Live recording effect

[cdeemer]

I know this can be made from scratch -- but does anyone know of an existing "live recording effect" to superimpose over video so it looks like it's being recorded live, i.e. a red REC, blinking red dot, and crop markings in the corners? I don't want to reinvent the wheel if one exists. Thanks.

[Chuck Engels]

I know we've had this question before and someone came up with an answer.
Will try searching for the topic, I know we found something that was pretty cool.

[Chuck Engels]

Here is the one I was thinking of, DIY but pretty simple to do.
viewtopic.php?p=50934#p50934

[cdeemer]

I made a title file in PE I can use over and over ... all there except the blinking red dot, which would be nice. I don't know how to add that except as a separate file (which is fine).

[Chuck Engels]

This is a tutorial for Sony Vegas but it is pretty much the same for Premiere Elements
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNoRQQXRmrE

You can add the dot as a separate file, then just keyframe the Opacity to turn it on and off.
Or just extend the file for 30 frames and then skip 30 frames and add it again.
That would blink once every other second.

[cdeemer]

Chuck, if you wanted this to blink on and off for, say, several minutes, is there a short cut to making all the manual changes each time?

[Gerlinde]

One of the instant movie themes has that effect, I can't remember if it is in PE7 or PE8 and I don't know if the red dot is actually blinking. I can check tonight when I get home.

[cdeemer]

Hey thanks but I use PE3 on my desktop and 2 on my netbook.

[Chuck Engels]

You can create a graphic with a red dot and a transparent background in Photoshop Elements or another graphic program. Put that graphic on a timeline in a separate project and stretch it out for say 2 seconds, copy that clip, paste it to the timeline and move it down the timeline so it is 2 seconds away (60 frames) from the first clip. You can do this over and over again until you have the desired length, then export a single uncompressed AVI with alpha to retain the transparent background.

You can also add the red dot graphic to the timeline and stretch it out as long as you want, then keyframe the opacity on and off to simulate the blink. There should be a way to copy and paste the attributes if you have multiple red dot graphics all of the same length. So if you keyframe a red dot image that is 10 seconds long and then add another image and stretch it out for 10 seconds you could copy and paste the attributes making the keyframing easier.

I am trying to think of an easier way to do this but can't come up with anything at the moment.

[momoffduty]

I've been thinking about this one. What Chuck posted is a one way. Just tried this out and it will work:

In PrEl go to Edit>Preferences>General. Change the still image frames to 15 (think the default is 150).

Import your psd file with the red dot....After you change above!

Place the dot on the time line as many times as desired next to each other. Move every other dot up a track. Lasso all of those that have been moved up and delete.

You can't just delete every other one or the sliding edit will occur. You could right click every other one and clear, but moving them up a track is faster.

Export the dots from the timeline as an AVI with transparency. Use the WAB and extend it 15 frames past the last dot psd & now it will loop when you place the AVI's together on the timeline.

[RJ Johnston]

This site has some video overlays for sale. Here is a high definition overlay for five dollars:

http://videohive.net/item/camera-recording-look/97382

[cdeemer]

That's what I was looking for, RJ, thanks.

[Chuck Engels]

Great find RJ

[cdeemer]

Works like a charm.