Samuel Hall
Forum Replies Created
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I’m currently finishing a project (https://www.vimeo.com/4250942) that has involved a ton of muzzle flashes. If you haven’t already, you should check out detnonationfilms.com. They’ve got a large selection of real muzzle flashes to choose from. Having real footage of gunshots is really the best way to start. You can add them to your shots, usually for no more than one frame with the layer mode set to Screen.
One thing that I discovered on this project is the importance of smoke in adding to the believability of digital muzzle flashes. You can really turn a dumb looking shot into something quite compelling with just a little bit of smoke remaining after the gunshot.
Bullet shells are also good to add, and can be done rather easily by keyframing rectangular shapes flying out of the gun with motion blur turned on. Most of the time though, the effect is barely noticeable.
Adding light effecting nearby objects can be helpful but it’s usually not needed and can be quite tedious.
A great reference for this kind of film-making is Stu Maschwitz’s DV Rebel’s Guide. That book is an absolute must-have.
Hope that helps.
Samuel Hall
DP/Editor/VFX/Music
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[Jonathan Fowler] “Can I arrange things to print to video from my laptop, using the HVX as a deck? “
I would recommend first exporting your 720p sequence to QuickTime with “current settings”. Then, make a new 4:3 DV sequence (making sure your frame rate is the same as your source), import the 720p Quicktime file, drop it into your DV sequence and make sure FCP does not conform the sequence to fit the clip.
You may have to scale the 720p clip down to fit in the DV frame and you’ll probably want to enable 2:3:2:3 pulldown on that sequence (which can be found in the RT tab in the upper left corner of the sequence window, if you’ve made your sequence 24fps). Then just render and print to tape.
Hope that helps.
Samuel Hall
DP/Editor/VFX/Music
http://www.therevision.net -
You could try creating a null layer, applying any motion tracking data you can get from the person’s movement to the null and then parenting your adjustment layer to the null.
Samuel Hall
DP/Editor/VFX/Music
http://www.therevision.net -
Use Compressor to compress it for DVD and create the DVD with DVD Studio Pro.
Samuel Hall
DP/Editor/VFX/Music
http://www.therevision.net -
To get it to be letterbox, you can just drop the footage on to a 4:3 timeline and FCP will automatically letterbox it.
As for getting it to NTSC you have a few options. Nattress Standards Converter is a good one. https://www.nattress.com/Products/standardsconversion/standardsconversion.htm
You can also export to NTSC using Compressor. Another option is to use the Conform 25 to 24 tool found in the Tools menu and edit your project at 24fps NTSC.
Samuel Hall
DP/Editor/VFX/Music
http://www.therevision.net -
You should be able to paste the contents of the audio file into the video file with Quicktime Pro before compressing.
Just open the audio file, go to Edit>Select All, Edit>Copy. Open the video file: Edit>Paste. Then just Save As a new file and compress that with Compressor.
As far as the Compressor settings go, you should be able to find many flavors of MPEG compression in the “Formats” folder in the Settings Tab.
Samuel Hall
DP/Editor/VFX/Music
http://www.therevision.net -
Editing video files on your Startup Disk can slow you down a bit but probably not as bad as what you’re describing, unless you’ve got less than 10% of that disk free. I’d recommend always storing your footage on an external drive when possible.
DiskWarrior, as Rafael suggested is a great option for directory repair. Well worth the money.
Samuel Hall
DP/Editor/VFX/Music
http://www.therevision.net -
Just a few questions:
What are the exact specs of your system?
What type of footage are you dealing with?
Where and how are you storing this footage?Samuel Hall
DP/Editor/VFX/Music
http://www.therevision.net -
First, export it to a Quicktime movie. Then open in Quicktime.
Choose Window > Show Movie Properties.
In the Properties window, click Video Track in the Name column.
Click the Visual Settings button.
Deselect the checkbox for Preserve Aspect Ratio.
Change the Scaled Size: For NTSC, enter 853 x 480. For PAL, enter 1024 x 576.
Now the movie should be displayed at a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Choose File > Save to save the movie.Samuel Hall
DP/Editor/VFX/Music
http://www.therevision.net -
I’ve done exactly what your talking about with my Sony RDR-GX355.
Samuel Hall
DP/Editor/VFX/Music
http://www.therevision.net