Alex Bealer Blacksmith Association

Many other clubs do this.
First question- What could it hurt? Second-Cost?
An added plus would be a monitor so that the audience could see close ups. Plus, I wish the demo'r would use a cordless mike. OK, more setup/take down time, But digital could be made into cd's for sale(see UMBA).
We are an EDUCATIONAL club. Let's educate.
As if Tom didn't have enough on his plate.

Like Dan said,"Lets educate". In my view one way to do this with tapes made at meetings is to have some demonstrations devoted to basics and basic operations instead of all being random or required. The tapes from these would have an agenda and a process or processes in mind when the tape was made.

When I pick up on simple things at demonstrations it is mostly by observation and having it hit me in the head that I have been doing it wrong. Good technique and basics can be taught by design instead of having to sniff it out the hard way. Of course, not everyone agrees on what is good technique, but that could be part of a tape as well.

As examples, instead of generalities: hot punching, stance at an anvil, bending, drawing out without a power hammer, collaring, and a jillion others as topics.

I hope taping can become a part of our program.

I like both the demo taping and Alex Bealer tape ideas.

I'd also like to film a series of basic operations, like a Blacksmithing 101 course, and rip the vids and put them up on the site. I think that would be a great resource for newer folks.

What will it take to "DO IT"? Stine, chair the committee?

Thanks for the replies thus far. Posted this over a month ago and honestly expected more replies.
Great prod,Dan! It got me off and running again so gere I go:

Thanks also to Tony for the time to bring this up last Saturday
and every body who spoke up.
I think taping will definitely take a lot more committment than I've seen thus far. I am most definitely willing to chair this committee
once we have one.

I,therefore, implore those of us interested in taping to let me know. Then,I'll call a meeting and get us together for a planning/brainstorm session. I put my telephone contact information
on the initial posting and NOBODY has called.

I do not have the ability to go mini DVD to DVD. My television has DVD and VCR and I am able to make the VCR recordings of the mini-DVDs and put these in the library like I've been doing. If this is all ABBA wants at this point, I will continue
until the VCR on the TV gives out. Mini-DVD to DVD makes more sense as tapes seem to be on the way out anyway.
Technically, I am challenged but willing to learn.

Tom Kovarik had a great idea about feeding our recordings to UMBA(BTW,they have expressed an interest in this) Personally,I like the idea very much. It would relieve us of the need to manufacture and ship recordings.
We would only need to produce quality master recordings
which any of us could purchase from UMBA for a mere $5(actually $7 for the first one,then $5 which INCLUDE shipping. This might allow us to focus on recording topics.
I don't think it could get much better than this. Nevertheless,would like some input from other members rather than deciding something like this unilaterally.
Including,but certainly not limited to the following logistics, we will need:
1.A legal release form(Wayne Coe are you online?)
(Assuming demonstrator willing for taping in the first place)

2.Pro or at least Semi-pro quality equipment(what equipment to purchase) My handycam is OK for shots of the kids on vacation but the kind of features like cordless mike are not available as far as I know. Also, Camcorders,I am told can record 5hr whereas my Handycam can only record 25 min before having to change discs.

3.A TEAM of camera crew/back up crew(schedule well in advance who
is taping. This would be made up of more than just cameraman(see #4 below)

4.Ideas and scripts to tape from(Even though not running camera we would need interviewers sometimes to be on camera bringing out
important points of the Demo(Dan is great at this!)

5.Organized Archives/Archivist

These are just a few ideas. Considering our individual and collective creativity, I guarantee everybody that they have ideas
we've not thought about yet.
So,please feel free to call me or reply to this posting if interested in any aspect noted above or that may come to mind.
Once again,he
Respectfully Submitted
John Stine
(770) 493-7785
(770) 296-2402re is my contact information.

Spoke with Al McClure last week. He's having good results taping Okmulgee demos and will be giving us some input on this.

I will not be able to attend the meethig this coming week but would appreciate this being discussed.

JHS

I want to thank Frank Price for making a motion at an OBG meeting to get the recording project going. I know if anything stays in committee long enough it can die.

At the OBG meetings, we are not professional in recordings and if you will purchase tapes from UMBA or RMB's you will quickly see that they are not professional either.

The main thing is to do the recordings and make them available to the members to recover the cost. We are an Educational group, not a Professional group for hire.

All we have done at the OBG meetings is plugged a small camera into a DVD recorder and placed a monitor on the output side of the DVD recorder for viewing as we are taping and also to allow those in the back a means to watch in the close up mode.

I bought a cheap flat screen 15" monitor because of the weight factor and price :) so I could place everything in a plastic box with rubber sheeting between the monitor and recorder.

