Richard on Video

A Tip on Sound

2011-02-23T14:25:00.000-08:00

How often have you distributed copies or uploaded your video masterpiece and someone comes back saying that they cannot hear the narration, or can only hear it on one speaker. I know..It has happened to me.

Generally speaking, most editing packages will have sound tracks which are either mono, stereo or 5.1. Putting 5.1 aside, there is a trap that I have often fallen for. This is where mono audio (such as narration) is placed on a stereo track. In such cases it will usually record in only one of the two tracks available. If not corrected, those viewing your final video will hear the audio from only one speaker, or in the case of some older mono equipment they may not hear the track at all. Usually, but not always, it is the narration track, often recorded in mono, at fault.

In many editing packages the view of a track can be expanded to show audio waveforms. To check if a stereo clip has both tracks filled, simply expand the view to see both tracks. If only one track is filled, either convert to a mono track or use audio effects such as "fill left" or fill right".

Using Digital Maps in Video

2010-08-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

1. Zooms

One often used technique used in video identify a place or region within a wider area is to zoom in on a map. However, what will often happen is that as the image enlarges, the place-markers and names become blurry.

Here are two ways to overcome this problem.

Select a map. In both methods, for best results:

· the image should be in high resolution

· the map should not be complex (avoid highly detailed maps)

· the colours should be flat (avoid "physical" maps).

Method A: Using Zoom to highlight a single place-marker and name (eg a town)

1. Open the map in Photoshop or similar.

2. Use the clone tool or brush tool to remove the place-marker and name from the background.

3. Save the image with a new meaningful file-name.

4. Import the amended image and place it on the time-line.

5. Use the titler to create a new place-marker and name in similar style to the original (or in contrast in order to stand out as different, if you wish).

6. Place the title on the track above the map.

7. Use motion controls and key-frames to animate the title to reduce from large to an appropriate size and in the correct place on the map.

Method B: Extract a region from a map of a larger area.

1. Open the map in Photoshop or similar.

2. Crop the image to the local area you wish to extract using the appropriate screen proportions (eg 720 x 576)*.

3. Resize the image by increasing the resolution by about three times (but setting the dimensions to 720 x 576* pixels (or larger).

4. You may note a haze around edges of lines and text.

5. To remove this, click on the eyedropper and sample an area of background colour.

6. Use the paint bucket to re-paint the background (you may have to do this 2-3 times) until the haze disappears.

7. Save the image with a new meaningful file-name.

8. Import the image of the original map and place it on Track 1 of the time-line.

9. Import the image of the local area and place it on Track 2, above the original map.

10. Use the motion controls to reduce and place the local area image so as to be invisible over the original map (this can be tricky).

11. Use key-frames to expand the local area image to fill or almost fill the screen.

Note: It is tricky to exactly size and place the image of the local area over the original map. Also, the process of re-painting may result in a slight difference in the saturation of the background colour(s). Applying a narrow border before you save the local area image, makes any differences between the maps less obvious and gives better "definition" to the local area map.

An alternative approach is to use Photoshop of similar to cut out the region (along its borders) and save this as new file on a transparent background. To retain the transparency, the file should be saved in png format. This file is then treated as per steps 8 - 11 above. When in place the region borders should provide a suitable "break" between the region and the surrounding map. To add extra definition to the region as it expands, a drop shadow might be applied. This should be key-framed to appear only as the region starts to emerge from the background. A further option is to reduce the opacity of the background map as the region map is extracted (again using key-frames).

A further option is to use both methods: Extract the region using Method B then drop in a place-marker and name using Method A.

Dimensions above are for PAL standard. Use dimensions appropriate to the specifications with which you are working.

2. Wipes

Where your editing program does not support a "write-on" effect, wipes are a useful tool for showing a journey on a map.

If the journey is by road, rail or river, ensure that these are shown on the map you use.

1. Open the map in Photoshop or similar.

2. Identify a section of the journey where there are no major deviations of more than about 60 degrees. Ideally, sections should stop and start where you intend to insert other footage or images.

