[Jon Agnew]

I also went to film school and would recommend it if he is truly serious about production as a long term career. The diploma can open a lot of doors. That said, however, the essential ingredient to success in this industry is practical experience. Some film programs are very hands-on, while others tend to focus on theory. I found the hands-on approach very valuable when it came time to land a job.

If I could go back and start over, I would get a part-time job or internship at a post house very early in my college career and work through graduation. That way I’d be entering the job market armed with a degree as well as a stellar reel.

[Jon Agnew]

Thanks, Brendan. Looking into FMP I see its definitely the right choice.

[Jon Agnew]

Shooting in the desert…I’m having flashbacks of sand clogging everything. Not going to lie and say I envy you. Hope you have a good AC. Ha!

As far as which camera to use, I would opt for true HD. I would certainly avoid shooting on RED for this one. The desert in the middle east is probably not the place to start having workflow issues…plus, the sand is an issue again.

I would also consider shooting this with post-production color correction in mind. You’re going to be able to have much better control of your images later than trying to perfect the look in-camera. YOu might also want to look into graduated ND or Orange filters to balance the sky and sand. Also, remember that video loses all color and luminance in the white, so if you’re ever concerned about proper exposure, its better to be slightly under-exposed than over-exposed.

Good Luck.

[Jon Agnew]

Thank you! Those are exactly what I was looking for. C4D Cafe looks like its going to be a valuable resource.

[Jon Agnew]

well, you definitely didn’t miss a step.

The project you put up doesn’t have the movie files included, so I couldn’t see the video, but I did look at how you have it set up and wasn’t able to find the problem. My best guess at this point is that your track might be a little off somewhere. If it was me, I would try to retrack the motion, going through frame by frame to be sure its perfect.

[Jon Agnew]

Oh, my mistake. My guess would be that he is using Particular with a custom particle animation created in a 3d program. They aren’t TRUE 3D anymore, but the eye is fooled. Watch his Medical Zoom tut. He shows how he does it in that one.

[Jon Agnew]

You missed a step. You’ve stabilized the motion and increased the comp size. Now you need to do the “reverse” tracking part. This is complicated to explain. I’ll try here, but you’ll probably find it more helpful to revisit the tutorial.

Make a new composition (I’ll call it comp 2) and add the stabilized comp (Comp 1).

In your timeline, take the Comp 1 tag and drag it above Comp 2 so that both timelines are visible.
In comp 2, twirl down the transform properties of the Comp 1 layer. Alt-Click on the Anchor Point property and use the expression pickwhip to link the Anchor point to the position property of the Null in Comp 1.
Now Alt-Click the position property of your layer in Comp 2, and link it to the Anchor Point of the Null in Comp 1.

That should do it.

[Jon Agnew]

They did gave me a bottle of water…but, adding insult to injury, it was one of those half-sized bottles.

[David Roth Weiss] Okay JJ, get your ass over here this minute and wipe the coffee off my monitor…

That sounds like a job offer to me.

[Jon Agnew]

He used CC Particle World. If you watch the Titling 1 & 2 videos, he shows you the settings he uses.

[Jon Agnew]

I went to film school, so I can’t say that formal training/certification is totally worthless, however, I have found that there are really only two things employers are looking at when hiring editors…the work and the price. Having certification credentials on your resume won’t help you nearly as much as a good-looking reel and an affordable rate. That said, there is certainly a benefit to taking a class or two, if that’s what you need. If you feel that you could use a better understanding of the application, take the class. But if you’re just doing it to put on the resume, save your money.

Honestly, you will learn a lot more from practical experience and self-paced study than you will from a class. Buy a book, find some tutorials and improve your skills that way. You don’t really need to shell out a couple grand to have some guy tell you what the layer blending modes do when you can easily teach yourself.