Testimonial:

Reaching People Through Video

Real Pinnacle User Shawn Rutherford

Growing up in the 80s with the growing availability of more affordable personal video cameras fed Shawn Rutherford's passion for electronics from a young age. What started in childhood as a personal creative outlet has grown to give Shawn a way to encourage self confidence, curiosity and creativity of friends and family. In addition, by taking part in the video ministry of his church, Shawn's amateur work with video production has benefited his church, providing an affordable method for illustrating and communicating messages that the congregation might otherwise find more difficult to convey.

"When I was a young kid, I was interested in editing audio and that was all that I wanted to get my hands on," said Shawn. "Video was a natural progression for me. I got my first camcorder in 1989; it was Sony waterproof 8mm camcorder, of all things. My parents had just built a big koi pond and I was so fascinated with how beautiful these fish and the different kinds of water lilies were. I wanted to use them as test subjects for editing video."

Shawn experimented, learning how to use filters and to make adjustments on his camera that would improve the video he captured under various light levels.

"As I got better, I went on to shooting different events throughout San Antonio," said Shawn. "I would honestly go everywhere with a camera. I shot anything I could get my hands on. I started shooting a lot of nature, then it became people and anything that I knew somebody was doing. Since then, I have had maybe 15 video cameras and I’ve used several video editing software solutions. I started out using Adobe Premiere; and then, when Pinnacle Studio came out I bought that and I have had every version and update for it since. Pinnacle opens up creative avenues that you just want to keep going down."

Years ago, when Shawn first began looking for a video editing solution, he talked with a couple friends who were working at a TV station and had started their own business shooting video. As professionals, they used hardware editing systems with dual decks. His friends had just begun testing some of the latest high-end software programs and were spending a lot of money on their hardware.

"They were getting some really nice features, but I looked at it from a different perspective," said Shawn. "I couldn't spend a lot of money on just a hobby, but I found a board with some good features and a reasonable price, so I bought it. Much later, I found out that the board manufacturer had been bought out by Pinnacle which then came out with the software Studio, and from there, I went out and bought every new copy of it. The people at Pinnacle were smart, they knew when they were putting it out that people weren't going to buy it if it wasn't simple."

According to Shawn, it's because Pinnacle Studio software is so easy to use, that he's such a dedicated user.

"Each time an update comes out I’m always looking to see what features come in it," said Shawn. "It's always something I want to use or something that I am thinking, ‘hey, I would love to do that.’ With video production, you always want to have everything fresh; especially if you are in a place where you are always trying to attract attention to something. Having new features and new ways of doing things is nice. One of the things Pinnacle Studio software had originally was the simple titling program, and that's evolved so you can do some fantastic things now. Things you’ve seen on TV you can do on your own PC with Pinnacle Studio."

One of Shawn's biggest complaints with some of the other video editing solutions he's tried was the constant and costly need to upgrade hardware.

"Before Pinnacle's solution, if you had caption problems, the editing solution providers would say that you need to upgrade your hard drive or you need to do this or that," said Shawn. "Pinnacle has made sure that their software works with all of the available hardware, and I like that. It seems like they have figured out how to provide more and more in the product without making the user have to jump out and buy the very latest PC."

These days, Shawn will typically juggle as many as five different video production projects at a time. His number one ongoing video production project is recording his kids. Early on, he noted how much his children enjoyed watching themselves on TV playing sports or even just playing around being kids and before long, Shawn had DIY’ed a complete home network, giving the entire family instant access to any family video in the library. Consequently, Shawn is constantly updating the video library of his kids so there is always new content available.

"I built a home network so the kids can go anytime and watch the videos we shot when they played football, baseball, did something funny, or had a birthday party," explained Shawn. "That way, if they have a bad day or something, they can watch a video that makes them laugh or reminds them of a great play they made in a game. They also enjoy sharing the videos with their friends."

Another ongoing project close to Shawn's and his family's hearts, is the video story book of his foster daughter's life. Since the infant's arrival two years ago, weighing only 4.5 pounds, diagnosed HIV positive and battling fetal alcohol syndrome, Shawn and his family have been capturing her successes in an ongoing celebration of her life.

"We didn't know that she was HIV positive when she arrived," recalled Shawn. "She was a ‘Baby Moses’, so the hospital didn't know much about her. Someone had her at the hospital and then left. She had the worst struggle ahead of her. But she's two now, and she's doing very well. She still has struggles, and we use the photos and videos we've captured as a way to keep a record of her life, to see her progress, and, just in case her HIV level goes up to full blown AIDS, we’ll have captured her life."

Recording the successes, struggles and progress of their foster child's life, Shawn and his family hope that their experience will encourage others with HIV infected children and show them that raising children with such needs does have rewards.

"We want to be able to share with others what it has been like for us; the joys, the good times we have with her," explained Shawn. "Sadly, there are a lot of babies that are born HIV positive and a lot of people think it's a death sentence; that it's all terrible from the first to the last day. But we have had some wonderful experiences with her and we want to share that with others."