3. Create a new layer

4. Select a suitable colour to depict the journey.

5. Select the brush tool and set it to a suitable size.

6. Position the brush at the start point.

7. Holding down the Shift key, click and move to the next point along a straight line, click again.

8. Keeping the Shift key held down, repeat until the end of this section is reached.

9. For each section repeat steps 2 to 8 (make sure you create a new layer for each section).

10. When finished, make all layers (including the map) but the layer showing the first section invisible.

11. Save as a png file using a meaningful file-name (eg Dublin to Cork).

12. Make this layer invisible and make the next layer visible.

13. Save as per step 11.

14. Repeat until all sections are saved.

15. In Premiere Elements open a new project.

16. In Premiere Pro open a new sequence.

17. Import the original map and all of the sections.

18. Place the map on the time-line (Track 1) and stretch it out.

19. Place the first section on the next track above the map.

20. Place a Wipe effect onto the clip, and open in Effects Control.

21. From the markers surrounding the small screen in Effects Control selected the direction of travel.

22. Test the wipe.

23. Repeat steps 17 to 20 for each of the sections, making sure that each section is placed on its own track, and so that the wipe does not commence until the preceding section has been completed.

24. Trim or stretch each section until a smooth and "timely" depiction of the journey is achieved.

25. Save the project.

26. If you wish to intersperse the journey with footage or images of intervening points, open your main project or sequence and import the journey file (Premiere Elements) or sequence (premiere Pro).

27. Trim and insert into the main project as appropriate.

3. Moving Icons

A moving icon is a small graphic, usually of a vehicle, which moves across a map to indicate the journey. One problem often encountered is where a graphic of a side-on view of a vehicle is used. This normally requires the graphic to be continually rotated to always point in the direction of travel. This can be tricky, time-consuming and the result is often jerky. The following is based on using a graphic such as a head-on view of a vehicle or other icon that does not require rotation.

If the journey is by road, rail or river, ensure that these are shown on the map you use.

1. Select a graphic.

2. If necessary, use Photoshop or similar to erase the background.

3. Save as a png file.

4. In Premiere Elements open a new project.

5. In Premiere Pro open a new sequence.

6. Import the map and place it on Track 1 of the time-line.

7. Import the graphic and place it on Track 2 of the time-line.

8. Open the effect control and reduce the scale to a suitable size.

9. Position the graphic on the start point of the journey.

10. Click on the animation symbol. (a key-frame marker should appear)

11. Move the time-line indicator a short distance and click on the key-frame symbol between the two arrows (another key-frame indicator should appear).

12. Position the graphic at next point along a straight line.

13. Repeat steps 9 and 10 until the journey is complete.

14. Adjust the timing by moving the individual key-frame indicators back and forth until the speed of the entire journey is consistent.

15. The overall speed of the journey can be altered by adjusting the Speed/Duration control for the overall clip.

16. Save the project.

17. If you wish to intersperse the journey with footage or images of intervening points, open your main project or sequence and import the journey file (Premiere Elements) or sequence (Premiere Pro).

18. Trim and insert to the main project as appropriate.

Panning Pains Eliminated.

2010-07-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

Panning shots, like alcohol, should only be used in moderation. However, when they are used they more often that produce unsatisfactory results. When taken hand-held, it is hard to keep the pan in a perfectly straight line. Even if a tripod is used, it is also difficult to maintain an consistent speed.

There is a way however to make a perfect pan, especially if you a shooting a landscape or a scene with little or no moving people or objects.

If your camera has a stills function, take a series of overlapping stills. If not take your pan shot as you would normally. In editing "grab" a number of separate frames sufficient to have them overlap.

Using Photoshop or any other photo-editing program with a panorama function, use the stills or grabbed frames to make and save one panorama still. Make sure that the overall width is less than 4000 pixels.

Import this image into your video editing program, and using the scaling and animation effects, scan across the image (the "Ken Burns" effect).

To animate the panorama some more, you could use the overhanging foliage technique outlined in my blog "Using stills in video". You will need to experiment a little with the travel of the foliage so it fits in with the moving background.

Pods: Stability on the Move

2009-12-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

One of the most dramatic improvements you can make in filming with your camcorder is to have a stable base. The most common and usually the best form of solid base is of course the tripod. However there are many situations where using a tripod is not a feasible option. This is particularly so when you are travelling. In other situations tripods can be inconvenient or even prohibited. Some museums and the like allow videoing but ban tripods. Fortunately, there are a some quick and simple alternatives.

The monopod, is simply a single pole, usually telescopic, to which you connect your camera, much the same way as you would to a normal tripod. It provides a relatively stable base, although there can be some unwanted movement for and aft and side to side.

The stringpod is a piece of string about 1.8m long to which is attached a 3/8" bolt (usually by a small hole drilled across the head of the bolt). The bolt screws into the base of the camcorder, and the operator stands on the trailing end of the string and pulls it up taut. The stringpod provides about the same degree of stability as the monopod. However, the stringpod can be simply rolled up and put in a pocket. It does take a moment to set up with the correct distance between foot and camera.

