Awesome music video

[ed]

Check out the music video for the Smithereens latest, a complete cover of meet the beatles. Janice and I saw them perform it in concert a few months back. (look for the 3/6 entry)
http://www.officialsmithereens.com/some ... ethng.html

And...here's my music video for another song on it.
http://www.vimeo.com/clip:159318

[happy2bapappy]

Bush is looking pretty ripped there.

there's a lot of technical merit that went into that video. Nice work.

[Steve Grisetti]

Great fun, ed!

(Though I was a little disappointed when I realized I was watching CGI instead of real bobbleheads.)

Loved the screaming fans!

[ed]

That would have been hard to do with real bobbleheads. I thought it was put together well.

[momoffduty]

Liked both videos and I agree, Bush does seem a little muscular these days. Did you make your video with stills or did you try the live feed capture with PE3? Also, did you film the figures in front of something green and then key the background out to put in the other background?

[ed]

Hi Cheryl,

Yeah, Bush looks like he's on steroids

I shot individual digital photos with my camcorder, which has a remote attachment. I have bright green cloth that I had purchased from a fabric store, which I set-up as a green screen by pinning to a wall and letting it drap over a table. I also painted the metal doll stands the same color green. I used a free piece of software called JPEGVideo to turn the still images into an AVI file, at a settng that repeats each image 6 times per second. I then imported this AVI clip into the video editing software.

I didn't use Elements for this, but I could have. I used Magix Movie Edit Pro, which I feel is easier to adjust for the green screen. I added the video to a track, them copied and pasted segments of the video to re-use on the timeline. Then I added the green screen preset and adjusted until I had a match with my green color. Then I added the music, and filled out the timeline until I had enough video for the soundtrack. I used jpeg images as the backdrop.

It's really pretty easy to do. The trickiest part is the lighting. I just used multiple "studio" type lamps we have around the house (not professional lighting) and moved them around until the lighting was fairly even. Also, you don't want to have the subject to close to the green screen material. You'll have some shadows, but that's OK as long as they don't overwhelm the screen. If you try it, I have timelines in Elements where I've done the same thing, and could post a screen grab of it.

[Doreen L.]

Nice job Ed!

And hey, I remember the Smithereens. I'm a Jersey Shore girl. I've seen them play (long time ago) but for the life of me I can't remember where. Maybe The Stone Pony.

[momoffduty]

Thanks ed for the details, much appreciated. I thought about getting green fabric, but wasn't sure what kind etc. Maybe need to try different ones to see which works best. For my greetings stopmotion, I tried different poster boards and had a problem with reflection from the lights. My pro lighting constists of using daughter's pole lamp..lol. My original plan was to use a contrasting color from the cards and then key the background out and maybe put in a map of the world or clouds as a background. Also for the greetings video, I doubled or more stills to have a pause at certain spots. Just kept adding to the scene line. I do like the live feed with the PE3, just click the mouse for each move. The initial settings require you pick the frame/sec. That is why the stop motion couch is so slow, too high frame rate. I realize now that I can save as an AVI file and then import the file to a new project to change the speed. Can't change the speed on the stills as a group, would have to change each one seperately. Thanks again for the details.

[ed]

Thanks Doreen. Wow, the Stone Pony; some great acts have been there. You should check them out if they come around you for the tour of this. It was a great show.

Also, the lead singer, Pat Dinizio, put out a really good CD last year that is really good. It's live recordings from his "House Party Tour", with basically just him playing piano and covering old songs like Witchita Lineman, The Shadow Of Your Smile, This Guy's In Love With You, ... Great as dinner or Sunday morning music. I got it from iTunes.
http://www.amazon.com/This-Pat-Dinizio- ... B000FBFTDW

[ed]

Your lighting sounds as professional as mine

I picked bright green cloth, something that you would not normally see in peoples clothing or other objects. Not quite neon, but very bright, I also made sure the fabric wasn't shiny or had a loose weeve. It's also important to iron all the wrinkles out.

I'll be using it again, and President Bush, for my special Easter video.

[momoffduty]

ed, you iron too? Actually my husband irons too. hmmm, Bush & Easter can't wait to see that one! What is the theme on your site for April?

[ed]

The theme is going to be "Magic". Not magic tricks, although if you know any that would be awesome, but more like special effects type stuff. I've got an idea for a video sorted out, just need to make the time to get it done.