Videopia.org is about video literacy.

Literacy is about reading, writing and fundamentally clear communication. Video literacy is about understanding what you watch, video production, editing, distribution and... fundamentally clear communication. In the second decade of the 21st Century, nearly everyone with a computer and an Internet connection has the ability to communicate with video. Anyone that wants to use video to tell stories or sell products must a have basic video literacy. That's what videopia.org is about.

Videopia.org is about producing professional-quality video with a total budget of less than $5,000.

To some of you out there, $5,000 will sound like a lot of money, but I'm talking about everything, from camcorder to computer. When you consider that a decent camcorder is $1,000 and a reasonable computer is $1,500, that's half of the budget already and, honestly, enough to get started. But once you add in mandatory "extras," like lights (lots of lights), a tripod, a microphone (and other audio gear), plus all of the real extras that you will soon come to rely on (like a second 24" LCD monitor and more lights), you'll find $5,000 to be a suffocating limit.

In fact, "professionals" will scoff at your pathetic $5,000 and tell you it can't be done. They'll tell you that any entry-level "professional" needs at least a Panasonic HPX170 (absolute minimum $5,500) and a dual processor Mac Pro (absolute minimum $3,200 - oh, without a monitor). Bullhockey. While that equipment is nice (and we'll talk about it with a great deal of envy and lust here), it is NOT necessary. WE can produce our content and tell our story with less. A lot less. And that's what this site is about: proving that point, both by talking the talk AND walking the walk.

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About Eric

D. Eric Franks is a award-winning technology writer with more than a decade of experience as a journalist, editor and author who abhors referring to himself in the third person.

Ahem.

I've written a dozen books, hundreds of articles and splashed the ink of literally a million words (and more!) onto dead trees, in addition to my online-only work. From simple documentation, product reviews, commentary, documentaries to public relations and press releases, I love to write. I consider myself fortunate to have written and edited professionally for Ulead Systems in Taiwan, Sonic Foundry in Wisconsin and Videomaker magazine in California. I've produced and hosted many dozens of video programs for videopia.org, Digital Juice and Hard Rock International and won a half-dozen Telly Awards, an Emmy and made Ringo Starr cry with a little 70th birthday video I created.

Et cetera

When I'm not working, I enjoy the great outdoors, whether that's as exotic as hiking up Taiwan's tallest mountain and diving walls in the Philippines looking for hammerheads or as quotidian as mushroom hunting in northern California and canoeing springs in Florida. I've been an amateur astronomer since the second grade, read a lot of non-fiction (mostly science and filmmaking) and keep a log of the birds I've seen in my backyard. (28 species so far, but Gigi the Cat has only managed to log 5.) I read more movie reviews than I watch actual movies and while I definitely have a taste for artsy-fartsy indy films and documentaries, I'm not above getting excited about a new Star Trek movie.