Leap Back 2009 DVD REVIEWS

feldon30

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The Leap Back 2009 Convention DVD Review

I promised several people that I would post a fair, critical review of this 4 disc set once I received it.

Please note that I am watching this DVD on a large (70") HDTV with a nice sound system for reference. Please also note that I am rather picky about the video and audio quality of DVDs.

And finally, please note that I did submit a bid to the Leap Back 2009 Committee offering my services to do this DVD set at a price similar to what was eventually paid. So it's not just a case of complaining without an offer to "put my money where my mouth is". I would have done a DVD which would have made everyone proud.


Leap Back 2009 Convention 4 disc DVD Review
by Morgan Feldon

Overall Presentation 6/10
Video Quality 5/10
Audio Quality 8/10


Presentation

So onto the introduction to this DVD. Oops, I almost missed it. It's a fuzzy screen grab of the printed insert that zooms in for 2 seconds. Then the still menu appears.

The menus are extremely simple. They contain a single screen grab of the imaging chamber blueprints from the Mirror Image DVD and one text button for each section of the DVD. There is no listing of who is in each panel. The audio on each menu is a very glitchy copy of the theme to A Single Drop of Rain (Sam's Prayer).

IMG_3038-menu01.jpg


IMG_3042-menu02.jpg


No Chapter Stops

Notice that there are no chapter stops on these DVDs. If you click Skip, you will jump one whole section. The first and last discs contains 6 sections. Disc 2 contains 4 sections. And disc 3 contains just 3 sections, one for each guest panel. So be aware that clicking Skip will jump you by nearly 1 hour.

IMG_3039-intertitle.jpg

An example of the intertitles.


Video Quality

All along, I understood that the Convention was filmed by Barbara with 3 cameras. However nearly all 12 hours of this DVD are shown from a single camera angle, the camera located at the back of the room.

I also pointed out to Brian during the Convention that the young camera operator at the back of the room was clearly inexperienced. I noticed that he had not loosened the horizontal panning wingnut on the tripod. As a result, every time he would pan the camera left to right, he would have to use considerable force and then the camera would spring back with a sickening lurch. I fear that extended viewing of these DVDs on a large screen will induce nausea.

Let me clear, there is little-to-no "editing" on these DVDs. It's a continuous recording of each event from 1 camera angle with no cuts. It is unbelievable to me that almost all 12 hours of these DVDs is from a single camera angle.

But the bigger issue is that the video quality here is roughly equivalent to what one would expect from a VHS tape. In this day and age of HDTV cameras starting at $300 and 65" HDTVs for $500, it is inexcusable that this was shot on a cheap DV camcorder in a square (not widescreen) format.

IMG_3040-quality01.jpg


Furthermore, the video camera used was clearly a very low quality standard DV, single CCD camera. There are glitches throughout the entire 12 hours whenever the camera pans left and right. The right 5% of the image has large blocky errors as it "catches up" to the image.

IMG_3043-rightsideglitch01.jpg


IMG_3044-rightsideglitch02.jpg


Even worse, is during the pivotal Scott and Don sequence, there are random rainbow blocks on the right side of the image.

QLDVD-scottdon006.JPG


I'm very sad to see that the convention was NOT filmed in High Definition, NOT filmed on a camera able to deal with the dark settings, but worst of all a camera whose recording heads clearly to be CLEANED. When a DV camera is filthy, it is very obvious to someone familiar with the format.

High Definition video cameras are no longer the stuff of fantasy. I picked up a High Definition JVC camera off Amazon.com this summer for just $299 and I have so far been blown away by the quality, especially in the dark. If such a camera had been used, the video quality of this DVD would be easily 100% better.

In short, the video quality of this production is substantially inferior to the Somewhere in the Night and Scott & Don videos which were posted on Youtube and subsequently removed. Whoever shot those had better cameras. Perhaps this is why the Committee were so angry with these videos?


Audio Quality

Perhaps the best part of these discs is the audio quality. Everything the actors and guests are saying is clear and easy to understand. The Question & Answer sequences with fans of the show are also included (although not pictured as that particular camera angle was filmed but not used) and easy to hear. However the audio levels do change over time, depending on the sequence.


Overall

Obviously I could not watch all 12 hours of video to write this review so soon, but I watched nearly 2 hours of the DVD, carefully evaluating each section, jumping ahead, looking at the parts of the DVD that fans will be the most interested in.

