Digital Video User Group

A Special Interest Group of the Capital PC Users Group (CPCUG) for PC and MAC Video novices and experts.

The DVUG is FREE for all who wish to attend meetings. Consider joining the CPCUG for only $42 per year our sponsors. For CPCUG members there is a members' only help line, for more info look at www.cpcug.org

Click on a Link Below

DVUG Information
Contact Info.
Purpose of DVUG
Map for DVUG Meeting Place
Important Links

Articles written by DVUG members
Setting Up Your Camera & Computer to Edit Video!
Streaming Media
Minimalist Approach to Digital Video Production
Editing & Digital Video Effects

Click on Items Below for information about past meetings

Tom Hoopengardener, "Fun with your Head (Helmet Cams)", Sept. 19,2006

Sonny Tolan, Phil Shapiro, "Podcasting & the IPOD", January 17, 2006

Merrill Hessel, Ralph Morris "From DVD's, Tape & Movie Film to your Computer", October 18, 2005

Richard Turner "Public Access Television for You", June 21, 2005

Richard Harrington, "Photoshop for Non Linear Editors", March 15, 2005

Merrill Hessel & Jeff Pledger, "All about Streaming Video", February 15, 2005

Gary Krimstein, January,18, 2005, "Designing, Conducting, Marketing Video Productions"

Tom Hoopengardner, November 16, 2004 " Chroma Keying (Green Screen) and Virtual Sets"

Merrill Hessel May 18th, 2004 "Basics of Sound Editing on a Computer"

William Jenkins April 19th, 2004 Meeting "Working with Sound and Music on Your Computer,"

Tom Hoopengardner March 16th, 2004 Meeting "How to give your Videos a cinema look and other tricks"

Cintia Cabib Feb. 17, 2004 Meeting "Resources Available to Independent Filmmakers for Video Distribution "

JoAnne Carl "Editing, Pacing and Storytelling"Jan. 20, 2004 Meeting

Merrill Hessel "Introduction. to Digital Video" Dec. 17, 2003 Meeting Click Here

Next DVUG Meeting is Tuesday September 16, 2008 but First we will have Activities at the Montgomery County Fair stay tuned

We want to thank Richard Harrington for the Fantastic May meeting. He went all out for the 45 DVUG members who attended. He provided food, drinks and an outstanding tour of the RHED PIXEL facilities. The presentation was great!!

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About 55 people attended our meeting at Montgomery Community Television (MCT)  on March 18th. There was  an Open House and tour of the facilities. By the end of the night there were 20 sign ups for video related classes, 21 sign ups for equivalency (testing  to show that they know how to use the equipment and want to volunteer for MCT productions).

There were many people who could not attend but would like to be informed of future open houses.  Please contact us, dvug@meral.com  if you would like to be on the list for future MCT open house and tours.

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Over 50 people attended the meeting at R & R lighting in Silver Spring.  Bill Robertson gave a terrific talk and provided us with a tour his lighting and studio operations.

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Look at our Important Links  pages click on these hyperlinks and you will find tutorials, hints, articles, lessons about all aspects of video, photography, sound, lighting, etc.
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Richard Harrington's May presentation had the largest attendance of the year (about 65 attendees). He was outstanding!! Below are the links to the Websites that he mentioned:

Photoshop for Video is Richard Harrington's site for Photoshop Tutorials, hints and other materials
Creative Cow - Excellent Tutorials, Articles, News, Hints for all video products
Richard Harrington's Useful Stuff for Video Pros and
Link for numerous handouts of his various talks around the U.S. They provide a wealth of unique material for you to learn the graphics & video fields

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To find out about Podcasting look at our January meeting Discussion
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Are you Serious About the Future of Video Technology or a career in Video Film Making?
Read this Article about Merrill Hessel's visit to the San Francisco School of Digital Film Making!

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Do you want Original Music for your Video?

Some members of The Composers’ Society of Montgomery County (CSMC) may be willing to collaborate with video producers in composing original music for their video productions. Custom composed music has the advantage of being designed to work with the video images presented. In addition it is also very helpful to producers to have the copyright issues to the music worked out in the early stages of the development of any project. Depending on the project, CSMC composers may be willing to work for a small fee or sometimes for no fee at all. Of course the prospect of collecting a fee greatly increases the likelihood of drawing interest in a project from the pool of composers. CSMC has about 30 composer members, most of whom would be comfortable with composing a score for a video production if they find a project which interests them.

