Izzy Video episodes included on this DVD, I found additional things I *wished* I would have said or shown. I’m my own biggest critic, but I noted several very important items for future DVD’s. For example, when I shoot Izzy Video episodes moving forward, it’s going to be with a possible DVD in mind. I’ll change the structure of them slightly, so they’ll work for both individual episodes as well as chapters on a DVD.

3) CreateSpace provides an excellent service for producing and distributing DVD’s. For a long time, many of my viewers have been requesting that I release a DVD, and the main reason I avoided it was because I didn’t want to deal with orders, inventory, and shipping. CreateSpace.com takes care of all of that for me. They take a large chunk of the revenue for their service, but I’m absolutely convinced that it’s worth it. If I’m not having to worry about shipping DVD’s, that frees me up to do what I like to do which is develop more educational video content.

4) I developed ideas for several more DVD’s. This is just the first one. You’ll see more in the future. I don’t want to set any expectations right now regarding specific topics, but I’ll just say this — I have some good stuff coming.

5) Anybody can make a DVD — especially you folks who watch my videos. You already know about video. If you have an expertise in something, or if you know someone who has some expertise, I highly, highly recommend you create a DVD yourself, using that video skill set you’ve developed. It’s much easier than you’d think, and the feeling you get when it’s all done is incredible.

Just some insights. Hopefully at least one or two are helpful to you.

And if you dig video lighting, check out the DVD. As I mentioned, it has 13 of my best Izzy Video lighting episodes on it. And lighting makes a huge difference in the quality of your footage.

You can see the DVD here:

https://www.createspace.com/258849

Oh, and all of the Izzy Video members received a coupon code in their email tonight which gives them $10 off the price. There are so many reasons to be a member!

Many new video shooters are confused by the various features and price ranges they see on tripods. In this installment of Izzy Video, I explain some of the basic features of video tripods with an emphasis on fundamental features and what you can expect with different budgets.

As always, the paid members can download an HD version of this video in the member’s area. To learn more about becoming an Izzy Video Member, please visit the membership information page.

Are you interested in winning a trip to Arizona to attend an Izzy Video workshop where you can learn LIVE techniques to shoot better video? If you are, then read on…

IzzyVideo and PubFilms Invite You To Compete In Our FREE Short Film Competition!

Your audience decides who wins!
The short film with the most votes will win the grand prize!

Grand Prize Winner Will Receive:
2 Plane Tickets To Sunny Arizona
3 Days And 2 Nights Paid Hotel Stay In Arizona
Free Admission To Izzy Video Workshop
1 Year Subscription To IZZY VIDEO
1 Year Subscription To American Cinematographer
1 I-POD Touch

Runner Up Will Receive:
1 Year Subscription To IZZY VIDEO
1 Year Subscription To American Cinematographer
1 I-POD Nano

To learn more, please visit:

http://www.pubfilms.com/competitions/izzy

* PubFilms is kind enough to sponsor this competition. They’re doing some pretty interesting stuff. I highly recommend you check them out.

P.S. If you have a short film already in the can, you might as well enter it here. If you don’t have one done, maybe this can help give you sufficient incentive to get going on it.

* Grand Prize is available to US residents only. There are other rules like this, so please read closely when you register.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

This installment of Izzy Video is all about things you can do to shoot better video this holiday season. Hopefully this will help you get the footage you’re hoping for.

In this video, I cover several topics including:

• How to capture live events
• Adding extra lighting
• Better camera angles for shooting children
• A list of things to avoid

This video is archived in the members-only area.

As always, Izzy Video Members can download this video in the member’s area. To learn more about becoming an Izzy Video Member, please visit the membership information page.