But I just have to ask. What did this "professional" DVD production company do over the last 8 months? They clearly didn't do any editing. The opening and closing ceremonies, guest panels, etc. are each one unedited video clip lasting 20-50 minutes. They could not have spent more than about an hour building these DVD menus.

In short, this DVD might have been impressive 10 years ago. But with software like iDVD and iMovie included with each Mac for several years now, it is unbelievable that such low quality menus, titles, and video quality could be turned out by a "professional" DVD production company. When I submitted my bid, I had every intention of adding beautiful animated menus, multiple camera angles (if the video was available), and nice titles throughout the production.

I would expect the quality of work seen in these DVDs from a high school visual arts student.

At this point, I am hoping that fans will come forward with their own recordings of this event, as they will be far superior in image quality than the "official" video recorded by Barbara.


Copyright Notice

When you insert the DVD, a notice appears indicating that copies are prohibited by law and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. There is a line indicating that to receive additional copies of the DVD, contact the Starlight Foundation. However it has already been stated by the Starlight Foundation that they have no interest in dealing with any issues relating to this video, nor do they intend to make additional copies of the DVD.

However the more interesting aspect is that in reviewing the DVD case, printed insert, and intro video on the DVD, I do not find any legally binding Copyright Notice. The insert contains this notice:

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction, distribution or public performance of this copywrited work is prohibited. No part of this set may be reproduced or broadcast without prior permission.
The notice does not name an entity, rightsholder, or even indicate a year that the material is copyrighted within. Copyright notices are supposed to be clear and concise. Point is, once the 300 copies are gone, the only way to get a copy of these DVDs will be to copy it from a friend.

So the 2 screenfuls of playful malarky about Sam and Al hunting you down if you make copies and that you would be "ripping off the charity" if you made copies are really a moot point once the 300 copies are gone. There will be no legitimate way to buy this DVD.

I also find it entertaining that, again, we see the illegitimate e-mail address @googlemail.com to contact the committee. This is a circumvention of everything that has been established over the last 2 1/2 years. It is an attempt to cut Brian Greene out of the e-mail communications in violation of the Committee bylaws and federal law.


To the Committee

I just have one thing to say to the committee. If you are going to play the power and control game and keep everyone (including Brian and all of us here on Al's Place) in the dark and promise the moon and stars that this DVD set will be "the best DVD set anyone could have ever produced" - then, you better deliver what you promised. And this DVD is a joke.

It's easy to see how a power struggle here caused a wreck to be produced instead of the quality that you promised.

Brian asked to see the original videos. Brian asked to see work-in-progress versions of these DVDs. Brian did his duty trying to make sure that the DVDs were the best they could be. And the 8 of you cut him out of the process thinking that you could do no wrong.

Fans will love this because we love Quantum Leap, but it is bittersweet for me, and just confirms all my fears that what this Committee needed more than anything was checks and balances in the production of the video to make sure something was produced that was worthy of the fans.

Remember: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
 
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I am not Brian and do not run this site. I do host the site, but purely as a service provider. Mostly, I'm a Quantum Leap fan like the rest of you.

If you feel that this DVD set is a lot better than I am giving it credit for, please feel free to post that. You should not be afraid to post your opinion as long as it's about the DVD and what kind of job you think was done on it.

I do hope that something will be learned from this whole process that even a group can make mistakes.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you and I hope your DVDs arrive promptly and put a smile on your face just the same.
 
Feldon, I do agree with you on the video quality. When they show the shots of the panelists sometimes it is hard to hear what they are saying also as much as I enjoyed the memories of that time. I did however agree that I felt like I was in a dark room trying to see sometimes. I also felt the long reminders of no copywriting did not need to be repeated in every dvd. I got a headache reading all that text.
Again Merry Christmas to you and everyone. Brian thank you for what you did.
 
I'm just going to say this so far... I've read Morgan's review and Cynthia's agreement.

Uhm...

I'm glad that you can at least hear the audio well and that it's at least a "DECENT" view of the actors and actresses who came. I'm glad that I gave $30 to a foundation that really needed help.

I'm dissatisfied that it's very similar to a high school project might be from one who is unable to adequately understand audio. The Committee (excluding Brian) PROMISED an EXCELLENT DVD... and it's without various camera angles (you know, the ones that we wanted to add from the footage that was to be destroyed - you know... THAT ONE... the one that the COMMITTEE decided that we (the fans) didn't need)!

