Importance of the Peers
Honors in the DC video production community don’t get much bigger than the annual TIVA Peer Awards. These awards, which have been around since 1997, pay tribute to excellence in local media and are one of the most sought-after awards in the area. Every November the TIVA community comes together at the National Press Club to give out this honor in a … read the full article.
48 Hour Film Project
Just A Weekend As most of us know creating a film, even a short film, weather it’s a documentary or something more fictional, takes a lot of time. First you have come up with a concept, get funding somehow, get a crew, shoot the production and then edit and do the rest of post-production. This whole process usually takes a minimum of several … read the full article.
3 Big Standouts from NAB 2013
NAB 2013 Digital Media Industry Event While the National Association of Broadcasters early event in Las Vegas may not have quite the same buzz as the Consumer Electronics Show, its still a big deal in the production industry and a regular trek for many members of the local community. While Word Wizards, Inc primarily focuses on transcription work, light … read the full article.
Word Wizards Salutes Richard Harrington, A Wizard of Digital Video
Every once in a while Word Wizards likes to shine the spotlight on some of our fellow video professionals in the DC media community to showcase some of the truly talented individuals we have around us. Today we’re going to be taking a look at Richard Harrington, CEO of RHED Pixel, editing expert, producer, prolific writer … read the full article.
Guggenheim Productions, Giants in Docs City
While some big hollywood films and productions have come to Washginton, D.C. to shoot big blockbuster fare, the real work has to do with all the docs that come out of here. The capital city should really be called doc’s city because of the sheer number of documentaries that our amazing film community produces. Lots of … read the full article.
Keynote Pro Tip – Export Animations to Video in Full HD
Have you ever tried to export an animated Keynote presentation to video? If so, you have probably been a bit disappointed with the quality of the final video. As the integrated marketing manager here at Word Wizards, part of my job is to deliver professional quality media presentations. My software of choice for multimedia slide … read the full article.
News Media – Technology and Election Season News
Last night’s Vice Presidential Debate seemed to leave both parties satisfied. Relax, the purpose of this article is not to argue about who won. I want to take a close look at the technology behind how the big news networks cover these elections. Just think about whats involved when you have 5 HD cameras and … read the full article.
Silverdocs 2012 – Working Behind The Scenes
Silverdocs 2012 has sadly come to a close. After a week of festival festivities, the hard working team that put together this incredible event can finally take a load off. I had an opportunity to see some of the action going on behind the scenes and I was thoroughly impressed with the level of organization, … read the full article.
.Silverdocs Spotlight – Surviving The Plague
Word Wizards is proud to support documentary production in the Metropolitan Washington DC area. DC, is the documentary capitol of America, as well as the Nation’s Capitol. Between Discovery Communications, (in our own home town of Silver Spring Maryland,) National Geographic and Smithsonian – ShowTime a lot of documentary production gets done around here. “Docs … read the full article.
Video Tech Review – Voila Screen Capture Software
Word Wizards is currently launching a new service called CloudScript. As we prepared to roll out this new offering, we needed to make a demo video that would show our potential users what it does, what it looks like, and how it works. There was only one solution, create a video using screen capture software … read the full article.
Video Tech – Largest LED TV Is Sharp
Word Wizards and the rest of the Video World are drooling over this 90 inch HD LED TV brought to us by the gear heads at Sharp. Before you bust out to your nearest distributor, or scroll on over to your favorite online retailer, consider that this beautiful behemoth of entertainment technology is a mere … read the full article.
New Service Launch: CloudScript – Transcript Media Player
Early this month, Word Wizards began introducing our existing clients and friends to our new service, CloudScript. CloudScript is a simple tool that allows a user to sync a transcript with time code to a media player. In seconds you can have a transcript that allows you to click on any time code in the … read the full article.
Transcription Tips – Add an Amp to your Audio Setup
Contrary to popular belief, transcription can be a dangerous profession. Once and a while, audio gets out of control; background noise, clipping, clicks, the perils are real, and you can save your ears and a big headache by including a simple and affordable audio amp in your setup. An Amp on Both Your Houses By … read the full article.
Apple’s WWDC 2012 – Industry Impact
Que the trumpets and raise the banners, Apple has some important new announcements and once again the world will shudder under their unrelenting innovative dominance… Well maybe it was not quite that dramatic, but they did have some good news to share! Today I am going to quickly review the new tech highlights released by … read the full article.
CloudScript: The Future of Transcription Workflow
Word Wizards is proud to present our newest service, CloudScript! Over 30 years of working in the media transcription industry has provided our team with rare and valuable insight into how and why people need our transcription services. We have noticed an important trend in the past few years, the name of the game these … read the full article.
