Hey Guys & Gals! Here are a few tricks I used while creating our Easter Opener and turning a stock video into something unique. Hopefully some of these techniques you can find useful in your own projects. Check it out, then see the process behind it.
http://www.vimeo.com/10755833
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ORIGINAL CLIP (purchased from iStockVideo)
FINAL PRODUCT
Different Levels of Animation
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AfterFX SCREENS
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CREATING LANDSCAPE
Original image felt very flat to me. So i wanted to add some depth/scenery. Remember your Old Artbeats Nature footage- it’s still useful for compositing & makes things better.
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COLOR TREATMENT
CREATING A QUICK SUNSET. Place this Color Solid above ALL layers and blend it down. I chose “Color Burn”, but whatever works best in your situation.
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ADJUSTMENT LAYER - Add Contrast
Place Adjustment Layer above ALL layers, Add LEVELS to it. Jack the contrast and you’ll be amazing at what was once flat quickly becomes DYNAMIC!
Before & After LEVELS
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LIGHTING
Add a Light to your 3D Camera. Helps create a Vignette Effect, and can really do some cool things as foreground objects fly by.
Make sure your layers have 3D turned on, or the light will not show up.
Before & After Lighting (Subtle but Nicer)
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FOREGROUND OBJECTS
Adding Foreground layers really makes your 3D camera move become dynamic because of the different speed it moves as compared with background. Also has a nice effect when you have your camera DOF turn on.
Use Blending Modes as Needed
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ADDING MORE LAYERS (Realism)
I purchased pre-made birds in iStockVideo. You can also create your own birds. Sometimes it’s just worth the $25 to save you the time.
CreativeCow Bird Tutorial
Multiply Layer or key out white. I multiplied layer and slowed down footage for effect.
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LENS FLARE
Creating a realistic sun. AfterFX Lens Flare can suffice, but I really wanted the sun to feel as realistic as possible. We purchased an amazing plug-in from Video Copilot called OPTICAL FLARES. This plug is incredible! So many options and Flare FX. This won’t be last time we use this. You know all those Star Trek lens flares… this can create those as well.
I masked out tree trunk and put it above FLARE layer as to not completely blow out tree.
Before & After
Keyframe your Brightness to create your sunrise.
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WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE TECHNIQUES IN AFTERFX or FCP?
April 7th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
that is very cool
In FCP, almost out of habit I go straight for the 3 way Color Corrector and experiment with dropping the blacks - amazing what a little contrast can do for an image.
Otherwise I love adding random behaviors to Motion even the amplitudes of a soundtrack to add some funkiness to the image.
In Color; it’s Soft Step and Film Look
I still don’t understand why you can recompress a mov in QT to include film effects like dust and scratches but not have them anywhere as stock effects in the FCS suite, hmmm.
April 7th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
wow, holy crap. i still have so much to learn. great work on the video opener.
April 7th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Phillip,
I do the exact same thing when going into FCP 3way Color Correction, drop the blacks & boost whites. Adds really nice contrast to almost anything.
deWeb,
We’re all still learning, it’s a never ending process. I remember when I first opened AfterFX and was like “What the crap!!! Not templates, no Nothing? What do i do now?” All starts with concepts in your head and lots of playing. You’ll get there. CreativeCow & Video Copilot have awesome tutorials that can teach some amazing techniques.
Always learning.
April 8th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
hi i was wondering how long it took you to make the easter opener video
April 8th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
hi i was wondering how long it took you to make the easter opener video?
April 11th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Before two weeks ago, I had never touched After Effects so my “favorite” tricks (er…trick) is about the only one I’ve learned so far: motion tracking. Love it! I’m working on a personal project right now and motion tracking was the perfect trick for it (tracking speech bubbles to a moving head…I know, kinda gimmicky but it’s kind of a gimmicky/fun project and a great way to learn a new technique).
Really nice job on this, Matt. It looks great! And thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.
April 12th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Josh,
This was just a portion of the entire video. I’d say for this compositing section probably 15-20 hours guestimate???
Dave,
Motion tracking is alot of fun when you’re not having to fix something, ha. I when I see it used with text. The majority I’ve used it for personally has been fixes, like an actor wearing a ring in a scene, when he was suppose to be single. Had to track it and cover it up with samples of skin around his ring. Kinda fun really.
Glad you guys are digging post. I like to help people understand what’s in my head as I process video.
April 13th, 2010 at 10:13 am
Great job guys! Great effects with story that has meaning.
April 14th, 2010 at 2:59 am
Whoa! Did you watch the CS5 launch promo video? The rotobrush looks too good to be true!!