Premiere - Copyright And Ethics

When looking at creating my own DVD trailer one of the most common issues which arose for me was copyright and actually being able to gather the sources I needed. Originally I had thought about trying to gain film footage from the actual DVD itself however there was no way which allowed me to copy the film onto my PC. This is based on copyright as I would then be able to share this film freely. I then began to look at trying to download the film, this is illegal however for the purposes of my assignment I was not going to distribute the source and hence I personally didn't find this morally wrong. When I found away to do this I actually found the that the footage was really poor quality and also had the software slogan across the middle of the entire film, this looked really unprofessional and hence I discarded this for these reasons. From here I then began to look at YouTube clips. This is were I eventually found my sources. YouTube uses a lot of Creative Commons licenses which as discussed in a much earlier blog post allow the use of the material under a given set of circumstances. Unfortunately based on the content which I required creative commons licenses didn't apply. The screenshot below shows YouTube's creative commons license agreements.
 

 

Based on the fact that the videos I intended on using were not part of the Creative Commons act they were Copyrighted and hence something which I couldn't freely use. The screenshot below shows YouTube's ways around copyright. These show that if I acknowledge the source or state that I am not intending on infringing copyright then I would be able to use the source.

 

 

Due to the fact that I am only using copyrighted material for educational purposes there is no real worry for copyright as this doesn't apply when education is involved however if I was to be undertaking this task in industry it is likely that I would need to seek the permission to use the copyrighted material from the source. Depending on the circumstances I may even work for the company who own the copyrighted material and then hence this wouldn't even be a problem. Personally I don't think it is morally or ethically wrong to use copyrighted material when it is not published however I do feel that credit should always be given to the author. In summary you can see how I have explored the copyright of my sources and thought about how I could get around these issues if I was to be creating this trailer to publish. 



Premiere - Sequence Settings

When looking at creating each element for this assignment I had to create a template to work with. This was slightly different with Premiere as with this element I had to create a sequence. A Premiere sequence is a timeline of the video or element you are creating.

To hit the requirements for this aspect I was required to submit in a DV PAL widescreen format. This didn't mean that I had to create my trailer using this format however if I didn't I would need to convert to this format at a later date. I decided that I would create my whole trailer in this format to make my life slightly easier. The sequence format I created my trailer in was DV - PAL Widescreen 48kHz. This had a frame rate of 25 frames per second which is the most common. The image below shows these settings:

The below screenshot shows my sequence set to the correct settings. This is now the equivalent to the template.

Although I am only going to use one video format there are many to chose from. Each format is used for different files although some overlap.There are two main types of video formats used, these are DV PAL and AVCHD.

DV PAL is the standard format used for video recorders This is an abbreviation for Digital Video and the PAL is a region code standard, this stands for Phase Alternating Line. This standard is for Europe and hence this changes. For example most of America use DV NTSC. The region code for this area stands for  National Television System Committee. These formats vary the way the data is displayed.

The other common format is AVCHD. YouTube videos tend to be in this format and hence it is relevant to this aspect of the assignment. AVCHD stands for Advanced Video Coding High Definition. This format includes the filming and playback in high definition. When inserting a YouTube video into a Premiere sequence you have the option to either edit the sequence settings to fit the formats of the imported clip or keep the existing settings. To keep everything in the correct format for exporting I will always keep the existing settings as I know these are correct.

Premiere - Gathering Sources

When I began looking at Premiere I needed to gather some sources to start clipping elements to use. I began by looking for films which had the actors which are now in my DVD. This is Mila Kunis, Sarah Jessica Parker and finally Cameron Diaz. This aspect was quite simple as these actors star in many films. I was then able to chose which have the best clips. The hardest aspect was trying to find some films which are set in Paris which either have the actors included or have scenes with no actors at all. I found a film called Midnight In Paris. This had many small aspects which showed Paris scenery without any actors and hence I have also gathered this. I have located the song I originally set out to use: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, however I have now started to think about a different angle. I thought about using the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun song at the end of the trailer when the girls are in Paris and chose a heartbreak song for the beginning which should include clips about each girl breaking up with their partner. The below videos show the clips which I have gathered so far along with there links.
 