I'm now of the mind that all of the dissatisfied Quantum Leap fans who put in their $30 for this honorable cause should email the NEW CEO- Lisa Montalbano - along with all the other committee members and let them know of our displeasure - for they may not read this post on Al's Place and will not accept any posts on the SBFF board that is not up to THEIR standards. The correct email address is NOT a googlemail address but: committee@leapback2009.com. This is the CORRECT email address that should have been within the DVD and should still be used period.

Oh... and let's not forget what our NEW CEO said in a post previously on the Debate Thread:
Ok........I’ve had about enough as a person can take when reading all these emails........ I want to know what gives everyone the RIGHT to dictate what goes on the dvd. We are the corporation, we were the ones who spent endless hours working towards this wonderful event. We spent our time, our own money (well, most of the committee anyway) and putting our lives on hold for a year or more, in order to bring the best convention to the fans. Because like everyone else the committee members are FANS.

We are giving the fans the best possible DVD there is available. Why wouldnt we want to do that.......does it make any sense not to give the fans the best possible dvd???

However, there are legal issues that are involved and we are the ones who will be held accountable.

Well, obviously "the corporation" did not spend ENOUGH time and energy into the making of this DVD. It was NOT the best possible DVD that was possible - especially when someone put in a bid similar to the amount you PAID and would have done a HELL of a lot better job at it. I've seen Morgan's work. You missed the damn boat.

I know its been brought up about a data disc and what not. Has anyone ever thought to question Universal, Creation or any other venue that sells dvds of their shows. I think not............I’ve read that everyone wants the different angles, etc.....Give me a break folks........There isn’t a dvd around that gives everyone EVERYTHING they want. It saddens me that if none of this was brought to the forefront.......the dvd sales would proceed smoothly and most fans would be extremely pleased with their purchase. Creation’s dvds are at most 2 hours with just snippets of the w/e events. We are offering a comprehensive dvd. There isn’t a need to once again say all that’s on it.........as its been posted over and over again....However, everyone seems to be complaining about the pieces that are missing. I think most folks forget that every single member of the committee missed almost every part of the convention with the exception of Scott & Don on stage. Even then, we still had things going on and most of us were coming and going throughout that day. I’m looking forward to watching 12+hours of the convention. Trust me I won’t feel cheated by any means. We need to move past this ugly mess. Let’s focus on the great dvd that will be available and stop complaining on what’s missing. If you need to still complain, write to every single dvd production company and tell them what you want on their shows.

The camera angles would have given a better COMPREHENSIVE DVD, but what do fans know, right? Oh... the pieces missing... Yeah... where are those still? I bet all the committee members minus Brian are enjoying those shots now and have been enjoying watching the good stuff for the last 8 months. Give the fans the crap - the stuff that was overcompressed and blurry at parts. We'll have the good stuff!

Will
they reply to our queries? Probably not. Of course Lisa won't feel cheated because she'll have the other camera shots and what not... she won't feel cheated one bit. I'm sure that she was one of the first to buy the DVD's as well as the seat too. Right?

By the way, we shouldn't have to write other DVD companies and tell them what we want. We told the committee what we wanted - but you "the corporation" shot it down . So... you asked the consumer what they wanted (in a survey) and then did something completel different. Yeah... smart. NOT.

The convention was a wonderful event that brought many countries together to celebrate a wonderful show. The fans got the best convention we could create.

You will be equally pleased with the dvd as well. Remember, we’re fans, as well.

The convention did bring together people from different countries... and I got to meet new QL fans... yes, thank you.

I'm pleased that mine actually got mailed and I hope that the DVD's aren't crushed inside of it. But... thanks for mailing it off...

just a side note....there we're fans who didn't follow the rules and videotaped segments of the con. I suggest you all start a new thread to discuss the plans of sharing that footage so everyone could have all the shots that were taken that day.

Actually, that's not a bad idea! Unfortunately, Prowler2009 (whoever that was) took down both videos that they placed up on YouTube. I wish that they hadn't done that. It was a damn fine video and I appreciate it more than I care to admit. Whoever you are... thank you... mind putting it back up?

So... if anyone would like to send stuff to Brian or to me, you may do so and we'll keep your identity private so that other people on this forum don't try to get to you and give you a hard time. These ladies don't scare me - try as they might. We have a wonderful Quantum Leap site and we don't need them around to criticize our work or our enjoyment of the show.

