I’m finally done with a short Freya training video that I started working on back in May. When we started having training issues, I lost some of my motivation for working on her videos. By the time I felt like reviewing video footage again, the magazine deadline had to take precedence.

But here it is, finally! It’s not really as informative about Rally Obedience as I had originally intended. It turned out to be more about me learning to use iMovie than about producing a good teaching video. I have a better handle on iMovie now, as well as some thoughts about how to structure a more educational and entertaining production.

I really like iMovie ’09. I’m not particularly creative or visual, so something like Final Cut or Premiere would be overkill for me. iMovie has a good variety of backgrounds, transitions, titles, and sound effects supplied with the program, enough for a beginner to use (and possibly overuse). I took only a short time with the tutorials and help files, and quickly had enough information to get started with my “production.” I guess I am a little old-fashioned as I do miss having printed or even PDF manuals. I’m definitely a easy sell for O’Reilly’s iMovie ’09 & iDVD: The Missing Manual and in fact I might head over to the bookstore tomorrow to buy it.

Although the iMovie tutorial videos on Apple’s site are helpful, it’s still a pet peeve of mine to find some information available solely as a video tutorial. Sometimes a written step-by-step is more effective, but those seem to be rare items these days.

In low-tech news, I’m still deciding whether to head back to class with Freya tomorrow, stay home and do some plain old dog stuff with her and Axe in the yard, or maybe all of us will just hide in the air-conditioned house avoiding the mid-90s temperatures. The third option really sounds best, doesn’t it?

(NaBloPoMo | July ’10: 16 of 31)