[John Cuevas]

Most of the time this is done in camera by using a very slow shutter speed.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.ckandco.net

[John Cuevas]

There are a few different ways to approach this, and I’m all too familiar with your pain, as rules of design wasn’t anything I thought about when I started down this road.

Couple of approaches you can take. One is to find a good graphic designer and just ask questions. We worked on a few projects together and I have learned quite a bit from him, about the basic rules of graphic design.

Also there are tons of books that can give help you understand the more formal rules of design, two that I recently picked up might be a good start.

The Elements of Typographic Style
Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop

Got both used at amazon, understanding typography and basic layouts, while not required in this business, will IMO, elevate your work to more aestically pleasing levels.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.ckandco.net

[John Cuevas]

Encore can’t do this on it’s own. Check out Sonic’s eDVD4. Costs 200US, but it will do everything you just asked. Incredibly easy to use. You can download a free trial from Sonic.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.ckandco.net

[John Cuevas]

Good deal Jeff. I thought I was knowledgeable on the what to do in Encore until I came across your posts, you truly are a guru in this area.

Thanks for all your contributions, God only knows how many more of my projects you have either fixed or made better with your advice.

cheers.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.ckandco.net

[John Cuevas]

I’ll assume you are viewing on a 16×9 monitor.

Make sure your DVD player settings are correct. Often they can be switched to a 4×3 output, and will automatically letterbox everything.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.ckandco.net

[John Cuevas]

My boss uses the term “font”. I had never heard them called fonts before, so when she said, “you need to put the fonts in” for the first time, my answer was, “what fonts” thinking arial, helvetica….

We went around like that for a few minutes before I understood.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.ckandco.net

[John Cuevas]

Go ahead and do it. That’s exactly what I did when I started out, minus the actual reel. Just contacted every post-production house, told them of the nature of my interest and let them know I wanted to intern for them. Got a couple of offers, selected one and made a lucky choice.

Really was a big break, not only did the owner/editor and I get along, but I got more experience in a month then I did in 4 years of college.

Since then I have worked with many interns, last one after 6 months we hired into a full time position. Right now we are on day 8 of our newest one, see how she works out.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.ckandco.net

[John Cuevas]

Had to do a very similiar thing a few years ago, though I left the pages with the alpha intact.

Why not take the pdf, create it’s own composition, put a solid behind it, then drag that into your final output.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.ckandco.net

[John Cuevas]

Sorry reread my first responcse and it should of read DVD not DV, see where the confusion came from…

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.ckandco.net

[John Cuevas]

It’s not that you are working with DV footage, but that the DVD aspect ratio is 720×480, not 486.

Give it a try and see what happens…

cheers.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
http://www.ckandco.net