**Anything you’d like to see from the blimpographer?**

[Mckarnin]

**Anything you’d like to see from the blimpographer?**

Subject: Anything you’d like to see from the blimpographer?

I’d love to know if you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see come from me, the official RonPaulBlimp Blimpographer.

YouTube account: http://youtube.com/rpblimp

A few things to keep in mind:
1) Everything takes longer to produce then you think. For example, the last video about the broken bungees took about 3 hours total, from shooting to final upload. Someone in another thread said it would take 7 minutes. Given that it was made from about 12 minutes of raw footage…well, just trust me, that is how long these things take. I only have about 14 hours a day in which to work, and I also spend a lot of time in other blimp-related duties, like driving, meetings, scheduling, flying and other logistical stuff.

2) We are shooting on a great SD camera (Canon GL1.) If you want HD footage…great! So do we! Send us an email if you’d like to sponsor us by sending us a nice, 3-chip tape-based HD camera, or the $3000 it costs for us to buy a reasonably nice one. Otherwise, this gets prioritized below more directly blimp-related issues.

One idea per post, please keep on-topic. Posts to vote up (or down, I suppose) other ideas if you have strong feelings. My username is theglassishalf, so whenever it gets approved by the moderators, you’ll know who I am.

We’re all working 14-18 hour days on the blimp crew, but I’ll reply as I can.

I also take still pictures. RonPaulBlimp is undergoing some reorganization, so you might not have seen them. They are here:
http://flickr.com/photos/21839280@N06/

 

[Dave Pedersen]

Local television reports will probably be numerous once the blimp is flown south where it belongs. All such television coverage should be displayed prominently at the blimp website to demonstrate the value of the blimp. Local TV coverage I believe is the greatest contribution the blimp can make.

 

[DavidTX]

I hate to butt in, but if you guys would like some advice on streamlining the process to get video online, hit me up. I routinely shoot severe weather video, edit the clip I want, compress it and can have it online in under 10 minutes (depending on the quality) FROM OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE via cellular data card. I can shoot, edit and have broadcast quality video uploaded to the Weather Channel in less than an hour if necessary. No reason the methods we use can't be put in place by you guys.

 

[faisal]

PLEASE do not use an HD camera. I currently do my videos in HD, but a 2 minute piece of footage could take up to 10GB of space! Unless you're willing to pay for the external hard drives, more RAM to work in your editing program, and a computer made for the purpose, HD is not a good idea. Also, since your videos are going to be uploaded to you-tube, the file sizes should be very small. So either way, your going to end up downgrading your HD video's quality to one that's the same as a regular camera.

Also, for those saying that it takes only 7 minutes to edit raw footage: no, it takes a loooong time. I made a 4 minute long video for a contest that took me and my sister 4 hours to edit...

I think that the current methods that the Ron Paul Blimp staff are using are good and should be maintained. We're doing perfectly fine besides our current weather problems. Keep it up!

 

[mokkan88]

Don't worry about HD footage. It's completely unnecessary and would be a waste of already tight funding. Use that $3000 for more practical purposes, such as salaries.

 

[Tarzan]

Don't worry about HD footage. It's completely unnecessary and would be a waste of already tight funding. Use that $3000 for more practical purposes, such as salaries.

There is NO intention of buying one... it was more of a "anybody got one lying around" question... you never know, it could happen. The Blimp crew is being very frugal and they are still paying their own expenses. They will also be stuck in a motel in North Carolina over Christmas (hint )

Folks have asked how they can help and this was just a hopeful request... if you don't ask, you don't know. Daniel, the Blimpographer, has plans to use the high def footage to create a Blimp Tour DVD and wants to create the best video possible.

 

[Mckarnin]

The one thing I would ask from the blimp people is to ignore statements like these.

The blimp is cool, mfg it's a blimp for crying out loud. I'm not an American but if I was I would very much like to purchase some ad time.

Let the blimp fly.

