Cars & Trucks
Music Videos
Final Project LIS590UMI
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Graduate Library and Information Science Program
Introduction:I have made a two videos featuring music from the band Cars & Trucks. I made an iMovie and a movie in Adobe Premiere Pro. I used the latest versions available as of April 2009. The iMovie I made a very simple video using a few still images and a song. The Adobe movie I took some found footage on YouTube from a Maya Deren and Marcel Duchamp movie and I cut it to another song. I also added some minor animation using FrameByFrame. Also, I made a few animations just for fun as well as a morph using MorphX.Here are the programs I describe using (see bottom of page for detail):
iMovie:For the iMovie I took pictures of the band Cars & Trucks and set them to their song "I'm a lot like you" from their self-titled album. iMovie comes free with new Apple computers or can be bought as part of iLife.How I Made It: 1) Getting Started I did not use a theme, but if you want to you can chose one of these themes for your iMovie. You also can change the aspect ratio, set the name, or set an automatic effect.   A new iMovie project will look something like this. 2) Importing images and music Importing images and music is very simple. You simply select the camera or the music note. This is also the area where you can select titles, transitions, or maps and backgrounds (the maps are especially neat). To import video select File > Import > Movies. Once you find your media you simply drag it into place.  Music, images, titles, transitions, or maps and backgrounds (left to right)  Importing images  Importing music 3) Adding effects to images By clicking on the * symbol you see four options: precision editor; clip adjustments; video adjustments; and cropping, Ken Burns & rotation. I wanted to change the look of the photographs I was using so I selected "Clip Adjustments" and under clip I selected "Video Effect." From there I selected "Heat Wave," "Sci-Fi," "Cartoon," etc. Unfortunately you can only apply one effect at a time.  4) The Ken Burns Effect The Ken Burns Effect is automatically applied, but you can adjust the boxes. This adjustment will change the look of the effect from size of the boxes to the placement of the boxes.  The Ken Burns Effect You can adjust the length of time that clips run a couple ways. From "Clip Adjustments" you can change the number of seconds a clip runs. You also can right click on a clip and select "Split Clip." It will split the clip into two and you can delete the part you do not want by then selecting and hitting the delete key. Also, with the Ken Burns Effect, the more drastic the change, the quicker the image moves (in order to complete the effect in the clip's alloted time). The time of the clip will not change, but the movement speed can alter perception of the clip's time. 6) Adding transitions See step 2. Once you have selected a transition you want to use, you simply place it between the clips. In editors like Premiere, you have much more control over how long the transition goes and how much. However, you can double click on the transition to change how many seconds the effect will run. 7) Exporting video Simply select "Share." I chose "Export Movie," but there are several options. Within the method I chose there are several ways to save. I exported them at different sizes to show the compression, but unfortunately the files were too large to include on the final page. If you are interested in seeing them please contact me and I would be happy to burn them to a disk or otherwise share them.  If you save the same file at different compression rates, you clearly can see that the smaller files lose the text as well as facial detail. Although obviously biased towards Apple products, iMovie does let you know what programs it will be best suited for at the different compression sizes. Additionally, you can export other ways and you can be fairly detailed in adjusting the compression and container format. Adobe Premiere Pro CS4:I took advantage of the free 30 day trial Adobe offers for this program, but although I am using the professional level software, anything I did should easily be transfered to the consumer grade version. I haven't used it recently, but the only things you really miss out on are some of the more specific adjustments that, in my experience, most professionals would not even miss. Also, the trial version does not have all of the features (it notifies you of this when you download it).How I Made It: 1) Getting Started: When you open a new project Premiere takes you through a couple screens to set up your preferences.  In the general section you can
check your settings. Next check your scratch disks to make sure
everything is coming and going where you want.
 Click "OK" and you are on the new
sequence section. This is the preset I set for myself for this
project.
  Don't worry about naming your
sequence
unless you are doing a much bigger project. Sequences are like
tabs so
you can work on several different sequences in a larger work without
having to put them all on the same timeline. For example, if you
had
the beginning of the movie shot and the end, but not some of the middle
you might want to put them on different sequences to keep it
tidy. In
the end you create a separate sequence to put all the sequences
together. This is for much more advanced editing however so don't
worry about it unless you plan on making a major project.
