live vs. post....oh yeah and graphics too

This post is really just a little more info about me and my role(s) at my church. My main area of focus is the weekend worship experience. Live production is something I have spent a lot of time doing and it's something that I think I am pretty good at. However as with most video people while my focus may be live production, I am also a competent videographer in my own rights. I am capable of shooting and editing footage and I like to think I can hold my own in this area. However, what I have spent the most time lately doing is motion design/animation. This is an aspect of my job that I REALLY enjoy, but unlike my live production experience this is not something I was ever trained for.  I am mostly self taught. I have watched literally hundreds of hours of tutorials, and I am a VERY novice graphic person, and I know even less about motion graphic design.

My problem, is like a lot of video people who work for/with non video people, I am expected to be very competent in this area as well. From live production to shooting and editing in post there are at least SOME correlations.  However, when it comes to graphics they are in no way shape or form related but since it's all video I am suppose to good at it.  What is funny is typically this is not the case.  Most motion graphics guys can't edit their way outta a wet paper bag, and most good editors start sucking their thumb at the thought of opening Motion or AE.  Now this is observation not a law... I know a few guys that can handle both pretty well, but those guys few and far between, and they bill A TON more per hour then me .... and are totally worth every penny.  

My point is I think their is a double standard here... and since it effects me my opinion on is it not biased at all.  There is a double standard of expectations that I don't think exists in other places.  Video and graphics are not the same, if you have one guy doing both... get them some help.  Now!  Seriously GO!

Step 3: making the sails independent

So this last part I decided I really needed after testing the footage at the end of step 2.  While it looked good, it also made each piece of sail look like one piece instead of multiple sails, so back in to motion.
I duplicated the loop 3 times and sized them down to fit just over the masks.  Then I rotated them along axises so they did not mimic the sail below them. I also added the jolly roger to the mail sail, this was displaced the same way the original sail was done, at the request of the TD, what the TD wants the TD gets.

Ok once this file is exported and put back in keynote then I do what most people would never dream.  I stretch it to fit length wise...before you freakout I left this step out earlier that makes this ok.  I did that so I could discuss it more here.  Remember the original mask was made at the resolution 3840x720, the orginal projected size.  Well the orginal sail video size is 1280x720.  Well when I designed this sail layout I shrank the mask length wise to fit the 1280x720 aspect.... I then compressed the sails length wise to fit the compressed mask.  Once it is finalized I will reverse the process in keynote stretching the sails back to the original size.  Why the hoops, well 3840x720 is not a resolution you can work at, or that even most things recognize, so I fake it.  By contorting the mask and making the finals fit that contorted shape once I re-size them they look fine.  I know I am taking a quality hit here by doing this, but honestly aside from me no one should notice, and since the resolution doesn't exist in anything else it is the only way I know how to do it.  

So I put the finalized 1280x720 mov in keynote.... then stretch the sides to fit the 3840 resolution. Then layer the mask goes over it and I use the alpha feature in keynote to get rid of the whites, thus making these squares in the final video look like properly sized rectangle sails.

so here is a copy of the 1280x720 video with out the mask on it.

So you can tell just by looking at is it should be stretched out a little for everything to look right.  If you can image stretching that by 3 times as long that is what the final looks like and trust me it looks fine. 

I will see if I can get some good footage of it this weekend to post here so you can see the final project.

Total time on task for this project was about a day and half, which considering at the start I wasn't even sure I could do it, not a bad time. 

Step 2: sail video loop

This step was more interesting for me because I knew what I had to do, but was not sure how I was going to do it.  Problems:
1) I don't have any stock sail waving footage
2) I couldn't find any good ones on stock sites
3) time... need I say more

Solutions
1) compositors tool kit
2) made it myself
3) didn't take near as long as expected but still a few hours


So I started with some great stock from Digital Juice, compositors tool kit 1
I used 0014 fabric for the sail.  In motion I used the multiply blend mode with this graphic that our awesome graphic designer made me:

That go me a good look but the lines did not move with the fabric so I applied a displacement filter and in image well I used the 0014 fabric mov.  That got me this result:

Which looked great the multiply blend mode gave it good color and details and the displacement filter made the lines wave as the fabric moves, but still doesn't loop, and since this is going to be playing for long periods of time it HAD to loop.

