[Mark Suszko]

Apple Motion has an effect called ‘sphere’ which is keyframeable and adjustable; it will take your full-frame video or graphic and warp a circle around it and shrink it, but I think you can scale how much “bulge” that effect has on the image. Once you build the effect in Motion, you can “publish” it and store it as a new effect preset in Final Cut Pro, in case this is a thing you expect to do more than once.

If you have the money to buy the complete Noise Industries. FX Factory set of plug ins, I highly recommend it. Big time-savers with a lot of looks that are useful in a hurry. Sometimes an effect of theirs will inspire an entire project in me.

[Mark Suszko]

I’d export the project into Apple Motion.

But in FCPX, there is the shape mask tool which can be set to a circular mask. Your desired effect is based on a compound clip of the image layer and a white layer, masked the same way, just scaled up a wee bit to create the white rim. Then you can scale the compound clip and play with blend modes and opacity as needed.

FX Factory might have something more direct to use, but it’s not free.

I’d have to peruse Motion but I *think* there’s already an effect there for this… too busy right now to check.

[Mark Suszko]

The preferred method we use in these cases for capturing the powerpoints is to tap the laptop’s VGA output with a splitter, sending one signal onward to the projector; the other, to a scan-converter which converts the VGA signal to high def SDI. That SDI cable goes into a hard-disk-based video recorder; in our case, a P2 recorder or a an AJA KiPro. Black Magic Hyperdeck is another similar choice of hard drive based recorder.

Audio for synching the slides can come from a dedicated mic or out of a mixer or a tap from one of the cameras.

The only thing this method does not record is anything the presenter might do to the actual projector screen in real time, like pointing at things with a laser pointer. You automatically get a recording of anything they do with a mouse cursor, obviously, but not the laser pointer. It’s wise to ask ahead of time if anything like that is going to happen, so you can put a back-up camera on the projector screen itself.

[Mark Suszko]

Future tip for the next project: before you begin set all the recording units to free-run, time-of-day time code, and re-synching later becomes trivial, with or without automated audio waveform-matching. Even if you’re off by a few seconds you’ll be close enough that manual synching will be easy as jogging a few frames forward and back.

[Mark Suszko]

There are go pro knock-offs out there in the fifty to seventy dollar range that shoot in 4k. The pro cinematographers here will scoff but I have three of these and find them useful in shooting my uke band videos in the way I described, “punching -in” to tighter, re-framed shots from a master wide shot. If you don’t zoom in more than about 20 percent the effect is quite useable.

The brand I bought is called iconntech, I think. Includes built-in screen and bluetooth link for watching and controlling remotely from your iPad. I mount mine on a spare light stand or cheap consumer tripod, I skip using bluetooth to extend battery life. Battery run record time is just under two hours, though for extended sessions I use one of those 12-foot- long USB extension cords they sell at the gas station to power the camera from a USB wall wart, or you can attach an external USB phone battery bank to it. I have 126 GB micro SD cards in mine. Great affordable b-roll complement to your “A” camera.

[Mark Suszko]

I got the free/low-cost versions of Morph Cut for my FCPX system before the final cut x upgrade that now has the same kind of effect for free. I think you can still buy Morph Cut for FCPX though and it works great if the overall motion in a frame is minimal. Fingers flying on a fretboard or plucking strings is always going to make for a challenge.

As to your music editing issues, I recommend in future shooting in 4k with a goal of making the master in 2k; this lets you take a wider shot and turn parts of it into tighter ones by digitally scaling up in post. What this does for a musician editing a live performance is, the look of multiple cameras from just one shot, with NO need to re-synch audio. That also sets up a cut-away so when you do have to add in a new take for a new section, the cut looks smooth and intentional.

[Mark Suszko]

I saw the example when you made your first post. I looked over the example platforms. I get it. But… I stand by what I said. I don’t think it moves the needle with an audience. But nobody is stopping you from trying it.