 This is what your new project should look like. 2 and 3) Importing clips, music, or images and putting them into the timeline: First I went online and selected a clip from YouTube using the DWHelper, a plug-in for Firefox. I imported that clip (File > Import) into Premiere and dragged it into the timeline from the box in the upper left hand corner (where all the clips you import sit waiting for you). It is important to note that these files do not change no matter what you do to the clips in the project. So, you may always drag a clip in again and it will be the original. This however is not true for titles, which change automatically, but more about that later. 4) Isolating video or audio tracks: Next I isolated the video and deleted the auto by selecting the empty button space next to the media I wanted to keep. In this case I didn't want the audio, but I wanted the video so I selected the video's button and a lock appears. There is zebra striping over the video meaning until you click again to unlock it nothing will happen to this media.  Locking video and zebra striping I imported my music clip and dragged it into the timeline. From there I used the razor tool to cut up the video and I used the select tool from the tool bar to move and delete parts of the video. I use several tracks to overlay video so that I have more freedom with moving things around. The higher the video track it will be the dominate one. So, if you lay a track in your video track 1 and have another clip over it in video track 2, the video from video track 2 will be what you see. This is why when I add the animation later I had the animation with the transparent background on video track 2 instead of video track 1. Since the audio and video were not imported together they are not automatically synced up and linked together as one unit so you don't have to worry about locking tracks anymore and you can move clips (or parts of clips) freely. 5) Adding Titles: You can easily add titles like mine by selecting Title > New Title > Based on Template > Lower Thirds. If the title goes over a part of the video (like a lower third) position yourself on that part of the timeline when you create the title so you can adjust it to where it should be. This is helpful for making sure your title is positioned in the right place since you can make many adjustments. If you don't want to see the background simply select the eye tool.  Tool to turn off or on video background Titles are easy to edit. You don't save a title after you are done. You just close the title window and it automatically is changed. That said, since titles auto-save you don't have the option of simply closing out the window and reverting back to the original. Instead you will have to undo (just as you would in other programs).  Lower third used in Adobe video using a template  Sample image of a title screen being created for Skitch vs. Gimp Animation, no template 6) Adding video (or audio) transitions: Next you can add transitions. I simply wanted some fading in and out of titles so I chose the cross dissolve.  Video transition cross dissolve applied to clip Opening up the "Video Transitions" folder, I next opened up the "Dissolve" folder. From there I selected the dissolve I wanted and dragged the effect onto the clip I wanted to use it on. 7) Rendering your workspace: You should notice that parts (or even all) of your Adobe video may have a red line instead of green. This means you have to render your work area. You will have to do this anytime you make a change (such as applying an effect), but you can wait to do it. You just need to do it before you export your video. You simply select Sequence > Render (there are several options, but just as long as you are rendering all the red areas you are fine). The longer you wait to do this, the longer it probably will take since there will be more things to render. As such, it is smart to render as you work.  8) Exporting your video:  The final project looks like this before export Now you are ready to export your video. File > Export > Media. When you do Adobe Media Encoder opens up. If you are ready to go click on the start button. I exported this movie at: 780 x 480, 29.27 fps, 48000 Hz, Stereo, 16 bit, QuickTime movie, NTSC DV, and I compressed it from 583.4 MB to 22.9 MB using VLC. <link> Using VLC, I transcoded both the
video and audio at MPEG-4.
 Transcoding into MPEG-4 with VLC Media Player Conclusion: iMovie: Pros and Cons First for the pros of iMovie, I liked the ease of the "Ken Burns Effect." I would have liked a little more control, but it is much easier to do this effect than it is in professional and higher end consumer grade products like FinalCut and Adobe Premiere. While I can do this effect in these programs, even the consumer grade versions I have worked with are not as easy (*I have not tested this in Windows Movie Maker). But with ease comes assumptions that the program knows best. The biggest detractor for the program is the lack of a classic timeline view. While you can choose Precision Edit, it is not the default and is not as easy to view and edit as it is in other editing programs and it maintains the thumbnail format. For a movie like this one it was not as big of an issue, but for moving video (vs. moving still images) or more specific cuts in audio it would be frustrating. It also can be frustrating for someone used to other editing programs. With all the great bells and whistles in compression, I would expect they would give a decent timeline since it is considered standard. Also, iMovie's set up is not like other editing software so that is a mark against it in terms of ease of transferring your skills. That said, it is a fun program and easily would meet the needs of a lot of users. I enjoyed using it and it was enjoyable throwing together something quickly. It was frustrating that you can only apply one effect to each clip, but it was easy to change the look of images. In my case, I had to reuse some photos so changing the lighting or making the image "cartoon" kept it fresh (it also helped with lower resolution images). It also was frustrating to not have multiple tracks to work with. I could not add an animation like I could to the Adobe movie. However, overall