04/29/2016: Storytime Pup - Keeping It Old School

     My kids like to tease me and say I am "Old School".  I laugh when they say it.  And I have to agree.  Granted, I like many of the new things these days and I am even a bit of a gadget fan.  I love all the new technology.  But, so much can be said for the "old days".  Things for kids are so much different now than when I grew up.  I grew up playing "kick the can", "SPUD" and "kickball".  We had a big neighborhood full of kids and we were always playing outside.
     I grew up watching Popeye after school and watching Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, The Jetsons and Scooby Doo on Saturday mornings.  You may catch some of these old shows on TV Land or online.  But, kids shows have been replaced by a whole new generation.  Now computer graphics and hip hop and other music have taken over.  I am sure kids enjoy these shows.  But I am sure they would enjoy our generation's shows too.  So, we decided to keep Storytime Pup simple and kind of "old school".  A mix of Romper Room, Mister Rodgers, Captain Kangaroo with a little bit of Sesame Street thrown in for good measure.
     You won't find fancy CGI graphics and techno or hip hop music on Storytime Pup.  But we do have fun, hand drawn animations and old style kids songs and nursery rhymes.  Our green screen technology is "behind the scenes" and allows us to present Storytime Pup with fun, colorful, yet simple backgrounds.   But, we feel this simple approach lends itself more to children's use of their imaginations.
     We are confident that children and parents will enjoy the simplicity of the Storytime Pup Show.  Who couldn't not love a big, adorable puppy dog that reads you great children's books?  So, call us old school and we hope you too can appreciate what "old school" has to offer.

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(Next - Roll Out The Red Carpet)

04/28/2016: Storytime Pup - First Few Reviews Are In

     I sent a short 1 minute teaser video to one of the authors and also to one of the artists.  They showed it to some young children.  One of them told me "I showed it to my 4 year old twins and they loved it and wanted to watch it again and again :-) .  The other told me that he showed it to his cousins children in Indonesia and they "really liked it and are looking forward to seeing more of Storytime Pup"
     We couldn't be happier to hear this initial feedback from children.  It actually touches my heart to know that Storytime Pup can bring joy to children.  we hope he is embraced the same way by all children.  Hoping for the best as we prepare the very first shows which will start this Sunday, May 1st.

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(Next - Keeping It Old School)

04/27/2016: Storytime Pup - Still Being Haunted By Ghosts

     It is currently just 5 days until the premier of Storytime Pup.  And how many videos do we have ready to roll?  Zero!  We do have various pieces shot.  But not one full episode yet.  Yes, we are behind schedule.  Why?  Well, we did have the best of intentions to be closing in on 10 videos for the premier by now.  However, those of you who have been following along, or have been in contact via phone or email know that we have faced a series of unforeseen "technical issues".
    Now, first of all, Storytime Pup is not being created by a big production company with a staff, crew and big bucks behind it.  It is a two-person project taken on for several reasons.  The main ones being to entertain children and help out fellow children's book authors.  Having something fun to do in retirement will be a nice follow-on benefit.  We are learning as we go.
     But, I am pleased to announce that the last of our known technical issues was solved last night.  That being the re-appearing ghosts.  I know you are saying "but wait, I thought you took care of the ghosts a while ago"  Well, we did.  However, when I was addressing the light and shadow issues, I changed some of the lighting.  In doing so, I either had too much or too little light on certain areas of the green screen backdrop.  You need to have a consistent wash of light on the background in order for the chroma-key to work correctly.  Well, I had some variations and the "ghosting" effect returned. When I tried to adjust the low and/or high threshold in the chroma-key adjustments to remov the "ghosting", then Storytime Pup would slowly start to disappear.
     So, I spent last evening adjusting all the background lighting.  I first tried to eliminate the background lights all together.  But, then my shadows on the background caused "ghosting".  So, through moving and repositioning lights and trial and error, I finally eliminated the "ghosting" and managed to keep the light and shadows issues at bay.  Maybe I should have just called Ghost Busters :-)

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(Next - The First Few Reviews Are In)

