So I got given this Flip Video Camera at the John Lewis thing the other week. It's a dinky little camcorder - very simple to use, very easy to carry. It attaches to a computer with an integral USB that flips out of the top. It's clearly designed to rest on a desk next to a laptop, because plugging it into a desktop tower just leaves it hovering uneasily in mid-air. I had to make a teetering pile of books for the camera to sit on. Call me old-fashioned, but I do like a proper tangled wire.
At first I was sad that it didn't take pictures too, but then I found that you can choose a snapshot from a video. If you're serious about photography, that probably won't be enough, but I'm no photographer. And there are times - Sports Day, for example - when I want to take a video, but I want a picture too. Now I can do both at once - for me that's one of its biggest advantages.
I thought the best way to demonstrate it would be by preparing a short, inexpertly made film using its integral software which shows the parched reality of life in our part of the country under the punishing hosepipe ban. Mr Coffee warns that 'there is too much sky in it', but I would like to point out that the film contains footage of all the sunny sky we have had in the last month, and I wanted to record every single last second of it.
As you can see, the quality is very good: the only thing lacking here is talent.
Untitled from Coffee Lady on Vimeo.
The music, by the way, is a free download from The Hoosiers (available here). Their first album was the soundtrack to our holiday last year: we liked it, the children got to shout 'COPS AND ROBBERS' a lot at the tops of their voices - everyone wins. Sadly they are bringing their new album out after we go on holiday this year. Couldn't they have rung us and checked? I can't stand a full week of Hannah Montana. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Anyway, since I subjected you to my wobbly film, you should get something nice to watch as well. This is the latest video from The Hoosiers. It's got Bill Murray, Jackie Chan (okay, not really, but they're there in spirit) and a pretty young man in a tux. What's not to like?
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