DV Creators 1 or 3 day class?

[mdreyes23]

Just wondering if anybody here has taken the workshop from DVcreators.net

They are actually going to be in my hood around the beginning of April and I'm thinking about taking it. Especially since it's sort of geared towards Canon GL-1 and XL1s users.

The only thing is that it's pretty pricey. Especially for taking the whole 3-day course thing. Anybody take either the 1-day or the full 3-day?

Would it be helpful to me OR a waste of time OR way out of my league? I'll basically be a virgin with my Canon GL-1 with maybe a month worth of learning it on my own. No filming or digital video background...although I've learned quite a lot in just the past couple of weeks from websites.

[Chris Hurd]

Proud to say that I know most all of the DVCreators.Net crew personally and they're good friends of mine. Josh Mellicker's DVRevolution Workshop is widely considered to be one of the best travelling workshops in the business. Last month's Camcorder and Computer Video Magazine had a review of the classes if you want more some details. Yes it's a little on the expensive side but you'll get what you pay for. If your instructors are Steve Martin or Guy Cochran, be sure to say hello for me. Two thumbs up for DVCreators, check my DVinfoNet Resources page for their description and link. Hope this helps,

[mdreyes23]

Thanks Chris. I was looking through the description and I think the day-1 part of the DVRevolution workshop would be very useful to me. I'm more interested in learning dv/camcorder aesthetics and specific operation of the GL-1 and how best to utilize all of it's features. So I may sign up for just day-1. Seems like most of their video editing classes are geared towards Apple software? Although it would be interesting to me, it may not help me as much since I'll be doing most of my editing and authoring on a PC.

Do you know if they go into detail with the features on the GL-1 or is it basically a class for general DV Camcorders?

Also, I'm wondering if the class is geared towards people with more DV Experience...or people who use DV professionally? My basis for taking the class has nothing to do with anything I'm doing professionally. My DV purpose is pure hobby. Am I the minority?

Last question is, anybody know if the classes fill up...or how early I would have to sign up for a class that is scheduled for early April?

[Ken Tanaka]

Go for the 3 day class. Guy Cochran gave the class I attended last year. Very experienced, very laid-back but kept the class on time targets while covering all material

The class is not about a specific camera model per se but we did use a GL1 for the class project. (Guy also had an XL-1 on hand for illustration.) The first day deals mainly with lighting and shooting techniques as well as some basic common camera features (gain, iris control, etc.) The remaining time focuses on post-production (editing, compositing) and distribution techniques. While Guy used Final Cut Pro for the work he stayed in the mainstream of NLE topics that would apply to any comparable system.

Three days won't make you Speilberg but it's an efficient and enjoyable way to get a very good fly-by over the whole DV landscape. The classes are thoughtfully structured and attendence is kept relatively low to encourage everyone to immerse themselves.

I encourage you to sign-up early, particularly if you're attending a class where they're rarely given. I encourage you to give 'em a call for more info. They're friendly folks who are proud of their services.

[Chris Hurd]

It is quite true that DVCreators classes focus primarily on the Apple side of NLE, primarily emphasizing Final Cut Pro. If you're a PC user, I don't know how useful it would be. But Ken recommends it, so it's really your call.

DVCreators uses Canon camcorders exclusively so you'll definitely benefit from that. They do utilize the GL1 a bit more than the XL1S... depends on who's teaching it, I guess.

[Eric Emerick]

I just attended the 3 day seminar in Atlanta, Guy Cochran instructed. We used the XL1S exclusively for the first day shoot. If you contact them ahead of time, maybe they can squeeze in some work with a GL1. You can see an example of the video that all the classes create at http://homepage.mac.com/cpowers/iMovieTheater16.html. Almost everyone in the class (~18) was in the novice to intermediate category (why would a pro attend?), and I think everyone enjoyed it and learned a lot. It is FCP intensive on the 2nd day. Most of us stayed for the entire 3 days. They include their FCP Powerstart CD ($80 value) with the course. Definitely worth the first day for you, questionable about day 2 or 3.