This was a request I had recently for a presentation style video. We shot voice overs in the studio and the request was to highlight certain keywords in a paragraph of text in time to the voice over. This is a simple concept but there is an inefficient and an efficient way of going about it.
Lets start by creating your title and finalise your text font and layout. Right click in the Project Pane and select New Item > Title and name accordingly. Pick up the text tool and click where you would like the text to appear in the window. I like to adjust my font, size etc previously and then paste my text in. Refine your layout and the close the window. Now duplicate the title you just created by right clicking and selecting duplicate. I usually name it with a .1 suffix or the word that is will highlight. Open up this title and highlight the first word you wish to appear in a different colour and change the colour. Close this window down and this time duplicate the .1 version of the title. Repeat this until all your words are highlighted in the new colour. Play the voice over in the timeline and pause at the beginning of the first word you wish to be highlighted in the paragraph. Refine using the arrows on your keyboard. Drag the second title you created down to the playhead and repeat until all highlighted words are timed to the VO.
If you are used to using Final Cut Pro you will no doubt prefer to control your audio channels in the timeline rather than on the effects tab. At first this appear difficult if you use the button to the left of the timeline depicted here you shall reveal further controls in Adobe Premiere Pro.
This will allow you to control the levels from the timeline over time which is very handy if you have a soundtrack or voice over that needs to be taken in and out during your edit. Often these level changes will be clip dependent, meaning that if you move the clip around the point at which the levels need to change will remain the same. Sometime these changes in sound level will be relevant to the edit and if you move certain clips you will still require the levels to change at that point. Using the drop down here you have access to show clip toggles or show timeline toggles. Remember that clip levels works on that clips audio independent of the timeline and the timeline audio works on the timeline audio independently of the clips.
Add keyframes at the playhead using the black diamond next to the track or by using the Pen Tool.
This another really simple error that encore throws up every time you check your build unless you manually set it. This error is merely asking what the DVD should do once it has played the video track.
Use the dropdown, End Action to select how it should act, often it will be just Stop or return to the main menu.
Also check out Title Remote Not Set
No doubt you have come across this error many a time when you test your build in Adobe Encore especially if you have sent the project from Premiere Pro via Adobe dynamic link. This is merely the option to select what happens when the viewer presses the menu button on their remote control. If your project looks like the image displayed here then you don’t need to worry just ignore the error as it’s not really an error. I you have a menu on the disc you will need to select the drop down below and point it at your menu. You can pickwick this or select from the drop down.
Also check out End Action Not Set
Since I was planning another possible relocation, this time from London to Brighton it seemed perfect timing that the findaproperty popped into the iTunes app store.
For a property app that searches a database of listings this app has a few nice touches that even eBay could learn from. The functionality and usability is well thought out and 15 screen shots and hints when you first launch the app means you are soon aware of the features. The findaproperty app has the usual search functions you would expect and makes use of your current location. The home screen adheres to Apples development concept of keeping things simple and supplies just 4 buttons along the bottom for new search, saved searches, recent searches and your account settings which leads me to the first of the nice touches. The app allows you to quickly sign up for an online account and syncs your searches and saved searches, recognising that users more and more like their online activity and how they access the Internet to lead how things function rather than design and development being led by the device. The other little extra that stood out was the ability to swipe through the listings while in the listing view. By this I mean that there is no need to hit back, go back to the listings, scroll and then tap the next house.
While in listing view the map button quickly loads up a google maps and the properties are annotated with pins which is very nice if location is a key criteria to your search.
The listing view is slick and if you are browsing on wireless the images are quick to load allowing you to quickly assess the property. The listings are not unnecessarily scrollable with links or buttons to further information and contacts rather than cramming all the info into one page.
One thing I would have liked to see and this merely reflects upon my search. I very much like on the website that in the listing view I can see the distance to nearest train station. As a commuter this info would effect whether I even look at the listing or not. However the map view allows you to make this assessment to.
Check out the App on the Findaproperty website.
First for this month, the NB TotalFit App has knocked the Mapmyrun of the top spot for fitness Apps with more functionality on the free app some of which MapMyRun a charging for.
The big one for this month is the introduction of the Amazon Kindle, see my Amazon Kindle review. This a simple App but a great seamless collaboration between website and the mobile web.
I am not usually one for replacing the phones basic phone functions with third party Apps but since I bought a Gorillapod the other week I thought I’d try out the Gorillacam App when I saw it and it is brilliant! Simple additional camera functions, countdown timer, sequence photos to name a few. The best bit is that it is well thought out and intuitive.
Since the iRail App has begun charge for their App I have begun using the Trainline App. It’s free and possibly more flexible than iRail with greater information provided once you have found your journey.
Also I should mention again the improvements to the Facebook App, now allowing the syncing of contacts and profile pics with your iPhone contacts.
The Rightmove App is still a personal favourite although a little birth tells me there might be a Findaproperty App just around the corner, watch this space for a full review.