04/26/2016: Storytime Pup - Lights and Shadows

     So, with all the technical issues fixed, or so I thought, I set out to make a short 1 minute "teaser" video.  The video would have Storytime Pup introducing the new show and show a tiny snippet of each segment type.
      I got everything set-up and determined what I wanted to shoot and wrote a short little script.  I recorded the audio and then shot each of the small segment pieces and then edited everything together in Sony Vegas Pro.
     Well, I wasn't happy with how things looked.  With all the different lighting I was getting areas on Storytime Pup that were too bright and I was seeing too many shadows in front of this body. Either from the book, or from his arms etc. It just didn't look natural.   I wasn't happy, so I had to go back and re-aim the lights.  I re-aimed lights and shot  and watched new video, and then re-aimed lights and shot and watched new video...  I did this for a few hours until I was happy with how things looked.  There are still some shadows, but that is unavoidable, but it doesn't look unnatural like before.
     So, I was happy that I had cleared up yet another technical problem.  But wait?  Did I now introduce an old problem again?

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(Next - Still Being Haunted By Ghosts!)

04/25/2016: Storytime Pup - Fixing the Frame

    The next technical issue to be addressed was with the framing.  This issue was caused by the video field being wider than the green screen width.  Due to size constraints, I could not use a wider green screen.  I did some research online and found that I could use a "masking" technique within the video editing software.
    I found some tutorial videos on You Tube on how to do the masking for green screen.  However, no matter how much I searched, I could not find the masking button in my software.  I searched everywhere and followed the tutorials to a 'T'.  I was getting very frustrated because I needed to find out how to mask out the sides or I didn't know what I was going to do.  I went back to Google and found other people having the same problem.  My issue was, I had the wrong version of the software.  I had Vegas Movie Studio 11 and I needed Vegas Pro 12.  The Pro version had the masking capability.
    So, I had to order a patch for Vegas to get the masking functionality.  The problem was, I had to wait 3 days to get it. I was already a behind schedule to make the May 1st launch and now I would lose 3 more days.  But, I would find other non-video related tasks to work on.  Luckily the software came in 2 days.  I loaded it up and with a little experimentation I got it to work.  You can see in the screen shot above that the edges are now seamless.
     I was very happy to have the mouth and the edge issues handle.  However, I began to see that I was still be haunted by one more issue still.

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(Next - Lights and Shadows)

04/24/2016: Storytime Pup - Fixing the Pup's Mouth

     As I mentioned in the Technical Issues post.  I have been having issues with the mouth on the costume.  The mouth is actually open to allow you to see and breath.  But, as I stated before, for some reason the mouth opening was key-ing out when applying chroma-key for the green screen.  This made the Pup's head appear to be see through.
   The second problem, was the opening allowed you to see my head at many angles, unless the head was facing down.  Well, we can't just shoot with the pup's head down all the time.
    So, I bought a couple of different kind of black mesh to put inside the head in front of the mouth opening.  The first one I tried was like a bridal veil material.  It allowed me to see just fine, It stopped the issue with it being keyed-out.  But, you could still see my head through the mesh.  Ugh!  I took this mesh out and I tried the second piece of mesh which was a bit darker and the holes we closer together.  I knew if the other material keyed-out fine, that this one should too.  But, would it prevent you from seeing my face.  And if it did, would I still be able to see and breath.
   Well, I am pleased to say that the 2nd mesh worked like a charm.  No keying issues, you can't see my head or face any longer, as seen in the screen shot above.  And I can still see and more importantly breath.  So, this technical issue has been taken care of.  Now on to the framing issue.

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(Next - Fixing the Frame)

04/23/2016: Storytime Pup - Administration vs Creativity

    As I said in my last entry.  I truly love this project.  I consider it fun because I get to be creative in a non stressful environment.  But, the one thing that I didn’t expect coming into this was all the administrative tasks required.
    Along with the fun technical and creative tasks, which I truly enjoy, there are as many or more administrative tasks that have to be done.
These tasks are for: obtaining and tracking new authors, obtaining and tracking video creators and all the paperwork and forms involved in that.  I also have to plan out each show and the content to be used in that show.  I then have to work with the artists to get any drawings or animations I require.  I now have spreadsheets to track spreadsheets :-)

My daily administrative tasks include:

1)      Emails and phone calls with authors, video creators, artists.  I don’t mind this, but it can be time consuming.

2)      Social Media.  Building a social media platform, which is so important these days.  FB posts, Twitter Tweets, Pinterest posts,

3)   Daily Blog posts for this blog to keep it fresh

4)      Tracking anything and everything in spreadsheets.

