Preparing multimedia vacationing results© Anne Kellerman
Jul 28, 2005
I recently went to the East Coast for a family reunion with people ranging from cute twin babies to very senior relatives. Preparing in advance what I would likely encounter, as the media recorder of this event, did not prepare me for the heat, but did prepare me for the chaos of this kind of get together. I took a very light weight digital camera with a couple of SD cards as I did not know where I could reliably off load the camera. I took several batteries for this camera as I am fortunate to have access to several along with a camera battery charger. I planned to use this camera to take not only digital shots but also little videos because as it turns out, in reunions, the little short vignettes are most desirable as opposed to the longer and often boring pans of people. This worked very well and I was able to upload the SD cards to a laptop which provided good backup for what will certainly become very precious photos and videos in the future. In addition I did take a digital camcorder of the big and heavy variety. I did use to set the stage of the weekend and for some specialized interviews of the youngest and oldest attendees. I did not bring any extra lights or microphones. In retrospect, a spot light might have been helpful, yet a nuisance to take care of. My intended audience was very impatient to get the results, but unfortunately, they came from far off places and had different multimedia skill levels. I knew I had to prepare the results carefully but also quickly. I decided on Video CDs (VCDs) with audio annotation and background music, a couple of DVDs, a few VHS tapes where I would lose interactivity but some people did not have access to anything but a VCR, and then some hard copy photographs for people without color printers to use for photo albums and refrigerators. Some media needed to be prepared in PAL format as some of the intended recipients were in Europe. People with newer DVD players for their TVs could conceivably play the VCDs on their TVs. I used JASC's Photo Album software to prepare the VCDs. I was quickly able to assemble them, but unfortunately had a couple of Murphy happenings before ending up triumphant. Apparently the background soundtrack which I chose one of the mp3 files that Microsoft ships with its operating system caused a failure to assemble the VCD image prior to burning. Once I replaced this sound track with another, I was able to create the image and burn it to CDs with only one glitch on burning. After re-booting my computer, the burn succeeded the second time. Now, you might think that I am discouraged by this, but unfortunately, my tolerance for pain is high as a long time multimedia developer and as I had trouble getting photographic prints, these problems are not just restricted to the newer technologies.
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