@kharrison Thanks!
From last night: https://mattgemmell.scot/20-years/
Today is a bit of an anniversary. https://mattgemmell.scot/20-years/
This device exists to vex me.
Super quick tour of the mad new camera rig. https://youtu.be/-SNhCyBSbVM?si=I3_oz3Kp125a772M
Best bit of this is that the cage has an Arca Swiss base built into it, so it not only sits flat on the desk, but can quickly mount to both my desktop mini-tripod and also the much larger tripod in the photo for shooting elsewhere. And how I love the security of the handles to hold the whole thing when I’m shifting it around the place.
@CrackedWindscreen Since it’s a wireless connection, and is both monitor and control, I can detach the phone and sit with it to set up the shot, then attach it to the mount for quick monitoring. Or I can rotate the MagSafe mount to the rear if I’m shooting something else on the go!
@CrackedWindscreen In a realistic scenario I’d have the camera’s screen facing the rear and folded flush in most cases. The phone is there as a larger monitor for talking head, letting me better see the shot and tweak things during setup, if I’m using a tripod and thus further away from the rig. It’s also easier to use the larger controls on the phone than the rear-facing buttons on the camera (though this model has a touchscreen for that too).
Totally reasonable setup.
Final Cut Pro needs some improvements in choosing the best poster frame for a video project.
Tip: in the biiiig list of mini-stories on my site, you can tell which ones have a corresponding read-aloud video, because the icon beside the entry is different! https://mattgemmell.scot/books/once-upon-a-time/stories/
@samuel For what it’s worth, I link to my own site by posting on Mastodon. Full text of the short stories is on my site (and its RSS feed). I also send them out weekly to my newsletter subscribers.
For novels, distribution is via the usual online bookstores, with their own systems for getting a free sample (e.g. Amazon/Kindle, Apple Books).
@0xC0FFEE Because of this spectacular piece of brain-failure: https://www.404media.co/nanowrimo-ai-policy-classist-ableist/
Deleted my NaNoWriMo account.
Episode 2 in my Writing A Novel video series! This one is about motivation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aot2sXezeb8
🤓
Got a few minutes? Let me read you a mini-story!
I write a short tale each week and send it out via email for free, and now I’m reading the stories aloud on YouTube, starting at the very beginning. This is story 3, “Reading Time”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrejtWaqDoE
My 191st free weekly mini-story is out, and you can read it here: https://mattgemmell.scot/books/once-upon-a-time/stories/natural-enemy/
(Why not subscribe to get these in your inbox too?)
#amwriting #fiction #shortstory
@ctietze I assume you don’t want to spoil the look outside! Glue is the way to go. The wood itself will fail before the glue does, generally.
@ctietze Glue is strongest; what you need is surface area for it. Nothing to stop you attaching corner pieces and glueing the end panels to them. Corner pieces could be glued, or put in with two screws each in a diagonal arrangement and also glued.
Those 4K (and 10-bit colour) Final Cut projects are kind of big.
Hidden participant in that video, who remained silent and out of frame:
Also: clicking that thumbs-up button — and ideally, subscribing to the channel — really helps. It’s what youtube largely uses to decide whether to suggest the vids to other people. 🙏
Interested in writing a novel? I can help! This is the first video in my series on that very subject, and it’s about believing in yourself: https://youtu.be/ojt-AD_i4ng
My beautiful boy naturally gravitated towards the big, shiny gold disc in my office — a bounce/reflector for my video key light — so we had to find out how it worked!
@grant_h I don’t know his fiction, but certainly a fan in a broad sense, and I’ve read some of his public writing. I’ve met him too!
@SergKoren OK, got it!
@SergKoren I get that bit, but why though? Just like after a hard day, kind of thing?
@SergKoren I don’t know what that means here.
And the out-takes… 🤡
@grant_h No, but I’m moderately familiar with the format, and always planned to take a crack at it someday.
@grant_h I’d love to see it too.
@Verso Yes. It’s very secure and I’d recommend it wholeheartedly. https://amzn.to/3T4ZX7u
@grant_h Thanks for reading!
Got about 8 minutes? Let me read you a mini-story!
I write a short tale each week and send it out via email for free, and now I’m reading the stories aloud on YouTube, starting at the very beginning. This is story 2, “Antisocial”: https://youtu.be/CuFHGBuLfBw
@CTD @ulyssesapp @macguru17 I wonder if it’s because Photos.app etc provide multiple kinds of pasteboard data, and the earlier ones in the list aren’t acceptable to Ulysses or something.
@CrackedWindscreen “Thought through” is generous in this case! I do plan to get a cage for the camera then rethink my attachments setup. At that point it might make sense to just quick-release the cam from a more permanent setup on the desk to take elsewhere. I have a separate taller tripod too, both using the same QR mounts. And so on it goes.
@CTD @ulyssesapp @macguru17 Granted I’m using a beta version of Ulysses. Can you just not paste from any source at all? Does text pasting work? If any kind of pasting works, then the setting I mentioned isn’t the problem anyway.
@CrackedWindscreen I actually got that stuff first (edge clamps, and claw grips that go onto the existing pole for the iPad/monitor), and found that I prefer how the tripod can just move to wherever else with the setup intact, or be cleared away in a few seconds.
What did we do before magic arms? Also, tripods with 1/4-inch screw threads built right into them!
The desktop video setup looks ever more capable of getting up and walking away on its own.
@CTD @ulyssesapp Pasting images works for me if I’ve copied from, e.g., Safari. But it doesn’t work for images copied from Photos via Share > Copy Photo.
If it’s not working for you at all, check the iOS Settings app > Ulysses > Paste from Other Apps.
/cc @macguru17
My 190th free weekly mini-story is out, and you can read it here: https://mattgemmell.scot/books/once-upon-a-time/stories/the-fear-shape/
(Why not subscribe to get these in your inbox too?)
#amwriting #fiction #shortstory
What a difference tweaking a couple of sliders makes. Not sure why I was so reluctant to try colour grading video before! (Video has no sound.)
New light arrived, and it’s a big upgrade from the old, cheap — and indeed broken — one. https://youtu.be/kzcE7QzNfaI
Nobody who respects or values your privacy would ask you to opt into tracking.
Ugh. My ultra-cheap soft box died; bulb gone, after a total of maybe 2–3 hours of use. Crazy.
Still within the returns window so no loss other than hassle. Lesson learned. Time for a cob light, separate stand, and an octo diffuser with a grid. No recording til Friday then!
Super quick tour of my new/current camera and lighting setup!
This video setup is growing arms and legs.
I’ve been writing my weekly Once Upon A Time mini-stories for a while — 189 consecutive weeks, in fact! — but now I’ll also be reading them aloud as videos. I’m starting at the very beginning, so here’s the first instalment, Nine Mile Burn: https://youtu.be/v6_maxyUUlA