Video editing is often a collaborative process. You may find that you need to work with someone else’s editing project that was started using Final Cut Pro. Fortunately, Adobe Premiere Pro is a very flexible editing solution. You can easily import projects and media started on other edit systems. For example, moving a project over from Apple Final Cut Pro is a snap.
In Final Cut Pro, mark an In and Out point within a sequence for the range you’d like to export.
Choose File > Export > XML. In the dialog that opens, choose Apple XML Interchange Format, version 4 (or newer) and click OK.
Specify a location for the new XML file (such as your project folder) and click OK. The XML file is very small and references the original media on your drive. It will only take a few seconds to write.
Switch to Adobe Premiere Pro and create a new project using a preset that most closely matches the video format you’ve been using.
In Premiere Pro, choose File > Import. Navigate to the XML file you created and click Import. Premiere Pro creates a sequence and adds the media and a report to the project.
Begin to update the edit or work with the imported project sources.
There are several reasons that footage might need repair. Archival sources (especially those that are tape-based) can wear with time or equipment failure. Rushed crews or poor preproduction can also impact the quality of a shot through inadequate lighting. Environmental conditions, such as a sunset or inconsistent cloud cover, can wreak havoc with footage as well.
Although the reasons may vary, you'll find a useful collection of tools in After Effects. The footage we'll show you is bad (in this case purposely so).
The world of video is going through a revolution when it comes to pricing. When I started my career, tape decks were more expensive than cars and a complete editing system cost more than my townhouse. Oh how the world has changed.
The video industry is experiencing a race to the bottom. Gear keeps getting cheaper, which is a good thing in many ways. The problem lies in the cost barrier. Just as you’ve many photographers been frustrated by every schmo who buys a DSLR thinking he or she is a pro photographer, so have video professionals felt about photographers thinking they are video pros. Add to this sudden influx hundreds of schools pumping out graduates from media programs and you have a cluttered workplace.
I do not say the above to be protectionist or confrontational. The fact is that the video industry needs to evolve and will benefit from fresh talent and fresh ideas. Just don’t piss in the pool after you jump in.
Take a look around you and see what business practices others are following. Here are a few that I wish more would follow for the good of the video industry:
Price fairly – Different businesses will need to charge differently for their services. Still, be sure you price services so you can survive for the long term. Be consistent with your prices and be sure to cover related costs like facilities, insurance, and equipment.
Don’t do spec work – There is a lot of pressure to do unpaid work in the video field. Taking spec jobs to prove capabilities or show interest in a client. Look at other professions, they don’t face these same pressures. If you truly need to expand your portfolio, seek out legitimate nonprofit organizations and make a donation of your time and skill.
Don’t badmouth your competition – Your only true competition is yourself. Speaking ill of your peers will only lower the standards of the industry as a whole.
Your problems are your problems – Always pay your subcontractors (even if you haven’t received client payment). Similarly, you should not accept excuses from others above you in the client chain due to delayed payments. Make sure you responsibly keep payments flowing to those you hire.
Act more like a lawyer and less like an artist – I’m not saying shelve your creativity... but remember that you are a trained professional with a code of conduct. You need to remember the important aspects of client management, professional communication, and ethical business practices if you want to succeed in video for the long term.
Instructor Richard Harrington demonstrates how to use Spot Color Channels in Photoshop CS5, while explaining the importance of using the Spot Color Channels tool before professional printing to reproduce your client’s corporate colors consistently. Be sure to also check out the new book – Understanding Adobe Photosho...
In this video tutorial, Robbie and Richard discuss low-light shooting strategies, including controlling your aperture, ISO, lenses, and shutter speed.
Lighting should be your first step, but capturing gorgeous images with DSLRs in low light situations is not only a possibility, but an artistic venture with the amount of control offered by these cameras.
Today is Adobe Photoshop's 21st birthday... Since I'm in New Orleans with a few Adobe employees, I hope we can properly celebrate. I wanted to point out the many great Photoshop resources I have for you that are FREE. I hope you can enjoy the wonder of Photoshop.
Understanding Adobe Photoshop Podcast – web | iTunes
Need special characters (like å é î ø ü) but can’t remember where they live on the keyboard? Mac OS X has a great feature for this—the Keyboard & Character Viewer.
Go to System Preferences > Language & Text > Input Sources, and enable the Keyboard & Character Viewer.
Check the box for Show Input menu in menu bar.
Notice the new icon in your menu bar (likely a flag that matches the language). When needed, simply click it and choose Show or Hide Character Palette.
The palette automatically floats above your active application.
Be sure to check that you’re using the same font in the text generator or other application.
Double-click or drag to use the special character.
