Category Archives: Multimedia

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FINAL (sort of) Green Team Video

I was finally able to complete the Green Team video, or at least the 2019 version which I’m also affectionately calling the “Chris Laney Version” as he is sort of the star.  When I showed this in the last Green Team meeting this past week the group had several ideas to make it even better including interviews with more people, more shots of the cafeteria, and even more.  So the next version, which I’m calling the 2020 version, will have even more, likely be even better!  Without further ado, here’s the Final 2019 cut.

I did notice one typo in the titles that I will be fixing, the word across is wrong in the portion about the water bottle stations.  I’m sure there’s more I will be tweaking as well, such as taking new video of the Green Roofs in the spring/summer when they are actually green instead of the weird red/brown they are in the video I shot right around thanksgiving which I also posted on this blog.  That was the first flight of the Mavic Mini, already being put to good use.

Which reminds me that I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t even had a chance to write about the STEM Drone Bootcamp Demonstration I did this past week.  It was for forum credit and about 20 students showed up including my Fiance, some of my work-studies, and one of my mentees.  I don’t mind sharing it, so here’s a link to my BCC STEM Drones/UAV Bootcamp Presentation. I only ask that if you use or borrow anything from it that you let me know and give me credit.

My 3 week vacation and holiday break begins tomorrow, so I’m not sure how often I will be writing here until the semester begins on January 21.  Until next time, take care!

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Green Team Video – Rough Edit

I would like to share a very rough edit of the Green Team video that I have been working on along with a few students.  So far, I’m pretty happy, but there’s more work to be done!

This video was shot mostly on cellphone using the DJI Osmo Mobile 3 that was borrowed from a faculty member here at BCC. The only video that wasn’t shot on cell phone, aside from the drone shots, is the interview with Chris Laney.  The results I think are quite good and it sounds like I will have a BCC owned Osmo Mobile 3 real soon for these types of video projects so that we won’t have to coordinate borrowing one.

The video is a rough edit for sure, nothing is finished essentially.  The titles aren’t done, someone even pointed out that “Water” is misspelled – thanks and oops!  We used royalty free music that was found by one of the students.  All the editing was done in iMovie, which has changed a bit since the last time I used it but it’s still a pretty great tool.  In the final version there will be more titles to explain what you are looking at and more data, such as numbers of solar panels and water bottles saved by the filling stations.

I’m thinking now that there will be 2 versions of this video.  We need to add some more content, ideas brought from the last Green Teem meeting which include more interviews, shots of a future Green Team meeting, mention of the new Leading By Example award won by BCC, and add some shots of an electric car, probably mine.  I’m not sure if we can get those shots and finish the editing before the Spring Semester Orientation, which is our goal for this.  That version will not have all the additional shots but a second version for mid-semester will.  So there will be a “Chris Laney only” version, and a version with more interviews and more voices.

I would love to hear feedback and suggestions!

 

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More Mini Flights

Over the weekend I could not help myself and I took advantage of the nice weather Saturday to fly the little Mavic Mini a few more times.  The little thing is very impressive!  It handles better and with longer flight time than the Phantom 3 Standard, the other drone that BCC owns, and the video capture is very comparable.  The main difference is that the Phantom 3 has more manual settings, the video resolution is still 2K.  My main surprise is how easily this drone is to fly – almost too easy!  One needs to keep in mind that it has no sensors for obstacle avoidance, meaning that if you tell it to it will fly right into a wall (or a tree, or a building) without hesitation.

Here’s some of the video from the weekend.

You will notice that I took great care only to operate only over my own property and to not exceed 400 feet, 120 meters, in altitude.  It’s honestly a bit surprising that the new DJI software will allow you to set the max height higher than that.   I’m still studying to obtain my Part 107 Certificate, however one of the nice things about flying this drone is that since I was flying recreationally and with a weight at just 249 grams, the certificate is not required by the FAA in this case.

One of my favorite features of the Mavic Mini is that it puts subtitles on the video it makes with flight data, such as GPS location, height, and a few other details.  (You won’t see that in the uploaded YouTube videos.)  Perhaps other DJI drones do this, but this is the first drone I’ve used that does that.

My next project is to see if I can get DroneBlocks to work with the Mavic Mini.