The Trailer Trashing budget and goals

Working with Trailer Trashing has been one of the most fun and rewarding experiences I've had on this blog. It allows me to work with multiple media. I get to edit video, fiddle with audio, and write a ton. The writing process is fun, and recording is a blast (when it works). For the past five months, I've been using a cheap Logitech USB microphone with a DIY pop screen and a combination of Windows Movie Maker and whatever free video editing trial software I happen to stumble across. I use Audacity for audio recording, editing, and exporting. For a free program, Audacity is fantastic. But I think it's time to get serious about Trailer Trashing. Well, as serious as I can get on a college student's budget. 

Here's my spending plan for the next few months:

Blue Snowball USB Microphone (Bundle) $99.00

Corel Ulead Video Studio 11.5 Plus $49.99

Total: $148.99

The Snowball USB Microhpone is a product I have read nothing but glowing reviews for. It's durable, affordable, and seriously excellent quality. Plus, it looks badass and totally retro. Blue claims it's the first professional quality USB mic and, just in the sample recordings I've heard, I am tempted to agree. This sucker works and I am very excited to start using it. Hopefully I can get my hands on one in the next couple of months.

As for the Ulead software, I used Ulead exclusively for video editing in my middle school filmmaking days. Their newest edition, 11.5, is supposedly the best out there for its price range. I don't need to do anything fancy with video editing; just something to trim clips, add audio, render files, et cetera. Not wanting to fork over the hefty dough for Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere, I'm opting for the cheaper, if less incredible, alternative.

And my goals for Trailer Trashing:

• Produce an episode every two weeks
• Bring in a guest Trasher every 3-4 episodes
• Work towards a better looking and sounding product
• Gain some exposure and strive for an iRiff on RiffTrax
• Get funnier

There. My agenda for the next few months, on top of keeping up with this blog's regular foray of written entries, managing two editor jobs, and dealing with schoolwork. Doable? Yeah. And I'm willing to stress a bit to get serious about Trailer Trashing. I feel like I've got something here and I'm going to strive to do the best I can with it.