This panel is really useful as you can search by category using the lefthand column. Be sure to also try searching using the bottom search field as well as you can search by name or keyword. Lastly the View menu offers additional filters, I find the All Characters and Glyph views most useful.
Sometimes we miss the good old days where choosing a frame rate was an either/or decision. When it comes to HD, one area of confusion that we get asked about a lot is the difference between frame rate and field rate. It’s common to see numbers like 720p60 or 1080i60 as part of a description.
The first part describes the vertical resolution.
The P or I describes whether the footage is progressive or interlaced.
The last part describes its frame or field rate.
In HD video, frame rate and field rate are often used interchangeably and it can be hard to tell what someone is talking about. Here is an easy way to think of it.
When an HD format is interlaced, the number generally describes field rate (1080i60 would describe 60 fields per second). • When an HD format is progressive, the number generally describes frame rate (720p60 would be 60 frames per second).
The interesting thing is that field can describe frame too! This is because field rates are double that of frame rates. So 1080i60 footage has a frame rate of 30fps. Got it? Well, it’s not that simple. Most of the time numbers like 60 or 30 really represent fractional field rates (59.94) or frame rates (29.97) for backward compatibility with NTSC television.
I have seen myself go from being an upstart kid to a balding professional. But I have learned this... age is just a number. I have worked with wonderfully talented “kids” throughout my career. I have also chosen to surround myself with those who are more experienced than me. Both parties have added to my understanding of this medium and its creative applications. While the guild system of old is all but destroyed, you can still preserve its spirit. Seek out others who you want to work with. Ignore their age and instead look at what they have to offer to the creative process. An open mind goes a long way. I continuously learn things from even the youngest employee or crew member. I also have learned to listen when someone else has something to say.
Video is a collaborative medium and one that has undergone a century worth of change in the last ten years. Bluntly... shut up and listen. Put any preconceived notions you may have about age or experience aside and open yourself to opportunity.
In this video tutorial Richard Harrington shows a quick technique used to animate and selectively warp an image inside of Adobe After Effect. Richard uses masking and refine edges to prepare the animation inside Photoshop.
This is the hardest message for most photographers to accept. You cannot truly make a professional video in isolation. Am I saying that one person can’t do everything? No. But can they do it well? Consider the following.
Video projects often have firm deadlines – Whether it’s an air date, a live event, a corporate meeting, or a project launch. Deadlines are standard in the world of video, having a team means bench strength and safety in numbers.
You’ll make more money doing what you do best – How many photographers are magazine publishers? Do they sell the advertisements and write all the stories? What about when publishing a book... do they fire up their personal printing press? The point here is that a photographer should do what they do best. That tends to be direct the talent, pick the locations for shooting, lens the project, and carry their creative vision through the editing and graphics stages. I am not saying you should avoid editing or motion graphics, but you may be pretty slow (especially when you first start). I say try anything three times… but if you find you hate the work or you are turning down other jobs... then its time to move on. You can always find people who want to do parts of the job you are weakest at… plus they’ll likely be far faster than you. This will let you shoot more and line up more business through your contacts.
The creative mind is like a hive – Adding additional people that you trust can really lead to a better product. I find that having other professionals around keeps me from slipping into my old habits. It also leads to creative discussions that push the envelope and lead to a better outcome.
I've written a free book for Adobe about how to get more done with After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere Pro and more. ”Explore the creative possibilities of DSLR video editing with Adobe Creative Suite 5 software. This paper provides tips and tricks for navigating Adobe Premiere® Pro CS5, Photoshop® CS5, Photoshop CS5 Extended, After Effects® CS5, and other CS5 components to help you along the way." The book is 100% Free, and contains all sorts of great knowledge.
Working in the timeline of Adobe Premiere Pro
Get more done with Adobe Photoshop
Get organized with Adobe Bridge
Working with audio
Adobe After Effects Advanced techniques
Good shooting practices and Production Techniques
Sharing and publishing your video
You can download the free eBook with tips for DSLR and Creative Suite at http://adobe.ly/dslrtips For more on the fusion of photography and video, check out From Still to Motion. If you enjoy the ebook, please leave a comment . It means a lot and lets Adobe know people are reading and appreciate the book.
In these new online videos, author and trainer Rich Harrington provides a complete tour of Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. Each complete video features more than 40 segments dedicated to performing a specific task.
Apple Video Training: Pages for iPad – In this Apple-certified guide to Pages for iPad, master trainer Rich Harrington takes you on a comprehensive tour. You’ll learn everything from customizing existing templates by adding your own graphics, charts, and styles to creating documents from scratch. Featuring over 40 videos, each one is dedicated to a specific task in Pages. So it's easy to find exactly the information you want whether it's help with the basics, like touchscreen controls, or more advanced tasks like inserting graphics with wraparound text. You'll learn all you need to know to create dynamic personal and professional projects.
