Green Screen - Setting Your Photos Anywhere

A green screen can be had for very little. It's best if your setup has very few wrinkles, you can obtain a backdrop support system that will help. I didn't have a support system, so I ironed the green screen before clamping it to two doors I pulled off the hinges.

Below are a few pictures from the green screen. An unwrinkled green screen makes it easier to remove the background and insert a new background. You can remove any background but it will take longer. I used a layer mask and removed the background using the wand and eraser tools.

Pick your new background images and insert them below the character layer.

Adding shadows and shading can help tie the pictures together This layer would be below your character layer and above your background layer. I used the burn tool to darken edges and shadows of the characters. The brightness/contrast was adjusted as well.

Removing White Noise from an Audio Track

Audacity is a free audio editor. Among the various features, we are going to focus on noise removal.
This tool will be helpful if you are recording dialog and want to remove white noise. You need to be sure to record a few seconds of ambient noise so that you have a good sample. This works best if you are removing a constant hum.

Open your audio file, then using your mouse to click and drag, select a portion of white noise, that is devoid of any dialog or sound you want to keep.

The white noise sample is selected.

Video Editing Introduction

Lightworks is a great video editing program. It can be intimidating upon first starting the program.
Check out my other topics related to video editing.

Lightworks is versatile, yet quickly becomes complicated with multiple video and audio tracks.

Lightworks edit with five video tracks and four audio tracks.

I'm going to run through a few simple commands that are the basis of Lightworks.

Importing Into Lightworks Via Handbrake

This is a quick work flow of how I transcode my video to prepare it for Lightworks. See my introduction post on Lightworks coming on Wednesday.

If your camera or phone outputs interlaced video, you will want to run it through Handbrake to de-interlace the video and optimize it for Lightworks. This also includes options to set the frame rate.
Interlacing is done to double the perceived frame rate by imposing two fields of the video onto the same frame. The issue with interlaced frames is that quick movements can look blurred or fuzzy. De-itnerlacing solves the issue.

Once Handbrake is running, click the Source button and select the video file you need to prepare for Lightworks.

Click the source button to locate your video file.

Movie Poster Text

This is a great way to generate titles for your video or other applications. I'm going to use Sketchup and paint.net. Both are free applications.

The finished text.

I'm going to walk you through each command as we create the text.

Sketchup: Solar Study

Sketchup can be a great tool to develop a solar study. Below are three videos I created, two detailed animations and a rudimentary animation to delineate shadows.

An Introduction to the Business of Video

Creating a film as a personal project is an enriching experience. Creating a film for someone else where you are getting paid, is quite another.

I was asked to film a wedding, which is amazing due to the fact that my resume contains only horror and comedy shorts. I will talk through the points I considered during this project for hire, and things to remember if you want to make a run at turning your hobby into a business.

Since you are here for visual entertainment, here is the streaming video package that was part of the contract. Keep reading if you want a little bit of insight into the process.

It's the Map, It's the Map, It's the Treasure Map

Who doesn't want an ancient looking map? Here is how to make your very own treasure map.

The finished map.

Color Grading

I've done very little color grading with my previous videos, but that is going to change after the great results of my recent project.

Here is an example of color grading, both before and after shots that I took as I share what I've learned from mainly trial and error and what little I remember of color theory.

Original Image

Do I Have Your Attention?

I got the chance to create flyers for the local Toastmaster's club. Toastmasters is an organization that helps develop speaking, communication, and leadership skills.

The goal was a flyer that would attract attention and provide basic information on the club, explaining what the club offers and when/where it meets.

The main hook is the image and text, thus it is centered at the top of the page. The logo follows on the page with what the club offers and then meeting times next.

The toastmasters logo has a gradient, stroke, bevel & emboss, inner glow, and a drop shadow applied. The white glare is a brush stroke with the opacity lowered. The rest of the text is formatted and sized according to importance.