The Other Woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDcaZ3StTfI
 

 

Sex And The City - Carries Humiliation:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-O-z5gELUY

 

 

Friends With Benefits - Stay Friends:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY2bTDCw8jQ

 



 

Friends With Benefits Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJS-wWqVAyk

 



 



 Midnight In Paris Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atLg2wQQxvU

 





Premiere - Green Screening

After we had covered all of the mandatory requirements for the assignment we began to look at advanced features which you can use in Premiere. This is were Jamie taught us Green Screening. The more technical name for green screening is Chroma Keying. It is the act of layering to pieces of video footage together. Green screening is most commonly used in films and the weather forecast as these are areas were the background needs to be changed. The main idea behind green screening is filming a shot in front of what is known as a Green Screen and then importing this into a Premiere project in order to change the green screen into a separate clip. So within the lecture we took footage in front of a green wall as this was the nearest we had to a green screen. This was then uploaded and imported into a Premiere project.

So what did we do next? With it imported into Premiere I then found a background scene from YouTube, downloaded this and then also imported this into Premiere. The scenery clip was then added to V1 while the footage was placed on V2. I then added the Ultra Key video effect which can be found within the Keying folder of Video Effects. The next stage was to set the Key Colour. This is the area we want to replace and hence the key colour needed to be green. Although you could search for a green which is similar to the screen I simply used the eye dropper tool to select the green background, this was more accurate than selecting a default green. Now the second clip could be seen in the background. This was however a different size to the screen itself and hence I needed to now resize this. To resize the background I simply double clipped on the footage and then was able to resize the clip. Due to the fact that my recorded footage wasn't directly centred on the green screen I had some white edges showing at various points in my combined clip. To remove these I was able to use the Eight Point Garbage Matte. These garbage mattes allow you to adjust the size of the green screen to remove any 'garbage' which was added into the clip accidently. There are three different types of garbage mattes. These are 4 point, 8 point and 16 point. The difference between these are the number of editable points and hence the 16 point garbage matte has the most editable points. This would give the least noticeable changes as the points are so close together. The screenshots below show each of these garbage mattes.

4 Point:

8 Point:

16 point:

With my clip now looking a lot better I decided to add some effects in order to blend them together better. I added a brightness and contrast effect. The settings I used can be seen below. These settings darkened the footage of James to blend in better with the darkness of the background.

I then looked at stabilising the clip in order to perfect it. To do this I used the Warp Stabilizer which can be found in the Distort folder. I was able to set the smoothness and then start the stabilization. This was a time consuming aspect but it made a big difference and both clips looked a lot smoother and seemed to blend better.

The video below shows all of these techniques in practise.

 

It is clear that this video clip is not to the best quality however the concept is definitely there. Of course if I was to include this idea into my final DVD Trailer I would take more time and consideration however for the simply experimenting purpose I feel this is fine.

Green Screening is not something which I aim to use in my final DVD Trailer as I don't feel that I could film anything as high quality or realistic as the clips which I have already found however being able to use and understand this technique is a good skill to have and hence I feel this was time well spent.

Premiere - Exporting

An aspect which I wanted to play around with before starting my DVD trailer was exporting Premiere sequences. This is an aspect which has to be undertaken to submit my trailer. To hit the mandatory requirements my trailer has to be exported to a Quicktime Movie using the DV Codec. As I have been playing around with Premiere using random clips I decided I would simply export this just to get myself used to how this works. So to export this movie I used the File, Export and Media options. This shows the below dialog box:

As you can see from this the default export settings are already at Quicktime and DV PAL. I used the scale to fit screen scaling settings as this didn't stretch my movie and lose its quality. I left all of the other settings as their default as these were all fine for my particular movie. The only option I did change was in the bottom section where you can find four tick boxes. I ticked the Use Previews option. This simply means that when I have rendered my movie in the making Premiere will use these previews instead of starting again, this simply speeds up the process. When I come to export my final movie I will probably not use this setting as I want my movie to be exported as well as possible. I then simply selected the Export button and my movie was then saved to the given folder as a Quicktime movie.

