So when I was younger I had this crayon “piggy” bank type thing that I would put all my change in to and cash it in with my parents. I was around 10 when I first began to do this and when I got to about $20 I would cash it in and feel like I was rich.
(How easy things used to be right?)

So as I got older I continue to do that but now I have this “water bucket” looking container that actually counts my change as I put the coins into it. The reason I bring this up is because quite often I’ll see random people and even friends of mine neglect their change and just toss it away because “What the heck is 3 cents gonna get me?”. Well they’re right 3 cents really won’t get you anything, but everything adds up!

I know it’s cliche to put that picture up, but it’s true! Just recently I had cashed in some change I have collected for several months right before I went to Vegas. Thanks to my saving I had an extra $60 for the trip!

Now there are those of you who don’t use cash. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t, but apparently there are those of you out there who don’t. So for those of you who don’t I HOPE you have a Change Makes Cents account. I must have mentioned that account more than anything in my blogs so far! That account actually takes the extra change you have in your checking account, after you use your debit card, and rounds up to the nearest dollar. Then what’s left is put into this savings account that builds without you even realizing it! For more information check here. So remember, save everything penny, dime, dollar you have because you never know how much you could just be throwing away.

10. Christmas shoes

9. Christmas Shoes

8. Christmas Shoes

7. Christmas Shoes

6. Christmas Shoes

5. Christmas Shoes

4. Christmas Shoes

3. Christmas Shoes

2. Christmas Shoes

and the winner is:

THE CHRISTMAS SHOES

So this past month I finally got my priorities in order and I feel extremely good about it. I recently started thinking about my future and what it is I need to do. I love doing stand up comedy, I feel it’s my calling. I love to make people laugh and being able to make a living off of that would be complete satisfaction for me. But I noticed now that I’m 22 and time has flew by in the past 3 years. I decided I’m going back to college. I’m going to Bucks CCC for Graphic Design and then possibly transferring to a school downtown next fall.

I came to this conclusion after realizing that if my comedy works out, thats great! But if not, I want to go somewhere else in life, I’d rather have a future than to being doing comedy open mics when I’m 40. My best friend of 15 years always falls in and out of depression, I’ve told him before that you need to look at life like a game of Tetris…everything falls into place as it should.

As I am writing this Kodak is going through some hard times. They are currently struggling to avoid bankruptcy. Why is the world of Film in trouble these days? And why is video taking over? lets take a look at the two.

This picture has nothing to do with the article but it came up when I googled Film VS video and thought it was too cool.

Both formats have pros and cons.

The benefit of using film.
“film simply captures light waves its creating lines of depth and color, so it looks smooth and soft when projected, even at large sizes.”1 Film has always had a better resolution then video and still does. Look no further than anything filmed in IMAX. And when I say IMAX I mean REAL IMAX not those stupid Digital IMAX screens at your local theater that arent any different than the other screens. IMAX is by far the best quality around and thanks to movies like The Dark Knight they are starting to be used for more than just documentaries now. One of the major action sequences in Mission Impossible Ghost Protocal will be filmed in IMAX.

As mentioned before film captures light a lot better then Video and the larger your film stock is the better quality you will have. Most movies shoot in some form of 35mm. IMAX shoots on 70mm. If that doesn’t sound big think about this. when ever you see a film each second is 24 individual pictures running at a speed that simulates motion. now imagine each individual strip being the size of a post card. Here is a comparison along with the cameras they use to film it.

The Downside to Film.
Film does have some major disadvantages. The cameras film use cannot be sized down which make it hard to move the camera freely. Special rigs have to be built which is fine if your working on a big budget film but kinda crappy if your an independent filmmaker with a shoe string budget…like me. You also cant tell hoe your finished product will look. Movies do have video assist to give them a good idea of what the film will end up looking like but theres no way to know for sure until its developed and by then it might be too late. Film often has grain too on the screen and scratches which everyone has come to accept and ignore but sometimes it could ruin a movie. The Biggest draw back however is the cost of film. If I had more money donated for my movie I would have shot on film however the donations were pretty low so I had to resort to video. Here is a good example of how costly film is:
“Nowadays it seems like a foreign concept to have to wait to look at your pictures, doesn’t it? A roll of camera film containing 24 or 36 exposures used to cost around $3-5 to buy and another $3-5 to develop.