Brian, you must have the patience of a saint. I'm so sorry that you had to deal with 3 years of this crap only for this to happen to you during the Christmas Season. You will always be the VOICE of the Convention and we here appreciate you and fight that you put up for us - the TRUE fans of Quantum Leap.
 
Thanks for the review Feldon30. I am glad I read it before my copy arrives. So I can keep my expectations low....

It really irritates me to learn that someone with your obvious expertise was turned down. While better menus, chapter stops, etc would have been nice, the actual features or lack thereof of the DVDs could have been overlooked if the actual footage quality had been good!

I will admit I gave some slack on the DVDs, not destroying the footage and the other recent committee actions, but the actual DVDs. I wrongly thought at the least the convention had been properly filmed. Months ago I thought there would be small disagreements about the editing choices. Little did I realize. :disbelief
 
I did a quick look through. I believe that I saw ONE camera edit / change when Scott and Jay are doing the Trivia Challenge and the sound was WAY off microphone.

However, I did watch a few of the parts... and I couldn't help but giggle and cry just a little.

Janine, honey, you will get to see yourself - and the awed shock that you had on your face after Scott gave you that first hug and gave you the award... it's priceless. So sweet.

I do however stand by what I said earlier... still applies.

I'm still quite disgusted with the way this was put together. It seems as if it was just a slap and paste together - nothing that actually looked like they took the time and energy to put it together.

Also - even though it is a Quantum Leap font - it was used so often that when you try to read that font particularly in small print (even on my 56" TV) it hurts the eyes and seeing it over and over again on EACH disc... was more than a bit absurd.

The only good thing that came out of this is actually being able to look back and relive the experience... to hear some of the things that may have zinged past and were forgotten.

I just wish that the committee had actually tried to do more than a half-assed job on the DVD. The committee (the eight ladies) wanted to make sure that you would feel horrible if you reproduced this video in anyway... all they really did by doing this over and over and over and over again as well as on the bookcase and the pamphlet as well - is make sure to annoy you enough that you won't.

In essence, it's a challenge and I have a feeling that someone will take on that challenge regardless.

~MJ
 
Janine, honey, you will get to see yourself - and the awed shock that you had on your face after Scott gave you that first hug and gave you the award... it's priceless. So sweet.
~MJ

Thanks for that info MJ! :D

It keeps bringing a tear to my eye when I think about it because it was just so embarrasing that my mental health problems started because I was confused and didn't know where I was.

I've been reading the reviews and it is abit upseting about the video quality not being very good, but I'm still not going to let it get me down. I know people have paid this money (at least it's going to charity and not someones pocket) for the DVD. I've still got all 600+ photos that I took and the memories in my head that no one can take away.

Have a great Christmas everyone! :cheers

LOVE & HUGZ
JANINE XXX
 
I got my DVD today. have not had time let to really watch it with family over. Will tonight.

I guess your reaction to the quality is going to on the type of tv you have. As feldon30 said, if you have a large tv set, and/or a high def one the low resolution of the video is going to really stand out. But on a average size tv set, like mine, it will probably look "OK".

I glad there are no close up of me in the trivia contest.... I lost a lot of weight sense then.... :eek: ;)
 
LOL!

I am on the DVD much more than I would have thought. Winning the bid for the "Cattle Drive" lobby card signed by Dean. I guess because its was the only item signed by him available the whole weekend. Still surprised I got it for only $110!

I also see the back of my head in the crowd ALOT. THe shaved head look really did not work for me. My melon is huge, so hair covering it helps.

FYI if anyone wants to add me on Facebook I am Tom Soliva.

I apologize for anyone I deleted as a friend. I was going through a period a few months back were I was worried that I had too many female Facebook friends .... that it was raising questions with potential girlfriends.... I also got teased by a few of my guy friends about "all of my women".... But I realize now they are just jealous and it says good things about me that I have a lot of female friends. ;)
 
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And I can tell you where it's gone. Right on my hips. ;-)

Julie!
Nice to see you :)
I was going to tell you about all this crap but you were her all along (I wasn't).

Seems to me this isn't the first time conventions went south. (my apologies to the South).