I know I don't have to stress the importance of a seamless loop but I will..... 20 seconds of video is small, 20 minutes of video is big.  20 seconds of video looping for 20 minutes is small and could go on indefinitely ... 20 minutes of video is big and will stop at 20 minutes.  20 seconds of video renders in no time, 20 minutes renders over-night. 

Now that that is out of the way
I sent it to final cut for the looping part, and discovered this transition filter I have never used before called non-additive dissolve.  THIS ROCKS!!!! It does exactly what it says, which is why I started with it... and boy am I glad I did.

I cut the video in the middle and swapped the order of the two parts. That makes the end-to-start seam seamless because the first frame actually comes next after the last frame, but the middle is all messy.  I made the two parts over lap eachother by putting them in diffrent tracks in FCP and added the non-addative dissolve filter to the top track and it just worked.  I dragged the transition out over 2 seconds and poof instant loop.  That easy!
Here is what it looks like on the FCP time line:

Remember track 2 was the original start of the clip by swapping the order I move the loop point to the middle and the non-additive dissolve took care of that.  After some color correction it was back to motion.  If you watched the final output closely you could probably find where the transition is but if you don't look for it you would never just notice it by watching. 

At this point I actually stopped and took the sail down to test it on the fabric and to test the loop points.  It looked better then I hoped, but after putting it in the mask I saw that the top sail looked like a continuation of the bottom sail it made them look like 1 piece not 2... I couldn't have that!!  Details like that eat my lunch.   So I needed to overcome THAT obstacle so NOW back to motion for Step 3 making the sails independent.

Creating a sail step 1: Masking

One of the things that really sells the effect of the image on the sail is the fact that is ONLY on the sail. I am sure there are better ways to do this but, this is way I do it; in keynote.  Ok pick yourselves back up off the floor and let me finish.  We use keynote for presentation for as few reasons 1) alpha channel 2) odd resolution not a problem (we use 3840x720).  Pro presenter 4 should be able to do this as well but I have not had a chance to really get in to it.  I will warn you in advance there are some techniques I use in the process that will make some purists very upset because I do some things with video that are usually BIG no-no's.


So for this shape I start with a basic 4 to 12 point garbage shape and then manipulate the points to fit.  Usually I start with a black background and I use white filled shape so I can see what I am doing.  Once I have the mask finished I can export it from Keynote as a JPEG.

Garbage mask

Once I have the JPEG out I can bring it back in over an .MOV in keynote and then use the alpha tool to get rid of the mask shape.  

So this part is easy, yet usually a little time consuming because you can't alter and present at the same time.  This means you end up a work flow like this; adjust, present, repeat. Depending on how complicated the shapes are really determines time on this, I think for this project the entire mask took me a little over an hour, but less then two.  Mainly because we had curves.

Making the mask for this project was really the easy part, next I had to making the sail.  I won't lie I wasn't really sure how this was going to work when I sat down to it.  I had to make some stuff up as I went on this one, but the results are tough to argue with.  So next post, making the sail loop video.

I'm on a boat!

Yeah that's right you heard me.
We are doing a pirate themed sermon series for the next 4 weeks, so the TD decided we need to build a pirate ship set.  The sails were made out of spandex, so the challenge was to make the sails look like sails when they wouldn't actually move. 
So I spent one day this week making sails to project on the spandex, I think the result looks great.
So my next couple of posts will be step by step how it was done. Hopefully by the end I will have better resolution video

