[Fernando Mol]

Usually are used different techniques for each shot.

Two shot: you could use the half and half technique. Shot the person in one side and again, in the other side. In AE mask one side to reveal the other and that’s all. Easy.

Many people interacting in the same shot: You can use doubles with masks. At least for the ones that are far away. You can use this technique also for the “hug” scene. Just avoid the face of the fake one.

If your camera need some movement, there are two techniques.

Motion control and panning.

I guess motion control will be out of your budget.

If you are going to move the camera over a tripod, just check that your CCD is centered in the motion axis of your tripod. Then use the Two shot technique. The thing is, your camera movement is not going to be exactly the same in every shot, but with some motion tracking you can adjust it.

Difficult techniques to be explained in a single post. But you can get an idea of your options.

[Fernando Mol]

Good: Nice color. Lots of action. Great sound. Shot from a lot of angles (editors love that). Good acting.

Could have been better: The camera shake was OK, but the zoom in-out is too much for me. In post you could have desaturated the green a little, it would have bring up the red.

Great storytellers. Let us know of your next project.

[Fernando Mol]

Make the lights part of your composition. It seems they create an interesting pattern.

Seeing your shot, I think it maybe will help your to put some light close to your camera. Your subject is kind of dark. But this will be up to you.

[Fernando Mol]

With any sound program you should check the Reduce Noise filter and the Normalize filter.

Also the Amplify can help you with the volume, but it can clip it, so be careful.

This is what I always do:

-Open the file and apply Normalize.

-Then, apply the Noise Reduction filter (usually getting a noise sample first, and then applying the filter).

-And finally, if needed, a Limiter.

[Fernando Mol]

I haven´t seen Paul comment. Similar solution with a similar filter.

[Fernando Mol]

Make a new huge comp (at least 3 times your video size).

Place your video in the center, there will be a lot of empty space around.

Make a new comp using your standard video size (NTSC DV) and place the previous comp into a new layer.

Apply the CC Sphere filter. Adjust the radius, lights and animate the Y rotation.

Of course, you can experiment with the parameters.

[Fernando Mol]

I do not know of any specific book. I read the “help” on dreamweaver and searched for tutorials all over the web.

I found, however, a Lynda.com “book” that seems to be what you need.

https://www.amazon.com/Dreamweaver-Dynamic-Development-David-Gassner/dp/1596713658/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1226354810&sr=1-2

Be patient, it will take some time to learn it.

But, man, what would be life without some challenges?

Good luck

[Fernando Mol]

Well, if you can get it clean, then add some noise elements to distract the eye.

What is going to be the final background?

Key the shot so the soldier looks fine.

Maybe you will need to go out and shoot or take a picture of some foliage, then add one to the front and another to the back of the comp. You can animate a picture with the puppet tool.

You can mask the top part of the foliage if it is too distracting.

[Fernando Mol]

The trick with databases is that you need to install a “virtual” version of them in your computer so you can test your pages, then, upload them. You will also need to create your databases in your server. The data in both of them can be different, but the tables must be the same.

First: Your web hosting service must use the technology you want to develop. Most servers are PHP/MySQL enabled, but you should ask or see the documentation of your service (Usually an email with your FTP access, mail management, etc.)

My recommendation for the “virtual” tools is: WAMP (https://www.wampserver.com)

WAMP will install Apache Server, PHP My Admin and an SQL manager.

You’ll need to learn how to create a database. It is like an excell table, but with special attributes. You can create all of your tables in PHP My Admin. I have never used the MySQL tool. Remember to put an ID column to the database. This must be an INT, auto-incremented and be defined as the key element. Then create a username and a password columns. I will not explain all the process here, but you are getting the idea of the steps needed. Right?

Then, in Dreamweaver, you will need to enable PHP MySQL as the Server Model. You do that by editing your Site attributes. Look for the Testing Server preferences.

Then… well, once you have installed your WAMP, defined your testing server site, create a connection to the database and define a recordset, you will be able use dynamic data in your pages, with almost not any knowledge of php language.

Fuuufff!

Really, not joking, once you learn how to do all of this, using Dreamweaver with databases is very, very easy. The area for registered users you want will be created in a couple of clicks.

I really recommend you to look for the Lynda.com “Dreamweaver” titles (https://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=424). They describe exactly what you want to do.

[Fernando Mol]

When we a budget for a client we add some commercial clauses that say “if you make changes in the creative direction in the middle of the project or your original material comes with mistakes, that maybe will affect the delivery times and could cause an extra charge”.

Maybe and could are the magic words that give you some space to put limits if the client is problematic.

We also do a delivery note for each project. We give the client the videos and a DVD so they can review it right there, in front of us, then sign it for done.

If later they call us for a change they will “ask” for a favor, not demand a correction in a work not done right. You can negotiate a charge easier that way.