Jason Powell
Forum Replies Created
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I could be way off base, but I think it’s likely that the wires in that example were rendered in a 3d package.
If I were going to reverse-engineer the effect, I would motion track the attach points of the cable (the ears) and translate that data into a 3d program as a couple of nulls. Attach some 3d geometry (the cables) to those nulls and apply soft body or cloth dynamics to the geometry and let the nulls swing it around with some gravitational force pulling down on it.
The roto would come in after the 3d stuff is rendered and brought back into AE and you need the cables to be hidden behind the character.
That’s just a guess though. I just felt like the movement of the cable looked kind of like a dynamics effect rather than something hand-drawn or expressioned.
j.
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Interesting perspectives…I began my career editing voiceover-driven commercials, so the workflow of laying down voice & music first and cutting to that is very familiar.
More recently I have done a lot of interview-driven corporate pieces where the interview gets cut first, and then the music is added last to drive transitions between segments.
One of the things I still remember from my college days was a presentation by a couple of creative directors from The Richards Group here in Dallas. They showed how the cuts on competing beer ads were almost identical. When you swapped the audio tracks on the ads, all the cuts still worked, down to the pouring sound effect.
One thing I do notice about editing to library music is that by its very nature, a “fast” cut is going to have the same beats per minute across the library. You cut to one of them, and your cuts still work when you replace the track. I sometimes fear I am hardwired to cut at 120 bpm no matter what the project!
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Well if you dig what those guys are doing at the University of Washington (that’s what the Vimeo profile says), then you should definitely check out Paul Debevec’s work at USC… https://www.debevec.org/
I don’t think this kind of research is at odds with the art and craft we know and love. For those that make their living editing or shooting or just plain old story-telling it just means that we will have better images to convey our message.
J.
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Nolan – many thanks. The plane object makes much better sense than my extruded bezier. Looks better letting the wind handle the shaping of it.
I’m not having any luck with the project function. Operator error I’m sure. Just parenting the plane and the extruded text under the null and adding the wind deformer seems to work fine though.
thanks again!
Jason
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Jon,
Great write up and I loved the paper airplane animation. Too often I find myself using AE as a souped up character generator and forgetting the expressiveness its animation controls are capable of…Thanks for reminding me!
best
jason
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Steven,
Personally, I would look into a seat of Canopus Edius. For the edit you described, I think Edius would spit out that timeline with no rendering whatsoever, even just using a OHCI connection. Your mileage may vary, but Canopus has the edge with their buffering to RAM technique of playback.
Of course, if you have the budget for a dual Opteron box and one of the Matrox cards that looks nice as well 😉
I believe you can still download a 30-day demo of Edius. Might be an interim solution.
Jason
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One further suggestion. Go to amazon and search for “VideoSyncrasies: The Motion Graphics Problem Solver” — Haven’t watched it myself, but seems like an excellent resource for someone moving from the computer screen to the television screen.
Ultimately, if you don’t have the gear you’re going to have to book time at a studio where your files will be played out to BetaSP. Basically you need to render to a lossless codec, Quicktime Animation comes to mind, and then take that to an edit bay that can output uncompressed via component to Beta. They will provide the bars and tone and slate, and if you’ve followed the instructions as to levels all will be cool. 720×486 is the right frame size, and unless you’re incorporating fielded video in the peice you don’t even need to render to fields.
Audio-wise take your final mix into an audio program and make sure that nothing peaks higher than MINUS6db on the digital meter.
Comcast Spotlight is the ad production wing of the cable commpany here in Dallas. They run G5’s with Blackmagic Decklink cards and can do what you need. Call Russell Bull at 469-791-0700 and he can hook you up with an hour in the edit bay.
Jason
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[Dave Friend] “Which application do you want to use?”
I’m open to suggestions. I used iDVD at my previous employer, but I’m PC based currently.
I’d like something with the ease of iDVD but deep enough control to do things like this.
J.
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I’ll echo the need for a good food sylist, but they don’t work cheap. If you have a local tape/film worker directory you might look for someone who lists themselves as an assistant stylist. They will have good experience and might be willing to work cheaper for a chance to build their resume.
But that’s not really a lighting issue, and the suggestions above sound good. Another option for creating highlights is to punch a 1k or 2k light through a piece of foamcore with a small hole cut in it. Also, I find that a piece of foamcore suspended directly over the tabletop can provide a nice ambient base when you bounce a higher wattage instrument off of it.
Also put a lot of thought into the setting for your shot. Butcher blocks dressed with nice colorful vegatables; little ramikins of spices; its the little touches that create an attractive scene. The stylist will have good suggestions for that. Don’t neglect the background of the scene either. Shooting in front of a fireplace or something visually interesting can be an option. Generally, you just want some depth and visual interest behind the food so you aren’t locked into shooting straight down on the table.
Finally, my personal camera is a dvx100, and I found pretty quickly that the minimum object distance was too great for close-up work on small objects. A Century achromatic diopter was a great investment for me, enabling me to shoot both food and smaller stuff like jewelry. It helps shorten the depth of field as well. Shooting off a smaller boom arm can also be a good idea for some floating camera moves.
hope that helps, and good luck!
Jason