BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
We’ve now covered a lot of different topics in Premiere: sound mixing, color grading, green screen work, and the general editing workflow. We’ll be moving on to After Effects soon, although we’ll continue to use Premiere throughout the semester.
Over the next two weeks, we’ll be focused on two things. We’ll start to go over the basic workflow of After Effects and discuss the ways that it’s similar and different from Premiere. We’ll also cap off our section on Premiere with a mid-semester project.
Midterm Project: Images and Voices
Your midterm project is to use the skills you’ve learned throughout the semester thus far to create a video based on a piece of spoken-work audio. If you go to voicesinthedark.com, you’ll find a variety of audio content in mp3 form – poetry, fiction, and essays. You can also find readings of the pieces on Bucknell’s own Poetry Path at bucknell.edu/poetrypath. I’d like you to choose a work, or a section of a work, between 30 seconds and two minutes in length. Using that as a base, create a video.
- Play with the audio! Be sure to incorporate sound effects, ambient noise, music, or all three into your finished piece. Check out the Resources section of the blog and the sound mixing lesson for some helpful links.
- Use cool footage! You can use video clips from previous assignments, grab stuff from the Prelinger collection or archive.org, or use clips from this collection of vintage carnival footage. You are not required to use any specific footage, so feel free to find or film something on your own.
- Make it interesting! Don’t just throw in effects or transitions randomly, but feel free to experiment with different techniques. Use the skills you’ve been developing thoughtfully, including color grading and keyframed properties. You are not required to use green screen compositing, but you are welcome to!
- Incorporate a title graphic that has the title and author of the work you choose.
Please complete a first draft of this project, render if using the Vimeo 1080HD preset in the H.264 format, and email a download link to me by next Thursday. The project does not need to be completed, but you should have a working draft that you can share with the class. Next week, we’ll look at everyone’s projects, give some feedback, and complete them.
As always, let me know if you have questions or need any assistance. Have fun!