Premiere - Video Transitions

When looking at creating my DVD trailer I began to look into video transitions. These are the way in which each clip follows on from the previous. The transitions used on trailers and videos in general can either make or break the final quality, a trailer with weak transitions can look cheap and unprofessional. Due to the fact that Adobe Premiere is not solely based around creating trailers and such like videos it has a wide range of transition effects which are very similar to those that you would find on Powerpoint. These transitions may be perfect from one Powerpoint slide to another but look awful transitioning from one video clip to another. For this reason I decided that I would look into various transitions and the effects these had on clips. This would help me narrow down the best and eliminate the worst. This will save me time when I come to put my final trailer together as I wont need to play around with all of these transitions. The below screenshot shows all of the different types of transitions which Premiere has to offer.

I am to try at least one transition from each of the above folders. I will then evaluate how well it works and what effects it gives. I will then create a shortlist of all of my favourite transitions at the end. 

3D Motion - Spin Away:

This transition spins the start of the second clip before it starts to play. This transition looks average in a video however this may be improved by using this at a different place and on different clips.This transition would look out of place at the start or the end of the whole video and hence could only really be used to transition from one clip to the next.

3D Motion - Tumble Away:

This transition takes the end of the first clip it is applied to and then rotates it smaller until it disappears in the center of the screen. I really don't like the way this transition looks on video clips and as I mentioned above I feel this would be better suited to Powerpoint like presentations. his transition would look out of place at the start or the end of the whole video and hence could only really be used to transition from one clip to the next however I wont be using this in my trailer.

Dissolve - Cross Dissolve:

This transition is a very commonly used on trailers and television advertisements. It works by 'dissolving' the first clip on top of the second clip so the second clip gradually appears. The two clips cross over or overlap and hence the name. This is a much softer transition than the two above and hence it looks a lot better on video clips as they tend to just merge together. 

Dissolve - Dip To Black/Dip To White:

Dip To Black and Dip To White are two separate transitions however work in the same way and hence I have placed them under the same heading. This transition is also used heavily in industry. It works by dipping the clip to either black or white and then the second clip appears after this. This is a transition which would work well at the end of the whole trailer as my final clip could simply dip to black/white. This could also aid in adding titles in the middle of my trailer as the clip could dip and then change to a solid screen. 

Iris - Iris Points:

This transition works by splitting the original clip into quarters to show the second clip which is behind this. This transition is better suited to suited to Powerpoint like presentations in my opinion. This is based on the fact that the transition is too noticeable. This isn't always a bad thing however I personally don't like the really prominent transitions.  I looked at several different Iris transitions, all of these worked in the same way just the actual transition shape changed. For example Box, Star and Cross. These all had the same low quality effect. 

Map - Luminance Map:

This transition was completely different to any that I had looked at previously.  The transition between the two clips was created using different levels of light and opacity. The initial clip goes dark and the opacity level decreases so the second clip can be seen through, the initial clip then completely fades out. I am undecided as to whether I like this transition or not, I feel it would work on video clips and presentations however I feel I would be a lot more limited with what clips I could apply this transition too.

Page Peel - Page Turn:

This transition is quite self explanatory.  The transition works by one clip playing followed by a page turn which then leads to the second clip. This transition looked very unprofessional when linking one video clip to the next and hence I think it would be better suited to Powerpoint like presentations. I looked at several different Page Peel transitions to see if they all had the same low quality effect. I experimented with Center Peel, Roll Away and Peel Back. I personally feel these were actually worse than the original Page Turn! Needless to say I wont be looking at using these transitions in my trailer.

