Mandated state and federal standardized tests are stifling student growth.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
PE_7 CS5
7:40 PM
Matthew E. Park
For my final video for this class I decided to make an entire project from start to finish with Adobe Premiere. My plan for the idea involved using the chroma key feature or 'green screen' effect. Now, I've used green screen via iMovie in the past. The effect is decent, but iMovie does not allow you to edit and customize your key. The green screen I have access to is just a curtain, so there is always a lot of color variation. You can see shadow like ripples in the background of the video I linked above. Premiere gives you much more control. First of all, Premiere gives you the ability to crop a key, which will reduce problem spotst, by creating what is called a garbage matte. I created a four point garbage matte for my project.
Notice how the color isn't even. By cutting out unused portions I reduce potential problems with the key. Next, premiere allows you to look at your key as a black and white by switching to alpha color.
For a good key the transparency should be solid black and the subject should be white. In my pic above there is a lot of gray areas that will hurt the overall effect. This can be corrected by tweaking the settings of the key.
By adjusting the shadow and pedestal settings, I was able to clean up my key.
Now, I must admit that I leaned heavily on lynda.com for this project. Even with that great resource, the process took much trial and error.
In the end I think the effect worked out pretty good. Click here to see my final video for this class.
Notice how the color isn't even. By cutting out unused portions I reduce potential problems with the key. Next, premiere allows you to look at your key as a black and white by switching to alpha color.
For a good key the transparency should be solid black and the subject should be white. In my pic above there is a lot of gray areas that will hurt the overall effect. This can be corrected by tweaking the settings of the key.
By adjusting the shadow and pedestal settings, I was able to clean up my key.
Now, I must admit that I leaned heavily on lynda.com for this project. Even with that great resource, the process took much trial and error.
In the end I think the effect worked out pretty good. Click here to see my final video for this class.
PE_6 CS5
7:17 PM
Matthew E. Park
This week I decided to continue my exploration of After Effects and Premiere. For my first project I decided to go back into After Effects and tweak the Christmas photo show I made last week. I decided to add an opening title screen.
Once again, it took my a little bit of time to figure it out. The Adobe products are intended for professional use, so making them user friendly isn't really a primary concern. First of all, unlike iMovie, AE gives you the ability to create text boxes and move them anywhere in the frame you would like them.
The other cool thing about creating titles in AE is the number of preset text animations. The presets are actually part of Adobe Bridge. The following pic is just an example of what is available in the organic folder. There are actually about 15 text animation folders.
Once the titles are created you add them to the time line where you can place and slide them in relation to the rest of your project.
The titles appear in red on the time line. The timing can be adjusted by simply dragging the ends to increase or decrease the amount of time they are on the screen.
Here are the results.
Once again, it took my a little bit of time to figure it out. The Adobe products are intended for professional use, so making them user friendly isn't really a primary concern. First of all, unlike iMovie, AE gives you the ability to create text boxes and move them anywhere in the frame you would like them.
The other cool thing about creating titles in AE is the number of preset text animations. The presets are actually part of Adobe Bridge. The following pic is just an example of what is available in the organic folder. There are actually about 15 text animation folders.
Once the titles are created you add them to the time line where you can place and slide them in relation to the rest of your project.
The titles appear in red on the time line. The timing can be adjusted by simply dragging the ends to increase or decrease the amount of time they are on the screen.
Here are the results.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
PE_5 CS5
6:53 PM
Matthew E. Park
This week we made another Hollywood style trailer to promote our holiday food drive competition. It turned out pretty good, but I was unhappy that I was not able to make some text additions that I wanted to make. I wanted to add the names of a few faculty members to promote them as the stars of the fictional film "Quest for Cans." The iMovie 11' templates will not allow much customization and even exporting and importing back into iMovie is still a problem due to the limited text feature. The clip played for the students on Thursday without the text I wanted to add. Since Thursday, I have become brave enough to use CS5, and I was able to add the text I wanted with Adobe Premiere (Pr). Next week I'll know how to do this in time for the release to the students and staff.
Pr is a professional quality video editing program, and it is quite daunting. Luckily, a few Lynda.com tutorials showed me how to add titles to a project. Even with that, I stumbled through the process.
First of all, compared to iMovie, the text creation and editing interface is awesome. There are many more fonts, colors, and full freedom for placing the text on the clip.
Once the text is created it shows up in the toolbar on the left hand side.
From here, you drag the titles to the timeline.
Each title can be animated by dragging preset effects unto them from the toolbar.
Once everything is laid out, Pr gives you many output options for rendering the final project. I went with .mov mainly because it seems to upload to viddler without losing integrity better than some other formats I've used.