5)   General miscellaneous admin tasks,

6)   And someone had to feed and walk Storytime Pup :-)

     Again, I really don't mind this.  But in the future, I will probably bring some one on to handle some of these administrative tasks to free me up for more of the creative stuff, which I truly enjoy.

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(Next – Fixing the Pup's Mouth)

04/22/2016: Storytime Pup - Collaboration Is Key

     The thing I like best about this project is working with so many great people.  I have had some of the greatest conversations and have met some of the nicest people.  The author group is just wonderful!  I have made several new friends already and I am sure I will make many more as time goes on.  It is a positive project of people helping people. 

     The authors help us by providing us books to read on the show.  We help them by helping them expose their books to a wider audience through a different media.  The authors help each other by reading, watching and reviewing each other’s books.  The video creators provide us with their videos and we show them to a new audience for them.  The artists help provide content for the show and the website and we, in turn, promote their talents.  The authors may then work with one of the artists to illustrate a new book.  A video creator may seek out an author and they may collaborate on a project.   And everyone will be working together to promote the channel for the benefit of all.  And finally this all comes together to provide something that is both enjoyable and educational for children.  What could be better?  It is synergy at its best.  And I must say I am proud to be part of this wonderful project!

     I have a few other collaborations in the works now which I hope to share in the future if they come to fruition.  They will only add to this great project.  Lots of fun and good things ahead!

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(Next – Administration vs Creativity)

04/21/2016: Storytime Pup - Finding a Voice

   Well, I thought I had a suitable voice for Storytime Pup.  But, Diane did not like it.  She thought it sounded too "heliumish" as she put it.  So, I am on a quest to find a new voice.  I am still using the Voxal software to morph my voice.  I recorded what will be the standard intro to the show.  I have created different voice profiles in Voxal and I keep processing the same file with different profiles.  I listen and compare and listen and compare.  Then I have Diane listen to them and get her opinion.  I wil continue this process or the next couple of days. When I get it down to a couple that we both agree on, I will be sending to a teacher friend to have her students listen to and we will let then choose the voice.
     So, I guess you can add this to my list of "technical" issues.  Not really a technical issue, more of a creative challenge, but it does involve technology :-)  Yet another task as the May 1st deadline approaches.

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(Next - Collaboration is Key)

04/20/2016: Storytime Pup - Dealing With Technical Issues II

     The image at the left shows video technical issue #2.  When framing my video, I am shooting beyond the green screen to the right and the left.  So, the edges are not getting keyed-out correctly.  (see yellow areas indicated) If I zoom in, Storytime Pup is too big and dominates too much of the screen.
     I could expand the size of the green screen, but due to space and time limitations, that is not the solution at this time.  There is a technical fix I can use within the video software.  SONY Vegas has a "masking" function where it lets you mask out these regions as if they were green screen and if the subject does not enter these areas, the chroma-key effect will work fine. However, my version of the software does not have that functionality.  So, I need to upgrade the software to the latest version.  I had to order the latest version and now I have to wait 3 days until I get. So, I am dead in the water as far as shooting video goes now.  I hope this doesn't effect the May 1st premier.  We want to launch May 1st no matter what.  I had hope to have 10+ videos ready by May 1st.  I may not have that many, but even if we can only get a few up, We will launch on schedule!

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(Next - Finding A Voice)

04/19/2016: Storytime Pup - Dealing With Technical Issues I

     I have begun shooting video and I am starting to discover some issues.  Mostly little things with green screen and chroma-key.  I thought I had the "ghosting effect" taken care of due to shadows.  But, I am still seeing some at the lower part of the videos at some times.  Not all times just some times.  I figured it had to be from slight shadows.  I bought new lights to light just the green screen and they hung above the subject and pointed down at the screen.  That seemed to take care of it.  Since the remaining ghosting is on the bottom part of the screen I figured I needed to light the screen from the bottom as well as the top.  So, I bought a special light that will sit in the floor at the base of the green screen.  That should eliminate any of the lower shadows.  I just have to make sure I balance the light.  I have yet to test this, and I will report back on wen and how I fix the ghosting issue.
    The next two issues can be seen in the screen shot above.  The first issue, you can see my head through the mouth opening when the head is positioned in certain ways.  The second issue, when I key out the green background, for some reason it is also keying out inside the mouth.  You can see the blue background through the mouth as if the head is open in the back, which it isn't. When I put any background image in the shot, it shows through the mouth. Makes for a funny looking shot :-)  I do not know why this is happening.  It should only be keying out what matches the background green screen.  Maybe the lighting and the darkness inside the head is creating a greenish tint or something, I do not know.  Can't have a pup with a see through head now can we?  :-)
     I believe I have a fix that will address both of these issues.  I went down to our local fabric store and bought two different kind of black mesh. I plan on putting mesh inside the head behind the mouth.  Hopefully I can still see and breath :-)  I am hoping this will prevent my head from being seen and also address the curious keying of the inside of the mouth and head.  I will report back on this as well. 

