[Bob Cole]

[debe] “One of the favorite activities is making a commercial. I edit the commercials on-site and present them to the group.”

debe, I’d like to learn more about this. I have a potential application for that idea and not only would I like to steal it, I’d like your advice. If you don’t mind sharing more, please get in touch with me.

bob, at rcole dot com

Thanks!

[Bob Cole]

I feel your pain! Two suggestions, and then my own question.

Suggestions: you may need a jump-start, so buy some help, in the form of “eye candy” from one of the numerous sources of such. There are many collections of beautifully-produced clips, by people who probably do only that for a living. JumpBacks, ArtBeats, ProductionBlox…. Once you have those backgrounds in place, your own graphic additions will look better, and you’ll start learning something from your own success. Also, explore other software which may facilitate this whole process, like After Effects or Combustion.

Question: I’d love to start producing my own “eye candy” so that I can incorporate clients’ graphic elements. On the COW there are some tutorials at https://www.creativecow.net/show.php?page=/leaders/velez_dean/velez_dean.html I have to confess I haven’t had time to go through these, but I’d appreciate advice about them and similar tut’s, and about Dean Velez’s subscription program.

— BC

[Bob Cole]

[Kevin Sio] “I went to an off white more like pale pale grey seamless paper.”

This may not be true anymore, but I remember reading that at the end of the chain, the consumer tv set acts like an exposure meter searching for an 18% gray card. That is, it will darken a white image, and lighten a dark one.

Whether that is true or not, I agree with Kevin that you should use a shade of gray. It will seem white enough anyway. In Photoshop, you can use the eyedropper tool to match the background of your graphics with the “gray-white” background you shot live.

The other approach is to use a deliberately mottled background with some pure-white in it and dissolve to your graphics as per your original plan. It isn’t the original concept but would be easier to pull off and might actually look better; the pure-white areas of your background would appear to “bloom” into the pure-white graphics.

[Bob Cole]

I was using Firefox 1.04. I’ve upgraded to 1.07 and will let you know if it happens again. This isn’t such a terrible thing; I just thought you’d like to know.

— Bob

[Bob Cole]

This is hidden by ads on the right.

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?forumid=8&postid=870311

[Bob Cole]

Thanks Rick and Les. It’s the client’s machine, back in his hands right now, but I’ve saved your answer and will try it as soon as I get the laptop in here again.

— Bob

[Bob Cole]

[Steve Roberts] “Your error sounds like bad RAM. It could be that your project only accessed the bad RAM when the project got big enough — that’s why you notice the error now. Can you trade RAM with someone else?”

Thanks for the suggestion! I don’t know anyone to trade RAM with, but I could certainly look for some RAM testing utilities out there. Any suggestions?

[Bob Cole]

[Chaz Shukat] “a very clever, unique open on my reel, but unfortunately, a lot of the shots look pretty crappy because they originated from VHS dubs”

Probably not appropriate for your use, but just a couple thoughts:
– Since it’s the open, you could just put that footage in a small window, or many small windows across the screen. Perhaps you won’t be able to play it at full length, but that would tend to make the quality appear better.
– Degrade it further and make it look like a piece of film trailer, again, briefly as an opener.

[Bob Cole]

Win XP Pro
Mozilla Firefox

I tried but couldn’t get one to generate with this problem right now, but I could post a URL to this thread when I see it next.

[Bob Cole]

re: clients who want pink elephant editors only.

These are the same people who get paralyzed by having too many choices of clips in the edit room. They are simply trying to apply a formula, rather than taking the time and energy to think and make an intelligent decision.

You wouldn’t want them in your editing room anyway.

Like everyone else, I say that now… but if work slows down, I guess I’ll be cutting some pink elephant demo’s.

— BC