The Stunning Area of the Val d'Orcia and Enhancing My Knowledge of IMovie

It usually takes me about two weeks to put a show together, but this one dragged on for three weeks. It came out so beautiful that I am totally convinced that spending time tweaking the "finished" product should become a regular part of my process. Many things intervened to extend the creation of this production.

First, of course, I had MOHs Surgery on a Squamous Cell Cancer on my ear causing my ears to swell up and prevent me from doing any videotaping as I looked quite strange on video. I worked around that, however, as best I could. There were many other aspects that I needed to do to create this project. I even tried several new concepts including creating the overlaying voice using our Canon Camera. I first tried to use the in-computer microphone but the sound's quality was a bit less sharp than the camera produced. Also using the computer microphone prevents me from then changing photos. This is what occurred. I recorded my voice above a series of photos. When Laura saw the photos, she made the suggestion to replace one of them, but when I tried to do that I lost all the voice overs I had just created. I realized that not only was the sound poor, but also I had a lot less flexibility in creating the IMovie project when I used the in-computer mic. The best way to create a video is to record my voice even if I do not show any of me. I literally sat on my couch (where I do most of my work), placed the camera on the table I use to rest my computer, and pressed start. It didn't matter what the camera was actually showed, because it was the voice that interested me. I then did the usual download of the file into my computer, and placed the photos in the correct position without actually showing anything the camera recorded. The bottom line is that when I wish to speak to my audience without showing many or no photos, I will shoot downstairs in my living room, but if I just want my voice, I will bring the camera upstairs as I indicated. Amazing revelation.

I also for the first time used several editing techniques I never went near. One of the things I hated were the transitions from clip to clip that I videotaped. However, IMovie provides several possible types of transitions that make for not only smoother movement from clip to clip, but also the added dimension of something very lovely. Laura also indicated that she was unhappy about my labeling texts. In this show I move from town to town. I usually create the text on Pages (the word processing app on my Mac) and exported a photo which I placed below the name of the town for example. Laura asked whether that could be accomplished within IMovie and indeed it did. I googled how to use the texting aspect of iMovie which I then realized not only provided the actual ability to write, but also provided different fonts, colors, and locations of the descriptions on the photo, some of which were very imaginative (to me anyway).

So what you will see for Alan's Italy Show # 128 - A Day Out in Tuscany with Luca and Greta - the Val d'Orcia - San Quirico will be, probably I hope, the best production yet using iMovie. I have the feeling that I have just discovered something I should known about, but that's what learning is all about. I learned the very basics of IMovie, and then over the past several weeks have expanded my knowledge to include some very wonderful features which enhance the finished product. I use that same technique, I then realized, when I teach mathematics. I start with the basic, and most of the time, easy examples and gradually raise the level of difficulty for students to better understand the whole topic, i.e. the key and probably most important aspect of teaching and learning.

This show reveals some absolutely stunning images of the south eastern edge of Tuscany known as the Val d'Orcia. I guess that every town is probably pretty gorgeous in that region, but we focused on the four we actually visited, Pienza, Montalcino, and Bagno Vignoni from the trips Laura and I took between 2008 and 2010 during which I drove, and then San Quirico from the drive in May, 2016 during which Luca drove. What always makes trips nowadays so very special was the fact that Luca, who knows Tuscany about as well as anyone, drove us around. He brought Greta, his lovely daughter, to enhance our experience.  Unfortunately it rained, just not did back in 2013 when Luca drove us to Colle di val d'Elsa, also in Tuscany, but further north near Siena. Rain never dampens his spirit and enthusiasm which is very contagious, since the afternoon was beautiful. Also.....oddly, it always seems to clear up after lunch!!!!

Shorter Shows and More of Them

I was put on the shelf last Friday due to a surgical procedure, but began a new concept which gave me greater ease in producing shows. I used the in-computer microphone available through IMovie and sat on my den couch doing the voice over of a series of photos related to Show # 128 - A Day Out in Tuscany with Luca and Greta - San Quirico d'Orcia. It was fun and easy, and with the given flexibility, it gave me the opportunity to do several takes on the same segment (as many as 7 - 10 in one case). The total package of doing shows at home and even in a half laying down position has been a great thing for me. The show should appear on Youtube this weekend maintaining the every two week schedule in which I seem to have eased into.

My new situation is that in current sequence of shows on Tuscany, the productions have been shorter,  and more concise. I don't mind.  I can knock off a 20 - 30 min show rather easily now that I do not have the 45 - 60 minute restriction of the live studio version of the show I had to produce with the public access station. With that in mind I have many new ideas for shows, some of which will be offshoots of previous aired broadcasts from years ago. It is possible for me to perhaps even increase the bi-weekly rate of creations.

I am also trying to solve the problem of providing the Woodstock Cable Access Station (newly name changed to PAW - Public Access of Woodstock). Without going into minute detail, let me just say that I purchased software which should facilitate their being able to air my new shows (which they had not been able to do since I left).

Other than that my mind is quite fertile with new ideas for shows including revisiting various Tuscan and Umbrian towns. I would also like to finally do shows on helping people to plan their own trips, complete with some of my own experiences with traveling issues that have caused me difficulties. I am planning a show with which will be titled something like The Perfect Tour of Florence for First Time Visitors, and then perhaps others of that ilk for more advanced travelers. Things like that including Venice, Rome, and Milan in the mix. Those cities are always hard to figure out because of the plethora of things to see and do. A well organized 3 - 4 days in any of those would be very rewarding on one's now rather than taking one of those humongous tour groups which limit creativity on the part of the traveler.

That's where we stand right now.

Alan's Italy Show # 127 - A Day Out in Tuscany with Lidia - Volterra and Monteriggioni

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W82XvQnobCA

Our Shortest Show But Filled With Stunning Images

A crisp, smooth production of Alan's Italy Show # 127 focuses on our day out from Siena with Lidia driving us to Volterra where we dined and then returned to Siena by way of the amazing hill town of Monteriggioni. Honestly there wasn't much to say about these two towns west of Siena, so I thought it was time to just do a show of much less length of time. At almost 22 minutes it is almost half the size of our previous shortest show. Nonetheless I covered a lot of ground showing the charming towns plus some stunning Western Tuscan images of the landscape.

Two small glitches occurred. First when we took the videos using Laura's Cannon Powershot 16 they appeared to be somewhat out of focus during very brief 2 or 3 second intervals. We went ahead regardless with my superimposing images instead of focusing on me which is not a bad idea anyway. We later called Cannon Tech Support and seemed to have solved that problem. The other problem was some strange background grinding sounds which I edited out of the video using a control on the IMovie panel. I figured that out using the online Apple Teaching Segments which are invaluable. So things looked pretty good. I caught one mistake I made when I accidentally referred to something as being the 5th century when I meant 15th century. See if you can catch that very brief moment. Otherwise, despite some hesitating dialogue on my part at times, the final production was very satisfying.

We utilized some very fine photos Laura took in Volterra and Monteriggioni with some stunning landscapes forcing Lidia to stop for us which she did gladly. Also, of course, we were very grateful to Lidia who as usual just sweet and wonderful. It is such a pleasure going anywhere with her driving and negotiating some harrowing Italian roads. This was show one of the two we will be doing based on our two side trips during our four day stay in Siena. I reminded viewers of that fact once again, that our stay in Siena was predominantly to explore Western Tuscany and also in the next show South Central Tuscany, the area known as the Val D'Orcia. During the latter drive Luca graciously took us around accompanied by his lovely daughter Greta.