So sad about the DVD. What a bunch of incompetents. My brother could have done better at 16 and nowadays, he wouldn't allow that kind of video "quality" on public access cable.
In fact, after my experience at Access (including the shows we shot with one guy in a wheelchair running all three cameras (and panning, and zooming - probably not a lot of dollying)) even *I* know that you have to loosen the drag(?) screw so you can pan smoothly (not that I can pan smoothly even then, but my work has been on TV, and my director was rather exacting, and we got it done in 3 hours.. sometimes 5, with post)
 
DVD Arrived today - UK

The postman called today with the DVD and I have just spent a very enjoyable couple of hours watching the last disk (the one with Scott on naturally).
Having read the comments on this page and some of the extremely nasty comments about the DVD, I am here to say that I was very pleasantly surprised.
No, it's not perfect, but considering it was filmed in a dark room with no camera-, lighting- or soundchecks and no rehearsal time it's a damn fine job and a great keepsake of a wonderful weekend.
Those of you who expected high definition just remember that it takes hours and hours of takes and oodles of money to achieve.
Let there be an end to all the *****ing and just let us be thankful that 8 dedicated people were able to make this happen. It took 3 years out of their lives (remember most of them have day jobs) and they do not deserve all the criticism.
Show a little generosity of spirit guys - just like Sam would
 
The postman called today with the DVD and I have just spent a very enjoyable couple of hours watching the last disk (the one with Scott on naturally).
Having read the comments on this page and some of the extremely nasty comments about the DVD, I am here to say that I was very pleasantly surprised.
No, it's not perfect, but considering it was filmed in a dark room with no camera-, lighting- or soundchecks and no rehearsal time it's a damn fine job and a great keepsake of a wonderful weekend.
Those of you who expected high definition just remember that it takes hours and hours of takes and oodles of money to achieve.
Let there be an end to all the *****ing and just let us be thankful that 8 dedicated people were able to make this happen. It took 3 years out of their lives (remember most of them have day jobs) and they do not deserve all the criticism.
Show a little generosity of spirit guys - just like Sam would

I am appreciative that they did what they did - do NOT get me wrong on that. However it took 9 months to do this? I'm confused. 9 months?! From a supposedly PROFESSIONAL company?

By the way, when the committee promised THE BEST DVD, they didn't deliver, so those who actually spent the money and want to complain about it - they really can... especially Feldon, when he HAS the ability to do the DVD's the way that it should have been done and even put in a bid for it and then the committee flubbed it all up? Pshhh.

I can complain if I'd like - as is my right. Thank you.

EDIT:
However, I am a bit surprised after I just got off the phone now with several companies that replicate and duplicate and transfer files to DVD. I talked with three different companies (all from various states thanks to their 800 numbers) and found out that they have really good turn around times. All of the companies said that if they had the master DVD, that they could get the turn around time of 500 DVD's (even though they are states away from me) within 1 - 2 weeks. The inserts and jewels for the DVD were included in that as well.

I guess what was even more interesting was being told that for a rate of $100 - $200 dollars that they would be able to put in the actual programming (with stops and ability to forward to a certain point) onto each DVD - the amount varied for each company.

One company, ProAction Media, they were even telling me about how with a project that I was describing to them that if I sat down and told them exactly where I wanted the edits to go etc., that it would be easier for them to edit the thing for me and then make a DVD Master to duplicate. Once they were marked, they said that they would do the edits and depending on how long it took the editor to do them would be - approximately 3 weeks. So... I'd even go longer - 1 month for professional editing and then a week to duplicate and ship to me - with the right inserts and DVD cases.

But I'm still a bit flabbergasted over that TURN AROUND TIME! Total time - 1 MONTH! And it took 9 months for the ladies to decide how to do this and to make sure that Brian was out of the loop? Hmmm.

Something is a bit fishy here... doesn't sound so Kosher to me.


Let there be an end to all the *****ing and just let us be thankful that 8 dedicated people were able to make this happen.

By the way, Pippa... it took not 8 but 9 people to pull this whole convention off. Don't forget Brian here. If he hadn't started this and went out looking for some help - none of it would have happened to begin with.
 
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But I'm still a bit flabbergasted over that TURN AROUND TIME! Total time - 1 MONTH! And it took 9 months for the ladies to decide how to do this and to make sure that Brian was out of the loop? Hmmm.

Something is a bit fishy here... doesn't sound so Kosher to me.

