Tutorial 1 (for Final Cut): Effects Exercise 2 (full 6 version)

This marks the first tutorial I will be posting to this page!

Effects Covered:
New (AVP)
1.) Talking-head
2.) Day-for-Night
3.) Transparent Text
Old (BVP)
4.) Split Screen
5.) Lag
6.) Variable Speed

This is just like the other Effects Exercise I have posted (from Beginning Video Productions, link below). Same teacher, same objectives/layout, everything (with a slight difference, I'll explain below).

However, I began to question the way she wanted us to do the exercise (3 effects using 3 examples per sequence, with 1 combining all 3, and with us printing out the instructions for everyone to have). In my mind, that was
A.) Kind of a poor way to do it (time constrains aside, we needed extra supplies in order to print out the *limited set of instructions, using 3 examples- when some are straight forward {1 use only, such as the Day-for-Night effect} and it'd kinda be like steering the artist by those examples- which is more important knowing how to achieve the effect or where/how to use it?)
B.) Not as beneficial to others who aren't in the class with us (ie, it'd be useless when posted somewhere like here, amirite?).
~ To compare, refer to Effects Exercise 1 on my page or click the following link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdf5RmEdkEc

So I decided to combine the effects from the previous (BVP) class with the new ones I'd create for this one (for the benefit of those who weren't in the BVP class with me so they'd have those too).
I also decided to incorporate the Instructions part into the video to create a step-by-step process of how to achieve the particular effect being shown.
The result?
Instead of only creating a quick 40 second short (with 3 effects) I also made this detailed 8 minute video that explains how to do 6 effects.
The audio on this was added to give the video more punch (make it more interesting). My idea was to select songs that included things about 'Smarts/knowledge'. Almost immediately DJ Salkizar's song Be A Thinker came to mind (as it uses a great sample of Apollo Creed from the Rocky films where his advice is to be a scholar, words of wisdom IMO). The second track by Mark Ronson (The Only One I Know, feat. Robbie Williams) was an after thought (honestly). Though the message does a pretty good job of of highlighting the frustrations a person can experience in life (here its meant to refer to how annoying it can be to be working on a piece when it either gives them issues or how not knowing how to do something can be a huge pain in the behind). Super uber thanks goes out to those guys for the awesome work they do/did that allowed me to make mine all that much better.
You can find DJ Salkizar on http://www.looperman.com
and Mark Ronson on most major media sites (or here at http://www.youtube.com/user/MarkRonsonVEVO ).
I highly recommend that you check them both out some time, as they can whip up some nice viddles, haha.

There's only 2 effects that I needed to look up. Day-for-Night & the Lag Effect were found using Google search- some of those videos even came from here (sorry for not remembering/making note of your links). Thanks to those who made them and if you have any other questions after viewing this either- email me about them or do a Google search for yourself (of something like, eg, "Ken Burns Effect Tutorial") for more results.

Off for now. Take care everyone!

PS. Almost forgot to mention Michael Jackson.
The reason I chose to use him for the *Talking-Head Effect sequence is because...
A.) I wanted to pay homage to the Back To The Future Scene Project (they feature the same likeness {from the Bad album/period} of MJ in their Cafe 80s scene in Back To The Future 2)
B.) I wanted to use a celebrity that I could impersonate (other candidates were- Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Madden, Jack Nicholson, Nick Nolte, & Barry White)
C.) For the (unintentional) humor aspect, I felt that MJ was the best choice (I kinda copied South Park here, TBH, but they're also the ones who inspired me to do this effect with their talking-held depiction of Saddam Hussein & the Canadians... Also, MJ as a teacher sort of lends itself to being funny, ya know?).
I also think its safe to say that we were all inspired by what MJ did and equally loved/respected him for his contributions. So I do this out of that (hence the purple glow- equals his spirit). Extreme apologies go out if I've offended anyone, wasn't my intent at all.
RIP Mr. Jackson, you will be missed!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Adobe
• Apple
• Final Cut Pro
• Final Cut Express
• Illustrator
• Photoshop
• Effects Tutorial
• Education
• College
• Lag Effect
• Variable Speed Effect
• Split-Screen Effect
• Day-for-Night Effect.
• Talking-Head Effect
• Transparent Text Effect.
• Vector
• Vectorized Text
• DJ Salkizar
• Be A Thinker
• Mark Ronson
• The Only One I Know
• Michael Jackson
• Rocky
• Apollo Creed
• Carl Weathers
• South Park
• Looperman
• Looperman.com
• Pensacola State College
• Advanced Video Productions
• Google
• Google Search

[DonnieVyros]

@visionizm Dunno what your Timeline looks like (or what else you're trying to do). So let's try a quick test= 1.) Create a new Sequence 2.) Take the PDF you've created and place at the beginning of Chan 1 on the timeline (click-dragging it down is the way that I prefer to do it. 3.) Press Play/Spacebar to see if it shows up... And it should be cool (though you might have to resize it to fit the screen if you haven't already done that in Illustrator). Hope that helps & good luck with everything!

[visionizm]

Thank u so much for ur quick response, the EXPORTING TO A PDF worked! 1 last issue. my PDF text color is black so I made the background white in FCP, however upon playback it just shows a black screen. When it isn't playing back it is shown with a white background, but when I press play the screen turns black. What am I doing wrong?

[DonnieVyros]

@visionizm a GIF? Hmm, what I mostly do now days is Export the Illustrator file out as a PDF and then I'm able to import them into Final Cut no problems (I would've also suggested that you try to save & import it as an AI file, but for some reason that doesn't work on Final Cut Express, I think it may work in FCP, but it has been so long since I did that at school I can't remember what stuff you have to have checked/un-checked on the Illustrator save screen). Try the PDF & it should def work!

[visionizm]

I made a logo in adobe illustrator, saved it as a gif. and imported it to FCP but I can't get it to show up properly. It is made up of black text and I want it to show up on a white background in FPC, please help. Thanks