Imagine you lift an entire city with the motion of your finger. Lift not only the city, but its people, its emotions, and ultimately lift the veil of ignorance from the faces and hearts of people. Read on to find out how.

I’ve come across many people who have amazing ideas but refuse to act on the idea due to the simple fact that they believe that its not going to end up perfect. They hold the “F.E.A.R.” of failure in their minds and forget that they aren’t responsible for the results in the end.

I said “F.E.A.R.” because that’s exactly what it is. A couple years back I used to work at a marketing firm. During a meeting my boss asked the team, “What is fear?”

Every one gave their answers, but it wasnt what he was looking for. He said, “Give me a definition.”

Again everyone gave a different answer. He responded, “Write this down…

• False
• Experience
• Appears
• Real “

If you focus is on what you’re afraid of, you will be blinded to the real possibilities thus no action will take place.

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I want to use the example of the 1877-Why Islam Subway ad campaign. A couple weeks before Annual ICNA-MAS Convention, Omar Ranginwala (former Young Muslims National Coordinator and ICNA volunteer) was going around getting video from different leaders to put together a promotional video for the project.

The end result wasn’t very perfect (far from it), but then again NOTHING IS PERFECT. The video itself has been posted on YouTube and in about a week its got 8000+ views. The video itself has been shown on all the major news networks. Yes the news coverage overall has been negative, but New Yorkers are intelligent enough to see for themselves.

Watch this video to see what I mean:

This Ad campaign has gotten major news coverage and it hasn’t even come out yet. It wont be out for atleast another month or so.

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The point I’m trying to hit home is when it comes to getting your message across;

• Face your F.E.A.R. - Move foward and do not hesitate.
• Understand the means that you have. Take an account of what you CAN do and work within that, and make it the best you possibily can.
• Be SINCERE in your actions.

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The following is a dialog I had with my fellow brother in Islam. The Discussion isn’t exact as it happened, but it gets the point across.

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Asalaamu Alaikum Belal. I had a question i wanted to ask you. I’m having a tough decision on what camera i want to buy? I’ve been reading you’re site and it’s interesting, but i want a high definition camera…Like the one that was in the trailer of that short “White red” is that a good high def camera? Please let me know thank you. Khudafiz

– — –

Walaikum Asalaam.

this is one of the toughest questions to answer for someone else. Its difficult to recommend a camera without knowing your comfort level with the different formats, editing ability, as well as understanding which distribution channels you will be delivering on while at the same knowing what sort of features are important to you and which sort isn’t, and not to mention what sort of BUDGET you’re looking at.

A brief overview of the two types of cameras that are available to choose from: Tape and “Everything Else“. The latter consists of flash based media, hard drive cameras, optical based cameras (DVD, BluRay). Within the two categories there is SD (standard-def video) and HD (high-def video).

Tape:

• SD — MiniDV tape. ~15GB for every hour, so you need plenty of hard drive space.
• HD — HDV format. ~15GB for every hour of footage.

“Everythign Else”:

• SD — MPEG2 format (same format as DVD video). If you choose hard drive camera, or flash camera you can edit by simply dragging and dropping the video files.
• HD — AVCHD format. Its a pain in the butt to edit at the moment. Only mainstream program that supports it is Sony Vegas. If you use any other program then you will not be saving any time from the capture process since conversion will take up quite a bit of time.

Based on what I’ve stated above what would be the most likely type of camera for you?

Remember, don’t let not having the type of camera you want keep you from making a video. If you have a cell phone camera or even a digital still camera and that is all you can use at the moment, then record video using that.

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You’re right any kind of camera will work, but i want to bring the beauty out of the picture because a picture can tell a million words it was once said. What do you mean by “Everything else?” Well the HD–HDV format sounds interesting, could you give me a little information on that? I want HD video.

Also if i buy the Sony Vegas, which one would be good? Vegas movie studio platinum edition, or vegas pro 8? And will these formats work for windows?

Hope to hear from you soon brother.

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To make a video or image look good, there are three key principles you need to keep to:

• Adequate Lighting
• Crisp/Clear Sound
• Smooth/Stable Image

On top of those key principles understanding focal length principles such as shallow and wide depth of field, zoom and wide angle lens as well as photographic rules of composition will you make your images stand out.

