THE “31 YEARS” VIDEO
When Apple released it’s latest editing software, Final Cut Pro X, a few months ago I knew that it couldn’t handle several of the editing tasks that I frequently use such as multi-clip editing and multiple audio tracks. Apple is a great company and is already adding important features to FCPX, but some upcoming jobs will require more than it can deliver today. What do we do now? Adobe will never abandon their pro customers.
Switching to Adobe is easier for a photographer than it is for a video professional. Many of the tools that I use in Photoshop are in Production Premium’s editing programs. The key to switching to Adobe was their motion graphics program, After Effects. I’ve used Apples Motion in the past but it only took a month working with a trial version of After Effects to get hooked on this software. I did tutorials on Adobe’s web site, videocopilot.com, Creativecow.com and Lynda.com. Then I dove into my first AE project.
After a week of tutorials, my first After Effects project took 5 weeks to complete, learning as I crept along. Armed with more than 30 pages of notes, and frequent return visits to the above mentioned web sites, I created a 4 minute video showcasing my 31 years in photography (and video). I learned as I stumbled along, and I do mean stumble. I used many of the basic animation techniques, a few advanced techniques, and set most of the keyframes manually. There are a few gotchas in AE, and rendering is like watching paint dry. This is the worst part of working in AE. The solution is to set your work area to each 12 second part of the composition and render at 1/2 resolution. The quality is good enough to judge the motion and timing of the composition. The light comes on when you finally get your head into 3D space and see your layers, text and backgrounds like you are right there inside the monitor. Then you move layers in Z space, add a couple lights, cast shadows, and move your camera in X, Y, and Z space. If you are lucky and the phone doesn’t ring while your head is in 3D space you can finish the 5 second section of video in about an hour (for a rookie). This video has 167 layers! I exported a Quick Time movie at full res (1920 x 1080) in the Apple Pro Res 422 codec so that I could mix the 10 audio tracks in Final Cut 7 because I was already familiar with this program and AE is not a good audio editor. (no time to learn Premiere Pro yet). Sound effects were picked from Soundtrack Pro and the music, Unlucky, was purchased from Footagefirm.com.
It took 3 days to locate, scan, copy and re size old tear sheets to make digital files and maybe another day to locate digital files of photos and video on a few archived hard drives. And, since I’ve kept at least one of each model camera that I’ve ever owned (except for the 4×5 view camera), I included most of them in the video. I will be exploring many more special effects in After Effects for future videos.
Watch the video.
Are you looking for a solution to archiving and retrieving your video files?
I found a docking station that solves many of my media backup problems. The Voyager Q from Newer Technology is a flexible, easy to use docking solution that will save you time and money. You can get it from Other World Computing (OWC) for $84. It’s as easy to use as a CF or SD card reader and it will hold 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA drives. The Voyager Q connects to your computer via USB2, FW400, FW800 or eSATA.
Simply plug in your new SATA drive and it will prompt you to erase/format the drive which I did to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), named it and started copying files to it. Now I can replace the filled drives in my Mac Pro (Bay 3 and 4) with new ones. When I need to access the videos stored on the original SATA drives I will simply plug the drive into the Voyager Q and I can edit directly through the Voyager as it is connected through a FW 800 cable. No need to install the drive into an enclosure.
Pic up a few anti static bags where you buy your hard drives and store your original and backup drives in different locations.
Newer Tech also makes a docking station for USB3.0.
When using the Live view/Movie mode on the 5D mkII, I started with the Letus Hawk viewfinder . I wear glasses but I had to remove them to get my eye closer to the eye piece. With or without glasses I could not focus the lens with the diopter. The Zacuto Z-Finder 2.5X has a larger eye cup so I can leave my glasses on which helps when working the buttons and menus. It also comes with 3 extension rings that fit around the Z-Finder between it and the LCD monitor. If you rack the diopter all the way and still can’t get a sharp focus then add the rings. I used 2 for a perfectly sharp image. Achieving sharp focus is easier with the Marshall 5″ monitor. I’ll get to that in a later blog.
Want to reach more people with your training or sales video? Do you need Spanish as well as English? We now offer DVD authoring with multiple language tracks. Just select the language and go!
You could also choose to use the same video footage with 2 different audio tracks to make one video for training and one with a music track added for a sales video.
You are putting together a multimedia presentation. You need photos, some video, the perfect song and you need to record a voice over. Oh, and you like that Ken Burns effect. Would you think to call your photographer? You should.
Call one vendor. Explain your goals one time and let us assemble your presentation.
It’s a new world out there. We’re making it easier for you.
Combined experience for Frank Salle and John Trotto:
Photography – 55 years, Yikes, that’s a lot of pixels!
Video – 13 years
The Ken Burns effect is the panning or zooming in or out on a still image to create motion when there is none. Ken Burns is the award winning filmmaker whose recent work, The National Parks, runs on PBS.
Searching for music can be very tedious and expensive. We have many sources to find you the right music for the right price. If you stay away from current, popular music ($15,000/song) we can find your song for $40 – $60 dollars.
Resizing the pixel aspect ratio of your stills takes some knowledge of both Photoshop and Final Cut Pro so they won’t distort.
Assembling all of this in Final Cut Pro provides much more creative freedom than other editing software.