Content creation basics

[SilentEclipse]

Originally posted by Mile
Don't forget the 'trial & error'-method :P

This is my preferred method, :P good to see another fan out there

[holly]

3 distinct layers seems to be a magic number for me. One layer feels empty, two layers seem "flat". At three layers my eyes start to have enough to follow that I stop being critical of the details.

But I'm probably more clich? than Rei.

[Amukidi]

Excellent thread!
For me, the biggest weakness in a lot of people's work is the composition, all of the arts are about arranging elements within a space/volume ans (especially in our case) a time-line. Here's a tried and trusted set of check points to consider before pressing the shutter/enter button. Check all 4 sides of your area/viewfinder, look at the diagonals, the foreground, background and most importantly, consider the balance between the positive and negative space. You have now considered thes points, make the call and take it.

Have a look at your favourite films, paintings etc and study them in the light of the above and you will start to develop a sharper awareness of composition - your imagery will improve, guaranteed.
"Don't forget the 'trial & error'-method"
Trial and error ocurrs at all times and is far better felt and noticed when you are actually in some sort of control in the first place, too many folks are born of the "point and shoot" culture, where trial and error rule. Whilst it is true that many great little things can happen by accident, if you don't consider the composition at all times, you'll not know how to draw upon the new knowledge found buy said "Trial and error" - Rely on Trial and error, and your development curve will be patchy at best.

[sleepytom]

yeah well said john - a well setup shot that you've really thought about is worth loads more than a stack of dv tapes with random footage.

think about your mix when your planning / shooting - are you shooting a background layer? an overlay? a texture?

be aware of classical film techniques - the concept of "crossing the line" is an important one to grasp - it applies equally to filmed footage as it does to abstract animation - if you are creating movement then you need to be aware of the direction its going in and the flow of the edits (that's not to say you can't break the rules but you should be aware of the reasons the rules exist before you start to push the boundaries)

[topherz]

Great thread idea -

Contrast:

A few more thoughts on the contrast theme:

syzygy said:
"* Good contrast helps to create content that will mix or key easily"

In addition to keying easily - starker images will also be more recognizable when mixed. When doing a straight Alpha type blend of two or more videos, the image can become very washed out and indistinct if the layers are not sufficiently strong by themselves. Mush.

syzygy recommended the "curves" filter in aftereffects. (i'll have to try that) I also recommend the "levels" filter in aftereffects and premier. From a quick look, it seems to offer a similar possibility as "curves", but with a little less control. An advantage of the "levels" filter is that it also gives you a graphic representing the contrast and luminance distribution in your footage. Similar to "curves" you can drag some arrows to increase what areas of your video are pure black or pure white.


Resolution:

In response to previous resolutoin question - it depends on the source material. Eventually there is no hope, all footage will be outdated lorez crap. But a good standard is TV res because it has been with us for so long, its pretty good, and there is a lot of existing content at that res. So *around* 640x480.
Even if one is mixing now with 320x240 footage. Its best to prepare all your clips at highest quality 640x480 or 720x480 or whatever your source material res is. Then batch it all to low res for your current performance clips.


Simple footage:

If you plan to do a lot of mixing and layering of footage. Then its often good if each of the clips is relatively visually simple so that you can still "get" it when it is mixed. This goes for the meaning of the clip as well. If each of your clips has a fairly distinct meaning or vibe, then they can be used more like words to put together something - to say something - while you are mixing.
Not to say that complex footage does not have its place as well. But, there are advantages to simple footage.


Black backgrounds:

(does it go without saying?)
Black backgrounds are great for footage for several reasons.
1. If you have imagery that does not touch the border of the frame, and its on black, then when you project somewhere - there is no TV frame - just a floating animating thingy
2. Good for keying. If you play it by itself it looks OK (vs having a green keying color for example) but then you can key it with a luma key. For this reason.. IDEALLY, the background would be pure black, and the footage would only contain very dark grey so that when you key - only the background goes away. But this is more wish then really requirement.


