When do I up-res / up-scale?

[Layne Russell]

Daniel,

Does it need to be highly compressed? Kickstarter allows 5 Gb for videos and it will be around 3 minutes. I don’t think it will be very close to 5. My .avi is 58 minutes and is 12 Gb. The video will only be on the Kickstarter page and not shown anywhere else. One person told me to go .mov an another told me to use .avi. Any other feedback on that?

Regarding color correction, these jump cuts were done in, truly, not enough light. I worked on applying color correction last night, and it is far better, but in my opinion, it’s still looking kind of gray. Also, one side of the face is darker than the other…which could be okay…but I was hoping to bring it out a little more. I have done a lot of Photoshop photo restoration and also photo prep for websites, magazines, a music book cover, etc., and so comparing this to that work is pretty hard to swallow! In addition to After Effects or even Photoshop, I was wondering about using the Imagenomic Portraiture plugin for video. Have you heard about it?

Here is another related question. Should I concentrate first on just doing the selections for the timeline and then do the corrections? And then add the music photos and text frames (some closing words), then the music? Since I have never done this before, I would like to know the best sequence of actions. I also have a couple cute out takes, one will go at the beginning somewhere and maybe one or two at the very end.

I can’t tell you how grateful I am to receive so much help in this one thread. Thanks to everyone who has contributed. I’m really pressed for time and this is helping me on my way to completing this vital part of the Kickstarter.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Layne

[Daniel Waldron]

In this case, yes, you don’t need to compress it very much because of the small size. In general though, if you can have a good looking video with a small file size, why not? When you’re ready to export, experiment with some different settings and formats and see what you like. It should only take a few minutes per export and you can see for yourself which you think gives the best results.

I have not heard of the Imagenomic Portraiture plugin. If you think you can get good results in AE, by all means give it a shot. But if you’re pressed for time and have never used AE before, I think you could end up find it more difficult and time-consuming than you thought. Premiere has some great color correction tools, and you could probably achieve good results from sticking with it.

I would definitely finish the cut before doing any color correction. No need to waste time adjusting shots you’re not going to use. If you’re using music and want to time any of the video to it, then add that in as well. Once that is set, then add the text and graphics.

Happy to help. 🙂 You’re pretty ambitious for this being one of your first projects. Good luck!

[Richard Herd]

Layne…

Color Correction…since you will be learning a new application, definitely give Speed Grade a good look through. There are lots of tutorials on it. And it is very powerful. It is easier than After Effects, because Speed Grade is only a color correction app.

If you plan to stay in premiere, using Adjustment Layers is the way to go. Much like photoshop.

[Layne Russell]

Thank you, Daniel and Richard!

I will try to do the exposure/color correcting in PPro. A Facebook friend suggested I use adjustment layers when I do the adjustments. That sounds like a good idea … as long as it isn’t too difficult to figure out. Since I use Photoshop I am thinking I will be okay on that. Do you use adjustment layers as a rule? This man also suggested Proc Amp. What do you think?

First I’m selecting my footage to include. Then I’m adjusting. Then I am adding photos. Then I am adding a text frame for closing. Then I’m adding music. Right?

When I add photos and the text…how do you set how long the still is viewed – and what is standard for stills? Three or four seconds?

[Jp Pelc]

As said before, you probably don’t need to upres for kickstarter. But if you really want to upres absolutely DO NOT just up the resolution when you export from premiere. It will just be soft and look worse than the SD. Edit in the native resolution, export in the native resolution, then take your exported file into After Effects and use the detail preserving upscale.

[Richard Herd]

[Layne Russell] “exposure/color correcting in PPro”

The important part is to be able to control your image using scopes. So go to Window > Reference Monitor

Then choose the drop down menu from the Reference Monitor pane, which is hard to find, in the upper right hand corner of the Reference Monitor Pane; I drew a black arrow pointing to it. Be sure to select Gang to Program Monitor. “Gang” is a video editing term that means “link.” and you can see I have chosen the RGB Parad, but there are other scopes to choose.

The scale we’re looking at is called IRE. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRE_(unit) It really measures the amount of electricity flowing through a signal. Of course, that’s what video actually is: electrical signal. Think of it like this: If I put a light in a room and shine it at wall the the IRE of that light is 100, and if I add another light (so that I’ve double the amount of incident light in the room), the IRE is still 100. Make sense? So this is a relative measure of the electricity. It ought not be confused with photoshop type things of color and CMYK or for that matter RGB. It is IRE.

You never want the IRE to go above 100, because that means you will be sending more electricity down the wire than can really be handled and it causes noise. A lot of this gets solved before broadcast and compression.

It’s also important that when you’re filming a subject that you are sure to keep the signal within the IRE limits. Broadcast IRE starts at 7.5 and clips at 100.

The first step in color correction is to make sure the exposure between each shot is identical; that is a true art! Very tough and long-suffering skill. If your video is on track 1, then your first adjustment layer should be on track 2, and that will only do exposure. Then track 3 as another adjustment layer can then mess with “a look.” And that basically means adding contrast or saturation in the shadows, mids, and highlights to create a feeling.

A quick note, it is completely normal to agonize over the exposure. So although track 2 is dedicated to matching exposures between shots, it will probably have one adjustment layer per clip.

Here is a cool tutorial, and although it is for a particular piece of software, the controls are generally available in Premiere Pro also. Many people love the 3-way color corrector. I prefer curves. Regardless the following principles are pretty cool: https://library.creativecow.net/articles/maschwitz_stu/red-giant-blockbuster-film-look.php

[Layne Russell]

Thank you so much, Richard! I will check out this tool as soon as I get my edits. I’m still learning how to do that. I apologize for being such a newbie. This is just an area I have never dealt with. I can see how what you have shown me here will be very helpful. And I understand the value of the adjustment layers; I will follow your advice!

Layne, still struggling in North California

[Richard Herd]

You’re welcome.

We all had to start at the beginning 🙂

[Layne Russell]

I am now at the point of uploading the video to Kickstarter. It turned out pretty nice, even in SD. With some color correction and a little shadow/highlight adjustments, it was improved greatly.

I was uploading the AVI file to Kickstarter, one of the formats listed as acceptable, and it did not take it. I am way under the size limit, so it’s not that. I’m thinking it’s the bit rate. I have just read that the bit rate needs to be 1500 kbps and they do strongly suggest WMV. In Premiere Pro in the Exporting window it lists “Windows Media” – good. But I don’t know how to set anything else.

My native audio bit rate is 1536 kbps. Two other bit rates are listed for my video. “Total bit rate: 30319 kbps” and “Data: 28783 kbps.” My video is now in AVI, DV NTSC, widescreen.

How do I get this file uploadable to Kickstarter? What settings within WMV should I use?

I’m actually late getting this up today, so thank you so much for your help!!!

Layne

[Layne Russell]

I called the friend who helped me maneuver through Premiere Pro and we went through the Windows Media settings. I’ve exported and will be trying the upload again and will update here. It could help someone in the future!

I saw that the average bitrate listed in the WMV settings was 1500, so perhaps this will do the trick. Now I’m concerned about the quality of the music snippets on the audio tracks. We’ll see.

Update: not working, even in WMV and using Chrome instead of Firefox. I will start a new thread.

Thanks.