Using a film camera, 24 frames of film is one second of screen time. One. Second. Multiply $2 by 60, and then by 90. That’s to say, if you roll camera and cut camera at the exact instant you start and end your scene, do only one take of each shot, and film a full-length 90-minute movie, that film alone at $2 a second costs you $10,800. So in a monetary sense, the difference between film and video is huge.”2

The Benefit of Video
Video for years had a lesser quality than film. However video had some benefits that made it become as huge as it did. A major benefit with video is that you can play back your footage and analyze it right there on the spot. The portability is also a lot better.“While some digital cinematography cameras are large and bulky, even compared to full-sized film cameras, others are extremely compact, and offer features such as the ability to detach the camera head from the rest of the camera, allowing high quality images to be captured with an extremely compact package. The tapes, hard drives and flash memory magazines that digital cameras record onto are also far more compact than the film magazines used by film cameras. These factors can result in substantial portability advantages for digital cinematography systems.”3

To give a better example here is the camera they filmed the first Lord of the Rings (ARRICAM ST) with compared to the Camera they are using now for The Hobbit (RED EPIC).

Big difference! But the primary reason most people are moving toward video is cause quality of video is almost s good as film but a hell of a lot cheaper. Most movies out there today are switching to video and you probably didn’t even know it. Video does have its downsides. you cant expand the image like you can with film with out the quality getting distorted. The picture isn’t as clear and hard drives that capture the video could very well crash and ruin everything. But these are hard times and we are in a recession so until they find a way to make film cheaper for indie filmmakers it looks like I’ll have to stick with video.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cinematography

Alright hello ladies and gentlemen! This blog is coming at you live from Las Vegas!

The weather here is still cold as back home, but maybe a little warmer. If so not too much of a difference. Anyway being out here has been nothing short of a spending spree.  So I have had to keep a close eye on my money making sure I had enough money for all four days that I am here. It’s very easy to spend more money than you would like to when you gamble. My friend had learned that the hard way. He had brought about $900 to Vegas with him which was $300 more than me! The very first day we were here and in about 4 hours, he had lost $300!

Now he was just about even with me so if he was smarter with his money he would be fine for the next couple days like me. Was he? Of course not! He lost close to the same amount the very next day! So let him be a lesson to all of you, BUDGET YOUR MONEY! I don’t care where it is you go, whether it’s Vegas like me, or to a mall near your house. Just be sure you watch how much your spending.

Take a seat ya might learn something…

Well I find it kind of shocking that a lot of my friends still depend on their parents to do their bills for them. I mean they still pay their bills with their own money, but when it comes to actually going online or writing a check, they are clueless. Paying bills online must be one of the easiest things to accomplish, all you have to do is take maybe a whole ten minutes to figure it out. However, there are still places that do not take money via the internet and still require you write a check. Again I was really surprised how many of my friends never even ONCE wrote a check. Well here is a quick video showing you how to write one.

So next time you have a check to write, why not give it a try yourself and if your still unsure have someone check it after your done. Till next time guys!

Cyber Monday was yesterday and if you’re all like me….you probably had no money to take advantage of the deal with. But that’s ok, if I had money I would have shopped from my computer chair in my underwear…and no one wants to see that. Obviously I’m joking, of course you want to see that.

The online sales for Cyber Monday this year were 20% from a year ago. That is a huge spike in terms of just one year. Last year, Cyber Monday was the heaviest online shopping day ever. With a 20% increase on top of that, we are really starting to rely on home internet shopping rather then getting up and going out to the stores, because honestly…who has time to put on pants these days. Shopping from your computer is safer and sometimes even a lot cheaper. Dealing with shipping charges can be costly but for certain products you can save big money on shipment. Not only that, but you can browse multiple stores at once. You save gas this way for your car and have time to do other things around the house you couldn’t normally do if you were out shopping. I believe online shopping is just gonna get bigger, and better. Such a shame…because we’re just gonna get lazier!