My Favorite Stop Motion Animation Video

Zero is my favorite stop motion animation video. The storyline is very moving. I also love the audio elements the filmmakers used.

Look below for a behind the scenes look at this awesome video.

Lynda.com Day 2 Notes

Event Library – locations for events folders; store and organize all you media

            Right of Events Library = filmstrip view

                        Audio Skimming = View -> Turn on Audio Skimming (Shift + S)

                        Thumbnails should be set around 10sec for longer video clips to give

you a good idea of what they’re about without too much information

            Show Waveforms = audio wavelengths preview

            Clip Height = Size of clip previews

            To select event library: keyboard shortcut Command+1

Project Library – locations for projects folder

Viewer – visual output of material

            To select the Viewer: keyboard shortcut Command+3

Folder HAVE to be named exactly as Final Cut needs them to be named or they won’t show up

Quit Final Cut – Command + Q

Each project can only contain one sequence

Window -> Event Viewer = Preview for Event AND Project side by side (dual display)

Choose projects in project viewer by selecting project + pressing enter, OR by double clicking the project you want

Instead of Ctrl +/- to zoom, you can press the light switch button at the bottom of the screen to change the size of your clips

            You can also change the clip appearance with the light switch button

To go to the beginning of a sequence, you can press the Home button, or Function+Left Arrow

To go to the end of the sequence, you can press the End button or Function+Right Arrow

Up Arrow = back clip by clip

Down Arrow = forward clip by clip

To view/select other projects while editing a different one, click the film canister in the bottom left corner

To select the timeline: keyboard shortcut Command+2

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To Create a Mew Event: File -> New Event OR right click in event library and click New Event in the drive you want to put the event

To Bring in New Footage: Import -> Media (Command + I) OR pretty Import Media button in the Event Viewer

When you click on the option to copy media in a Final Cut events folder, it is first displayed as pointers, but the copies will load given enough time

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JKL is a three-button play tool, whereby J plays in reverse, L plays forward, and K pauses

In Point = where edited shot starts

            Press I key to set an In

Out point = where edited shot ends

            Press O key to set an Out

To play a selection: press / key

To play in slow motion: hold K, press J + L to go backward or forward

Make selection favorite: press F key (can be found in list view)

You could also click and drag the selection into a chosen folder (i.e. soundbites) in order to save a clip

Button with Key = keyword editor; press it to add, remove, or alter keywords

**Save marked clips before marking a new clip within the same video**

Marker = digital post-it note

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Dark gray portion of timeline = primary storyline

Insert Edit: keyboard shortcut W, OR button with one large square and two little squares with a diamond in the middle underneath

            Places a clip in the timeline wherever playhead is

Append Edit: keyboard shortcut E, OR button with one large square and a little square and diamond underneath

            Always goes to the end no matter where the playhead is

Overwrite Edit: keyboard shortcut D

            Used to essentially write over a shot or a portion of a shot

            Make an In and an Out in timeline, then mark portion in Event Library that

you would like to overwrite

Final Cut calculates the exact number of frames needed to completely

overwrite chosen clip in timeline

Duration : keyboard shortcut ctrl + D

Replace Edit: No keyboard shortcut; physically drag a marked clip from your event library onto a clip in your sequence to replace one shot with another

            Once green plus sign shows up, let go of mouse

                        Choosing “Replace” completely replaces the clip for the entire

duration

Day 1 Lynda.com notes

HD video is totally different. it has two resolutions and only two resolutions. It doesn't matter how expensive your camera is, how big the sensor is, even how many megapixels your camera has. HD video still has only two resolutions. They are simply called 1080 and 720 HD.

Photographers are used to cropping their photos, taking part of an image and getting rid of the rest, changing the shape and the format and so forth. You cannot do that with video

1080 HD video refers to a video image that is 1920x1080 pixels in size. 720 HD is 1280x720 pixels.

The mega pixels of your camera have nothing to do with the resolution of the video coming from your camera.

1080 video gives you an image size approximately equal to two megapixels. 720 video gives you an image size that is approximately equal to one megapixel.

With video, you are typically shooting at approximately 30 frames per second. That means your camera has to deal with thirty 1-2 mega pixel photographs per second and keep doing it for however long you continue to record the scene.

The resolutions refer simply to how many pixels are in the image area, not to how large or small the image will display on screen.

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A lot of video is actually shot at 29.97 frames per second, which is nearly 30 frames per second, but it's based on an old standard that continues today for the way that video is timed for broadcast.

At 30 frames a second, our mind puts them together in a way that looks like traditional video.

Film on the other hand has always been shot at 24 frames a second…it is enough to change the way our brain sees movement

We are so used to seeing films from Hollywood shot at 24 frames a second that our brain starts associating that frame rate with a film look.

60 frames per second is another option, but is a more specialized speed often used for sports to really smooth out movement.

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shutter speed choice is very different from video to still photography.

If you shot those 30 frames per second at 1/30th of a second, you end up with all of that entire 1 second filled with images.

There would be no gaps between each shot. Now suppose you shot at 1/1000th of a second. The total time used would be 30 1/1000th of a second for the 30 frames, meaning that 970/1000ths of that second, nearly the entire second, will be blank. That puts a huge gap between each frame that causes the video to stutter or chatter. Our eyes are not capable of creating smooth motion with that gap and so action looks unnatural.

But normally for video, you will be choosing a shutter speed between 1/30th and 1/90th of a second. You won't see much difference between those shutter speeds. I also find that you can get away with as high as 1/125th of a second if the motion is not too fast.

Some video purists feel that the ideal shutter speed is 2 times the frame rate. That would mean if you are shooting 30 frames per second, you would choose 1/60th of a second for the shutter speed.

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you cannot shoot RAW with video on a DSLR = need to be more careful with exposure

most DSLRs actually work best for video in manual exposure.

frequently things will be changing during the time you are recording that could make auto exposure change inappropriately.

            flickering or changing in brightness of the scene

you only have a narrow range of shutter speed that you can use.

when you are looking at really bright conditions, you're going to have to use small f-sops.

If you want wide f-stops because you want a limited depth of field, you have to cut the light and you're going to need to get a neutral density filter

most cameras today do a very good job and capture quality video at ISOs easily from 100 to 400 and even 800

the only other option is you have to bring some lights in and add light in order to get your exposure correct.

Zoom lenses are not very fast. That means they don't have a wide maximum aperture. Single focal length or prime lenses have become popular for video because they do offer a faster maximum aperture.

When you shoot wide open with a fast lens, you get some really nice selective focus effects.