How to Transition Between Scenes with Audio Editing
A lot of people new to video editing think that “transitions” are those little preset clips in the transitions library that you can use to go from one shot to the next in an easy way.
This could not be further from the truth.
A transition is actually anything the editor uses to go from one shot to the next or one scene to the next and there are a million different ways of doing it.
So when you think of transitions it is always better to think of the word transition in the sense of being a verb and not a noun.
It is simply a device to smoothly get the viewer from one shot to the next without distracting them.
One of the most common yet largely unseen types of transition is the audio transition.
This is where a “sound bridge” is used to take the viewer through to the next scene or shot without them actually noticing it happening.
For a more complete explanation check out the video below.
5 Simple Cinematography Techniques you Should Know
Just like it says on the box these really are 5 techniques to create a more cinematic feel to your videos.
None of these tips are difficult to execute and once you understand what they do for the viewing experience, you will be able to add them in to your own bag of tricks quite easily.
Four Places to Add Video Effects
The video below is a Live Stream done for users of Vegas Movie Studio and Vegas Pro BUT!
Rather than focus on how things are being done in the software itself the value in it is the advice regarding when and where to use effects.
There is an old rule when it comes to having access to advanced effects in modern video editing software which is, “Just because you can, doesn’t necessarily mean you should!”
As a further side note to this one, the entire demo is done using Vegas Pro but that not really the point.
Basic Lighting Tips for Video and Photography
When I first came across this video on YouTube I was about to just click away almost immediately.
The video quality is pretty low res and let’s face it, it’s just some lady’s head in front of a camera.
For some reason I kept watching and to my surprise it turned out to be a very informative tutorial on lighting.
The lady that created it was doing it for some clients and intentionally started off with an awful lighting setup.
Then as the video progresses she begins to explain in an easily understood way how the light is working to create the shot and how to change it to improve the shot.
By the end she has achieved at home a pretty good looking lighting setup.
How to Light Villains in Your Videos – Cinematography Tips
This is a great demonstration of how you can very easily manipulate the way someone appears in your videos through simple lighting techniques.
In this case the emphasis is on making a character appear villainous but I am sure if you play around with it you can get some excellent results.
Great Product Cinematography: A Commercial Filmmaker Explains
OK so there is no way any of use are probably going to go to these lengths in any of our own videos!
However I always enjoy watching these one where a real Pro pulls apart the shot or the videos and explains how it is done.
Most of the time in videos like this you kind of expect them to reveal some kind of trick that is so, so simple that you never really thought of… not this one!
The techniques are so complicated and so precise they are amazing.
How to Make NVIDIA GPU Work with Your Videos – CyberLink PowerDirector 18
One of the advantages that CyberLink PowerDirector has held over the rest of the field at their level of video editing software has always been that of speed.
The program still maintains an advantage when it comes to scrubbing though the timeline and at the rendering stage.
There are a couple of reasons for this but what it mostly comes down to is the software’s ability to muster all the resources available on any given computer and put them to best use.
They were one of the first programs to tap into the processing power offered by modern graphics cards that had their own processors on-board.
Those processors are called GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) and if used effectively can take a bunch of work that is normally done by the CPU (Central Processing Unit) and handle it itself.
The upshot of this is a far more efficient work rate and faster rendering times.
However not all of this is as automatic as it it presented in the marketing materials!
When you install PowerDirector it attempts to detect available resources like the available GPU and configure itself accordingly.
With Windows being… well… Windows, this step does not always go according to plan and what you may find is that PowerDirector is not really working as efficiently as it could be.
So in the video below the entire procedure for enabling the best use of your GPU and making sure Windows is cooperating is shown is full.
For anyone running PowerDirector I would recommend watching the video and just checking your own system against it just to make sure.
Best Teleprompter Apps for iPad and iPhone
If you are creating videos that require you or someone else to be onscreen talking to the camera either closely or loosely based on a script, then a teleprompter will save you life!
It used to be that teleprompters were hugely expensive specialized pieces of equipment but for a while now that has not been the case.
There are hundreds of app out there that you can use to turn your phone into a teleprompter to help you with those talking heads videos.
It has been a while now since the last time I posted any kind of roundup on the state of those apps so in the video below you can get a good sense of the current scene.
5 Ways to Edit Faster! – FilmoraPro
I started off thinking this tutorial was going to be pretty specific to Filmora Pro.
By the time I finished it I realized that just about everything they talk about is available as a feature, setting or preference in most video editors and there are some good tips in there.
Winners of The Stay at Home Short Film Challenge
Film Riot have been running a competition for the last couple of weeks as something for everyone to do during the current isolation regime.
This week they have announced the winners and I have to say they are pretty good!
So given that most of us have nothing but time on our hands at the moment this would be a great time to watch some of their efforts.
At the same time you can also get a bunch of different creative ideas from other video makers you might not normally get to see.
Dual Monitors for Editing
Most video editing software at the consumer or prosumer level these days will have the capacity to run the software interface across two monitors.
Obviously you don’t have to have two monitors but if you do then you can utilize that extra real estate.
As your projects begin to become more and more complex you may find that things start to get a bit crowded on the one monitor and editing gets a little tedious under those circumstance.
So if you have ever wondered why two monitors are an advantage or were thinking of expanding to two then check out this article that explains the whole process.
Why You Need Dual Monitors for Editing
A Cereal Commercial in His Dining Room
This is just an interesting yet quite educational “Behind the Scenes” type video where the creator has tried to replicate a video he saw on YouTube.
I like to watch these videos because without trying to be too educational they are quite educational!
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