Apple Video Training: Keynote for iPad – In this Apple-certified guide to Keynote for iPad, master trainer Rich Harrington takes you on a comprehensive tour. Featuring over 40 videos each dedicated to performing a specific task in Keynote, you’ll learn how to create professional-looking presentations quickly. It's easy to find exactly the information you want, whether it's help with the basics, such as learning touchscreen controls, or more advanced techniques like creating tables and charts, or bringing your presentations to life with animated graphics and transitions.
Apple Video Training: Numbers for iPad – In this Apple-certified guide to Numbers for iPad, master trainer Rich Harrington takes you on a comprehensive tour. Featuring over 40 videos, each dedicated to performing a specific task in Numbers, you’ll learn how to transform your data into organized, professional-looking documents. You'll learn to customize existing templates or create documents from scratch, take control of tables and style charts. It's easy to find exactly the information you want, whether it's help with the basics, such as learning the touchscreen controls, or more advanced tasks like working with formulas and calculations.
FREE COPIES Below are 15 digital voucher codes for use on Peachpit.com. Each code can be used once and will give a user access to the Keynote for iPad Online Video. First come, first serve. Here are instructions for use:
Photomerge is a specialized “mini-application” within Photoshop that assists in combining multiple images into a single photo. You can access it from either Photoshop or Bridge. Depending on the resolution of your sources and the speed of your machine, it can take a while to complete.
In this Premiere Pro tutorial Richard Harrington shows how to edit a group of video clips quickly to sync them to an audio clip by using markers and the automate to sequence command.
This is a re-post... but I was asked to share it again. Here's a free (and really good) way to learn all about the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in. This is a bonus eBook I wrote to go along with the book Understanding Adobe Photoshop CS5. Its yours for free... I hope it helps.
I've been speaking at Photoshop World for seven years now... it truly is a great event and a ton of fun. Here are a few important updates for you to know.
For this week, I will be posting several blog entries in advance. I am taking a proper vacation, one that will include little social media, blogging, or email (and lots of rum drinks, sun, and ocean breeze). It is time for a family getaway... I'll recharge my batteries, get some great photos, and be back real soon.
In the meantime, please enjoy the posts from the future. I've put a particular emphasis on your economic well-being... so I hope these resources help.
We typically build our production days around a 10-hour schedule. This allows about 7 hours of time for shooting and the other 3 for setup, breaks, and teardown. The important thing here is to pace yourself. Make sure you what you want to accomplish each hour you’re on set so you can measure progress or take corrective action. While we try to maximize the day, we don’t try to kill the crew … there’s a difference:
Make sure you have enough help to load gear in and out so you get off to a good start. For that matter, be sure to use a rolling cart to cut down on wear and tear on your body and speed up moving times between locations.
Be sure to allow time for meal breaks. Keeping people from eating will only make them cranky and less productive. Try to bring some snacks and drinks on the set to keep people comfortable and from wandering off.
Keep the schedule reasonable. We try to not to let the client schedule the first interview for 8:00 a.m. We’ve often had to convey to the client, “If you schedule this for 8:00 a.m., it means we have to leave our houses at 4:30 a.m. in order to have to everything set up on time.”
We routinely have to remind clients that an eight-hour day does not mean eight hours of interviews. We also have to point out that it is a contiguous eight hours. You can’t schedule a crew to start at 9:00 a.m., then give them a five hour break in the middle of the day, and want them tape something that goes until 10:00 at night.
Be sure to work with your clients and gently educate them. Sometimes we’ve had to say, “Yes, we can do this. But we’re going to have two crews and we’re going to have a changeover period here and the second crew will step on to the set and continue into the night.” Be smart: Respect your clients and your crew if you want the best results.
Just wanted to let you know that you can now find all the Creative COW podcasts on one page. I am a co-host on several shows.
DSLR Essentials
Photoshop for Video
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe After Effects
Final Cut Help
There are HOURS of free video training here.... plus several other topics. Be sure to check out the page. Most shows are available in both HD and SD versions.
If you'd like to better understand the different compensation levels available to motion graphics designers, there's a good report that was just released.
The report analyzes different pay available based on experience, job title, and region worked. There's also good data about tools used (software and hardware) as well as working conditions. As they say, knowledge is power... and the report offers a good glimpse into the factors that can influence better pay and working conditions for designers.
The Motion Graphic Design Census is an unofficial web-based survey written by Bran Dougherty-Johnson and Jake Sargeant and hosted by Motionographer in 2009. Whether you're a designer or a business owner, this is good data for benchmarking.
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