Blog: A Race Against Time (11/22/21 - 11/26/21)

Over the weekend, Kristin & I edited the script, and I recorded part of the narration. I'm estimating this video to be 1 hour (!!!) long, so I'm breaking this behemoth up into sections.

As I mentioned in the last blog, this video has a sponsor, so there is a hard deadline - December 10th. I'll be working on this video every day to make sure it comes out on time.

Sports update: The Miami Dolphins won. They are now 4-7 on the year!

Monday, November 22nd - Edit Edit Edit

I wasted no time and started editing the first part of the episode - the history section. I got about 5 minutes edited, which is pretty spectacular for one day. As you can see, I got to capture some B-roll of the Nintendo Beam Gun toys. Have you ever seen a creature so happy to get shot?

This entire episode has on-camera narration, so the editing is much easier. If I can't find visuals for a specific part, I can always fall back to my on-screen narration. 

Sorry, but these blog entries won't be super exciting. I just sat in my chair and edited all day!

Tuesday, November 23rd - More Editing

Howdy folks. It was another slam-packed day of editing. It was not as productive as yesterday, but that's because I had to do a lot of filming today. I liked this shot above. Nintendo gave all the light gun games purple cartridges, and I think that's cool. Why didn't we get fun-colored cartridges in North America? 

Wednesday, November 24th - Did I Mention I'm Editing?

I finished the history section of the video today. It's about 10 minutes long. I also recorded 14(!) pages of narration today. I tried a new camera angle from my couch. I thought it made more sense, especially if I was testing and using the guns.  

Don't mind my face. It was the best freeze frame I could find.

Thursday, November 25th - Happy Thanksgiving!

For anyone in the US of A, today is Thanksgiving! I'm feeling extra thankful for my family, friends, and all of you for allowing me to make these videos for a living. I'm going to take the day off and eat some food!

Friday, November 26th - Recording a CRT Television

Today I edited the section on how the zapper works. One thing I had to learn was how to film an old CRT television properly.  I usually capture footage directly through my capture card. But I wanted to show how this technology works on a proper television.

The biggest factor is getting the shutter speed correct on the camera. Shutter speed is how long the camera shutter is open, exposing light onto the camera sensor. In the case of the NES, the proper shutter speed is 1/60, to match the NES's framerate of 60fps. 

For more info, check out this article: https://photographylife.com/what-is-shutter-speed-in-photography 

Well, that wraps up this work week! I'll continue working on this video over the weekend to ensure it gets out on time. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

- Norm