[Don Bloom]

What I do is this-take the track that has the SHORTEST amount of open time at the beginning and double click in that area. You will form a region. Hit CNTRL X then F that will RIPPLE all the track toward the beginning of the timeline. If you need more removed go to the next track that has the SHORTEST amount of open time and repeat-

WHY the SHORTEST you ask. Good question. Here’s why.
If you try to get it all at once and the beginning of the events start at slightly differnt times if you just pick th elongest open time when you delete the time you will also delete some of the heads of the clips and we don’t want that now do we? 😉

It seems a bit awkward but the reason I do it this way is to have comeplete control over what is done and how much time I remove especially on a bigger project. I’d hate to have to pull th eevents over 1 track at a time.

HTHs

Don

[Don Bloom]

That wouldn’t be Vegas but here’s a short list of thing it COULD be.

1) bad tape – possible but one can never really tell especially with it only happening in th eone spot one time
2) “clump” of “junk” on the heads or tape causing the problem-a one time anomally-may not happen again but you could try cleaning the heads
3) dirty heads on the deck or camera used to load it in- easy fix-head cleaner tape follow the instructions carefully-don’t overuse.
4) the heads of the deck or camera used to load it in are slightly out of alignment and aren’t reading the tape correctly-reload to computer using different machine to load tape

Don

[Don Bloom]

2 ways to ‘freeze’ and image. Well 3 if you count putting it in the refrigerator 😉

1) Place the cursor on the image you want to freeze-set the preview to BEST FULL and make a SNAPSHOT of that image by clicking on the disc icon over the preview screen. Save it to where you want it, do have your way with it in Photoshop or whatever and then reimport it back into Vegas-drop it on the timeline and you’re set. Oh yeah, I prefer to do it as a PNG.

2) a bit trickier but works well. IF you want to manipulate the frame in Vegas you can either use the above action to make a still and do the work in Vegas OR you can split the clip at the point you need to, drop a Velocity envelope on it set it to ZERO and then manipulate the frozen frame. It works but honestly it’s easier to do a still image and bring it back in.

3) I guess there’s no need to discuss this one in detail however the freezer might be a better place
O O
\__/

HTHs
Don

[Don Bloom]

Ralph,
I’ve always used an AVI file inserted in powerpoint and it’s worked like a champ.

Don

[Don Bloom]

you should be able to do it with Vegas alone and get very acceptable results depending of course how bad the hiss is.
I would start with the TRACK EQ-take the #1 and pull it down and to the RIGHT until the either the audio starts to change OR the hiss disappears. Actually at that point I would back off a bit save it and then listen to it and if need be try again to the same take-in other words little bits at a time.
With a bit of playing around and some patience you should be able to take care of the problem-if not we’ll try something else.
Don

[Don Bloom]

How do all of you handle outdoor weddings? Do you add a special disclaimer onto the wedding contract? Do you take time to discuss, with the bride and groom, the possible problems with rain, lighting, wind, etc? I’ve considered not taking anymore outdoor weddings, but I hate to give up the business

First DON’t give up the business-I really enjoy outdoor weddings (well during the summer-here in Chicago spring and fall can be dicey).
I do not have any thing special in my service agreement about outdoor weddings – it’s a strong enough agreement that those thing are covered anyway HOWEVER when booking I do talk to the B&G about having a plan B-you MUST have a plan B and be ready willing and able to set it in motion in a moments notice. As an example last September I did a fairly small outdoor wedding-the B&G, minister bridal party and my 2nd camera which was unmanned were all under a gazebo-I on the other hand was out in the open and about 5 minutes into the ceremony it started to drizzle-I was not concerned about ME but of course my camera-I did have a safety net though-my trusty golf umbrella was right next to my tripod-I grabbed it opened it and put it over me and my camera until the sprinkle had passed-it was just a light sprinkle but you can never be sure-things went well until after the ceremony when the sky opened up.
Just about everyone was inside by then so it didn’t matter. As for aduio again in my agreement I sate very clearly that I will do my best to get the best possible audio but cannot make a guarantee due to conditions or however its worded by my lawyer. However I’ve only had 1 outdoor wedding in the ast 2 years where audio became an issue and the B&G understood the problem.
One nice thing about outdoor ceremonies is they are generally short
One bad thing about outdoor ceremonies is sometimes the conditions are less than ideal-such as cars and people passing by and the sun glaring down into your lens because you have no other place to shoot from.
All in all though I like them BUT not when it’s 23 below 😉
Don

[Don Bloom]

it’s not the client that will get sued. I’ve had a couple of clients that wanted to go that route and I said NO 100% absolutely not without ALL th eright clearances and 1 said I’ll do it anyway-he might have but not with me doing the work and the other finally got it thru their heads the dollars it could cost him if he did the work without pay fi rthe rights to use the music. We used some very nice royalty free stuff instead.
The client signing a waiver won’t free you of responsibility. Be very careful.
Don

[Don Bloom]

in answer to both your questions, YES you must have written permission from ALL parties to use the footage, music whatever in the commerical.
Your client should be prepared to 1) spend a LOT of time and energy to find ALL paties that have to give permission AND 2) spend a LOT of money to buy the usage rights.
Harry Fox in NY used to do a lot of this clearance but I believe they have pretty much stopped doing that although you might start with them just to see if they still do it and if not if they know who can and does. Otherwise it’s not just the performers but the writers of the lyrics and music, th epublishing house, the choreographers, EVERYONE involved.
Good luck to you,

Don

[Don Bloom]

If you’ve got the descriptions in a GENERATED MEDIA box simply goto the next tab which is Placement (If my memory serves me-my machine is off right now) and simply pull the box down to where you want it.

Don

[Don Bloom]

SPLIT SCREEN sounds like the thing you want-check out Edward Troxels newletters (link is below his name which is on every one of his posts) Vol 3 Number 1 is one issue that comes to mind that is full of info on doing SPLIT SCREEN

Don