it is a great program for someone that basically wants to throw together a quick video (especially with still images). From my limited use of Windows Movie Maker, I do like that program better, because it has the familiar timeline and razor tool (to cut the video sections). You cannot of course get the precision of consumer or professional grade versions of software like FinalCut and Adobe Premiere, but that is too be expected. Honestly, both iMovie and Windows Movie Maker are nice, free programs that have the basic capabilities you need to create a video. For most users, I think free video editors like iMovie are great tools and I can see myself using it again (especially the maps feature). Adobe Premiere Pro CS4: Pros and Cons I would suggest iMovie for the novice that just wants to cut together some fun videos, but for anyone interested in producing more professional looking videos that go a step beyond I would suggest looking into a more powerful program. However, I would not suggest the professional level. Unless you are buying the Adobe Master Collection, it is not worth it to purchase Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. Although Adobe Premiere Pro is a great product there is no reason the majority of users would need something as powerful. The consumer grade versions of the product generally are considered to be very similar even though the professional level obviously has more features. Most users would not need the kinds of specialized tools that are left out and might feel overwhelmed by all the technical specifications (even though you can go with factory settings and be fairly okay). That said, if you think you may become serious about video you need to look into investing in something more powerful than iMovie and the consumer grade version of Adobe Premiere (Adobe Premiere Elements 7) is an excellent choice (it is available on PC or Mac machines). It is a lot more steps to make a more complicated video, but it is easy once you get the hang of it and you have many more options including the ability to do animations like I did. If you feel iMovie is not enough for you, and you can get a good rate on the professional level Adobe, take advantage of the lower rate since these programs can be very expensive. But it only is worth the investment if you think the consumer grade would not meet your needs or you are interested in the other programs in the Creative Suite. For students at UIUC, you may want to invest in the Adobe Creative Suite that includes Premiere Pro, but also Dreamweaver and other helpful software for the Library and Information Science professional. However, if you are only interested in a decent video editor I would suggest Adobe Premiere Elements. The Final Word: Premiere Pro is more than the vast majority of people would need and while it has great precision it lacks ease of usability to the newbie. This precision is also available in the consumer grade version. iMovie is limiting and can be frustrating when you want to do more. At the end of the day, the consumer grade of Premiere is an excellent choice for someone that wants to do more than a basic free program can provide, but to create a simple video iMovie is a good choice. FrameByFrame:Since this is multimedia, and I wanted to experiment with animation. I downloaded a free program called FrameByFrame. I first used Gimp to just create PNG files with a transparent background. Then, when I had my images, I opened up FrameByFrame and selected Edit > Import Images. Extra Animation 2 in FrameByFrame (non-transparent background)  Animation for Skitch and Gimp Movie (transparent background) Here is the animation for my Adobe video: Adobe video without and with my animation <link> I also made these animations just for fun: Extra Animation 1 <link> Extra Animation 2 <link> Gimp was harder to use to create images quickly, but the transparent choice with Skitch did not have a truly transparent background. Instead the background is slightly gray. For this reason, Gimp worked best for creating animations to put over video. Here is a video example to show how both Skitch and Gimp looked over some video. If you look closely you can see that the Skitch example is darker when the animation is running, but Gimp does not have this problem. Skitch and Gimp animation examples: <link> Norrkross MorphX:Although I did not use this program in either my iMovie or Adobe movie, MorphX is a free program that is very easy to use to create morphing images or movies (mov files). Using Skitch I captured and image from the television show "Gilmore Girls"and then I proceeded to make this image of both characters into single images of each character. I tried to crop both as close as I could so the morph would look seamless. Lorelai and Rori Gilmore  Lorelai Gilmore  Rori Gilmore Then I dragged them into the MorphX boxes. The image automatically will fill the MorphX box. To place the markers of where to morph you simply click on the image, click on another part, and if you double click on the second marker it creates a line. A second line will show up on the second image. You can adjust either line. You can continue doing this to create lines, or shapes, that will be marked to help the morph work. For example, if you are morphing two people you will want to mark where the eyes are on both images.  Gilmore Girls in MorphX This is what my morph looked like before I exported it as a mov file (you also can save as a still image that combines both pictures and you may slide a bar to use more or less of either image). When you select "Render movie" you will be able to adjust how many frames and how fast the morph will happen and then you can save it as a mov file. You also can reverse your morph. I did this so now instead of the mother turning into the daughter, the daughter turns into the mother. The final movie looks like this: <link> Programs Used:
Sources:Cars & Trucks. "A Lot Like You." From album Cars & Trucks. Chairkickers Union Music. Duluth, MN. 2007.Cars & Trucks. "Over the Moon." From album Cars & Trucks. Chairkickers Union Music. Duluth, MN. 2007. Deren, Maya and Marcel Duchamp. Witch's Cradle. 1947. YouTube. Warner Bros. "Gilmore Girls Only." Gilmore Girls. Season 7, Episode 17. 2007. |
