Sound Design Transitions – Techniques for Better Sound Design

So it been a while since launched a ramble on the use of Transition in your video projects.

Long time readers of this blog will now be groaning and rolling there eyes because… “Here he goes again!”

But for those of you who are new, here’s a recap!

To make the whole thing nice and short the deal is this.

There is just about nothing in the world of making videos that will make you project look more amateurish than using pre-packaged transitions.

Those left to right or right to left wipes, barn doors, pizza boxes, curling, spinning, revolving thingy’s and all of the others.

The real pro’s actually only use three or so types of transitions with the most common of these being no transition at all!

Yup! Just a straight cut from one shot to the next is the most common transition you will see.

The problem of course is that if you do a series of straight cuts from one shot to the next, things get boring pretty fast.

So what are they actually do to prevent that?

The answer to that is a whole bunch of little tricks that are almost invisible to the eye unless you know what you are looking for.

The most common of these are J-cuts and L-cuts and for a good understanding of these just do a search on this website and you will find a bunch of tutorial videos on them.

The other thing they are doing is enhancing their cuts with audio transitions so that the transitioning action occurs without you noticing any sort of visual cue.

For a refresher on that check this first video from Aidan Robbins which I have posted before. In this video he gives a great explanation on how to keep the actual video transition simple but enhancing it with effective audio.

Keep reading after that because there is more to come!

So now that you have the idea of enhancing transitions with audio let’s take it one step further.

Transitions are very much based on the concept of “seeing” something that transitions (verb) the audience from one scene to the next or from one shot to the next.

It’s job is to “move” you along in the story without you noticing that you are being moved and that implies a visual cue or cues.

90% of the time when you are referring to a “transition” you are referring to something that is largely being achieved on Screen as something you can see.

There is another way you can achieve a transition that is less common and does not rely on a visual cue of any kind.

That type of transition is achieved through the use of audio.

Like most things in video if you do it right it works very well but if you do it wrong or do it too often, things go south pretty quickly.

The video below is the follow up to the one above covering audio transitions and their uses.

When to Shoot RAW and When to Skip It

One of the current tech “pushes” that is beginning to enter into the amateur level of video shooting is the question of RAW footage.

For those that haven’t come across it as yet here’s a quick explanation.

Most devices that you and I use to shoot video will generally be capturing that video in a certain way.

Most likely it will be MP4 video or some similar flavor shot using the H.264 codec.

Now we don’t need to get too technical here except for one major point regarding this.

This form of video file creation that occurs in your shooting device employs very heavy processing of the information that is coming from the sensor.

That “processing is called compression and its purpose is to maintain the best possible quality while at the same time reducing the size of the resulting files to a manageable level.

Of course when we say compression what we are really saying is throwing stuff away because truthfully that what’s really going on!

The data is analysed and the codec is designed to make some pretty amazing calculations at incredible speed to work out what it can afford to dump whilst keeping the quality.

On the other hand many devices these days are going to offer the ability to capture RAW footage and that is pretty much exactly what it is… raw.

There is little to no compression or processing going at all.

This sounds rather good because that way you get to keep all the data right?

Well kind of.

Check out the video below for a more complete run through of why RAW footage may or may not be good for you.

9 Screen Recording Tips That Will Make You a Better Creator

Most of the video editing programs I recommend on this website these days come with a built-in screen recorder of some type.

In the past that kind of feature was most commonly available as a $300 stand alone program so times have certainly changed.

As with most things when it comes to video, having access to a feature does not necessarily guarantee success!

I have seen some pretty horrendous Screen Recording videos in my day so rather than be guilty of the same crimes, check out this article in making better screen recordings.

• Screen Recording Tips

Tips for Setting up and Finding the Right Backdrop

One thing that I learned very early on in my relationship with the subject of videos was that everything visible onscreen is potentially changing audience perception.

Because it is by nature a visual medium even the tiniest of details can have an influence.

So when you look at the title of this video and think how big a deal could a backdrop be?

Think again!

Filmora LUT Installation Tutorial Plus Freebies

These days even the most simple or basic of video editors can handle the use of LUTs within their color correction or grading modules.

My favorite easy to use video editor, Filmora9 is no exception in this regard.

Check the video below for a look at how you can use the existing LUTs in Filmora9 to color correct or color grade your videos as well as how to import new LUTs.

The creator of the video is also offering three free LUTs he has created however you need to signup to his website to get them.

If you don’t want to do that remember that there are thousands of free LUTs around on the internet and a search on Google will get you a heap of results.

And finally, LUTs are written in a standardized kind of way so any software that can accept LUTs can use them from just about any source.

In other words they are never specific to the software they may have been originally associated with.

Filmora9 Review

5 Ways to Use Mirrors for Interesting Shots

These are just some interesting suggestions for using mirrors to get shots and angles that you may otherwise not be able to get.

Filmora Export Settings For YouTube

This is a very good tutorial on uploading to YouTube to retain the best possible you can.

A lot of video editing software will directly upload to YouTube from within their interface using preset parameters.

Most of these are good to OK but there are a bunch of other things you can do and need to do to get that really crisp sharp video you often see.

PowerDirector – Animate an Existing Signature on the Screen

Last week I shared a tutorial done in PowerDirector on how to create the apparency of a signature being written in real time on a video.

That technique although quite good in a pinch came with one major limitation.

It required a pretty steady hand on the computer mouse with which to actually draw the signature.

I for one am not blessed with that kind of ability when it comes to drawing on the screen with the mouse!

So this week from the same creator we have a slightly different approach this time using a preexisting signature.

The beauty of this one is that you can sign or create the signature in the real world first using and actual hand and an actual pen!

After that you need to get that signature captured as an image file (preferably .png) then follow along with the tutorial.

Yes there is still a sort of “drawing with the mouse” step but it is far more forgiving.

Editing a Crime Series Intro in 2 HOURS

Another good “challenge” video from the guys at Cinecom, this week doing a “Crime Series” intro sequence.

I always like to watch these one for great ideas on how work your way around problems and get things done without a huge budget.

Original post The Friday Roundup – Audio Transitions, Shooting RAW and Screen Recording