Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Rehearsal Track for "ALL MEN WANT IS SEX"

We've been enhancing the musical accompaniment for WYSIWYG lately and we'd like to provide a professional audio track for every song in the performance package in the near future, go to the WYSIWYG website for the new materials.


Preparing for an audition? WTH...download our public domain Sheet Music for "ALL MEN WANT IS SEX" and use SOUNDCLOUD to rehearse your part. Good Luck!

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Using the Insta360 One X while Skiing in Breckenridge

The Insta360 One X is a nice supplement for your next ski trip. It's really easy to put the One X (or any 360° camera) on a selfie stick and capture footage of your ski partner and frame it up in Premiere using the GoPro keyframe effects add-in. There's several bullet time examples using a string to swing the camera included too. I suggest using Google Earth to find a ski in/out facility with access to a remote place to fly your drone for a nice aerial photo to start and end your video and WTH... just use VideoPad to add a title and a sound track.



Friday, December 06, 2019

Blossoms of Light Virtual Tour at Denver Botanic Garden

This year I had the opportunity to shoot a 360 video at Blossoms of Lights in the Denver Botanic Garden. I mounted an Insta 360 1X on a selfie stick and walked the tour. It was hit or miss since I was shooting lots of static photos too; in any case, WTH...I know I could get smoother, higher quality footage mounting the camera on a drone and shooting in cinematic mode, but I would need to coordinate with the Gardens on something like that.

Apple iPhones require a 360° plugin like VLC.


Tuesday, November 19, 2019

DJI Aerial Photography Academy Training Course Gathering

I couldn't help accepting an invitation to attend the 2019 DJI Aerial Photography Academy training course in Denver this week. It was hosted by two former DJI employees and they did a nice job of delivering the inside scoop on the drone industry (past and present), as well as, insight on the tips and tricks professional photographers are using to get the most out of the technology.

DJI Denver course Sold Out Embassy Suite DJI course Denver training center
I would recommend this course for anyone interested in Aerial Photography using DJI products. They discussed the in and outs related to; government regulations and guidelines, business opportunities and best practices, as well as, how to get the best results using the plethora of hardware and software tools out there to make it all happen. WTH...it was nice to sit with people from all walks of life and hear the different ways they were using the technology.

DJI photography course training materials April Alsup DJI training Certificate


Thursday, October 24, 2019

Shooting 360° videos and framing in post production

I've been experimenting with 360° videos lately. In an earlier post I showed an interactive 360° video using the Ricoh Theta SC mounted on top of a drone. It's 4K, but I think the overall quality suffers a bit due to capturing the entire sphere. The Insta360 One X camera is 5K, but it has similar quality issues. The Ricoh Theta Z1 has a 1" sensor, so WTH...perhaps I'll see if I can get my hands on it.

In any event, it was pretty easy to capture footage with the Insta360 One X on a selfie stick and frame the results in post using Premiere and the GoPro keyframe plugin. Think of it as 360° video that you can frame from any angle on the sphere in post processing.



Thursday, October 10, 2019

2019 Colorado Fall Foliage

I couldn't resist shooting one more day of Fall foliage around Clear Creek, Georgetown and Quanella Pass. All the leaves drop off this time of year and it's so hard to get around after the first snow storm, but WTH...it's Colorado, it'll be 70° by the weekend!



Thursday, September 26, 2019

Mounting a 360 degree camera on a drone

I've been experimenting with shots using a 360 degree camera (Theta SC) mounted on a drone (Mavic 2 Pro). There's some issues, but WTH...it's new functionality and it goes with the territory; in any case, just click and drag your mouse over the video to explore the video. My guess is we'll start seeing more of this sort of thing.

Apple iPhones require a 360° plugin like VLC.


Wednesday, September 04, 2019

Adventure United Kingdom

I spent a little over a week in the United Kingdom this Summer, WTH...you have to get out and see new places and make new friends every once in a while. I arrived in Edinburgh from Munich for the last weekend of EIF and Fringe and stayed at the University. It was rocking and certainly a must do for all theatre enthusiasts. After three days of taking in the festivities it was off to Derbyshire to visit the area my ancestors came from and then to Liverpool for some Beatle nostalgia.

April Alsup at Edinburgh Fringe

April Alsup in Alsop en la Dale April Alsup in Massacre Cave on Eigg
Next stop was the Isle of Eigg. I've been writing songs about this place for several years now and visiting the island did not disappoint me. I made new friends from Ayr, met Charlie and Maggie, explored Massacre Cave and even took a run on the "Singing Sands" of Laig Bay. It was really a great experience.

Saturday, August 31, 2019

EIF and Fringe 2019, That's a wrap!

