MyFlip.co.uk from jules.tv on Vimeo

This clip is over a year old, as it is the first ever footage I shot with My Flip, straight out of the box, insert batteries hit the record button and there you go. A minute later I was saving it into my Mac Powerbook via the Flip software.

I then took into Final Cut Pro, made a couple of trims, added some graphics I knocked up in Photoshop and uploaded the clip a few minutes later to Vimeo. Having just spent 6 weeks editing my last show for the BBC it was quite a pleasure creating some instant content even if it is only 10 seconds worth!

There are 3 points I want to make about this short example:

1. The Edit

This is not a continuous clip of footage, actually there is an edit, at one point my daughter took too long too reply so I made a cut on a pan which you can’t notice. The lesson is you can fool the human eye by cutting on fast movement or a fast pan without needing a cutaway shot to cover the jump.

2. Musical break

You will notice the music drops out under the word “Mummy” this deliberately gives the punchline impact, and is a common technique used in MTV/American style reality shows. You would think that only adding music would give impact sometimes just taking it away works well too.

3. Soft Light

All digital camcorders hate high contrast lighting situations. I deliberately shot with soft daylight though a window as the main lightsource, as you can see it looks fine and the Flip has done a good job with the tones. If in doubt and if you can move your subject to an area where the light works for you rather than just shoot in any situation. The Flip makes shooting simple, but it can’t control the light that’s up to you the Director.

People often think about the picture and forget the audio when shooting video. Sometimes poor picture quality is acceptable if the content is strong and you can hear what’s going on but according to a recent survey it’s bad audio that really winds up TV viewers.

The Flip Camera’s audio is pretty good for such small and economically priced camcorder. But there’s a lot you can do to help.

1. Get close to the source. There’s no point trying to capture someone across a room as you are liable to hear everyone between you and your subject. Get the camera in close (but not too close) to their faces. If you are trying to film a presentation put the Flip on a tripod and position it close to the speaker or failing that close to the PA system.
2. Reduce distractions. A few seconds before you shoot think about the audio. What can you turn off that might be in the background and distract from the important sound. For example, spin dryers, TV sets, the running engine of a car. I often work with sound recordists when I make TV shows as a Director. One thing they always check is jewellery. If it’s jangling around it can ruin audio, so they may tape necklaces down or ask people to remove or swap their jewellery for more audio friendly accessories. Also reduce handling noise of the camera, your own jewellery banging on the camera can be a killer.
3. Choose your location. As a Flip Director you can often choose where you shoot. As a TV Director I am constantly looking for good spots to film and always think about the audio as well as the picture. One of the trickiest environments is a nightclub with very loud music. But by asking subjects into side corridors or outside onto the street you can capture interviews and reduce the background interference then use cutaway shots of inside the venue to give it a context. Other examples would be filming down a side street rather than on a main road, avoiding venues who won’t agree to turn the Musac down etc.
4. Explain the Audio. If you use cutaways or pan from the noise to your subject (if you are not planning to edit) it helps the brain understand why they are hearing the noise and where it’s coming from and it becomes less concerning.
5. Pick Ups. A sound recordist swinging a boom can pick up sound regardless of where you point the camera. But with an onboard mike as with the Flip Ultra when you pan the camera from one person to another you are bound to hear a dip in audio and it might feel the sound is distant when someone speaks off camera. if you are planning to edit your videos, get people to repeat key sentences when the camera is on them and then edit the best takes with the best audio into your film.

UPDATE 21/7/10: If you have a new HD FLIP this post will be of interest.

When I first bought my Flip Ultra I was so eager to start filming I didn’t set the date and time correctly, so all my video registered as being shot in 2007.

I always believe it’s worth getting these details right so when you look back at your videos of your kids when you are 70 years old and you can’t remember whether young Johnny was 2 or 3 years old when he first played Mario Cart on his Wii – you will have the correct date on all your vids.

As I couldn’t see an obvious way of setting the date via the Flip’s minimilist controls I emailed the US support team and got this first class reply within hours which I’ll share in full:

“If your camcorder’s model number begins with F2 or PSV-5:
The first time you turn the camcorder on you will automatically be presented with an option to set the date and time. This is the only time you will be automatically prompted to set the date and time.  You can always access the date and time settings by pressing “+” on the 4-way navigation button and then powering the camcorder on while holding this button down.  Please ensure that you press the “+” button at the same time as you press the power on button.  Continue to hold the “+”
sign as the camcorder powers on.

Once the settings screen is displayed on your camcorder, use “+”, “-“, “◄”, and “►”on the 4-way navigation button to set the desired value for each date and time field.

The date and time settings can be reviewed and reset at any time and as often as needed.

If your camcorder’s model number begins with F1, PSV-4, or PSV-3:

The date and time on the camcorder are set to GMT time zone during manufacturing.  You can reset the camcorder’s date and time by taking your camcorder to an authorized Pure Digital Retailer (i.e. Rite Aid, CVS, Long’s, & Duane Reade) to get a DVD.  When the camcorder is processed, its clock is reset to your local date and time.

Or, you can leave the batteries out of your camcorder for 24 hours and reinsert them. Upon placing batteries in your camcorder, you may see a time and date screen that allows you to use your arrow keys to enter the appropriate time for your location. Then, when your cursor is over the ‘Exit’

in the lower right hand corner simply press your red record button to exit the screen.”

Let me know if it works for you!

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Hats off to David Pogue, he puts a lot of effort into his Tech reviews for the New York Times. Here he gives the Flip Ultra the Apple treatment with a couple of contrasting characters – played by himself.

The main gist is how the Flip Ultra compares to other more cumbersome camcorders on the market.

Today, Monday 9th June, the Flip finally launched in the UK. The video camera according to ‘The Independent’ Newspaper accounts for 13% of all camcorders sold in the USA where it first went on sale. Sales are closing in on 1 million across the pond.

The reason: the Flip is so simple to use, fits in your pocket, operates on just 3 buttons and plugs straight into the USB port on your Mac or PC for seemless upload to video-sharing site like YouTube and MySpace.

It can be used by kids, pensioners and anyone in between. It will be interesting to see how it goes down with the Brits, I expect you’ll be seeing it in the back pockets of many Union Jack Shorts on the beach this summer!