"Better Movie Making": December 2005

Merry Christmas - amazing Christmas lights

Have a look at this video of some Amazing Christmas House Lights. I bet you ask yourself "How did they do that?"

I have my own theory, but watch the video first before reading any more, and see what you think.

Fantastic, well done. I'm afraid I don't know who made this clip, but they have done a great job. I would love to see the original quality video to take a closer look at how it was done.

My theory is that the video creator has taken many still pictures of the house, with different light combinations switched on. It is then a fairly straight-forward (but time-consuming) process to edit the pictures into the correct order, and then synch it with the music.

This means that it is really more of an animation. You would also have to add a quick crossfade between each picture to give the impression of lights going on and off.

All in all, technically excellent. My only comment would be that if it was half as long, or even less it would have more punch. It just goes on a bit too long for me.

Bek's first video edit

Cheeky Girl Charlize

My friend Bek is a snowboard instructor, and for the past two Australian winter seasons (June to September) has worked at Mount Hotham in the Victorian Alps. In 2004 I visited her, and we filmed quite a bit of snowboard footage. Later I edited it into my video "Ride...", which can be viewed in the movie gallery.

Since then Bek has bought her own video camera and computer, and with a couple of quick tuition sessions, is making her own videos.

Her first one is of her sister's baby, Charlize. You can watch by clicking on the Play button below.

Well done Bek. A couple of people have told me that this has brought a tear to their eye!

Internet video growing fast

Big changes in the way people shoot video — increasingly on small digital cameras in-stead of camcorders — and lower costs for Web site operators have enabled a host of startup video sites to pop up in the last few months.

YouTube, Vimeo, Sharkle, ClipShack and Blip.tv all aim to be video versions of Flickr, the Yahoo-owned site that has drawn millions of people who post photographs, then dis-cuss them

This quote is from an article on the Indystar E Technology Trends website. Read the full article here.

Internet video is growing at a huge rate. YouTube now has over 200,000 members, and Sharkle doubled its membership from 10,000 to 20,000 in less than a month!

The only problem with most of these websites is the quality of many of the clips posted on them. You really do have to wade through alot of rubbish to find some well-made, interesting video.

Most people could make their video so much more interesting by learning the basics of digital video editing. It really is very simple.

You can find out more about learning the basics of digital video editing at BetterMovieMaking.com

Fantastic spoof documentary-style video found on Sharkle.com

"Extreme Skipping"

I found this video on Sharkle.com, my current favourite FREE video upload site.

"Extreme Skipping" is well made, and is very well edited. In fact my wife wasn't sure if it was real or not at first. Something like this can be very easily made by the amateur video maker. It just needs some imagination, some well-captured footage and an ability to edit effectively.

My favourite doco-style scene is of him skipping across screeen with the Empire State Building in the background.

Great video, well done.

Another video upload site

I've found another good video upload site called Sharkle. It's free to use, and gives you 1Gb of storage space. You can find it here.

Once again, I have uploaded a video to see how well it works. This can be found here.

A very good feature is that you are given "Player tags" which you can copy and insert into a blog or webpage, as I have done below:-

It seems to work pretty well.

Movies and Videos featured in November

November was a bit of a hectic month, and being plagued by the 'flu really didn't help either, so postings and links to videos were a little thin on the ground. I intend to rectify that in December.

There were a couple of movies featured, one of which I think embodies everything good about home movie making. "Dear John" is a very simple idea, but is so well filmed and edited. If you haven't had a look at it yet I highly recommend that you do.

November Movies:

Baxter's Day Out video
Featured again in November as a test for using FireAnt software. This video shows what can be done with a very simple subject. Construction of even a very short movie is critical, and beginning, middle and end are important.

Dear John video
Just watch it - its great!

RiderTech snowboard video 1
RiderTech snowboard video 2
I just discovered this video weblog this month, and am as jealous as can be, as the winter season is just starting for them. Their videos are good at capturing the atmosphere and feeling of the day, helped by good footage and good music selection.

Snowboarding video
This video took so long to edit. I had so much good footage that I could easily have made it twice as long. Sometimes though, less is more, and I am glad I persevered, and cut it right back. Its better to leave an audience wanting more than boring them to tears.

Skydive video
This is where it all began for me. Good editing and music choice make for a good end result, but you can't beat having some visually stunning material to work with too!

If you know of any movies you would like to see featured next month, or have anything of your own, let me know:
ian@BetterMovieMaking.com