Well i could explain the 9 months. But only if it's homemade. See I've been working on MR & Mrs Smith since I got back home from the Leapcon. So yup I got the 9 months with the major setbacks, tapes with humming sounds, jittering footage etc.. etc... But the difference is that MR &MRS Smith has been made out of VHS tapes comming from 3 different people. The orginals from Jay, Several from Janey's archives and than also some from Ann's archives. Shipping up and down, than clean ups, than trying to make it as perfect as any tool can, well yup nine months covers it. I'm just about finished. Than we need covers, DVD's need to be send out so they can have a nice MR & Mrs Smith Print on them, so I gather even if I finish up today it'll take another months to have them all copied and ready to go out. So I could account for time.

But than again, that's nine months when you really work hard at it trying to perfct them, get rid of annoying lines on bottem and sides and copy, cut and paste to make the end result the best you can.

As I understand from Feldon report this was basically one long straight run, hardly any camera change in them and it didn't get cleaned up. From other reports I read the sound changes and hasn't been volume adjusted.

So I tell you this much, 9 months could be correct if an amateur works on them. However the end result as I have been reading and seeing pics pop up off shows the amateur doesn't use the advanced tools which are available these days for editing.

Let me see, MR & Mrs SMith 45 minutes per episode, 13 episodes with extra's yup that's over 13 hours of DVD. However to maintain the highest quality only two episodes fit on a DUAL layer DVD so this set will have 7 dvd's. So cramping 13 hours Leapcon footage on 4 dvds, well that alone makes me understand why the quality might not be up to standards.
 
No, it's not perfect, but considering it was filmed in a dark room with no camera-, lighting- or soundchecks and no rehearsal time it's a damn fine job and a great keepsake of a wonderful weekend.
My understanding is that there were camera, lighting, and soundchecks before any filming started. Further, the lighting on the stage was rather exceptionally bright compared to most conventions, with the intention of producing a very high quality picture. Several actors complained at just how bright the lights were. But it was done to ensure that an awesome video would result. Turns out it was for naught.

I point only to the high definition bootleg video which was posted on Youtube for an example of how good this video should have lookedl.
Those of you who expected high definition just remember that it takes hours and hours of takes and oodles of money to achieve.
This is incorrect. I edit high definition 1080p video out of my $299 camcorder with my Mac laptop with iDVD and iMovie which came free with the computer. It takes me about an hour to edit and another hour to render about 15 minutes worth of video. Scale that up to 12 hours and that's about 48 hours to edit and 48 hours to render the videos.
Let there be an end to all the *****ing and just let us be thankful that 8 dedicated people were able to make this happen. It took 3 years out of their lives (remember most of them have day jobs) and they do not deserve all the criticism.
Sorry, but I don't just accept what has been shoveled in front of me. Brian tried again and again and again to make sure that the DVD was of the highest quality by requesting the videos and requesting previews. He was denied every opportunity to review the video. He and I both volunteered time and effort to make sure the DVD was the best quality.

Please stop making it sound like Barbara did this as a charitable thing or a volunteer thing "out of the goodness of her heart". The convention was billed $3,000 for the production of this DVD. Where did that money go? Clearly not into making the DVD. We have been threatened and guilted at every turn by the committee and people like you that we are trying to "rip off the charity". Well, I state right here right now that the charity and the fans were ripped off by Barbara in this whole endeavour.

Barbara operated 3 video cameras but only 1 was used. Where's the rest of that footage? Why after 9 months of lies and deceit are there still no answer to this question? Where is the rest of the footage? The footage that the convention paid $3,000 to get onto those DVDs?

Sorry, I don't just go with the groupthink and accept whatever is shoveled in front of me by these 8 women. I can and do think for myself and draw my own conclusions based on the facts. And based on what I myself submitted a bid to do.

We have all been told to sit down, shut up, and take our medicine by the committee and promised that this DVD would be a lot better than it is.
 
No, it's not perfect, but considering it was filmed in a dark room with no camera-, lighting- or soundchecks and no rehearsal time it's a damn fine job and a great keepsake of a wonderful weekend.
Those of you who expected high definition just remember that it takes hours and hours of takes and oodles of money to achieve.
Let there be an end to all the *****ing and just let us be thankful that 8 dedicated people were able to make this happen. It took 3 years out of their lives (remember most of them have day jobs) and they do not deserve all the criticism.
Show a little generosity of spirit guys - just like Sam would


Okay first Pippa, light and dark in an editing program (if you use a decent one) can be adjusted as long as the footage is good it will not loose any quality of the footage by adjusting that. SOund can be adjusted so it all has the same volume, and that Mozaic on the side could have been cropped out and the image could have been adjusted to regular size after the crop.

