Testimonial:

Pinnacle Documentary Creator, Dall Wilson

New York City-based documentary producer, Dall Wilson, has had his hands on a video camera since he was a child, helping his father create veterinary training films. Years later, developing into an accomplished writer and talented photographer, Dall was able to incorporate all that experience into making a name for himself through his own style of video as he began creating a series of videos promoting Broadway musicals and documentaries featuring local artists.

"The shows I've created needed to have samples that could be distributed in a convenient way, so I started video recording them, and that led to a series of short documentaries for artists, specifically, for example, the piece I did on sculptor, Leah Poller. The Poller piece was filmed in one day with her, and it's very improvisational. She speaks so well, and has so much knowledge, that it just came out great."

The documentary on Leah Poller is characteristic of Dall's work, combining museum- quality photos with first-person experiential video and engaging dialog. Dall produces pieces like this in 30-, 20- and 6-minute versions, expanding their reach to a greater, more diverse audience ranging from art gallery patrons to YouTube enthusiasts.

"I always combine streaming video with still photography in my work. I think it has a very beautiful effect and that it really tells the story, especially with artwork, where it's much easier to get the higher resolution image and then pan across it and zoom in and out in editing, rather than just working with raw video all the time."

In a decision Dall recalls as a sheer lucky choice, he began his professional video production career with a consumer editing suite he bought in Manhattan's J&R Music World.

"I had taken some time off from video to focus on my still photography, but when the time came to get back to video, it was a lucky choice to get the Pinnacle line. I've used a lot of video editing products, and I'm not afraid of complexity. I used to be a software architect, but you don't need more tools than what gets the job done and Pinnacle has been perfect for everything I've done."

Before his career in video documentary production, Dall had worked for Sun Microsystems and completed various projects for IBM. Dall later worked around Wall Street in interactive multimedia and has been a member of SIGRAPH, the computer graphics and animation conference, for 15 years.

"I'm very aware of all kinds of multimedia tools, sound editing tools, animation tools, video editing tools and I follow that world very closely. It was just a lucky choice for me to pick up Pinnacle Studio 9. I was pleased when Avid bought Pinnacle and really grew it in a very strong direction, making Studio so much better with each revision, adding features that make it even more powerful. It's ideal for the way I work, because I'm really an improviser and tend to do things on the spur of the moment and in layers."

Dall was able to begin working productively with Pinnacle Studio in a very short time, and because he didn't have to worry about mastering the software to get the final results he wanted, he could focus instead on the quality of the content he was shooting.

"That's been a great blessing to me. I could put up more complicated video editors but unless you plan well, those things can be a waste of time. For what I do, I want something direct and accessible and gripping. I have enough tools to do what I want to do, to tell a story and I have what I want with this product."

Now working with the latest version, Studio 11, Dall experiments with enhanced sound editing and even more powerful zoom and pan capabilities that have changed the way he shoots and produces his videos. This saves him valuable time while enabling him to be even more creative with his process.

"With Pinnacle, I'm able to plan for what the tool can do and use it in an improvised way. I don't get lost in a thousand details; I can just focus on the content, which is really the important part for me. I can work through the tool and stay focused on the content, rather than going into technical overkill and getting lost in the mundania of shooting."

For Dall it's all about the style of the product he's able to create, not a thousand technical details. As a playwright who also works with multimedia, it's important to stay focused on the content, not the tools he's using to record and organize the content.

"With the Leah Poller project, I had all this wonderful artwork she's created, then a great dialog that she just generated on the spot. That's what I want to do on all my projects, just capture it. I have been able to get just as professional editing results using the Studio 9, and now Studio 11, as I did with the higher-end solutions, but Studio lets me focus more on the content."

Dall also credits his growth as a video editor and documentary producer to his experiences in Iceland and London as well as being able to see documentaries over BBC. He noted that if you have good content and you can keep it simple, the results are powerful and communicate a message on its own.

"The things I've done are very interesting and range from Pajtasi, the NY-based acoustic dance band from Slovakia performing at the Bohemian Hall, to Leah Poller, to more or less straight documentary projects. I have a project that will take me to Greenland soon and into the heart of Europe that will be edited using Pinnacle Studio. I love that project. And I'm able to generate these videos and packaging them into half hour shows that are being broadcast over Manhattan Neighborhood Network, which reaches 500,000 people. So I'm happy with what's happening."

The fulfillment that comes from producing something he knows is good and well appreciated, keeps Dall busy moving from one project to another. But Dall doesn't have time to do projects for anybody else, now, or in the foreseeable future.

"I have so many ideas for projects that as long as I can just do my own, I'll do my own. I have certain things that only I am interested in and will only happen because I want to do them."

Dall's current work in progress is a 90-minute documentary on singer Alice Milton. For the project, Dall has written a 300,000 word biography which will be used in the project's narration. He has also taken hundreds of still photos for the piece as well.

"That's a very large project to tackle with a consumer-end editing solution; but I can do it confidently with Pinnacle. I'll be able to do a complete draft of the documentary on Alice Neilson, use Pinnacle to burn DVDs, and take a very professional-looking package out to film festivals to be assessed by PBS and other entities to see if we can get it picked up. This tool has everything I need, and I use everything in the toolset."

For Dall, having complete creative control is a priority. He is quick to point out that while he could have spent a lot more time learning a much more complicated application, he's confident that ultimately he would have had essentially the same final result. He just wasn't willing to compromise on his creative control, and he certainly would have had to spend more time editing.

"With all these projects, the key thing for me is that without this tool, and without my interest in seeing them produced, they simply wouldn't happen. The two are synergistic. I now have a tool that will let me improvise with the sound and the images, and it suits me perfectly."

About Pinnacle Studio Software version 11

To meet the video authoring and budget needs of consumers, ranging from beginners to experienced users, the award-winning Pinnacle Studio version 11 family of products includes Pinnacle Studio, Pinnacle Studio Plus and Pinnacle Studio Ultimate. Equipped with powerful personal video creation and sharing capabilities, Pinnacle Studio can be used to create Hollywood-style DVDs that can be played on any set-top DVD player or PC. Movies can even be enjoyed on a Sony® PSP™, Apple® iPod® and other portable devices. The Pinnacle Studio version 11 family of products is available now through e-tail and retail stores.