I traveled across the the pond to experience EIF and Fringe this year. The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) is an annual event of performing arts in Scotland. I saw three shows and took in the night walk too. It was nice meeting some of the creative folks for the festival. The shows here are innovative and WTH...let's figure out how to get WYSIWYG here. 😊


Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Adventure Deutschland

I spent a week in Deutschland this August with old friends. WTH...It's important to get out and actually live life once in a while. My dad had an expression, "live to work?", "work to live?"; in any case, I have a close friend in Augsburg and he is always ready to take on another adventure. After seeing some local sites around Bavaria we traveled north to Leipzig and Dessau in old East Germany. It was great visiting the area and catching up.

April Alsup in Leipzig

April Alsup in Augsburg


Friday, August 09, 2019

Creating an online newsroom using a green screen

Putting together the newsroom for an online TV channel with limited resources can be challenging, but WTH...I've been working with green screens for decades and I'm familiar with the plethora of hardware and software needed to make it happen. Fortunately, my apartment has high ceilings.
I think the question and answer format simplifies the process and allows us to quickly develop a script for each episode. In most cases, our work flow consists of capturing each part separately and bringing it all together in post. Here's our first ReThink Baptist TV episode: The Soul Box Project.



Thursday, July 25, 2019

Drone footage from Suhaka Field

Here's some drone footage I shot at Suhaka Field in Cherry Creek State Park on July 17th. So many things came together for this shot, including: tracking, lighting, reflections, shadows, automobiles, birds, sail boats, the wind. WTH! I love it when that happens...



Saturday, June 29, 2019

Edinburgh 2019

I'm headed to Scotland for the last few days of EIF and the fringe this August. I was lucky to score a dormitory suite at the University of Edinburgh which is close to just about everything. I really can't wait to experience the creative atmosphere of this thing. WTh...It'll be like I'm a school girl again... or for the first time. 👸


Thursday, May 30, 2019

2019 WYSIWYG Update!

Here's several pictures of the PCTF awards ceremony at the Abrons Art Center in New York last year. What a great night! We're just about ready to start some table reads of Eigg so I'm sure that project will start picking up momentum now. As far as the status on WYSIWYG, we've made some tweaks here and there and I've been working with a dramaturg in New York on the script, my guess is we'll see another production somewhere on the Manhattan Island in 2020 so WTH...stay tuned! ;)
April Alsup in New York City
For more information go to www.wysiwygthemusical.com


Monday, February 25, 2019

The end of one chapter the beginning of another

Here's a picture of my Baldwin D-9 going back to American Classic Pianos. They're based in Denver, Colorado and I've known Warren and Holly for a long time. They let me change my piano every five years or so and it's always sentimental to see them go. I composed the majority of  "The Age of Sisyphus" and "The Isle of Eigg" on the D-9, so it was a productive piano. Can't wait to get my hands on the next one though. Each instrument has it's own personality and it comes out in your music. I think it's important to reinvent your music periodically and changing your piano is a subtle way to help you accomplish that.





Saturday, February 02, 2019

Dramatist Guild and The New Play Exchange

Remember the scene in the movie "The Jerk" when Steve Martin gets so excited because he sees his name in the telephone book. So, I sort of felt the same today when I saw my profile page on the Dramatist Guild and New Play Exchange websites. "WTH...I'm somebody"!



View my profile on Dramatists Guild


View my profile on the New Play Exchange


Thursday, January 10, 2019

Dramatists Guild

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to participate in more music theater groups and organizations. It's so cool to meet and work with new people with similar challenges. Here's the letter I received from The Dramatist Guild in New York. WTH...I'm in and I'm loving it! :)
Click here to visit April Alsup on Dramatist Guild Website


Tuesday, January 01, 2019

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Eco-friendly QR Codes for our audience members with smartphones

It's an honor to be designated as one of this year's most eco-friendly off-Broadway productions. Moving forward, we'll plan to setup QR Codes to all our program guides and hope that you will too. Try it out now, WTH...it's so easy...and yes, we love our trees in Colorado!
WYSIWYG QR Code
SISYPHUS QR Code

QR codes are machine-readable optical labels first designed in 1994 for the automotive industry in Japan. Typically, a smartphone is used as a QR code scanner to convert the code into some useful form (such as a standard URL for a website, thereby obviating the need for a user to type it into a web browser).

Thursday, November 08, 2018

I have a Dream and it´s Green!

I've always been a bit of an environmentalist, but I never really expected it to be part of my creative. I thought it was just a coincidence that we won the prestigious Greener Planet Award for our production of WYSIWYG in New York City this Summer. WTH...haven't we all received the planet eMail yet? It's so easy to cast a small carbon footprint by managing scripts, advertising and program collateral electronically.


Well now, I guess I'm proud to announce that my latest project, "The Isle of Eigg", has an ecology thread. Just off the coast of Scotland, this tiny island is a testament to human independence. The island was recently named "Britain's most eco-friendly island" by the Guardian since they have been producing nearly 100% of their own electricity for almost a decade now, through a combination of wind, solar and hydro power. It's been a long and winding road though, with a lot of conflicts, so stay tuned for this fascinating true story of Eigg.

Learn more at the Eigg the Musical website!