As for the high definition, well if they promised to give people a proffesional DVD or at least as so has been stated "the best ever" out there I think that would get ones hopes up that would have been done in HD. I think though even if it had not been done in HD as long as the quality was as outstanding as promised than no one would have even mentioned it, or if one would have mentioned HD, the fans would have been all over them not to moan about HD cause it looks perfect.

And yes 9 people did an outstanding job putting this Leapcon together, no one has ever said any differently, but from what I understand, the DVD does not hold up in quality to the previous outstanding job.

And replacing Brian as CEO just cause he wants to save this footage from destruction and than have him replaced because they feel he's a thorn in their sides deserves all the critism we fans can give on whatever happened after this wonderfully put together con. And let me remind you ones again, cause the left over comittee members and all other members of that elite little group seem desperatly trying to forget this but WITHOUT BRIAN THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO CON TO BEGIN WITH.
 
QL Damsel said:
By the way, Pippa... it took not 8 but 9 people to pull this whole convention off. Don't forget Brian here. If he hadn't started this and went out looking for some help - none of it would have happened to begin with.

I did not forget Brian - there were 8 committee members
 
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QL Damsel said:
By the way, Pippa... it took not 8 but 9 people to pull this whole convention off. Don't forget Brian here. If he hadn't started this and went out looking for some help - none of it would have happened to begin with.

I did not forget Brian - there were 8 committee members

1 ) Barbara Pilnick
2 ) Carol Cartwright
3 ) Lisa Montalbano
4 ) Maryse Worallo
5 ) Helene Kaplan
6 ) Emma Fee
7 ) Nancy Cotter
8 ) Donna Dickenson
9 ) Brian Greene

These were the names at the beginning of the Heated Debate thread that went up that Brian wrote down. If anyone knows who is in the company it would be the ORIGINAL CEO and President. If someone dropped out of the committee... it's news to me.
 
QL Damsel said:
By the way, Pippa... it took not 8 but 9 people to pull this whole convention off. Don't forget Brian here. If he hadn't started this and went out looking for some help - none of it would have happened to begin with.

I did not forget Brian - there were 8 committee members


Oh really...???? Wanna go there..? okay....

Jo who was officially repsonsible for shooting the footage for this con got squeezed out by Barbara taking over her job. Donna, backed out, unknown why, Feldon was denied to make the DVD when offered his assistance, Melissa who volenteerd to do all things stage and sound since that's her JOB in real life too got denied, than there was Helen who was in there somewhere from the beginning and also disapeared for some odd reason. I'm sure more people gracefully bowed out or were denied to participate but the list of volenteers was big enough to replace any of the 7 members committed mutiny and took over.

I'm sorry to say Pippa, but there is a lot more tallented people out there than that list of committee members. Still doesn't mean they didn't do a good job though, but trust me, any of these ladies could easily be replaced and I hope there will be a Leapcon to proof it, one that will bring in less for charity, but everyone can afford to attend in the near future. I hope it will have committee members that do this for the fans not because they feel the need for greed to raise the highest amount for charity people have ever seen.
 
Design of Leap Back 2009 DVD

I'm going to go back to this for just a moment. For some reason, it's really bothering me... In a previous post, Maryse wrote the following in response to the post that Helen put down about the coffee stain on the jacket of the DVD:

maryse said:
The idea for those that missed it, and I'm sorry you did, because is some ways it shows that it's perhaps a little too subtle. Anyway, the idea, as Pippa has pointed out and Twink alluded to, is that people have been working on the project to bring Sam back for 20 years and during this time, people have been treating the project document, just like that - a project document - so, coffee gets put on it, sandwiches get eaten off it, it gets dropped on the floor etc etc.

So, there you go. I'm sorry that some of you think I'm such a poor designer that I would have left a coffee stain on there without realising it.

First, Helen wasn't at the convention and didn't know about the subtleness of the design.

Second, I don't think that the design on the outside of the package is the problem. The jewels (the design) that's on the discs are not the problem.

The problem rests within the actual footage - the footage that should have been a hell of a lot better. Filmed with a clean camera (as Feldon) pointed out in his review, and a better camera. The fans were promised from various committee members that they were making the best DVD of the convention.... and looking at how it was put together... was lacking and failed in the commitment that the committee promised to deliver.