Despite pushing for Adobe Captivate we have installed Camtasia on the edit suites at work for screen capture and tutorial recording. I’m not disappointed though it does the job!
Firstly, the majority of recording the company will need to shoot will be on PC based software so we have bought the PC version and installed VMWare on the Macs. This should improve the workflow from recording to edit. The software is easy to set up and get started with, like most programs.
Load up Camtasia Studio and you will first be faced with an option screen. Choose screen recording.
A small window in the bottom right hand corner of the page will load. In this window you have options for Camera, Audio and Select Area.
Once you hit the record button the window is minimized to the tray and everything you do on screen or within your assigned area is recorded.
When you are done hit the Esc key or go down to the icon in the tray and click to reveal the stop option.
The recording is now in a ‘cache’ state and you now need to decide how you will save the file down.
Click the Save button in the bottom right corner of the window.
Save the files down as an AVI as we will not be editing the video in Camtasia Studio. Organise your clips well so you can quickly identify them and their order later.
Today, for the first time since “The far away tree” I lost myself in a book. I am not much of a reader at length. Most of my library is reference and I dip in and out as I need to learn but today I discovered something great. Roughly a month ago a colleague called me into his office to show me his new Amazon Kindle. Being one for gadgets and tech I was impressed, mainly considering the space I could save. I put it on the future purchases and thought nothing of it until the other day. I was browsing the Zagg website when I came across their App recommendation tool, I signed up and in my first list of recommendations was the Amazon Kindle iPhone App. Without hesitation I installed it, linked it to my amazon account and began searching for a book to test the App. After a short browse I discovered that you could send a sample of hue books to your Kindle to decide whether it’s the book for you. Very impressed I chose a couple and today on the train I spent the entire 40 minutes reading. Now this, for most is no major accomplishment bit one of the reasons I stopped prolonged reading was not by choice, I would get four pages into a book and wake up 2 hours later. The Amazon Kindle for iPhone has a function to switch the color to sepia. I found this a lot less hypnotic than the harsh black and white of a usual page. Maybe it was the time of day, maybe it was mind over matter as I was reading a book on a gadget but I know that I don’t have time to wait for my books to age to that sepia sort of color and will be reading a lot more on my iPhone.
The fundamentals to producing good chroma key are choice of background colour and flat lighting. You will save time and effort at edit if you spend an extra 10 minutes on this before a shoot. I often bounce light of a wall or flag the lights so as not to produce harsh changes in colour, I then monitor the colour through the camera display to ensure I produce a flat and even blue or green.
I shall talk about the controls I use in Adobe Premiere Pro as it is my current edit suite environment but controls the the video effects are much the same in Final Cut. For greater detail I would use Adobe After Effects to produce perfect results.
If you have produced an even background and once you get used to the controls you will be able to knock out the background in seconds. Apart from the Key Color / Eye Dropper used to select the colour you wish to remove, the three main controls are Color Tolerance, Edge Thin and Edge Feather. Select the tone roughly in the middle of the range of colour you wish to remove, I have often placed my new background in the video timeline under my clip so as I can see what I am doing. Adjust the Color Tolerance until the majority of the chroma has been removed. There will usually be a thin line left around the subject. Use the Edge Thin to remove most of this by increasing the value. The line is still pretty harsh so now tidy the effect up using the feather tool again by increasing the value, this will soften the change in color.
If you didn’t manage to achieve an even flat light you can use the Colour Key effect more than once in order to remove the rest of the colour but be sure to keep an eye on the shades on the subject to make sure nothing is removed. If you have chosen the background colour wisely this shouldn’t be a problem.
For Chroma Key in more detail using Adobe After Effects see this tutorial, very simple but great results.
I often want to take a few of my favourite movies away with me when I go away. It is possible to convert your DVD’s into a format that will play on your iPod, iPhone or any portable device to save you physically carrying the discs around with you. I am going to talk about a software I use on a Mac but you can download similar software for windows, just look on download.com or softpedia.com.
I use Handbrake to convert my DVD’s it’s really easy to use and now comes with present for most popular portable devices. Open up handbrake and insert you DVD, if you DVD Player software loads up just quit out of this as you don’t want the computer doing two things at once. 
Choose Source in the top left hand corner and locate your disc, you don’t have to go deep into folder structure, top level is enough for handbrake to assess the disc. 
Once selected Handbrake will review all the chapter on the disc. Make sure you have selected the first chapter right through to the last chapter to ensure you convert the entire DVD.
Select the preset for the output video using the drawer on the right handside of the interface. Handbrake now has presets for iPhone, iPod and iPod Touch to make things nice and simple but if you are worried about file size then you can fine tune the settings yourself.
Once you are happy and have selected where you would like your file to be saved hit the Start button next to the Source button at the top of the interface.
Open the file in iTunes and it will be copied into your iTunes Media Folder, next time you sync you device the file will be uploaded.
Also see Duplicating DVD’s and CD’s using Mac OSX’s Disk Utility