Sure UMBA will duplicate the DVD's for us, but I think there should be a reduced package price to out group for donating the recording to them to make a profit from; say, for every recording we send to them to add to their library, we would get 25 copies for just sending them the disc to copy them too. And then we would have 2 copies for our library and 23 copies we could sell at $5 each. That could be ear marked as funds to be used to purchase better equipment in the future.

This is just my 2 cents worth, but like I said before, things can die a slow death in a committee. Lets be like the boys from Mo. "SHOW ME" dont just tell me.

Alfred McClure

I think like Al. I believe there are two aspects of this. Having a screen live at demos would allow small shops that will not accomodate a big crowd up close to the demo to be used as meeting sites that otherwise could not be used.

I got a DVD player and have been watching a number of the UMBA DVD's and it is a GREAT way to see a widely varied bunch of smithing techniques. Whoever started this at UMBA deserves a lot of praise. The earliest DVD's were obviously from video tapes and were of VERY poor quality as far as camera techniques and sound were concerned, but as they matured they became a lot better. There is still a lot to be desired in technique, but it can be made better with just a little thought.

Al actually has some experience with setup at the Ocmulgee meetings and I hope that can translate into some action on our part.

Posted this in January but responses over almost 4 mos have been limited to a few.
Does sufficient interest exist to continue?
John

I'm certainly interested in buying the demos, just didn't think I had anything to add as far as making them because I've never used the technology. I've purchased the UMBA cd's, and I'd love to have access to ours. So I'm in support.

Linda Holmes-Rubin

MLMartin i hope to see taping happen

Anything new on the taping front? If we have someone to train people on the equipment, I'll volunteer to learn how to use it. I want to make sure that we have a record of our demos because we have some really good ones.

Linda Holmes-Rubin

I wanted to bump this back up to the top...I should probably start a new thread.

Who was that recording at Dan's at the last meeting? Sorry I didn't get your name...

I have done a little web video...I'm certainly no expert.

Heres a video I did for my niece when she was trying to get a tennis scholarship. My brother-in-law did the taping and I put it on the web.

http://www.possumholler.net/ansleywhitetennis.wmv

Copy and paste the address into your browser and be patient as it downloads. It's a windows media file at 12.6 MB in size.

Heres another one I did after hurricane Catrina.

http://www.possumholler.net/Katrina.wmv

Same windows format at 11.3 MB

If these are satisfactory...I would be more than happy to put some Bealer demos on the web!

And what ever happened to the members only section of the web site?

Glad you picked this topic back up, John. I'd like to learn how to do it, and if we have several people able to record things, we can be sure to get all of the demos. For example, I hope someone got the last meeting at Dan's, I was really disappointed that I had to miss it and I would be glad to pay for a DVD of the demo.

Linda

Linda Holmes-Rubin

I can make DVDs of any tapes that are floating around out there too.

Just get them to me and I'll make them.

Anybody out there?

(besides Dan. Hello Dan!)

8-)

KEVIN It isn't making DVD's from video tapes that is a problem. John Stine made some really good MINI DVD recordings. They are 15 minutes per disk. We thought it would be simple to put them all onto one longer disk and found that it was a problem in that to do so someone has to sit with the whole process. John Had hours of MINI disks and it was costly. He wound up sending the whole thing to Roger Degner at UMBA and he will be EDITING and putting the whole thing onto two disks. This requires TIME and EFFORT. It is a labor or LOVE. John brought the result to the meeting at Tom Davenhall's and put a copy in the library. After what I have learned it seems to me that the answer is to record a session onto a VIDEOTAPE{not onto a mini disk) and then the transfer onto a DVD should be simpler. This does not consider the question of editing, which is a subject beyond my understanding. BUT, after watching a number of the older UMBA DVD's, I definitely think EDITING is a real plus.
I have been through a lot of UMBA Disks. They can be Fantastic or put you to sleep. The sound can be great or can drive you crazy trying to hear what is being said. The earlier ones were the worst. The newer ones are getting better as the people doing the recording have begun to recognize the problems. Some of the demonstrators are beginning to understand that they need to HELP the cameraman. Some of the cameramen are beginning to understand that they need to stay with the camera and keep it on the point of activity. The recordings are getting BETTER. They are like the little girl with the curl -- When they are good they are very very good, but when they are bad they are horrid.
I have a DVD player and I dearly love to watch them as they present blacksmithing from a number of different smiths with different styles, different ideas and different work habits. They eat up a lot of time because so many of them are not edited and much time is spent with the Iron being heated and nothing else happening, but they are REALLY WORTH MY TIME. This is my 2 cents worth.

I have a Pinnacle TV tuner card in my PC that I use to record TV shows that I want to see and I have also copied VHS tapes to my hard drive with it. I have another Pinnacle product called "Studio 8" that I use to edit the commercials out of the shows that I want to keep so editing shouldn't be a problem.

Yes...it takes time and effort but the offer still stands. What else have I got to do? (BIG GRIN)