The bagpod is another very simple solution. The bag itself could be a plastic zip-lock sandwich bag, a cloth bag, or even an old sock (without holes). The bag is filled with almost any dry granular material. This could be sand, sugar, rice, or even soil picked up at the location. When filled the bag makes a small cushion between a solid surface and the camcorder. The solid surface can be flat or vertical. It might be a gatepost, a car bonnet, a tree, a wall, or a light pole. The flexibility of the material allows sufficient movement for the operator to frame the shot. Once framed the camera can be left on horizontal surfaces, but will need to be held against vertical surfaces. Like the stringpod, the bagpod is an excellent solution for travellers, and for less obtrusive or “guerrilla” filming.

...but don’t forget to empty any foodstuffs, sand or soil before travelling between countries or returning to Australia.

Taking Your Video Editing Project on the Road.

2009-12-19T14:33:00.000-08:00

This post is based on using Premiere Pro 1.5. However, the principles should apply to most other worthwhile video editing programs.

I was recently asked to show the members of a Premiere Pro Workshop how I made a particular piece of video. To do so, I copied my Premiere project file onto my trusty USB drive, and off I went to the workshop. When I went to open the project on the computer at the workshop, I was asked “Where is file ‘x’?”, then “Where is file ‘y’?”. Without these files, I could not properly edit my project on the computer at the workshop.

In order to understand why these messages were coming, you need to understand the relationship between your project and these missing files.

I like to use the analogy that using a computer to compile a video is like using a kitchen to bake a cake:
You turn on your computer / You enter your kitchen
You open your editing program / You open a recipe
You browse your hard drive and import files such as video clips, still images, music and sound effects / You open your pantry and take out the ingredients
You arrange the assets on the timeline / You mix the ingredients in a bowl
You render your project / You cook the mixture in an oven
You burn your project to DVD or other media / You put your cake on a plate
You show your video / You serve your cake

If you were going to take your cake to Grandma’s house, you’d take it along as a finished cake. However, if you wanted to go to Grandma’s and re-make your cake in her kitchen, you’d take along the recipe and all of the ingredients. If you don’t take the ingredients, you can’t make the cake.

Back in the world of video, my problem was that I did not take along all the ingredients (assets) that went into making the video.

If I took my cake ingredients to Grandma’s I’d probably not take along my pantry and fridge. I’d put the ingredients in a basket and take that. For my video, I’d gather the assets together, and put them on a USB drive, or a CD or data DVD.

Gathering those assets together can be very tedious. While some will be in the folder where you save your project, others couoldbe anywhere on your computer; in sub-folders in places such as “My pictures” or “My Music”.

Fortunately, Premiere Pro can help.

When you have completed your project, or have it at the stage that you want to take it on the road, save your project, then click on Project > Project Manager. The Project Manager dialog box should open:

Under Resulting Project, select Collect files and copy to new location.
Make sure that under Project Destination the path is to the same folder as your project. To make sure all of the assets can fit on the disk space available, and onto your USB drive, CD or data DVD, click on Calculate under Disk Space. If it will fit, Click OK.

All of the “asset” files will then be copied to the same folder as your project.
Copy the entire folder to your USB drive or burn it to CD or DVD.
As long as a compatible version of Premiere Pro is running, you should be able to open and work on your project on another computer.

PS: Do not eat your cake while editing…the crumbs are not good for the keyboard.

Voice Over for Video

2009-12-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

How often have you sat through someone else’s video that was well shot, well edited, good story, but ruined by a dull, flat voice-over.

If we are honest that thought might also apply to our own.

The truth is that we are not likely to have been gifted with the "Voice of God" and aspire to a career in voicing movie trailers, or even commercials for book warehouses.

However, there are a few things we can do to make ourselves easier to listen to, and our videos more watchable.

Firstly, let's start when we are shooting our footage on location. Rule No 1 is don’t shoot short. Give yourself plenty of time in each shot to play with later.
Rule No 2 is shoot plenty of ambient footage and sound. By ambient footage I mean shots of things around you which in themselves are not spectacular, but provide additional background and cutaways to match your narrations.

If you are tempted to narrate footage while you shoot, by all means do so, but take the same shot again without the narration. Good Ad lib narrations from behind a camera are invariably hard to achieve. Don't forget that you are also likely to pick up many unwanted sounds, wind noise, and even your own breathing. Your on-camera narration may however help you later in writing your script.

Once you have viewed your footage and completed your additional research, you can envisage your final video, and start to write the script.

In writing your script, it is important that you visualize an individual who is to be your audience. This could be a friend, or maybe a grandchild. You are going to tell them the story of your video. It might be about your last trip away, or it might be your family’s history. In any case, make your script a conversation with that one person.