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(Next - Dealing With Technical Issues II)

04/18/2016: Storytime Pup - The Verdict

     The verdict is in.  I sent the Storytime Pup channel overview to some early education teachers for their feedback and to see if they think that children 3-6 of age would like the channel or not.  They reviewed and all agreed that the children would indeed love the channel.
What a relief! We feel better because these folks work with young children and know what interests them and holds their attention.  They also felt it could be used as a good classroom tool.  We love that idea.  Some also suggested adding a parents section to the Storytime Pup website which would have parent resources to accompany the channel.  What a great idea.  We will be adding a parents tab to the website (http://www.storytimepup.com)
     I did speak to my cousin Kerri after recleiving her feedback.  I thanked her for her time and for her feedback.  I then asked if she would be willing to show her students some example videos of each of the different segment types to see how they reacted etc. She said she would be happy to and thanked me for thinking of her.  Thank me, I am thanking her for all of her help.
     So, the real proof of concept will be how these real little children react to the sample videos.  I am got to get rolling on those examples because I am only 2 weeks away from the channel launch.  I have run into a few technical glitches along the way which I hope to clear up by mid week.  Than I have to focus on shooting and editing.  We are getting close! :-)

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(Next - Dealing With Technical Issues)

04/17/2016: Storytime Pup - But Will They Like It?

     But will they like it?  That was the next big question that came to mind.  We loved the idea.  Authors loved the idea.  But, will the kids like it?  Are we just assuming children would like it? That was the big question at hand. What if we put all this time and effort in and kids just didn't like it?

     As I mentioned before, things have changed a lot since I was a child and when my kids were young.  Would children's books and a big lovable character be of interest to kids?  Would they enjoy it?  So, I decided to poll some early education teachers.  My cousin Kerri is a preschool teacher.  My niece Amanda also taught your children in a prior job.  And my good friend Diana has also taught various ages over time.  I put together a document with an overview of the concept, with screen mock-ups etc and send it to each of them looking for their feedback, concerns etc.  I told them I was looking for their HONEST opinion and don't be afraid to hurt my feelings.  I would rather know now if children would enjoy such a show.

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(Next - The Verdict)

04/16/2016: Storytime Pup - The Look and Feel of the Storytime Pup Channel

     We now had pretty much everything we needed to get started.  Now we needed to think about just how we wanted the Storytime Pup Channel to look.  Lots of questions to address.
     Our first decision was to go for an "old school" feel to the show.  Things have changed so much since we were kids.  We liked things when they were simpler.  Kids shows seem so different than they used to be.  We decided to keep the show simple, yet fun.  The way the old kids shows used to be, like Captain Kangaroo, Mister Roger's Neighborhood and Romper Room. They didn't need fancy computer animation etc.  It was pure, simple and educational fun.  That is what our goal would be for the channel.
     If you look at the animations we created, they are not fancy CGI, they are simple hand drawn illustrations.  But, they are lively, colorful and imaginative.  We want to keep things simple and let the kids imaginations go to work.  The music is also simple.  We are mixing classic nursery rhymes with other simple children's music.  No techno or hip hop in our show.
     The only real "technology" we used was the use of green screen and chroma-key in our video editing.  But that was just to allow us to use different backgrounds for the books and other segments.  But, you will notice that the backgrounds incorporated are very simple.  They are very colorful, but simple.  Kid friendly and enough to spur on the imagination.
     The different segments themselves are kept simple, but are also fun for kids and have just the right mixture of learning in them.  Our main segment, Storybook Time features Storytime Pup reading books aloud to kids, and they get to see the illustrations along the way.  This encourages reading, attention span etc.  The Sing-along & Dance Along segment is simply Storytime Pup dancing to kids music.  He encourages them to get up and move and dance.  This sneaks in a little bit of exercise.  Kids don't get as much exercise these days.  Magic Window is simply kid-friendly videos shown through Storytime Pup's "Magic Window".  Kids enjoy videos and what a fun way to watch them, Through a magic window that activates after you sat the Magic Words.  Let's Pretend is all about imagination.  Kid's don't have as much imagination play as in the past.  This world of video games and electronics entrances kids and just feeds, and can sometimes overload, their senses.  Let's Pretend encourages them to explore different things and places all through the use of their imagination.   In the Seeking and Finding Segment, kids help Storytime Pup find hidden objects in fun, bright and colorful pictures.  This segment is fun and educational.  There wil be other segments incorporated along the way.