This drag-and-drop stuff is simplistic and generic, and it all has a stylistic “sameness” to it, platform to platform. I think that look can get dated-seeming quite fast, and to an audience, it all begins to seem like one, same thing. Not great for branding, when it’s all too similar. Remember the whiteboard animation trend that burned out so quickly because *everyone* was doing it? Now it’s almost a cliche’.

However, when you want this kind of kinetic typography and character animation stuff done really well, it’s time to hire an actual editor-artist to make it all from scratch, using truly unique elements, textures, color combinations, semiotics. What takes explainer videos to another level is all in the writing, and in how the artist conceptualizes, interprets and portrays things that are not physical but metaphorical.

You don’t “drag-and-drop” that kind of talent. You hire it.

[Mark Suszko]

Okay, why you’re describing, we often refer to as Mograph, or text animation or Kinetic Typography.

There’s a plethora of tools to do that work with, and a number of free or paid templates that you can get to save time, for AfterEffects and Apple Motion. Motionvfx.com is one of my favorite places for this, though Adobe itself also offers some. But to my knowledge, just as 3D CGI programs don’t have a dedicated “make dinosaur” button, there isn’t one dedicated “mograph” program that does this kind of thing in an automated “shake-and-bake” way. (even though there is a program called “mograph”, LOL)

It still takes a skilled editor/animator to design and craft the animation, even using pre-generated templates and clip art. I have seen platforms advertised that offer to simplify this process so that “anyone can do it”. The base of backgrounds, elements, and animation these typically supply is limited and generic; so generic in fact, that I don’t think it impresses an audience into buying what you’re selling, because you just can’t customize it enough to really target the audience the way you should. Like making a powerpoint show using only the built-in art. It can be very painstaking work, because it’s bespoke, custom work, each time, if it’s any good at all. So be prepared to pay well for it if you want it done fast and good.

[Mark Suszko]

Is the audio just too loud and thus distorted ? Premiere has built-in filters that can help somewhat, so can Audacity, but if the raw audio you have is all smashing the DB meter at full-scale the entire time… that’s like overexposing video to pure white: there’s nothing useful to recover, even if you bring the level down. It will still be a garble; just a lower-volume garble. What you’ll try to do is separate out the bass frequencies, leaving some mids and highs, and that might carry enough clear sound to make out what’s being said.

If you’re on a mac, there’s lot of filters also available in Garage Band, which comes free with the mac. You’d be playing with the EQ plug-ins a lot, maybe also downward expansion or compression.

If you have money to throw at it, You could buy Izotope. It has a reputation for miraculous audio repairs. But prepare yourself for the fact that it will never be perfect. Maybe just “useable”.

Is it you up there speaking? Then there is one other option, it will give you great audio, but it will cost you time and effort.

Loop it. ADR. Automatic Dialog Replacement. If that’s you up there on the screen, you could just re-record audio of yourself speaking as you watch the playback and listen on headphones. You do this about one paragraph or one sentence at a time, practicing a few times to get the rhythm just right, then recording a take, and later, you might need to bump the audio a frame or two forwards or back to get the lipsynch believable. But this is a time-tested method that’s been used for well over fifty years.

[Mark Suszko]

So it’s at least 2 screens the one on the right could be just printed out or could be a still projection. The main and right side screen are alternating displays for IMAG (Image magnification) as well as probably other support things like powerpoints or whatever, these would be live-switched between 3 or more cameras. If you’re spending this kind of dough it might as well be 4-5 cameras. I see one camera in the top example is on a large jib, so that’s an additional expense, to rent the jib and crew to fly it around. Budget for the fancy set re-dressing materials, too.

4 cameras, 4 camera operators, jib operator, director, technical director, sound operator for video, sound operator for the venue, engineer to shade the cameras and oversee the recording, overall engineer to supervise the entire operation. Lighting director and assistant. Producer. Graphics creator and operator. Likely a prompter operator at some point. This is probably best done renting a remote production truck though it’s not impossible to bring it in as a “fly-away package” of portable cabinets you assemble and connect together in some bunker or side room off under the bleachers somewhere. It’s not going to be cheap.