Slide - Center Split:

This transition works by splitting the original video clip into quarters and then pushing them away to make way for the second clip.This has a very noticeable transition and hence I dont personally like the effect it gives off.

Slide - Swirl:

This transition is similar to the previous as it creates a very noticeable change. It works by splitting the second clip into small sections and then these sections swirl onto the screen and clip into place. This transition is much better suited for Powerpoint presentations as I feel the change it much too strong for video clips.

Special Effects - Displace:

This transition is very subtle. The initial clip simply ends with the second clip starting slightly distorted. I don't feel this transition has much of an effect on the two clips at all. I feel this would be better suited to some kind of horror trailer rather than my own Rom-Com.

Special Effects - Three D:

This is a very unique transition as it changes the colour of the clips as well as transitions from one to another. It works by layering the two clips. The second clip sits on top of the first clip, both with lower opacity. The colours are then changed to make the transition appear 3D. Like with the previous special effect transition I don't feel this suites my trailer genre and hence I wont be using this transition in my trailer. 

Stretch - Stretch:

This transition works by stretching the second clip over the top of the first. This transition is average. I don't feel it gives the best effect but it also doesn't give the worst. In the right context I feel this transition could work well and I may play around with this in my trailer even if it doesn't make it to my final cut.

Wipe - Clock Wipe:

The Wipe transitions work by effectively wiping the screen to make room for the second clip. Clock Wipe works by wiping the screen from the top central in a clockwise motion. This is a prominent effect and I hence feel that it doesn't create the smooth transition I am aiming for.

 

Wipe Barn Doors:

This transition is very similar to that of above. It works by wiping the screen from the center to either side to show the second clip. Again this is a prominent clip which is not the look I am going for and hence I wont be using this transition for my DVD trailer.

Zoom - Cross Zoom:

The final transition I looked and experimented with was Zoom. This particular zoom was the Cross Zoom. This works by zooming in on the first clip and then zooming out on the second clip. I don't personally like this transition technique as I don't feel it looks professional when used on video clips.

With all of these transitions in mind my favourite are by far from the Dissolve folder. These are in the form of Cross Dissolve and Dip To Black/White. I will look into the other dissolve transitions when creating my trailer. I feel these transitions are subtle but effective which is perfect for combining video clips into one clip. 

When applying all of these transitions to my sequence there are various options to change which could help create different effects. When the transition is placed on the timeline I can simply double click on the transition and a screen will appear in the top left hand corner. This allows me to change the settings of that particular effect. This allows you to change elements such as when the transition starts and ends, the length of the transition along with the length of the whole transition. This is also something to consider when applying transitions to my own trailer. This can be seen below:

 

Premiere - Audio Transitions

As well as Video Transitions Premiere has Audio Transitions. There are much fewer options for this however I feel these are worth looking into based on my previous comments about the audio in trailers. I personally feel the music or soundclips which accompany a DVD trailer can really make or break the final result. Transitioning from one audio clip to another was not something I had previously thought about as I thought I would just use one audio clip/song. This has brought me to a new train of thoughts and I am now considering using a range of snippets from songs. I have looked into all three of the Audio Transitions. These are as follows:

1. Cross Fade - Constant Gain
2. Cross Fade - Exponential Fade
3. Cross Fade - Constant Power

Constant Gain works by gradually letting the second sound clip play over the initial sound clip until the first clip can no longer be heard. Exponential Fade works in a similar way, the first sound clip slowly fades out while the second sound clip slowly fades in until the first clip can no longer be heard. The final Cross Fade works by keeping both sound clips at a constant volume playing over each other until a given point when the first clip then cuts out. This is used in industry.

All three of these Audio Transitions are professional and produce high quality change overs however my favourite is Constant Gain. I do really like Constant Power however I feel my trailer is going to be too short to fully take advantage of this.