DV for Teachers

Need to edit a DVD you made, and don’t have the original tape? Have a public domain MPEG clip you want to work into a video project? This might work for you. I haven’t tested it, but it looks worth trying:

MPEG Streamclip is a new application: it converts MPEG files (including transport streams) into muxed, demuxed, QuickTime or DV files with more than professional quality, so you can easily import them in Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro and Toast 6. The most important conversions require the Apple MPEG-2 Playback Component (you can buy it online from Apple, but you already have it if you use either Final Cut Pro 4/HD or DVD Studio Pro); this component is used for high-quality decoding of MPEG-2 video. MPEG Streamclip also includes a player to set In and Out points, and perform a partial conversion.

Update: Added this link to MPEG Streamclip site.

“While LiveType does a tremendous job in creating motion
backs and dynamic text animations for your productions, what do you do
when you need to create a hole or matte for a video layer in Final Cut
Pro? This Quick Tip walks you through creating such an effect with
Matte to Background.”

Stephen Nathans reviews the current crop of hard-disk recorders for live video shoots:

“MiniDV brought digital video recording to the masses, but dropouts, head clogs, and the post-production lag of real-time capture make it a less-than-perfect medium for pros. More and more videographers are turning to hard disk digital video recorders to back up or even replace tape. Here’s a look at the latest in tapeless DV storage.”——-

The title sums it up: eMediaLive’s Jan Ozer provides a concise overview of making a video by yourself. Put this in the front of your notebooks, video students:

“To produce professional video on a budget, you need to master various visual and technical arts. But you also need to become a master of illusion, especially if you’re working as a crew of one. Here we explore the art of the single-camera shoot, and insert-editing techniques that will ensure that you have all the angles covered.”——-

Jeff Greenberg wrote the other day to point me to his site for the Philadelphia Final Cut Pro Users Group. Another good source for links to tips, tutorials, new add-ons, and fellow editors.——-

This is not good news. Pasting keyframes is a major timesaver. I hope they fix this soon.

Final Cut Pro HD: Keyframes are not pasted when you choose Paste Attributes

“When you paste the attributes of one clip onto another, keyframes are
not pasted, even though you selected the checkbox for Filters.


Normally, the Paste Attributes command is valuable for selectively
copying attributes from one clip to another without having to open
clips in the Viewer, eliminating the need to repeat steps when applying
identical effects to multiple clips.


If you select the Filters checkbox, the filters for the copied clip are
pasted as specified, but any keyframes added to the clip are not pasted.


One workaround is to drag the filter from a clip in the Effects tab of the Viewer onto the clip where you want the keyframes…”——-

“One of the new features in Final Cut Pro HD is how it handles the copying and pasting of clips in the Timeline. This Quick Tip walks you through the changes.”

Stephen Schleicher weighs in with another good tip.——-

“This document explains how to use Disk Copy or Disk Utility to create a duplicate of a DVD-R Video disc you previously made with iDVD. “

Guess who needs to copy a DVD because the project got deleted? Yep.——-

“iStopMotion is a screen-capture utility with a full suite of video analysis tools, such as a histogram, waveform, and vectorscope. The stars of this show, however, are preview and control features for grabbing individual frames in sequence. For example, the Movie Preview feature, which superimposes a live video image over the last frame you captured, makes it easy to precisely position your subject for the next frame. To plan more complex sequences, such as a pan or an intricate movement, you can enable and adjust an Onion Skinning feature to sequentially display up to the last five images you grabbed. For the tightest control, the Blinking feature alternates the live video signal with your last captured frame so that you can see exactly how the two images appear in sequence. iStopMotion can also produce time-lapse movies of, say, fog rolling in or a flower blooming.”


At $39.95, this is a very cool way to make stop-mo animations or time-lapse videos. Claymation, anyone?——-