Once again, this took a lot of time considering the final result, but I think it looks good. Remember, most of the dynamic text in this clip is courtesy of the iMovie 11' template I used. What I added in Pr is the star title text that shows up three times in the clip.
Pr is a professional quality video editing program, and it is quite daunting. Luckily, a few Lynda.com tutorials showed me how to add titles to a project. Even with that, I stumbled through the process.
First of all, compared to iMovie, the text creation and editing interface is awesome. There are many more fonts, colors, and full freedom for placing the text on the clip.
Once the text is created it shows up in the toolbar on the left hand side.
From here, you drag the titles to the timeline.
Each title can be animated by dragging preset effects unto them from the toolbar.
Once everything is laid out, Pr gives you many output options for rendering the final project. I went with .mov mainly because it seems to upload to viddler without losing integrity better than some other formats I've used.
Once again, this took a lot of time considering the final result, but I think it looks good. Remember, most of the dynamic text in this clip is courtesy of the iMovie 11' template I used. What I added in Pr is the star title text that shows up three times in the clip.
PE_4 CS5
6:24 PM
Matthew E. Park
I decided to take the plunge and create a project using one of the applications in Adobe CS5. I have to admit that I find the Adobe products a bit intimidating. iMovie is one thing, but Premiere and After Effects... That's a whole different ballgame. I decided to keep it simple since it would be my first experience with one of the applications in the CS5 suite. I decided to make a holiday photo show of my boys using After Effects (AE).
First I created a background movie in iMovie by stringing together six photos that I changed to black and white. I then imported this movie into AE. I also imported all of the color shots I would use in the photo show. All imported items show up in the window on the upper left of the screen. I learned this by watching the AE essentials on Lynda.com.
From this window you drag the items you want down to the timeline. You need to make sure they are on the right layer or else they will not show up. The layer can easily be changed on the timeline by dragging and dropping.
Once the objects are set on the timeline, you can now add effects and transitions by dragging and dropping them from the effects and presets window on the right hand side.
Since this is my first experience with AE, I followed Lynda.com's advice and stuck with presets. The number of effects and animations is amazing, but AE does allow those more inclined than I to actually create custom effects through an internal programing language.
Once the project is laid out, AE allows you to compose the project into a wide variety of formats. I chose .mov. The last step is to press the render button and wait for the project to code.
Overall, I found the program a bit tedious, but I was blown away by its capabilities and the possibilities. I'm glad I got my feet wet. Here is my final project. It's not that great for the amount of time I spent on it, but all in all I'm pleased considering it's my first attempt.
I did bring it back into iMovie and add a stock holiday theme.
BP_11 NetRocket Commercial
6:17 PM
Matthew E. Park
The music was created in Garageband and the animations are courtesy of Animation Factory.
BP_8 NetRocket
5:44 PM
Matthew E. Park
NetRocket is a social bookmarking tool with a bit of a twist. If you haven't used social bookmarking, I highly encourage you to start. The ability to have a virtual favorites list that you can access anywhere is reason enough. There are many good sites out there. Like all of these sites, Netrocket allows you to save you favorite links via the web so you can access them from any computer.
You simply add links by filling out a simple dialogue box.
What makes NetRocket different is its built in scheduler. NetRocket gives you the ability to set up email reminders to keep all of your online activity on track. You simply set the date and time you need to access a specific link and NetRocket well notify you so you do not forget. You can even set up recurring activities.
I set up a daily reminder to check my FSO email (I often forget to check that address since I cannot sync it to my phone). This could also be used for personal things like paying bills or work reminders like updating grades or posting lesson plans.
Even if you are not new to virtual bookmarking I recommend that you give this one a look.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
BP_4 Fotobabble
7:00 PM
Matthew E. Park
Fotobabble is cool tool that allows you to add audio to a photo and then share with others. Since I also teach classes for the virtual school program in my district, I am always looking for new ways to make announcements to my students. Fotobabble just made the list. I could use goofy pictures or pics realated to the content. Either way, I think it will bring a little more than just the standard podcast.
The engine is real easy to use. You simply upload the pic, click record, and preview. Once you save it is ready to be shared.
I plan on using this to send stuff to my staff and to send fun to friends. If you have never seen or used this site you should give it a look. It's free and easy.
The engine is real easy to use. You simply upload the pic, click record, and preview. Once you save it is ready to be shared.
I plan on using this to send stuff to my staff and to send fun to friends. If you have never seen or used this site you should give it a look. It's free and easy.
PE2_iMovie
6:15 PM
Matthew E. Park
For another project, I tried to illustrate the green screen feature by showing the transition from the actual green screen to the simulated background. I had to create a transition from a blank green screen to the subject in front of the screen. I used cross-dissolve to achieve this because cross-dissolve will only dissolve what has changed in the frame. Here is an example with a clip using my lovely wife as the star.