55-31

Well we had a ROCKIN worship set this week, our guest worship leader (who will be leading at our multisite) did and AWESOME job.  We got to introduce "Rise and Sing" to the congregation, which was a first for the band and they did great.  Thus the 55, that is the number of shots the camera guys got together for this less the 4 minute song.  Now some of you big time TD's are thinking 55 shots for a 4 minute song is not a big deal.  Let me set the table a little, 1 we only have 4 cameras; 1 of them is locked down, 1 is on a tripod, and 2 ninjas.  Also we use a presentation switcher not a production switcher... thus WE HAVE to go through preview before going live... no hot punching.  Lastly our genlock is not quite as tight as it should be so sometimes we are waiting for signal to catch-up.  So at this speed the hardware is the choke point.... which my switcher was none to happy about.  So my math says that 1 shot roughly every 3 seconds, that is as fast as we get.  Some of you non-technical types are just now thinking how can he cram so much talk into 3 seconds... easy, when I direct I breathe through my ears :-)

Also today is my birthday thus the 31. My email exploded with facebook responses to my wall wishing me a happy birthday.  2 of my volunteers brought doughnuts and cupcakes with them to today.  Also I was not subject to one of the "from the on stage" pranks we have pulled on the worship leader and speakers before.   It's good to be the video director.  So yeah I felt very loved today. 

Sub churching

 I use the analogy of a submarine to describe our church a lot, if you have ever watched a good submarine movie, and there are a TON, then this will make sense.  On a submarine you have a lot of different departments who all work hand in hand with each other with little or no communication or over lap ... and sometimes little or no appreciation for the other departments simply because each is so specialized.  Not unlike our church. 

Now in every good sub movie at some point the captain will issue general commands which are repeated and interpreted by the department heads and reissued as specific orders to the department.  While this communication is relatively small it is VITALLY important.  At this point all the departments focus on their task and if they all do their job everything works out fine.  Let me use an example; if the captain wants to turn the sub to the left...  he says "turn left." One department head repeats to the navigator so he can chart the course so they don't crash, another repeats it to the helm so he can actually turn the boat, another repeats it to the engine room so they can get more power if needed, one might let the torpedo room know it's just a regular turn not an evasive maneuver.  What is impressive is in the movies this occurs with speed and precision that is unmatched by few things.  Ok so how does that apply to the church, well if in the movies what would happen if the captain went up and asked the helmsman to move and just grabbed the wheel and turned the sub. Answer ... all kinda of bad things would happen.  Sometimes THAT is what happens in our church.  Someone (and almost everyone is guilty of this at some level) makes a decision that has broader reaching scope then their department, but fails to inform the other departments.  Most of the time this is accidental, people just don't realize the scope of something as simple as.... say, moving a chair(this will be important later).  However, accidental or not the results are the same.  Sometimes is is done on a LARGE scale and sometimes it just little things. 

Perfect example this past weekend our Spritual Formations pastor asked ME if he could adjust his seat position on the stage further to the left, so as not to have his back to people.  Being the video director I looked at the camera positions and said "sure we can still get you from there."  We got to the point in the service he moved his chair .... right into darkness.  I had focused on my department so much that I never considered the lighting guys might need to know to move some lights.  Now this was relatively harmless, I messed up I apologized and we got it fixed.  However, this same mistake can happen on a VERY large scale and that is not harmless. 

The cure for this is improved communication.  We have a number of people coming on staff now out of corporate America.  As a result they have this almost military like precision in their communication.  Lucky for us they are coming into some key rolls, executive admin, facilities, and IT.  These positions really make up some of the backbone of our church, so we are very fortunate to have them.  I think we are already seeing some dividends being paid by having them here, and I for one look forward to us improving our communications across the board.  

So to sum up I think the church should take a page out of the submariners handbook, and evaluate communications at all levels.  I think you would be amazed how wide the effects of some simple decisions are.  I just moved a chair... how bad could it be?  

When I use the sub analogy I always compare it to being driven like a corvette.  If you drive a sub like a corvette you are destine to crash into the rocks.  If you try and drive your church like a corvette you are just as destine to crash it into the rocks. 

This has been deep thoughts from a shallow christian :-)