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A classy way to introduce a specific geographic area in a Vegas film
As I am working on my documentary on Aussie Parrots at some point I would like to introduce a specific region in Australia. For example lets say in the film I introduce the state of New South Wales. Is there a real state of the art artistic way of doing that? Would you use a google earth tool of some sort? What about having the earth gradually rotate until it stops at Australia, then zooms into New South Wales? I would love to be able to do that and have it look like a sharp relief map or something. I am sure there are some cool ways to do this with all the video technology out there. Anyone ever have any experience with this and what worked for you? Got any examples? Thanks a great deal!
If you care to look the youtube preview of my film to be released this Spring is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anulc_txptA
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10 Replies
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The last time I had to do this I used Google Earth and Camtasia (screen capture program) as I zoomed in on the Earth from outerspace. As my area in question came into focus I did a slow fade from G-Earth to my topic.
It came out pretty well.
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although the best way is to zoom OUT. start at your destination, then reverse it on the timeline. Trying to zoom smoothly & accurately IN can be a frustrating exercise.
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I’m guessing there is a copyright issue here. How did you get permission to use images from Google Earth?
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“I’m guessing there is a copyright issue here. How did you get permission to use images from Google Earth?”
==============================================https://www.google.com/support/contact/bin/request.py?contact_type=permissions_app
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This could be a bit puzzling trying to figure out.
1. I could get creative in the free Google earth but have to wait up to one month and hopefully get copyright permission to use Google maps to highlight the geographic area I want to.
2. Purchase the Google Pro version at about $400
Definitely food for thought. Always open to hearing how other folks do this. I am sure lots of folks create documentaries and or short films where pointing to specific locations are needed to make the film tell the story well.
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I would just get a map of Australia and scan it in. Something like this. Then start from the entire map and just zoom into the region. No need to start from space or a rotating earth. You are just trying to give the viewer a frame of reference.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Government maps are public domain. The same is true of older material. I think that material published in the US before 1923 are public domain.
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I just did this type of thing for a project. I used a high quality atlas and lit it so there were no shadows. I then shot the U.S and slowly zoomed in, then I cross faded to Montana while continuing the slow zoom. I finally cross faded to the city I was using still using a slow zoom and then cross faded to the video project. It looked really nice.
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Hi Pete:
Would this involve getting copyright permission from the map book company? By the way I did a similar thing with a map of Africa when I was working on a project about my adventures in East Africa. It worked really well but I have been trying to learn how the pros do it.
Thanks for some excellent suggestions and am still trying to figure out copyright issues.
Cheers!
Don
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It sure would if you hope to market your video or broadcast it. Any commercial use must be very careful with copyrighted material.
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