The ONLY I.T.A.R. Compliant Transcription Company
When it comes to a project of a sensitive nature, be it legal, militaristic, classified, or otherwise not intended for unauthorized eyes, who are you going to trust? Now, we are not trying to put down firms who have chosen to enter the transcription industry utilizing offshore labor, in fact we capitalists respect and encourage … read the full article.
Transcription Tips: Fixing Incorrect Time Codes
Once and a while somebody makes a mistake, details get lost in translation, and your transcript is in jeopardy. When time codes in the transcript do not match the time codes in the reel, there is a BIG problem. What is a video professional to do in this nightmare scenario? Word Wizards to the Rescue! … read the full article.
Video Transcription – A Tool for Pros and Joes
Video transcription companies like Word Wizards have been assisting the professional video production industry for a long time, making the lives of editors, producers, and audio mixers much easier. As with any industry, time is money, and wasted time in post can be reduced significantly with the use of a standard or time coded transcript. … read the full article.
Mining For Gold – The 2012 WIFV Job Fair.
Each year Word Wizards is privileged to recruit talent at a media related Job Fair sponsored by Women In Film and Video of DC (WIFV.) On March 24th, at the Luke C. More Academy, in SE DC, prospective employers from across the spectrum of film and video production came to collect resumes from energetic job … read the full article.
Transcription Gear: Typing Gloves
If you have every experienced the pains of long term typing fatigue, you know that it can be excruciating. Word Wizards is dedicated to taking care of our professional transcription typists, and we have a new product that seems to help relieve / prevent some of the strain. Presenting, handy dandy typing gloves! These … read the full article.
Transcription Tech: MXF Proxy Files and Tapeless Workflow
Word Wizards lives on the cutting edge of the video industry. Thus, our facility is set up to ingest, trans-code, and transcribe all proxy formats. Most transcription companies will make you convert these files yourself and externalize this cost to your team. Here at Word Wizards, we have the technology and the expertise to handle … read the full article.
Transcription Gear: The Ergonomic Keyboard
Typing hours and hours, day after day can be heavy on the hands. At Word Wizards, we value or speed typists for their high level of education, rapid typing speed, and their overall ability to transcribe in context from any media format with very few mistakes. Here at Word Wizards, the talented hands of our … read the full article.
Transcription Gear: Tinted Glasses Reduce Eye Strain
Word Wizards, Inc. is proud to boast that we take care of our transcription work force. As with any business, keeping our human capitol healthy is paramount to productivity, and more importantly its the right thing to do. We have long insisted that our staff use Ergonomic Keyboards while transcribing to reduce the chance of … read the full article.
Time Code: Old Dog New Tricks
Time Code, the stuff that editors once dreamed of. A continuous stream of data (usually audio) that allows video footage to be edited digitally in a non-linear format. Providing transcripts synced to time code was once a very technical and labor intensive process. In fact, when Word Wizards first explored Time Code transcription, the equipment … read the full article.
Tech Spotlight: Roland VR-5 – Mixer & Recorder for Live Streaming
Looking for something new to drool over? Check out the Roland VR-5, a powerhouse of audio and video technology. Connect your cameras, microphones, and computer, and you have a single interface for professional quality live A/V streaming. I am personally a fan of Roland Professional Audio and Video Technology and was very impressed to see … read the full article.
TIVA-DC at the Government Video Expo
There were some impressive booths this year at the world famous Government Video Expo, held in Washington, D.C. Big industry names like Panasonic, JVC, and Roland put together incredible demonstrations of their latest and greatest products. Innovation was abounding, and at the heart of it all, TIVA-DC, long time supporter and organizer of the GV … read the full article.
TIVA-DC Presents The 2011 Peer Awards
Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at Word Wizards! Do you like glitz, glam, stars, and swanky awards shows? Sure, they have plenty of that out on the west coast, but did you know that right here in DC we have a thriving video production industry of our own? Last weekend, TIVA – DC (Television, Internet … read the full article.
Final Cut X vs. Adobe Premier: What is the future?
Here at Word Wizards, some of us are passionately involved in a silent love affair with Apple products and software. The mac users among us have grown to rely on the unparalleled speed and incorruptibility of Apple based desktops and cinematic size monitors. I personally prefer to do my work on my MacBook Pro, which … read the full article.
Word Wizards Now On GSA
After 2 years of applications, tests, reviews, and countless hours, Word Wizards Inc. is proud to announce our acceptance to the highly revered GSA (U.S. General Services Administration) schedule network. Getting approved for the GSA is no small task, and we are extremely grateful to the kind people at GSA that assisted us during … read the full article.