Class on Demand Report Card

News, views, and information from COD | February 2009

Elementary Training
Tim Kolb has been busy in our studio working on our latest title for Adobe; Fundamentals of Adobe Premiere Elements 7. With over three hours of training Tim takes you through everything from creating a project folder, capturing, editing and adding titles to your movie and finally outputting your project in various formats. Elements 7 will release mid March and we’re offering a great discount for pre-release orders, simply click on our promo below to find out more.

Gift of Education Around the World
Last month we described our gift of education program and we’ve received over 20 applications since then. This is just one example of how our program is helping students and teachers around the world. We received an email from Aaron Rakgalakane a lecturer at Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa. Aaron is teaching students there how to make a living with video production. We sent him a copy of Pinnacle Studio 11 & 12 and Advanced Training for Studio under our Gift of Education program. He sent us this photo of himself and has promised to send some of his student’s work for us to see. We’ll be sure to share it in a future newsletter.

Around the Web
Class on Demand’s CEO, Paul Holtz, was interviewed by Kevin McAuliffe from proEditing@ Home recently. We’ve included a link to the feature article here.

COD Going Greenland
We received an order from another remote part of the world this past month. Kelly Berthelsen who is a writer of short stories, videographer, interpreter, and part owner of the local radio station lives in Qaqortoq in Southern Greenland, an autonomous part of Denmark. Kelly is a recent convert to Final Cut Express and wanted to get up to speed quickly, he found Class on Demand on YouTube where we post samples of our training videos. We wish him (his parents thought they were having a girl) well and look forward to seeing some of his local work in the future. To learn more about where Kelly lives, click here.

Paul Holtz Fires Back

It doesn’t take long to fall from grace. There are over one billion camera phones in use today. Camera phones out sell digital cameras 5 to 1. The number one source for photos on Flickr is iPhone, over 100 million photos and videos are uploaded daily to social networking sites and lens technology makes it possible to count the nose hairs on a Russian politician at 1,000 yards. Given all this readily available data you’d think that celebrities and public figures would be a little more careful when they take a hit on a bong, suck on a spliff, snort a couple of lines, or gallivant topless around the beaches of southern France.

The golden boy of Beijing has become the dope-smoking drug addict of Columbia, South Carolina. What was probably a momentary lapse of judgment has resulted in an investigation by local police thanks to a photo snapped on a camera phone and sold to Britain’s News of the World for an “undisclosed six-figure sum.” Because of Phelps’ Midas-like reputation the media is having a field day and the spotlight has cost Phelps financially. Not only has he hired a lawyer to act on his behalf in South Carolina, Kellogg Co. recently said that it would not renew a post-Beijing Games marketing contract with Phelps, and USA Swimming slapped him with a three-month suspension that began on Feb. 5.

There are numerous cases like Phelps’ where a highly successful sports personality, celebrity, or public figure has fallen from grace like a “free-falling safe” after they were found in a compromising position or snapped on someone’s camera phone. Just about everyone in the MLB qualifies here. Surely it would be quicker to list the two or three players who haven’t taken performance enhancing drugs (admittedly while they thought they were really drinking Gatorade). Anyone remember Ben Curtis? Made famous as the Dell front man on numerous ad campaigns with his student-attracting “dude you’re getting a Dell” tag line. Now he’s a waiter at Tortilla Flats in New York.

This dramatic fall from heights can occur just as rapidly in business. It can take years to build a good reputation and only months to loose it. How does the old adage go? A satisfied customer tells five friends a dissatisfied customer tells twenty. Your reputation as a business is your most powerful marketing tool that’s why we constantly strive to improve our products, customer support and continually deliver a great product at an affordable price. One thing’s for sure; we won’t have Ben as our spokesperson touting “dude you’re getting a DVD!”

Featured Instructor | Faraz Ahmed
Home town: Lilburn, GA
College: University of Georgia - Finance & Broadcast News
Pets: Jack Russel named Buddy. Just got him a few weeks ago and he's crazy. But once he gets tired, I can get him to sit in my lap and watch me edit.
Favorite food: Lobster or any seafood.
Favorite musical artist: Corey Smith, he's a local singer from Athens, GA
Favorite city in the world: Brisbane, Australia, I could someday see myself moving there
Likes: Traveling, working, eating, Georgia Football, going on random adventures...
Dislikes: Boredom, sitting in one place for too long...

Faraz's Tip | Recoding and Sending Audio with the TriCaster
How to record a house feed and send audio from the TriCaster...
1. Send the "headphone" output to the house audio board
2. Send the house audio board output to the TriCaster
3. "Solo" the VCR Channel
Now the TriCaster is recording house board and the TriCaster is still sending the VCR audio - without an audio loop.

Training by Faraz Ahmed

Complete Training for NewTek VT[5]
Experience the all-new NewTek VT[5] application through 6 hours of information-packed instruction with NewTek expert, Faraz Ahmed. This training is bundled with Class on Demand's "Complete Training for NewTek SpeedEdit" at no additional charge.

Complete Training for TriCaster Studio
After viewing this training, you’ll be able to take advantage of an advanced, yet portable, production studio. Experienced TriCaster user, Faraz Ahmed, will guide you through hours of instruction to get you up to speed quickly and efficiently.

Complete Training for TriCaster & TriCaster PRO
With our TriCaster™ & TriCaster PRO™ training, you'll go from novice to productive user in just over an hour - the same day you unpack your box, you'll have mastered the system!