And it is the third one I've made this year! Every time I am editing, I feel like a Lumiere brother all over again. Images? Moving?!? It all feels so very...mmm...okay, I guess it's not that exciting. But for a longtime print-only reporter whose nickname is Old Lady Sussman, it is pretty exciting. Here is the thing: the hardest part about doing video is trying not to feel like a gigantic poseur walking around with all the pro-looking equipment when you know you are about to pull some Amateur Night at the Apollo s**t.
Holding a tripod signals to the world that I know what to do with a tripod; same with the little clip-on mic, and the videocamera itself. Until this semester, I didn't know what to do with any of those things. I'm still not sure "know" is the right word, but here's the cool part: the companies who manufacture them have made using them virtually fool-proof. Even the editing gets easier with a bit of practice, and now I can even export movies from Final Cut Pro without having to sit through the "how to export movies from Final Cut Pro" tutorial on Vimeo. My friend Casey Neistat is a big proponent of this "anyone can do it" approach. I'm inclined, finally, to believe him.
Without further ado, I present my latest masterpiece, informally titled "A Random Walk Down Atlantic Avenue with Sandy Balboza who has Lived There for 41 years (going on 42) and Who Was the President of the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association for 17 years, but May Not Be for Much Longer, Because Atlantic Avenue is Getting a BID."
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/33938396 w=400&h=300]
Untitled from Anna Sussman on Vimeo.
The BID (Business Improvement District) designation is the topic of a forthcoming story, to be posted soon.
Also: special mega big shout-out to Professor Jason Maloney, whose patience and fortitude in teaching me video skillz this semester have been epic.