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Looking for basic advice
Hello and thanks for any input you can give.
I am an exhibit designer who’s trying to get into video production for museums and the like. I have a small project to get my feet wet and I’m having lots of trouble!
I’ve done several very simple projects using stills in After Effects, panning and zooming and fading them etc, and then burning the finals on DVD. A little success went to my head! I’m finding that using moving video is a whole new ball game.
Aside from my green screen woes, which I have addressed on the AE board, I need help with which way to go to edit this piece. I had hoped to limp through on iMovie, then step up to better software once the project is done and I get paid. But I am noticing that files imported into iMovie from AE seem washed out and a bit fuzzy, and are even more so once exported. If they’re brought straight into iDVD they’re fine, but I need to compile the whole project in an editor obviously, unless I edited the whole thing in AE. I plan to produce a simple “one step” DVD that plays and loops automatically, so I don’t need chapters or anything.
I am doing something wrong in iMovie, or is it typical of this consumer oriented application? Should I step up to Final Cut Express?
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Thomas
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3 Replies
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Thomas,
iMovie is limited to the DV codec, which dramatically compresses the color space of everything, including yor pristine uncompressed graphics that you’ve created in After Effects. This essentially elliminates much of the color information and interpolates (guesses) nearby colors to substitute in its place.
BTW, the same thing happens in FCP when using the DV codec, but at least it has alternatives, such as changing the render codec to something like uncompressed or to ProRes. iMovie does not have that option.
David
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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Thank you, David. I suspected as much. I guess I’ll be buying Final Cut Express. Other than not being able to do film, is there anything important I’ll be giving up by not going with FCP?
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[Thomas Rupp] “is there anything important I’ll be giving up by not going with FCP?”
Hi
Yes. FC Express too is limited to the DV codec (or HDV and the Apple Intermediate Codec for HD camcorders). So the ProRes or Uncompressed options David mentioned aren’t available.
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