I'm not pointing fingers at just one person here but at the group - the group that decided to leave out the one male in the group and do their own thing. The same group that voted him into office as CEO and president and then within the last 9 days of the corporation voted him out of CEO and president - and placed in someone to "fill in" his shoes - the lame duck (no offense Pam). I'm pointing at the same group who refused to use the correct email address on various posts because they claim that they can't respond from that email address. I'm also pointing to the same group who have seemed to hijack the corporation and have left the one male out and keep seeming to pat their backs when they email him or think that they have done something to show their love of an actor.

Yes, I bought the DVD and I think that it's a great reminder of where I got to go... and yes, it's a wonderful charity that we gave our money to and for... BUT to be handed something that I was told was going to be a wonderful thing and look down and see that it was actually delivered with a decent package image and then open it up and find it raw? It's a bit too much for me. As any consumer... anyone else would have sent it back and asked for it to be cooked more - to make it better.

No refunds. Here you are - you take it - you bought it - live with it. Ok. But I have my right to complain about it. I don't have to accept the malarky that has been brought here - the semantics that keep being played.

It would be nice if the ladies of the convention would get up the gumption to actually answer questions that were posed. Show that backbone that they so had to have to vote Brian out of his office. Where did it go? Why aren't they standing up for their side? Why hide?

By hiding and not showing themselves - by not responding - it just seems to make the case that they have for doing anything in the past nine months ... have a bunch of holes and it won't hold any water.
 
Prowler2009,

Where are you? Do you have more good quality footage of the con??

There are those of us who appreciated your wonderful quality youtube posts.

Thank you for sharing!
 
Hey guys,

I've been watching the segment with Scott, Don, and Dean.

Does anyone have any insight to the blinking colored dots on the right side of the display throughout this ~1 hour segment? Is this sort of a J.J. Abrams thing like Lost or Fringe where there are hidden messages?

Help me out here...

QLDVD-scottdon001.JPG


QLDVD-scottdon002.JPG


QLDVD-scottdon004.JPG


QLDVD-scottdon005.JPG


QLDVD-scottdon006.JPG
 
thought the mozaic was only there when panning? Doesn't look like the camera angle is changing.
Handlink art :)



Hey guys,

I've been watching the segment with Scott, Don, and Dean.

Does anyone have any insight to the blinking colored dots on the right side of the display throughout this ~1 hour segment? Is this sort of a J.J. Abrams thing like Lost or Fringe where there are hidden messages?

Help me out here...

QLDVD-scottdon001.JPG


QLDVD-scottdon002.JPG


QLDVD-scottdon004.JPG


QLDVD-scottdon005.JPG


QLDVD-scottdon006.JPG
 
thought the mozaic was only there when panning? Doesn't look like the camera angle is changing.
Handlink art :)
These animated dots consistently appear and disappear with regular frequency on the right side of the image, regardless of the panning of the camera. So it's not the same issue as the panning mosaic effect. However considering both issues occur in the same part of the image, it tells me that one issue exacerbated the other. Very likely a cheap, no-name DV videotape brand was used in a camera that has already demonstrated major issues.

DV is somewhat temperamental (it's a fat 25Mbps stream on a very small tape) and does not appreciate dirty heads or inexpensive blanks. Even under the ideal situations, infrequent dropouts are expected.

Now that I've watched more of the DVD, I have spotted that elusive other camera angle. ;) It seems to appear on the DVD only when the tape in the deck at the back-of-the-room was being replaced. And there's a perfectly good reason why -- The audio quality is quite harsh, and the image is rather washed out.


This whole situation is just an indication of why you don't allow 1 person to monopolize a project of this scope. You have checks and balances. You ask questions. You have a discussion. Barbara clearly hyped up her credentials and thought she could wing it.
 
So the camera at the back of the room was from the A/V rental company? I guess they were the cheapest outfit in the phone book if they used a poor camera, poor tapes, and didn't know how to operate a tripod.
 
So the camera at the back of the room was from the A/V rental company? I guess they were the cheapest outfit in the phone book if they used a poor camera, poor tapes, and didn't know how to operate a tripod.


Even cheap rental footage and poor quality can still be brushed up a little. Hey I managed to do that with VHS footage over 20 years old, so that's really no excuse (well not for me anyway)