I've bought some of CrumplePop's products like Notes (Good) for a fast easy way to put Post-It type notes on your video and Splitscreen (OK) for a fast easy way to create mattes in your video for multiple splitscreen - to get that Thomas Crown Heights Affair late 60's look in your video. The caveat with this plug in is that you can't move around the video in the boxes.
The cool thing is that they have a pretty interesting blog focused on HDSLRs, do it your self projects to enhance your video and the latest hardware and software news.
Seeing the Twixtor plug in on all those cool bike videos on vimeo made me think how could I bring this 1000 frames per second look into a employee communications corporate video.
I thought it would be cool to see employees having a ball traveling up and down in mid-air but slowed down so I could really spend some time on them (2 to 3 seconds).
The idea was for a show where the client need was to highlight this team for outstanding achievement.
I've edited together the twixtor doctored footage in this video below and have some advice if you want to incorporate twixtor in your next show:
Don't shoot in overcrank mode or better known as slow motion. We shot with the AG AF 100 Panansonic camera which makes it easy to go from regular motion to a simulated 60 fps slow motion. You just have to push a button. I thought twixtor would slow this footage down even more. It did slow it down - but at the 60 fps setting - you get a lot of motion blur - making your shots useless.
Twixtor hates motion blur. So stay in 24 fps - regular motion.
Sidebar: FCP ingests your 60 fps footage into log and transfer and makes it 24 fps - so you can't really ingest a true 60 fps from the AG AF 100. I even tried ingesting straight into AE, but still the information on all clips shot overcranked was 24 fps.
Shoot outdoors. Twixtor does not like low light.
For best results shoot one thing that is moving. You can do two but make sure both are in your plane of focus when shooting!
Stay on a tripod. Shakiness causes blurriness.
The FCP Twixtor plug in seemed to work better for us in the edit than the AE Twixtor plug in. Just my feeling. You could get different results.
When it works, Twixtor is awesome.
Take a look at the Twixtor samples here in this film. This was taken from a finished piece produced by me at Wheelhouse Communications. Music is The Empire State by Caution Cat, courtesy of Love Cat Music. Can't see the video in your email: http://www.vimeo.com/21659380
For extra bonus points: How did we get the people so high up?
YouSendIt has become my favorite way to send big files across the internet. Here are the obvious reasons to use their service:
Send as many files - up to 2 Gigs - as you want for the same low monthly price ($9.95)
Has a desktop client feature that increases upload time.
Add on services like certified delivery with tracking and the ability to host files over a long period of time are handy.
Control of expiration of links
iPhone app shows me my outbox and if my files were downloaded when I'm on the go.
I've found the service to be pretty fool proof after heavy use for the last six months.
But for video makers and iPhone users, YouSendIt has one really neat feature.
Send a video file compressed as a m4v file (a compression option in Apple QuickTime) to someone who has an iPhone. If the receiver presses the link in their email, YouSendIt streams the video right to your iPhone. You don't need a separate server to do this.
This has saved me a few times when I had to be two places at once. My editor can send me a rough cut via the phone with no heavy lifting required. The quality of an m4v file is really superb as well.
If you have an iPhone consider these apps. I've been using them consistently for fun, family and business.
Air Sharing. Who needs USB drives anymore? Air Sharing acts like an extra hard drive that shows up on mac and PC desktops- then take it along.
AniGif Very neat app that takes photos from your photo library and makes them into an animated gif. I made one of my son eating pizza. Great for a quick storyboard! HT to @quoz for showing me this one.
Drawing Board Finger paint and then store in your photo library. Then make a Gif with AniGif.
GorillaCam Some very cool features with this camera app. Easily shoot time lapse and three shot bursts. Use it with Anigif as well.
Amazon Kindle I'm still amazed by whispersync. I don't mind subway rides. I might even start taking the bus because of this app.
MLB (not in season, yet). If you like baseball you need this. Period. Listen to any game. See any game (for a small fee).
Pandora Been around for a while ol' Pandora. Still great. They even have a Damon and Naomi channel.
Drop Box I've been giving this app a workout lately. I have it on three computers and my iphone. I'm connected, baby. Put anything on it... word docs, ppt, video, you can see them all on your phone. Great for my workflow.
Public Radio It's so cool to be in North Carolina on a shoot, and be able to listen to WNYC at 4:00 pm.
* * * * *
Seth Godin As you know, Seth posts every day. As I know, this app gets tapped every day.
Tweetie I have to admit I had Twitterific at first, then, gave it up for this.
SpeakEasy Voice. I think the quality of the sound recordings are a little better with this than the recorder that comes with the iPhone.
Instapaper. Use with your laptop. Mark any web page with a click on your toolbar. The page is easily accessible on your Instapaper app. Feels like magic.
Vook 90 second Fitness. Hard but short 90 second exercises that you should do every most days.
First you needed a website, then you needed a blog, then a Facebook page and of course a twitter ID.
Now, Scott Suhy the CEO of Pointabout, Inc., the company behind the hot AppMakr.com program wants you to have an iPhone app of your very own (and if you want a sizable discount - read on).
Appmakr allows you to make a fully functioning RSS content based iPhone app in about 10 minutes.
Just finished reading the ever so smart and on-target Mitch Joel in his book Six Pixels of Separation. If you're on twitter and you're getting something out of it, or if you're a blogger, or if you are an avid reader of blogs, the book was not written for you - except for one chapter on mobility.
According to Joel, we're all going mobile. And if you're not starting to think mobile in regards to your content and your audience - you should. Now.
Hat tip to Ron Callari for pointing this out to me. This video (by Niall Harbison) gives a step by step on how to add video to your boring LinkedIn profile. The video must be hosted on YouTube. Try this and point me to your profile page.
I'm not a professional photographer - nor do I ever aim to be one - but I sure feel like one since I've been using Chase Jarvis' Best Camera App for the iPhone. He's created an easy three button app that simulates his editorial photo work. The full story on Chase and the app is here
I wanted to quickly show you some before and after shots using the app so I made this simple iMovie. Take a look. You'll be surprised to know the composer of the music is the marketing bloggerAdam Singer who makes his electronic music available to everyone at his site: adamsinger.org.
Also via the app, Jarvis has created a very easy way to share your pictures with Facebook, Twitter, the best camera app community and your own iphone photo library. My pictures can be seen at http://bestc.am/photographers/7921. What is neat is seeing how other people are using the particular filters. If you click on http://www.thebestcamera.com/ and double click any photo you can see what filters and what order they were used.
I've always wanted to be Duane Michaels and now I can be (in my own mind)!