All HD does is that it gives you a higher resolution image. It won’t make a poorly composed and badly lit image look good. Infact it will magnify it thus making it look worse.

When you say that you want to have an HD camera, there are two views to look at:

• HD is no where near a standard. All online distributors (except for Vimeo…which isn’t even in the top 5 video sharing sites) distribute video at resolutions at less than half of SD. SD video is generally 640×480 in resolution, while YouTube is at 320×480. The only one that matches SD video resolution is Blip.tv. Getting an HD video camera won’t benefit you in anyway if your distribution is anything less than broadcast television.

• The second view is that by end of 2009 everything is going HD.

My personal take on this is that We still have a whole year until HD is a standard. Until then all existing consumer technology will be MUCH cheaper if not obsolete.

Unless HD is vital to your production client/audience base, for now I would recommend that you save the difference on an HD camera and instead spend your money on an SD camera along with accessories that are along the lines of the three key principles of professional video like lights, microphones, tripod/stabilizers so that you can make your image look great.

In reference to your question on sony vegas, understand that editing programs are vehicles. They get you from point A to point B. The major advantage of Sony Vegas (PC only) is that it can edit AVCHD files out of the box, but it lacks the robustness of Premiere Pro CS3 (Mac/PC) or Final Cut (Mac). If you’re gonna get an HD camera that records in AVCHD format than perhaps investing in Sony Vegas is a good decision.

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So as of right now SD camera which one should i get? I have a camera panasonic 700x digital zoom…mini DV…And should i wait a couple months and buy a HD camera? Another question i have is if i buy that vegas software, will it work for a camera with no HD?

Ok and if i do decide to get a HD camera early, with AVCHD could you tell me what cameras there are?

– — –

Vegas works is all major formats and cameras. For more info on the vegas program: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiope/features

Buy a camera based on what your needs are. If an HD camera will help you get the result that you’re looking for, then by all means. If not then don’t spend your money in that direction.

If you already have a camera that is digital, and it functions just fine, then work with it. Use it to the best of your ability. You wont progress in your skills and ability until you start moving and It’s not so much the camera, rather its the story, person/people behind/infront of it, and the most importantly the blessings and taufeeq of Allah-swt.

If you wish to go with flash based cameras and your budget is under $500. In the SD range I would recommend the Canon FS100. I’ve written a review about it here:
http://www.leechon.com/canon-fs100-review-and-process-421.htm

I purchased one myself along with a Steadicam Merlin camera stablizer, Lavalier Mic from Audio Technica and a seperate 37mm lens adapter to allow me to attach wide and zoom lens.

If your budget is between $600-900 I would recommend the following two cameras. Canon HV20 (tape) or the Canon HF100 (flash-avchd). I personally was very close to getting the HF100, but due to the lack of easy editing support on Premiere (my main editing vehicle) and the advent of better cameras on the horizon, I decided on the FS100, and in the difference of price I added on the lavalier mic and the steadicam.

This is just me. It may be different for you.

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Asalaamu Alaikum

With Message Mastery’s Secrets of Video Production course well underway and learning from my successes and failures with the launch of the system I want to know from all those who weren’t able to or simply chose not to jump on the oppurtunity…

• …what do you want to get from this blog?
• …what are some things that you wish to learn here?

Understand that Message Mastery isn’t only about learning video. This system will be about covering all aspects of getting your message out there. Just to give you an example of what topics of future classes are:

• Social Media Marketing & Trends
• Media Writing
• Calligraphy
• Photography

There will be more as the system develops. Reply to this post and let me know.

Also, as a gift for everyone, I have a video to present to you. This past ICNA conference I was invited to speak at a session titled “Video Dawah” along side Baba Ali of Ummah Films.

You can watch the video here: http://www.leechon.com/videodawah-424.htm

Want To Know When The Next Post on Message Mastery Is Online? Fill out the form below to join our blog newsletter and we will drop you a line when it is up. We will also periodically send you other information related to Message Mastery we publish here. The newsletter goes out 1-2 times per week. First Name: Email:   We hate spam and respect your privacy.

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