The Review

Another one on the books, as they say. Last night was the debut of my latest video. I am glad it’s over. The reviews are flooding in. 

Yes, it went OK, way, WAY better than the launch of the ‘Cardio Cinema’ concept in October, but still light years from where I envision it should be, or could be. Which I suppose is a good thing, the motivation to improve being a key component in both our fitness training and artistic expression. In yet another attempt at the manipulation of this very exercise, writing as therapy, or even more pragmatically, to take a closer look at, examine a written account as a debrief, I will use two components of time as the criteria for today's exercise. The before and the after. 

Using the flaws of the October showing, a travel doc of a ten day cycling road trip, as starting point, we vastly improved on the second effort in the following ways:

1) We completely changed the room configuration, making a 45 degree shift and projecting the video on the ‘short’ side wall of the rectangular room. This allowed crisp resolution and focus at a little over 120 inches of diagonal display. The borrowed Epsom projector was of high quality and after a morning of testing we dialed in the size to display on the portable hanging screen. It played well. 

2) Even more important than the visual  improvement was the enhanced audio. You will remember that in the first go-round we were forced to use the on-board speakers on the LG 60 inch display panel, sound reinforcement that was particularly painful to me and altogether unsatisfactory in a group setting with the mechanical distraction of the spin bikes adding to the cacophony. After the research and subsequent purchase of an ‘audio extractor’ an in-line devise that allows thru-put of HDMI video and also RCA jacks for audio-out to an amp, mixer and EQ, I thought we were set in both areas, the literal A/V. However, at the final sound check I couldn’t get the device to work properly, eventually using the 3.5mm headphone jack on the iMac and a pair of RCAs to provide access to the house stereo system. Which rocked.

3) This combination improved the overall experience by perhaps 10,000%. Maybe more. Which, as always, when the technical is perfect, or close to it, any weakness, flaw or inadvertent misstep in production is left bare, exposed and as obvious as a black eye. 

• A) I need to master the audio better.
• B) I need better story lines. More ‘plausible’, richer, deeper or creative. As I said at the post-premiere dinner, there is a ratio I must keep in play, one part budget and one part time. As I write this video number three is in 27 days. You see the pickle. 
• C) I need new media as the difference in quality from video shot ten or more years ago in SD, is in glaring contrast to the video I currently capture. Thanks tech. 
• D) I need to develop an avenue for monetization. Guess where I will be spending the bulk of the next 27 days? 

4) Scoring, new music and using licensed tunes are a must. I admitted during the introduction that none of the famous music about to be heard, all instrumental refrains with two exceptions, I ‘borrowed’ from the artists. I don’t like doing this, justifying the usage in advertising and promotional quid-pro-quo terms. And since the shows are non-revenue generating, reminding a small audience that Buddy Rich should be remembered as one of the most important musicians of the fifties, I put their music in from of a new audience. No charge. I don’t want at this point to defend or excuse this practice. I know the issues. I will move towards the creation of original music as we did way back in 2003, where 100% of One Perfect Race was original. No Santana, Pink Floyd or Brian Bromberg. Did it lack the pop, power and pizzaz that comes from a score featuring some of the best and most well-known riffs in music’s long and successful history? Yes. Can I do better? Yes. 

After all has been said and done the question rendered to a rather complex simplicity is this: Will I?