I write my scripts in paragraphs, but print them as single and alone sentences. I’ll explain why later.

Whether you stand or sit to read your script is up to you. To gain realism in presenting a conversation you might like to consider standing and using hand gestures to emphasis points. Invisible though these will be, they will help you to add emphasis to your voice.

It is important to keep your voice lubricated, so have a glass of water at hand. Do not think about you breathing. Let it happen naturally.

Unless you are delivering a particularly somber sentence, smile; even for the most mundane of lines. Your smile will give your voice animation. Similarly, be excited. What you are doing is important, and you need some excitement and emotion in your voice to convey the message.

Watch your diction. Concentrate on delivering your words clearly, and emphasis the d’s and t’s that come at the end of words. These are the easiest to let slide away.

Listen to the pace of your speech. Look for a rhythm that suits the words, and maintain it.

Use pitch to give highs and lows to your reading, but always start a sentence at a high pitch. It grabs attentions and you can move down and up from there. It is almost impossible to credibly move from a low pitch start to higher pitch later.

For the read itself, I record one long read, including the setting up noises and so on. I read each sentence three times, even if I think I nailed it the first time. Sometimes you think you have, when you really haven’t. By making three reads, I know to expect to see the sentence three times in editing. If I feel I need more than three reads, I’ll make a mark on the script to tell me how many reads there are for that sentence.

In editing, I use Audacity to listen to my three (or more) readings of a sentence, and to cut out the unwanted sentences and noises. Where sentences are to follow on in a paragraph, I allow for a small gap. For paragraphs, I leave the gaps larger. Theses gaps might be shortened or lengthened when go to the video timeline.

Before saving my soundtrack file, I normalize the whole track so that volume levels are more or less consistent. I then save this as a new file. I may want to go back and extract something else from the original.

Using Stills in Video

2009-12-17T19:39:00.000-08:00

In videos we often find one or more stills interspersed with video footage. In some cases, such as historical photos or portraits of people, this can be acceptable. However more often than not, a single contemporary still of say a building in the midst of a travelogue can be very jarring.

While the use of a “Ken Burns” effect to animate the still (pan and/or zoom) may help to minimise this problem, the image usually remains recognisable as a still. Here are two techniques that might just trick most people into seeing footage when they are in fact looking at a still. These techniques work best where the subject of the still is outdoors and static (eg a building or landscape) without any apparent “frozen action”.
They also work better when used in a short rather than long clip.

The techniques are based on using Premiere Pro and Photoshop Elements, but should work equally as well in programs with similar capacities.

The first technique involves superimposing footage of moving foliage to one upper corner of the frame.

Shoot some overhanging foliage (with some movement) against a uniformly coloured sky. Frame the shot so that the foliage appears in only one or other upper corner of the frame.
In Premier, Place the foliage footage on track 2 of the timeline.
If there are variations in the sky behind the foliage (eg clouds), or any other objects appear on the screen, use a four (or more) point garbage matte to isolate the foliage and the immediate area around it.
Open the RGB Difference Key.
Place the eye-dropper over the sky area next to the foliage and click.
Slide the Similarity Slider back until the sky disappears and only the foliage is visible.
Place the main still image on Track one and scale to fit.

In playing the clip, the still should be framed by the slightly moving foliage.

The second technique involves replacing the still sky with a sky with moving clouds.

Take a photograph of the sky (with clouds) and save to the computer.
Open the main still image in Photoshop.
Using the selection tools, select and isolate the sky.*
Click on Select/Inverse to select the non-sky area of the image.
Copy the image.
Open a new blank file (with a transparent background).
Paste the image. The image will appear with the sky area “chequer-boarded” out.
Save the image as a Photoshop file.
In Premier import this file and place on track 2 of the timeline, and scale to fit.
Import the sky image and place on track 1 of the timeline.
Scale the image to be about 15% larger than the screen.
Using keyframes, animate the image so that it slowly moves horizontally across the screen.
If necessary, adjust the colour and lighting of one or both tracks so that they “match”.

The main still image should appear with moving clouds above/behind it

*Some knowledge of selection techniques in Photoshop is assumed.

My Friend, Chroma Key.

2009-12-17T19:15:00.000-08:00

I was recently helping a friend make a family history video. He had written an introductory piece that he wanted to deliver to camera outside an old country pub once owned by his forbears. This seemed very straightforward. I hooked up a lavelier (lapel) mike to the camera and positioned him with the pub in the background. It started well until the nearby ice machine cranked up. We then moved across the road and started again. This time the sound of a chainsaw from a neighbouring property rent the air. It was time to take a break. After peace was restored we battled on pausing for passing tractors and other farm machinery, and the odd car.

