Speaking of Video

Articles
The following are recent articles on aspects of television and video production.

A Video Virgin, You Say?
Subtitled "Tips for a pleasurable first-time experience in getting your video made," this article points to a few misconceptions about video and the production process, and offers guidance to one who might wish to engage a producer or production company in the making of a video.

Starting Out- Again! Videography Magazine
A very personal account of the starting of this new company on a crash with little cash basis, and succeeding in part through the embracing the new, cost-efficient digital video technologies.

Shooting the Apollo Moonwalks in Government Video
This trade journal article recalls how the TV of the astronauts prospecting on the lunar surface was acquired and transmitted to Earth from the front of a little moon-buggy during the final three Apollo missions. Author Sam Russell was RCA's project engineer for this NASA endeavor and was at Mission Control when the video came streaming back.

Talks given

The following are talks given recently, one to a group of video professionals, the other to middle school science classes.

Princeton Media Communications Association meeting (from an email to members)

        Princeton, NJ - Sam Russell, an experienced local producer and PMCA member, gave the production story of a documentary program just completed. Shot in Switzerland as well as the US, the program introduces Eurythmy, a movement art which, although developed nearly a century ago, remains largely unrecognized. Sam shot in HD using Panasonic's top-of-the-line AJ-HDC27F Varicam. He told of lessons learned with this great camera, carrying off a location shoot in Switzerland, and he presented clips in HD. The program’s initial distribution is on SD-DVD, but is soon to be released on BluRay.

Back to the Moon (Advertiser-News, North)

        Vernon, NJ - The students in all Mrs. J. Mitchell’s sixth-grade classes at Lounsberry Hollow Middle School had a guest speaker on Nov. 10. Sam Russell is the grandfather of Matt Russell, a student in Mrs. Mitchell’s class. The elder Russell showed a replica of the Apollo 11 spacecraft and a DVD with actual footage of the moon landings. For some students, seeing the astronauts on the moon as it actually happened, was a first.