Ideas to Make Boring Street Scenes Energetic

[Chris Borjis]

lots of cutting, not holding on a shot too long

a good music track can go a long way in helping too.

[Michael Gissing]

Music & a good busy atmos. The rest is editing. Try and avoid fancy transitions, and crass video effects like speed ramping and flash frames. It can be done with editing alone as the sound track is actually doing the hard yards for you.

[Steve Crow]

Thanks for all the advice….it was really too bad but the streets weren’t busy at all which is what really concerned me to begin with – that essentially was the whole problem.

I totally agree with the music and fast cuts but I didn’t realize that flash frames and speed ramping had become crass or cliche but I know they are used a tremendous amount and so could have easily fallen out of favor.

To be honest I was thinking about using both of those and maybe creating some in-editing digital zooms…too tacky?

[Stephen Smith]

Will they be holding any events soon that will draw in a crowd?

Utah Video Productions

Check out my Motion Training DVD

Check out my Motion Tutorials

[Steve Crow]

I will ask them (good thought!) but because of the production schedule I may just have to work with what I have already captured.

[Michael Gissing]

[Steve Crow] “didn’t realize that flash frames and speed ramping had become crass or cliche”

For me they always have been cliche and when I see them, first reaction what are they trying to hide? Lack of content is the usual answer. But they really don’t work as well as just good editing. Also it must be said that good camerawork is also critical. I hope they had a good tripod and long lens.

[J. Tad newberry]

You’ve obviously already shot your footage, but for future reference you might want to buy/rent “Powaqqatsi”. Ya, it’s 22 years old now, but it still had some pretty neat visuals. One thing in particular was the use of a locked off shot in a downtown situation. Let it run for quite awhile, then they would dissolve in a few people walking by in slo-mo, dissolve in others in super fast mo, etc. In short, buildings remain “solid”, while ghostly people fly through the scene in fast or slow speeds depending on your preference. Anyway, always depending on your music track, it gives quite a different feel to a city scene.

If you happened to grab any long static shots, you might be able to play around with that a bit. Other than that, maybe you got some really long/compressed shots? That would usually hide the fact that there weren’t tons of people there, and would compress whomever was there to appear much closer together. Close-ups of feet walking, close-ups of cars driving by, street lights changing color, etc. Let us know how it came out!

Thanks again!

J. Tad Newberry
Big Ya Productions
Mac Pro 2.66 GHz Quad-Core
3 GB RAM
http://www.bigya.tv

[Martin Jordan]

Maybe throwing in some stock footage or photography.

Digitaljuice.com comes to mind. For a couple hundred bucks you could by a lot.

Quad-Core, 2.93GHz, OS 10.6.2, 32GB Ram, 4TB RAID Externaal, 4TB Internal, ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics card, FCP Studio 7, AE 9.0.2, Boris BCC, FEC, CoreMelt 2, FxFactory Pro 2, idustrial revolution Volumetrix, Yanobox Motype, Squeeze for the Web, MacBook Pro (MBP) 2.6 GHz, Panasonic HPX300 Video Camera.
The entire Adobe Creative Suite 4, Design Premium.
Owner of Full Graphics Design Firm Houston, Tx 20 yrs.
Mac user since 1988.

[Anthony Faulkner]

I know you have already shot but…

Messing with the frame rate and focussing on fixed subjects can add a good contrast to the movement within the frame, allowing still subjects to be surrounded by fake business. Particularly if you can shoot at dusk and can use city lights to your advantage.

[Harry Bromley-davenport]

I strongly suggest Graeme Nattress’ “Earthquake” plugin with appropriate rumbling sound FX. Used with discretion, this should result in the interesting effect of the few pedestrians remaining oblivious to the onset of their doom.

Hope this helps.

Harry.