Videopia.org is about professional-quality video production for the (non-professional) masses.

To be clear: There is NO substitute for professional skill and experience (which is a theme that you will see repeated over and over again on this site), but "professional-quality" video is now universally available to anyone willing to learn the skills and get that experience. The last of the technical barriers has fallen and now it's up to you! In more concrete, dollars-n-cents, brass tacks terms:

Videopia.org is about producing professional quality video with a total budget of less than $5,000.

To some of you out there, $5,000 will sound like a lot of money, but I'm talking about everything, from camcorder to computer. When you consider that a decent camcorder is $1,000 and a reasonable computer is $1,500, that's half of the budget already and, honestly, enough to get started. But once you add in mandatory "extras," like lights (lots of lights), a tripod, a microphone (and other audio gear), plus all of the real extras that you will soon come to rely on (like a second 24" LCD monitor and more lights), you'll find $5,000 to be a suffocating limit.

In fact, "professionals" will scoff at your pathetic $5,000 and tell you it can't be done. They'll tell you that any entry-level "professional" needs at least a Panasonic HVX200 (absolute minimum $5,500) and a dual processor Mac Pro (absolute minimum $3,200 - oh, without a monitor). Bullhockey. While that equipment is nice (and we'll talk about it with a great deal of envy and lust here), it is NOT necessary. WE can produce our content and tell our story with less. A lot less. And that's what this site is about: proving that point, both by talking the talk AND walking the walk.

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About Eric

D. Eric Franks is a technology writer with more than a decade of experience as a journalist, editor and author who abhors referring to himself in the third person.

Ahem.

I've written a dozen books, hundreds of articles and splashed the ink of literally a million words (and more!) onto dead trees, in addition to my online-only work. From simple documentation to product reviews to commentary to public relations and press releases, I love to write. I consider myself fortunate to have written and edited professionally for Ulead Systems in Taiwan, Sonic Foundry in Wisconsin and Videomaker magazine in California.

More recently, I've also been writing, producing and hosting a number of online video programs. I'll be the first to admit that Will Smith's job is still safe, but I believe I have achieved a level of clarity and competence that suits the type of programs I produce. Every aspect of the video on this site was produced by myself, from script to distribution, and everything in between, including: lighting, shooting, compositing, editing, 3D animation, encoding and DVD authoring. Part of the reason for the solo effort is to prove that anyone can do this, using only consumer gear.

Still, I consider myself first and foremost a writer/editor, and I think this shows when you compare the self-produced videos on this site with some other videos that I've produced in collaboration with the DJTV team at Digital Juice, including lighting designers, camera operators, editors, animators and audio engineers, to name a few of the specialists that typically work on a professional production.*

As a writer/producer/host, I created more content for Digital Juice's flagship DJTV than anyone before or since. The early Season One episodes of my show TechKnow are shaky at best (when I was shooting and editing myself), but once the DJTV production team was assembled, the show hit its stride and was always delivered on time, on spec and under budget. Indeed, TechKnow was the least expensive and most efficient DJTV show produced and was the only show to run continuously through all three short seasons. While TechKnow was not a flashy or sexy show, I am extremely proud of the clarity, consistency, density and simplicity of the program. It was always very well-received and is still the highest-rated and most-watched show in the history of DJTV.

In addition to TechKnow, as Digital Juice's Director of Technical Education, I also produced a short series of training videos covering all of the company's content, software and it's interaction with Adobe Premiere, Apple Final Cut Pro and Sony Vegas. The video training spans nearly an hour of content and was produced in a month, start to finish. Once again, the content is fast-paced and dense, with a clarity and attention to production values that you don't often see in other online training and tutorial videos. On December 16, 2007 I was awarded an Oustanding Juicer award. Three weeks later I was laid off.

Does it sound like I'm trying to sell you on the idea of hiring me? Good, because I need a job.

Besides a salaried position, I'd also be interested in producing promotional, training and tutorial videos for just about anyone on a freelance project basis. I'm a tad nerdy and can honestly say that I think it'd be fun to work with your company to create a video presence for you on the Web, whether you are a manufacturer of LED flashlights in Hong Kong or a niche software company in Kansas. Roughly, I can tell you that the base cost is going to run $100/minute for a simple video, from script to delivery, with additional services adding to that price, often significantly. For example, if you want custom 3D models and animation (+$400 per project) or if you want hire a hot babe as your spokesperson (+$300). Drop me an e-mail, tell me what you are looking for and I'll send you a custom quote.

Et cetera

When I'm not working, I enjoy the great outdoors, whether that's as exotic as hiking up Taiwan's tallest mountain and diving walls in the Philippines looking for hammerheads or as quotidian as mushroom hunting in northern California and canoeing springs in Florida. I've been an amateur astronomer since the second grade, read a lot of non-fiction (mostly science and filmmaking) and keep a log of the birds I've seen in my backyard. (22 species so far, but Gigi the Cat has only managed to log 5.) I read more movie reviews than I watch actual movies and while I definitely have a taste for artsy-fartsy indy films and documentaries, I'm not above getting excited about the new Star Trek movie.

****

The Digital Juice production team that worked on TechKnow included Perry Jenkins (lighting design, creative oversight), Chris Gates (camera/editing), Charlie Burket (camera/editing), Matt Janowsky (camera), Chuck Peters (content oversight), Michael Mavrikios (audio), Josh Leiberman (camera), Ami Pearsall (makeup) and Brent Milby (3D animation). Yea. That's why it looks so good.