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(Next - But Will They Like It?)

   

04/15/2016: Storytime Pup - Crystal Clear Sound

     I have already discussed how and why I chose the Blue Yeti microphone.  It was a compromise between quality and price.  The Nikon video camera has a pretty decent microphone, but still not the quality I was looking for.  Also, I will not be recording the audio and video at the same time.  Why?  Well, if I tried to read the children's books with a big puppy dog head on, it would sure come out pretty muffled :-)  So, I will be recording the audio first, using the blue yeti in a fairly sound proof area I have set-up.  I also learned how to eliminate the background noise footprint using the Audacity recording software.
     Once I have the audio recorded for a book, I will get the video shot ready and I will play the audio as I "act out" the video portion.  The Storytime Pup costume does not have a moving mouth.  So, it will be mostly head, hand and body gestures to match the story.  Then I import the audio and video together into Sony Vegas and sync the pieces together.   Then drop in some light music in the background to round it out.  I will be doing the first iteration of this process this week.  Fingers crossed :-)

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(Next - The look & Feel of the Storytime Pup Channel)

04/14/2016: Storytime Pup - How We Light Up The Pup

     When I first began to shoot some test videos, they looked terrible.  They were dark and grainy.  I was shooting in 720p which made up for some of that.  I ordered a new Nikon HD 1080p video camera.  I shot some new video.  It looked better but just didn't have that crisp clear quality.  Why?  It was the lighting.
     I shot some green screen tests and the backgrounds were grainy and I was getting a "ghosting" effect in some areas.  I figured this was also a factor of lighting.  Actually I "hoped" it was a lighting factor.  If I couldn't get quality video with good green screen chroma-key, I would have to scrap the project.
     I had ordered a light kit which had not yet arrived.  Once it arrived, I set things up.  I used 3 45w 120v Photo Lights with umbrella reflectors.  I then shot some new test video.  What a huge difference.  The lighting was so important.  The images and colors were now so crisp and clear.  I set-up the green screen and shot some more.  I imported the video and some backgrounds into Sony Vegas.  I applied the green screen effects and the backgrounds looked good.  But, I was still getting that "ghosting" effect in some areas.  My son Colin actually discovered it was from the shadows that I was creating against the green screen which was resulting in areas that were a bit darker and were therefor not keying out correctly.
     I did a bit of research and found some articles on this.  What I needed was some additional lighting on the green screen itself.  So, I headed down to home depot and bought two 150 watt incandescent clamp lights and two 60 watt equivalent daylight spiral CFL bulbs.  I clamped the lights above the subject and pointed them at the green screen.  Bingo, the shadows disappeared. I shot some new video, imported into Sony Vegas and applied the chromakey to the green screen background again.  The backgrounds were now perfect.  It looked like I was reading a book at the beach on a sunny day.  I was very happy because I knew I had what I needed to shoot great video.
    Even though you may have uploaded 1080p video, some people may still be watching at lower quality.  That makes sound quality the next most important piece.

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(Next - Crystal Clear Sound)

04/13/2016: Storytime Pup - The Importance of You Tube Video Quality

Video quality is so important nowadays.  If you look at most early videos on the Internet, the quality is poor.  People didn't mind, because they just loved the fact that they could actually watch a video from the Internet on their computer.  Many of these old videos were shot at 720p or lower.  The quality just wasn't that great.  And then many that were shot at 720p were uploaded at 480p or 320p which brought the quality down even more.
     My original plan was to shoot with the video camera I had. But, it was only 720p.  So, I ended up purchasing a new Nikon HD 1080p video camera.  It shoots great high definition video.  We will also be shooting on a tripod, so we know we will have a stable video.  However, even with great video equipment, you can have poor video quality without suitable and correct lighting.

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(Next - How We Light Up The Pup)