You can't buy airtime but I wonder if non-americans can pitch in for in the camera....

 

[Man from La Mancha]

I hate to butt in, but if you guys would like some advice on streamlining the process to get video online, hit me up. I routinely shoot severe weather video, edit the clip I want, compress it and can have it online in under 10 minutes (depending on the quality) FROM OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE via cellular data card. I can shoot, edit and have broadcast quality video uploaded to the Weather Channel in less than an hour if necessary. No reason the methods we use can't be put in place by you guys.

Looks like someone to at least talk with. We don't HD quality for daily updates.

.

 

[Man from La Mancha]

Is they blimp project actively seeking selling minutes by the local madia you meet so we can get a bigger base of buyers? In most the PR release I have seen there is no mention of this.

.

 

[RP4Pres2008]

Is there a place we can go and see past videos from the blimpographer? I'd like to see some of their past work.

 

[mdevour]

Local TV news footage...

Dear Katharine,

I am actually very happy to see that you folks are going to get a few days to breathe, at least a little, and let your shadows catch up with you. I'm sorry you're all so far from home for the holiday.

I have an answer that sort-of addresses your main question for this thread. One thing I think you can do to keep us customers all riled up... errr, fired up, that's it! ... is to grab and post some of the news coverage you have to be getting on the local TV stations.

I think in the long run the biggest way this project will work for us is by bypassing the national media and giving 100's of thousands of people a glimpse of Ron and his popularity via their local news stations.

So, I'd love to see some of those neat reports from the 6 O'clock news, with the local anchor introducing the wide-eyed reporter, standing beneath the curved shape of the dusk-shrouded blimp, who then introduces the interviews and stunning aerial and ground footage his crew recorded earlier...

Those people (I hope!) are not so jaundiced as to miss the beauty of all this and can appreciate the interest their viewers will have in the story -- and the history being made in their own back yard!

It's something that I haven't seen yet, and don't expect to, directly, seeing as I'm in Michigan.

If you are coordinating with the local meetups or other supporters, maybe you can make it standard practice to enlist these folks to watch for and record these reports and pass them on to you?

They have to be among the best trophies you can dangle in front of the rest of us!

From my family to all of you, hugs, a pat on the back, and our thanks.

Peace,

Mike D.

 

[Ilhaguru]

Do a nice commercial-type thing that scores high on youtube and that can help awareness of the blimp + funds. Something like the "Ron Paul: A New Hope" video. And then just some small updates as often as possible (hard to get a piece of the action/get excited when you are not seeing the blimp nor getting much updates).

 

[shasshas]

please put shot of the toilet on board the blimp includiing video of useif possible

we want to see how clean and modern it is.

the toilet and bathroom is the best way to measure the "standard" of luxury a blimp offers.

 

[pacelli]

Please have the owner and/or owners of the company introduce himself/herself/themselves to the community.

 

[gecko42]

An interview with the crew would be cool.

 

[faisal]

please put shot of the toilet on board the blimp includiing video of useif possible

we want to see how clean and modern it is.

the toilet and bathroom is the best way to measure the "standard" of luxury a blimp offers.

????
I know that this post was trying to help out but I found it to be a little... comical.

 

[european]

I hate to butt in, but if you guys would like some advice on streamlining the process to get video online, hit me up. I routinely shoot severe weather video, edit the clip I want, compress it and can have it online in under 10 minutes (depending on the quality) FROM OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE via cellular data card. I can shoot, edit and have broadcast quality video uploaded to the Weather Channel in less than an hour if necessary. No reason the methods we use can't be put in place by you guys.

Looks like someone to at least talk with. We don't HD quality for daily updates.

.

+1

and what i personally would like to see is shots from the blimp to the ground when hoovering over a big city.

also i would like to see ground footage from inside a big city to the blimp. what happens on the ground? how well can the text on the side be read? how do people react? do some interviews while you are there with bypassers.

and maybe the blimp seen from a very high building? so you can catch both the city and the blimp in 1 shot?