If you are interested in trying to work with one of our composers on a project, call Gene Saunders, Executive Director, The Composers’ Society of Montgomery County, Inc. tell him what you are looking for. He will need the general parameters of the project, how much length of music is required, any special requirements or restrictions, and whether you are willing to pay a fee. Gene will then put your project information out to the CSMC group and provide you and any interested composers with contact information so that you can work out the details by yourselves. Contact Gene at 301-309-2077; esaunders12@comcast.net. The CSMC Website is: www.angelfire.com/music3/csmc/

 
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Our Tour and Staff discussion at the Discovery Channel Post-Production facilities on June 15th was attended by over 85 people.   Nine staff members lead small groups of us through the edit rooms, library, sound edit facilities and more.  We were able to ask questions both while on tour and in a group session. The feedback from the DVUG attendees was WOW!! We wish to thank the Discovery Channel and its staff for the extraordinary effort, staff and tour they gave us.

The Discovery entrance greeter for the DVUG
For pictures of the tour, CLICK HERE

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For those interested in learning about "Modern Music Production on your computer",  William Jenkins our April speaker is offering a set of classes. Click here for Details

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DVD's for our last several meetings are available for purchase.

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Merrill Hessel, Ralph Morris "From DVD's, Tape & Movie Film to your Computer", October 18, 2005

Richard Turner -June 21, 2005, "Public Access Television for You"

Jeff Pledger & Merrill Hessel, February 15, 2005, "Streaming Media & Considerations for the Disabled"

Gary Krimstein, January,18, 2005, "Designing, Conducting, Marketing Video Productions"

Tom Hoopengardner  -November 16th, 2004  "How to Incorporate Virtual Sets into your Videos, Green Screen, Live Demos"

Merrill Hessel -May 18th, 2004 "Basics of Sound Editing on a Computer" William Jenkins -April 19th, 2004 Meeting "Working with Sound and Music on Your Computer"

Tom Hoopengardner -March 16th, 2004 Meeting "How to give your Videos a Cinema look and Other tricks"

Cintia Cabib -Feb. 17, 2004 Meeting "Resources Available to Independent Filmmakers for Video Distribution"

Click here on how to obtain them.

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If you have any questions send an e-mail to: dvug@meral.com Any ideas or suggestions that you may have for meeting topics or the group are welcome. If you know people who may be interested wish to be on our mailing list, have them contact: dvug@meral.com

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Meeting Location

The meeting is located at the Bethesda Chevy Chase Services Center, 4805 Edgemoor Lane, just across Old Georgetown Road from La Madeleine restaurant.  La Madeleine is on Old Georgetown Road between Woodmont and Wisconsin.  Click here for a map of the meeting place Take the Metro to the Bethesda Station (one block from the exit) or the easiest place to park is at the Bethesda Metro lot at the corner of Woodmont and Edgemoor.  You can enter the parking lot on either Woodmont or Edgemoor.  Exit the parking lot on Edgemoor, and stand under the pedestrian bridge that connects the parking lot to the metro station.  Walk north toward La Madeleine.  The entrance to the Bethesda Chevy Chase Services Center will be on the left, just south of Old Georgetown Road.  It's marked by flags and a big plaque.  Take the elevator to the second floor and look for the meeting room. We are using this room thanks to the Capital PC Users Group.

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Volunteers, Article Writers, Helpers

As a user organization we can use anyone that is willing to help the DVUG such as: organize the meetings, write articles for the Website and eventually the newsletter, provide suggestions for the agenda, suggest speakers,  provide willing to help to other users, suggest Special Interest Groups, Chair such groups and many other tasks. 

Contact us at dvug@meral.com

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Pictures at the Top of the Page

If you don't understand the explanations of the pictures at the top of the page given below, you will after a few DVUG meetings.  If you do then you can help other users in the group! The streaming video in the article Intro to Digital Videoshows the green screen in action.

The picture in the middle is of a Panasonic Digital Camcorder taken in front of a green screen.  A video background from the Digital Juice collection was composited with the camcorder and the green screen was keyed out. The Adobe Premiere timeline on the right was constructed in order to produce a video that demonstrates how green screen compositing works.

The left picture is a timeline from a show on Arson Dogs and demonstrates transitions, sound tracks and the use of multiple video tracks.

 

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Disclaimer: Articles by individual contributors are on this web site. The DVUG does not endorse any specific products (hardware or software). The opinions are those of individual contributors.

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