The best way to pull this off is to use one continuous roll. I shot this with a tripod and I had my wife simply walk out of the frame. To edit, you just have to cut out the footage of the subject leaving. You then cross-dissolve between the shot with the subject and the shot without the subject. The project looks like this.
With the green screen clip I tried the same technique, but I could not match it up. It's not too bad, but I'm definitely not happy with it. Here is the project screenshot and the clip.
The best way to pull this off is to use one continuous roll. I shot this with a tripod and I had my wife simply walk out of the frame. To edit, you just have to cut out the footage of the subject leaving. You then cross-dissolve between the shot with the subject and the shot without the subject. The project looks like this.
With the green screen clip I tried the same technique, but I could not match it up. It's not too bad, but I'm definitely not happy with it. Here is the project screenshot and the clip.
PE3_iMovie
2:59 PM
Matthew E. Park
Here is my certificate from Lynda.com
This week I made a video to promote the 9th grade food drive competition at my campus. I worked on this project with the principal over 9th grade and one of our counselors. I was responsible for the concept, most of the filming, and the editing. We decided to make it in the style of a Hollywood trailer. This is real easy with iMovie '11. Despite the cool templates available in iMovie '11, I decided to deviate a bit which created a challenge. I wanted to have a dramatic and cheesy slow motion segment in the middle of the trailer (you may want to turn your volume off for this clip. I left it live since I new it was a roughcut).
The problem is that the templates are time locked due to the soundtrack. I had to figure out a way to split the clip without completely messing up the audio transitions. Here is the process:
First we picked the action theme for our trailer.
Then we cut the main part of the video. I then started a new project and cut the slow motion sequence I included earlier. I exported both clips and then imported them back into a new project and event. I cut out a section of the main film and replaced it with the slow motion sequence.
I had to pay special attention to the audio so the breaks were on beats and it wouldn't sound awkward. Next, I added sound effects for the slow motion part. I used two effects and overlapped them so the transition would be seamless. Also, as you can see from the pic above and below, I overlapped the first effect with the audio in the main clip for the same reason.
Here is the final result. And, yes, we did have permission to film in the store.
This week I made a video to promote the 9th grade food drive competition at my campus. I worked on this project with the principal over 9th grade and one of our counselors. I was responsible for the concept, most of the filming, and the editing. We decided to make it in the style of a Hollywood trailer. This is real easy with iMovie '11. Despite the cool templates available in iMovie '11, I decided to deviate a bit which created a challenge. I wanted to have a dramatic and cheesy slow motion segment in the middle of the trailer (you may want to turn your volume off for this clip. I left it live since I new it was a roughcut).
The problem is that the templates are time locked due to the soundtrack. I had to figure out a way to split the clip without completely messing up the audio transitions. Here is the process:
First we picked the action theme for our trailer.
Then we cut the main part of the video. I then started a new project and cut the slow motion sequence I included earlier. I exported both clips and then imported them back into a new project and event. I cut out a section of the main film and replaced it with the slow motion sequence.
I had to pay special attention to the audio so the breaks were on beats and it wouldn't sound awkward. Next, I added sound effects for the slow motion part. I used two effects and overlapped them so the transition would be seamless. Also, as you can see from the pic above and below, I overlapped the first effect with the audio in the main clip for the same reason.
Here is the final result. And, yes, we did have permission to film in the store.
PE1_iMovie
2:21 PM
Matthew E. Park
When using iMovie, sometimes I am not satisfied with the text feature within the program. I have experimented with a variety different ways to bring text into my projects; however, I've never experimented with making a motion text movie via iMovie. That is... until today. I created a simple text transition movie with a stark solid black background and dramatic light gray text. For my subject I chose to use the famous "Out, out brief candle!" soliloquy from Macbeth (I'm obviously in a cheerful mood).
I started by creating my text slides in powerpoint.
I then brought each slide into iMovie. The cool thing about using photos with iMovie is that, unlike video, you can just drag and drop them into your project right from your desktop or wherever they are located. Next, to create the text motion I had to manipulate the Ken Burns effect to get the desired look I wanted for each statement. This is easy to do by sizing the green start and red finish windows once the Ken Burns editing has been opened.
I started by creating my text slides in powerpoint.
I then brought each slide into iMovie. The cool thing about using photos with iMovie is that, unlike video, you can just drag and drop them into your project right from your desktop or wherever they are located. Next, to create the text motion I had to manipulate the Ken Burns effect to get the desired look I wanted for each statement. This is easy to do by sizing the green start and red finish windows once the Ken Burns editing has been opened.