Like most of us, my “talent” was also having trouble remembering more than a about one paragraph at a time. “Not too worry,” I thought, “I’ll insert cutaways to old photos and other footage to cover these breaks”. However, it was a partially cloudy day and the light kept changing by the second. Even within the shorter takes, the change in lighting was very noticeable. Not only that, but every time the sun appeared my talent squinted his eyes. Thankfully we did not also have to contend with people moving around in the background, aircraft flying overhead, or that other great bane of videographers, wind. Nonetheless, back in the editing suite, I had the Devil’s own job of making something useable out of it all.

Fortunately, I had taken some long shots of the old pub without people in them. So we decided to try again using chroma-key. I erected my green screen sheet in my family room-come-studio and had my talent re-do his introduction. In only two or three takes we had it down pat and in the can. The lighting was better and so was the sound. Fortunately, no extraneous motor mowers were going in the neighbourhood. My talent was more relaxed and natural. With a bit of a fiddle in Premiere Pro, and the judicious use of cutaways, I am confident that we will get away with it.

So, if you are making a documentary or perhaps a video about your holiday travels, you might like to try using chroma key. However, there are some points to remember. These relate to both shooting the location footage, and to filming the presentation.

Avoid using stills as background, especially if they have people, water, trees or vehicles in them. The audience will be looking for these to move. If you are shooting location footage with a view to using as a chroma key background, make sure your camera is rock solid by using a tripod or otherwise securing your camera. Do not pan, tilt or zoom. Use a long shot rather than a wide shot. Record the shot for at least as long as think your talent might be speaking in front of it. You might get away with extending the clip by slowing it down in editing, but not if there are people or moving vehicles in it. Shoot plenty of other footage around the location. These will be used as cutaways from the “to camera” presentation.

In setting up your “studio” to shoot the presentation, make sure you have plenty of room; at least 5 metres from camera to green screen. Your green screen should be as flat and as dull as possible. I have used the green screen provided with Pinnacle Studio 11, and it works extremely well. If the screen has sharp creases, iron them out before use. Creases can show up as colour variations and may be impossible to remove in editing. Secure the screen at at least three points across the top and three points across the bottom and ensure that it is quite taut. The top of the screen should be about two metres above the floor.

You should light the green screen separately from your talent. I used two work-lights placed on chairs to each side of the screen and about 1.8 metres out from the screen. The chairs had solid backs that prevented these lights spilling directly on to my talent. Spilt light like this could cause highlights on the talent’s shoulders and hair that can make it difficult for the editing program to separate cleanly from the background.

The talent should be placed about the two metres out from the screen so that he or she is seen from the camera against the green background from head to waist height. In lighting my talent, I used a modified* work-light, bounced from the ceiling. This light was placed to one side of the camera. While not pure studio lighting, it was more credible as outdoor lighting. In all cases you will need to ensure that no shadows from the talent are visible on the green screen.

The camera was placed about 3 metres in front of the talent and the shot was framed with a medium zoom so that the background was visible all around the talent. Placing the camera too close makes it harder to ensure that sufficient green screen is visible around the talent. A medium zoom is also favoured by portrait photographers; it provides a more natural and less distorted picture of the face.

Do not be overly worried if the green screen does not fully fill the frame. The extraneous backgrounds can be removed in editing.

Having recorded the presentation, it is time to hit the editing suite. The following is based on using Premiere Pro, but the principles should apply to any good editing product.
Place the presentation footage on track 2.
Edit the footage so that the presentation flows smoothly.
Place the location footage on track 1.
Lower the volume on the location audio track.
In the first presentation clip on track 2, resize and re-position the talent against the location. You can temporarily reduce the opacity so as to see the background through the clip (don’t forget to return to full opacity once this is done).
Apply the green-screen key to the first clip on track 2.
Adjust the controls until the green background disappears.
Use a garbage matte to remove any other extraneous background images.
The talent should now appear in front of the location footage.
Adjust the lighting and colour of the talent to blend with the location footage.
Copy the first clip on track 2
Highlight the remaining clips on track 2 and “paste attributes”.
Place your cutaway clips on track 3, trimming and positioning as you go. These clips should be placed to cover any cuts between clips on track 2, and/or to illustrate any particular references made in the presentation.

If you can master these techniques, you will find that you can add extra dimensions to your videos, and you can make presentations to camera with more control, in less time, and without having to make a goose of yourself in public.

*I used an angle grinder to “soften” the glass lens of the work-lights.