Video Editing

Video editing

Wednesday 9th March

To start a project, I would create a composition in After Effects. To make a composition I will need to select composition from the drop down menu and then New Composition. This will give me settings to pick from, like the framerate, the resolution and color settings. I could also create a composition set to my footages exact setting by dragging my imported footage into the empty timeline. To import, drag in files from the finder window into the project files tab. This will create a composition based on the current settings of the footage you have chosen, you will be able to change the settings later.

I started by naming it so I'm clear on what footage is what without looking at it. I then imported the footage for arranging into the timeline. If I drag footage into the timeline it will form a block. This can be trimmed. By dragging other footage into the timeline, I can use layers to see footage in a certain way. Layers work like stacks of paper. If the paper is all the same size, you can only read the paper on top. Cut the paper into a circle smaller than the paper below it, and you can see the circle on top of the paper below it, and you can read parts of both.

After arranging my clips, I will export this into After Effects using the Export drop down menu at the top. The reason for this is because while Premiere Pro is great at dragging clips around and trimming clips, After effects does much more. If you want to color correct, use masks, animate or create transitions, Premiere Pro will not be as good as After Effects.

To achieve animation of any kind, I will need to use keyframes. by pressing the stopwatch button on the timeline to start keyframing, I can set that frame to be a certain setting. Say I wanted to fade out a layer, I could keyframe the opacity at 100% for the point I want the effect to start at. I would drag to the part of the timeline I want the layer to disappear, then set the opacity to 100%.

If I found that any animation moved too strictly, I could use the Graph Editor by clicking the button in the timeline on the far right. If I click on the keyframed effect I'm using, I should be able to drag the graph around to round out the animation. After effects comes with built in "Ease in/ out" buttons that set the graph to a template.

There are many different types of layers that I could use to help me work faster. For example, I could use a null layer to apply effects to. This layers effect has no visual information, but it can be used as data. If I wanted many layers to move in a direction, fade out at the same time, or be filtered at equal amounts I could apply this effect to the layer. I could then "parent" (the child layer follows the parent layer) the layers needing the effect - drag the squiggly line over to the null layer (or select the null layer as a parent from the drop down box), which means all effects applied to the null layer now apply to the child layers. I could also use the adjustment layer to separate the effects from the footage. All effects applied to the adjustment layer apply to the layer below it.

Effects can be applied by the Effects pane. You could use it from the dropdown menu, or set the layout to "Essentials", which gives you menu for everything you would need to use on the right side of the screen. Effects can be dragged from the pane to any layer. Motion tracking can also be found in the same window. To use the pane, create a null object. Click the layer you want to track, click track motion and drag around the square to the point you want to track. track it forward using the play button, make sure the target is set to your null object using Edit Target and hit apply. Parent the layer you want to follow the tracking information to the null layer.