So, either you’re directing, shooting and editing your own projects - or you want to work in the industry as an editor. But you are likely going to run up against projects where knowing how to use your editing software is just not enough.
Sure, Final Cut, Premier, Avid or any of the other hundred or so editing packages out there will perform many tasks over and above the straight cuts, transitional effects and multiple audio track mixing tasks. But what will you do when a client asks for something that your editing package just can’t accomplish?
You might actually have to farm out part of your job to a company or individual that specializes in what you need but haven’t the expertise or software to accomplish. That’s OK if you have it in the budget to do so.
However, the purpose of this blog is to encourage you to continue to learn and gear up with all of the potentially useful software that you can afford - outside of your main editing package.
Here’s a few examples:
Recently I had occasion to make a video that was an introduction to astrology. Because that kind of thing can be a long, boring “talking head” I really had to beef it up with graphics and animations.
I used a program called Kinemac to create and animate the sun, planets and moons of our solar system. When speaking about Jupiter, for example, an animated visual of Jupiter and its moons would appear on-screen.
Kinemac is a great program that works in real time as you design the animation. I was able to map 3D spheres with actual planet maps that I downloaded from the NASA web site. Fortunately all of their images are copyright free (you have to be careful about what you use that you’ve downloaded from the internet as much of it is, of course, under copyright).
I couldn’t figure out how to make the sun shine like the ball of burning gas that it is, so I used Pixel Toy, a small, free application from Lairware.com. I then composited the Kinemac sun with the Pixel Toy burning effect in Final Cut. It looked great.
For the astrological signs I found a font called Astro Gadget which I used with Kinemac to create some great 3D, shiny, metallic looking symbols. Sometimes they were animated and sometimes just used as part of a still illustration.
For my last video on a new type of swimming pool cover the client had supplied one very nice animation done on a CAD system of his solid tile pool cover sinking to become the bottom of the pool and rising to create a floating cover. Great idea, but that one animation could not tell the whole story - and I had to make an exciting marketing video with no actual covers yet in existence.
Photoshop and Daz3D came to my rescue in creating some stunning stills using existing pool photos, a 3D backyard pool model and my own limited modeling skills. I was even able to throw in a house, some pool-side furniture and a 4 person family using Daz models. This made the pool model look very real.
I created the tiled pool cover for this pool using primitives in Daz3D and animated it rising from the bottom of the pool to the surface with an overturned chair on it. One of the features of this cover is that you can use it to retrieve things that sink to the bottom of the pool.
This last example goes way beyond what an editor is usually asked to do, but because I work alone and hate to have to farm things out I found a way of doing it myself using software that I have purchased and “played with” enough to know how to use it.
Being an editor isn’t just about knowing how to cut and add transitions and basic titles. It’s about being creative and if you are a creative person you’ll find that there’s a universe of fun programs that you can use to expand your capabilities in the editing field.
There are more great editing tips in my video production textbook at:
http://www.mikesdvp.com
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