Alan Lloyd
Forum Replies Created
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That would be an interesting bit of information.
Do these things really work or do they turn other people off as much as they do us non-civilians?
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And the PR firms and production houses are still willing to have their names on them!
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It does work. The track selected, as mentioned, has to be “active” – click on it first.
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1. Is there any way of doing edits on the timeline by marking in and out and clearing or lifting the marked area? Like in Avid where you hit I,O, and then Z or X?
Ripple delete…
2. The titling is driving me nuts. I have set up a nice title with embedded effects and transitions to be used throughout the timeline.
When I copy the clip on the timeline and try and change the text – all previous versions also change! Please tell me I’m doing something wrong.
How do you disable the “linked” or “referenced” title copies?You have to make a different title – “New title from current title” is the menu item.
5. I’m trying to do a final color grade by adding an effect to an empty layer at the top of the sequence in order to have a uniform look that i can apply across all clips below it – and that i can tweak and change after client inputs. I can’t get this to work – do i have to enable a special “adjustment layer” or something somewhere.
In Avid I do this by dropping an effect on an empty track.Adjustment layers are found in After Effects.
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“I know you’re not an actor, and the audience knows you’re not an actor. We wanted someone real, someone who knows what this is all about. That’s you. You’re here because you already know this stuff, you live this stuff, you’re a content expert. And people respond to that. When you talk about what you know, or what you feel passionate about, you naturally come off well, as an authority, you take on a presence with the audience, because they know you know what you’re talking about. This is not some kind of test; this is not a game of gotcha. I don’t get paid to make folks look bad. I get paid to make people look AWESOME. We’re going to throw away all the bad takes, I’m going to trim this down in editing so we show only the best you have to offer. I’m going to light you well, and compose the camera to make everything look as good as I can. We’ll cover some parts with graphics and footage as well. So don’t let mistakes bother you. Nobody’s going to see them after I get finished with this. We’re only going to ask you things you already know, and so you don’t need to act. “Acting” just hurts our message. We don’t need actors. We just want you to be you.”
YES!
A client recently had a guest in the studio for a brief taping. Nice guy, pleasant presence, outstanding knowledge of his subject. Made a couple nice, conversational takes.
Then the client came in.
He (sadly) wanted something more akin to a Billy Mays-style shoutfest. Not to speak ill of the dead, and apparently a good guy as well, according to a friend who had worked with him, but Billy Mays was responsible for as many mute-button pushes as anyone in recent memory. It was also not the expert’s normal style.
After a few less-than-successful takes, we settled on something that managed to make the guy sound like himself while appeasing my client’s more over-the-top tastes.
If it’s not a speech delivered to the camera, maybe something more “plotted” or a scenario, I also suggest that the talent do something instead of be something. Tell them to do a particular thing, as it’s easier to expect non-actor to do that in a stressful, unnatural setting.
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PPro is a very respected and professional application. And very useful.
Looking forward to CS5, though I’ll have to build a new machine for it first!
What you are asking is, from what I’ve now read, a problem you are not addressing properly. If each clip (still image, in this instance) is to have its own motion, you’re going to have to do them individually.
Might try AE, as suggested below, though you can do movement keyframing in PPro just fine. Done it myself for some time now, in fact.
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If your second image is an independent file, yes, your keyframe from the first one will have no effect. Effects keyframes are clip-specific.
If you are trying to do the identical motion effect to multiple images on your timeline, though, there is a simple solution: Set up the effect on one image. Right-click on the clip on the timeline and select “copy” from the context menu. Then highlight all the remaining clips/images and right-click again, then when the menu comes up, select “paste attributes” and the same motion effect will be applied to all of them.
If you are not trying for a series of identical moves, this will not help you. Then, you’ll have to do them individually.
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All top-notch advice.
And when you’re chipping, set the white you’re balancing at 80 IRE, not 100. Don’t want to go up into clipping. 80 is around where the highlights on noses, foreheads, and cheekbones should live on caucasians.
If you can swing it, a quad-split in video control is a fast way to match multiple cameras.
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Fair warning – I’m stealing that one!
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And telling a story is exactly what you did there. Set up a problem, explain it succinctly, and illustrate the solution.
Nothing too out of the ordinary, and you did it well.
As Rick mentioned, a bit of “eye candy” may have sweetened things (see what I did there?) but overall, nicely done.
And interviewees can be far, far worse than that, I assure you.
I shot one long ago, back in my very early independent days, where a mega-corp was visiting “retail partners” and the poor guy the retailer sent out was obviously petrified. He responded to the client’s every question by glancing down at and shuffling his stack of 3×5″ cards for something approaching an answer, that he then delivered in a muted, frightened-schoolboy tone. No affect, no expression, nothing.
On the way down in the elevator after the interview, the producer told us he didn’t think he would be able to use anything, because the short-straw-drawing victim du jour was so flat. Thanked us for a good job of lighting and recording, shaking his head ruefully at the sacrificial lamb we’d just been handed. Called us again, even.
Your guy was nowhere near that, I promise.