Anyone done a music video with Vegas? Something with lots of effects on top of effects, etc?

Lacking any capabilities?

Any problems?

Anyone done a music video with Vegas? Something with lots of effects on top of effects, etc?

Lacking any capabilities?

Any problems?

I've used it for shooting a couple of things where the performers were working to playback audio. I did one in Premiere Pro (9 camera passes!) and then, when I got to have a go on Vegas 8, tried it again. The "rough" vision-mix I ended up with in Premiere Pro took me about 80 mins - to get to the same stage in Vegas took exactly 9 mins. And I definitely think Vegas is better if you're doing HD work.

You can "nest" effects on the clip / timeline / final output - and yes, I know you can do similar in Premiere, by creating a new timeline, putting a sequence in and then applying effects to that, but Vegas is SO much easier and more intuitive.

I would say I don't like Vegas as much as Premiere Pro for automated audio mixing, though, but then I haven't done anything that requires this feature yet, in Vegas.

Are there specific capabilities or tools you are concerned about?

Here is a Vegas-edited music video I did a couple of years ago, (Vegas 5) and there are a number of effects toward the end, as well as starting around 2:49, but your question may best be answered by first describing what it is you wish to achieve, and then you can be advised whether or not Vegas is a tool which can help achieve it and make your decisions accordingly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAeUPuDEjVk

Brian

Nice Video Brian...

Jeff,

Thanks - and on a zero budget! Credit to a unique piece of music, but I'm not sure how something like this might be done on another platform on a zero budget with inexpensive DV gear.

Brian

Very interesting! The visual images certainly enhance the music. Thanks for sharing.

And yes, the effects you used there are what I'm concerned about being able to do with Vegas. You know, that falsehood [?] that Vegas can't do what the big guys [Final Cut Pro Avid & Premiere] can do.

Here is a link to a trailer we did of a documentary we did all using Premiere 6.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNTDub8qSQM

Don't want to give up capabilities by switching to Vegas.

I use Vegas, but am envious of Premier users. Why? DVD Encore is one reason, and another is the amazing workflow potential between After Effects, Photoshop, Premier, etc., etc., etc..

One counter argument to Premiere's Adobe-based workflow may be that Vegas itself has includes impressive composite/graphics tools which Premiere users might need After Effects to provide. Yet using Vegas does not preclude making use of After Effects, Photoshop, or any other 3rd party tools.

Brian

Here's one I made earlier. Vegas 7, I think, but it may have been in 6. As far as I recall this was done entirely in Vegas with no sneaky little trips to After Effects.

http://www.film-it.net/stuff/spaceship.wmv

I used the Vegas Bump filter for the lighting effects, NewBlueFX's Colorize to pick out the blues and reds and Magic Bullet Looks for the runway shots.

Edit: Oh yeah, zero budget as well.

Further edit: Just found the .veg - also used Brightness/Contrast, Levels, Light Rays (tree sequence at beginning and end), Glow, Noise and the B&W filters.

I am increasingly able to remain within Vegas to produce this kind of thing and while I use After Effects a great deal in my work I find it's primarily for occasions when I need to produce animation, work in 'pseudo 3d', or do sophisticated titling. For straightforward compositing, layering up effects etc, Vegas works a charm. And I love the flexibility it gives - in particular the ease with which I can experiment. Horses for courses.

Very nice...nice camera work too. What cam did you use?

Ian,

Is the lead singer American?

Brian

Thanks Jeff. Canon XL2.

Brian, no she's South African, sorry!

I was trying to place her accent.

Great work on the video!

Brian

Oh, sorry! Thought you were going to ask me to broker a meeting!! Her husband (Neil, the guitarist) might have something to say about that!

Yeah, she's from SA - as are the whole band. They live over here in the UK now and are enjoying a fair amount of success. Really nice people too, which makes for a pleasant shoot!

Ian . . .

Oh, sorry! Thought you were going to ask me to broker a meeting!! Her husband (Neil, the guitarist) might have something to say about that!

Too funny.

I think my wife would have something to say about that as well!

Brian

Here's one I made earlier. Vegas 7, I think, but it may have been in 6. As far as I recall this was done entirely in Vegas with no sneaky little trips to After Effects.

http://www.film-it.net/stuff/spaceship.wmv.

That's the one I've been looking for!!!
Thanks for posting the link again Ian.
A group of students I work with recently wrapped shooting on a music video and I've got the job of teaching them Vegas so they can edit it.
I planned to make use of your Bump Map filter tips (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=79660) in it but couldn't remember what to search for.
It's now bookmarked and I'm a happy editor :-)

Why is this so useful? Well, I only possess a very basic lighting kit (3 Ianiro non-focusing Lilliputs and a 750w (3 x 250W) halogen with softbox. It's my biggest area of weakness and I often struggle with getting decent atmospheric lighting. So, I thought I'd do it in post.

Ian,

Did this involve multiple tracks of the same clip, using cookie cutter or a cookie cutter type interface, or are the effects applied to only one track?


I have yet to experiment with adding 'virtual colour gels' - anyone got any idea how that might be achieved?

I'd also be very interested in learning more about this.

Brian

Mike - great! Glad you found it!

Brian,

I applied the Bump Map filter to a single track/clip as required - no need for the cookie cutter. Key settings are Light Type: Spotlight and Bump Height: 0. Intensity and focus etc will change the characteristsics of the light as required. In most cases it was at the end of the filter chain.

It certainly isn't perfect, and doesn't replace good creative light at the shoot, but it can give some really great dramatic depth - with the added bonus of being able to wildly experiment with it during the edit.

As for virtual gels, I never found a way to do this, other than to add another track above with a solid colour or gradient set to a low opacity setting.

Now there's a Vegas plug-in development opportunity - a decent artificial lighting tool, with virtual gels and gobos, volumetric lighting, etc . . .

Digital Film Tool's 55mm suite may have come closest to this, and included custom gel's but they never showed interest in Vegas support.

55mm is now sold by Tiffen under the product name of Tiffen DFx Digital Filter Suite.

http://www.tiffen.com/products.html?tablename=dfx

(notice page)
http://www.digitalfilmtools.com/legacy/55mm/

Brian