For a recent webcast that I did with LaunchMen.com we made a commercial for the product and here it is. Although when we aired it on the web we cut right before the end to leave the viewer to imagine what happens. I left it all in for this edit, mainly for the fact that the ending dive is worth seeing.
Shot with a Canon 7D with a 50mm and 24mm. We had to shot the whole thing in less than 45 mins. So I put the camera down to 720p 60fps and went for it. If I had more time I would have shot it superflat, or that technicolor cine-style.
In the end these videos are fun to make wether they are super produced or not.
Here is a little video I did for fun. I shot it back in November, so you may notice some nice colored leaves.
I shot most of it at 60fps and slowed it to 24. For the first shot I used Twixtor. I know everyone has been using this plugin lately, and that is why I wanted to test it out. It does do a slightly better job than After Effects can do, but if you are just doing a little slowing, AE can definitely get the job done. Both AE and Twixtor when push to there limits create weird artifacting that is kinda like bad video compression. And that is why when you see those videos that are supposedly at 1000fps and 2000fps, the subject is usually against a solid back ground like the blue sky. The subject is also at its slowest point in the action. So if jump off the ground this would be when your acceleration going up is evened out and gravity starts pulling you back down.
Anyway enough talk. Heres the video.
Soon I will be updating the website. Trying to become more professional in my spare time…haha.
I just wanted to say the applications like Handbrake and Mpeg Streamclip are some of my favorite software out there. They are free and the make life so much simpler. They convert video so well, even compared to the big expensive converters out there.
Alright so I have been busy lately but all this work was summed up by an all day live web broadcast. At Traffic Geyser we had a 3 camera Tricaster setup going, and we broadcasted all day long to a constant following of around a thousand people.
It’s been a busy month. Been making videos left and right, so I still haven’t had a chance to make any new tutorials, but I do want to and plan to make some soon.
The majority of videos I have been working on have been made up of a couple elements. 1. A keynote that is made into QuickTime videos that we use as the background for 2. A high definition green screen video. Then once those were put together a sound track was laid down, and then finally professional animations where overlaid. Overall it was a big team effort and a huge learning experience.
I will try and post some likes and videos to all this soon.
Well I have been busy lately and then I was sick last week, and now I have a live event to manage this weekend, but I will have some more tutorials soon.
One of the things we have been working on is a site we are building called Influence Engines. It should be working sometime this week.
I’m really excited to get this site off the ground, because I am finally working on something that I am as passionate about as this site. The good thing is that Influence Engines is my current job which means we all get to put a bit more time into it. Unlike Edit Empire which has to wait until I get free time to update it. Some day this will change.
I made this video below for Influence Engines. I am pretty proud of it as it has been my personal project and I have been able to do everything from the green screen backgrounds to the lower third graphics, to putting together the teams responses into a nice story.
There is a lot of me in the video, but I think that was from me knowing what I wanted out of the video and having my answers a little more targeted. I think the video will evolve over time and eventually have even more people in it.
Edited in Final Cut Pro and finished in After Effects.
Alright I am working on another basics tutorial for final cut pro, and I am hoping to get that out early this week. I know I have said this before, but if you ever want me to create a tutorial on something you want covered all you have to do is let me know.
If you are at all into grading your video I think you will like this site, ProLost. Stu Maschwitz is the person behind the blog, and he is also one of the people behind Red Giant Software. Its always good to hear an expert talk about there craft. You can learn so much from it. For those who don’t know what grading is, it is basically color correcting video. Giving the video a look or feel to match your over all theme. People grade their films and videos to give it a look that might resemble some kind of film stock, or like the movie “Traffic” they had different color tents for the different cities. All hollywood films are graded so its at least something we all should know a little about. So check out ProLost.
Alright here another one. In this tutorial I show you how to adjust audio levels with the pen tool and the clip overlay. This is just one over the many ways to edit audio in Final Cut. This one of the basics, and I hope it helps. Final got a tutorial that isn’t 10 mins long.
Audio is a crucial part to any video. With good audio a bad video will be accepted as good, and good audio isn’t always a high quality recording.
If you liked this or want me to cover something else just leave me a comment and let me know.
Alright here is my second tutorial. I have some how crammed importing illustrator files, keyframing, expressions, and particle generators into a 10 min video. It goes quick. I also highly recommend watching it in HD at youtube. That way you can see the screen clearly. So check it out. If you liked something from the video and you want me to cover it in more detail then leave me a comment.
Some Awesome additional resources to check out = www.VideoCoPilot.net and www.MotionScript.com
In this tutorial I show you how to convert h.264 video into XDCAM. You can use the same process to convert to what ever type of video you like. The main purpose is to make a video clip better for use in a non linear editing program. This is done on a mac, but the first method can also be done on a pc. Go to www.squared5.com and download MpegStream Clip