Shawn is also using his video production skills to reach out and impact others through his church. Working with a team of volunteers, they use Pinnacle Studio software to produce promos, commercials and short videos that provide a message, concept or information for both single events and the church's ever-changing, multi-week series.

"The church will ask me to get video to help people who are struggling with an addiction because our church caters to folks that have drug and/or alcohol addictions and we’ve done several series on the various aspects of it," explained Shawn. "We’re always trying to keep those fresh. We have a good recovery group, and the video that I shot last year of that was the one we submitted to Pinnacle and won the HD camera. Winning that camera, and pairing it with Pinnacle Studio Ultimate, has enabled us to achieve a quality of video that wasn't possible before."

When Shawn first started editing and producing video, he approached it the same way he had when editing audio for all those years. Using the limited but simple editing features on that early 8mm camera, Shawn took advantage of the graphics offered on the camera which allowed him to superimpose images or graphics on to his captured video. In the 1980s, Shawn got his hands on a Harvard Graphic solution so he could perform higher-quality graphics work, and then record those edits using a video output cable from his computer to the VCR.

"Editing in the 80s was a lot like editing audio was in the old days," explained Shawn. "A lot of hard cuts and you just had to do it until you got it right. These days, with Pinnacle Studio software, the interface makes editing incredibly easy. The thing about it that I have loved since day one is that the interface has never gone through a dramatic change, unless there was an improvement. Pinnacle Studio is laid out simply: just capture, edit, and output. That's it."

According to Shawn, he regularly recommends Pinnacle Studio Ultimate software to friends and church members who have an interest in producing their own videos.

"There really isn't much of a learning curve with Pinnacle Studio," said Shawn. "A lot of people can get in there and use it without any help at all, but if they have questions, there is a good help section. One lady asked what I recommended and she was very nervous about video editing. Her son plays baseball. He's very good and she wanted to capture all those moments. I told her to get Pinnacle Studio and I didn't hear from her again for a while. Then one day she called and I thought that she was going to ask for help. Instead," Shawn continued, "she said she had finished the DVD of her son and burned it, and she wanted to know how to make 20 copies for her family. I was amazed; but that's typically the story. People don't realize video production is as easy as it is, and when they figure it out, it opens the door to creativity do things they didn't think they could do."

Shawn isn't the only video editor in the family, however. Shawn and his wife gave his 11-year-old son a camera that shot both still photos and video, and set him free. After taking some test shots of a few bugs and a squirrel, Shawn's son was soon asking how to capture and edit video.

"I showed him how to load the file up on Pinnacle Studio and do some basic editing, he was fascinated with that," recalled Shawn. "When he started clicking, it just made sense to him. There was a timeline so he could put a mark here and another there and delete out a portion of the video that he didn't want or move that piece to another part of the timeline and after that, he was hooked. One day, I told him that he could shoot and edit his brother's football game. He was ecstatic. When I was a kid," Shawn continued, "we had VCR cameras and they were really expensive. Now I can put a $300 camcorder in my son's hands and he can come back with video that we can edit it on my $600 laptop using my $100 program that he can use to create a final video any way he wants. That's a lot of creativity."

In addition to the gratification Shawn has received over the years helping others hone their creative video editing abilities, he has also found that volunteering his video production skills at his church is often very rewarding and can have a big impact on a lot of people. His pastor has called upon him on numerous occasions to produce videos to enhance that week's message, share events with the congregation and promote activities and opportunities within the church.

"One piece was just thirty seconds long, but at the end, I had a roar of applause," recalled Shawn. "I was overwhelmed; I’m not built for that. I looked around, feeling cold goose bumps, thinking, ‘I never expected that.’ It was amazing to me that I could get an idea, create it in video, and it made people feel like laughing and applauding. Of course I was hooked after that."

Shawn also volunteered to produce a 9-11 anniversary special for his church, and again, the audience's response caught him off guard.

"At the very end, there was text that came up that said it was the anniversary of 9-11 and we honor this date," said Shawn. "Then I brought a little spotlight to the flag and people were crying. I was totally stunned. It made me feel like I was doing something that helped. Pinnacle Studio allows me to take an idea that is inspirational, and put something together that compels people to a response."

In a tithing video Shawn produced for the church, the pastor directed that he wanted a video to show how the money was spent -- something reflective. Knowing what Pinnacle Studio software could do and which filters he could apply in editing gave Shawn the freedom to shoot the entire piece in one afternoon, without having to worry about the lighting and overall quality of the video. Instead, he could simply focus on the story, knowing that he could visually "fix" virtually anything they shot later in editing.

"I wasn't worried about the color or lighting because I already had the effect in mind," explained Shawn. "I literally edited the video in two hours. We started at 4:00 P.M., I went home, ate dinner and edited, and by 9:00 P.M., we had a finished product. A lot of programs require a good camera, good lighting and such, but we didn't have to worry about that. I have always said that if we can't shoot a good video, Pinnacle Studio software usually has an effect that will make our video to look good, and that was a prime example of it."

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