Background vs. Foreground

Have not done this myself but saw an awesome vj "Fritz Fritzke" using this to great effect. He gave a short talk about it. having various clips intentded for the background or the foreground. His background clips filled the whole video rectangle, and were more environmental or abstract. His foreground clips were all "frameless" not reaching the edge of the screen, and matted on black.


Multifrequency:

Dance music often has several layers at different speeds. One plus is that each dancer can tune into the speed that they like. Bounce with the bass or wigglin' jigglin' with the acid squelch. Video can be the same, several distinct frequencies in one clip. Or this could also be achieved with each clip having a distinct frequency - and then mixing several different ones to get a multifrequency mix.
A plus of multifrequency visuals is that it takes advantage of the effect where the mind automatically makes a connection similar audio and visual rythms. When you have a number of audio rythms, and a number of visual rythms, its just statistically more likely that there will be a random match. The mind will automatically hone in on the match - the pleasure center will tingle as flowers and bleeps bloom in perfect harmony.

-topher

[topherz]

Buy a tripod.

Buy a good tripod.

I probably went through about 5 shitty 30-50$ tripods in four years. Better than nothing...
Then i used a friends nice tripod. Then i bought a 100$ or so set of Manfrotto tripod legs. and a 40$ ball head. Its heavy. But it is so wonderful! heavy is a plus when it is windy. It is indistructable. it is tall. its more flexible than a chinese contortionist, which comes in handy in natural environments.

Then a friend got a nice fluid-head tripod head. maybe 100$. Amazing. It means you can pan and tilt with no jerks. A long handle means that you can very subtly control it. It is fucking HEAVY though.

So i still have a cheapy 30$ tripod that straps easily to a shoulder bag for just walkabout filming. But a nice tripod for the planned / road trip shooting.

-topher

[mondo]

great thread

think about making content thats relevant to the theme, and relevant to you <your interpretation of the theme>.
just stealing samples is all fine and well - but pretty useless unless you can use them to their best juxtaposed effect

look at content that we as human beings can relate too. ie. human stories, human physical bodies, human spiritual etc. every picture you shoot or sample tells a story and probably has a human reaction within it.

yes - even abstract graphics has a human effect

keep clips short and think about how they loop after 3-5 seconds.
can you make the loop look seamless?

make content that layers well - syzyrgy was spot an about contrast for lumakeying i would add saturation too as a powerful colour tool.

avoid TOO many effects at rendering - keep clips raw as poss and keep effects till the performance where they will have more power
<thats my view and many vjs differ>

[SilentEclipse]

Originally posted by Amukidi
. Whilst it is true that many great little things can happen by accident, if you don't consider the composition at all times, you'll not know how to draw upon the new knowledge found buy said "Trial and error" - Rely on Trial and error, and your development curve will be patchy at best.

Chill out man, it was a joke!

[seex]

Great thread

Concept, is realy important. Have a idea of what you want to end up with. It doesent only go for the actual content it culd also be a concept of what you want to communicate or how you want your public to feel, what is the message you want to get trough.

Folowing an idea or concept is easy when you know what your options are in terms of softwere and hardwere, so experiment at first but have in mind that this is only the learning period, and when you know what your gear can do it will get prety boring.

In general i devide content into two categories, abstaracts and icons. Abstracts are usualy clips that dont have any reference to a real life object, while icons are images of objects that we can recognise. I use these two categories with the bacground foreground method. I agree here with the high contrast for keying and curves is the best tool to corect this, levels is similar but more technical. One can look at the histogram but one can also look at the image.

Do as much work you can in advance, i usualy have most of the show out on decks in resolume, and i try to figure the order of clips and efects in advance, keep in mind that there is always space for improvisation no mater how prepaired you are.

[many2]

The most important work is the work you do on paper : planning, storyboards, sketches, technical diagrams, theme ideas, design rules, control schemes, etc.

When I designed the Black_Box system I worked with Yan Breuleux on paper only for a month or so (not full-time of course). Then, when we knew clearly what we wanted and how it was going to work it only took 2 days to build and debug the whole thing. Had we started on the computer directly I think it still wouldn't be finished.