Documentary Special Effects at DVinfo.net

G. Lee Gordon · March 8th, 2008, 09:52 AM

Filming a documentary and was wondering, what are some techniques for zooming in on documents, highlighting a few lines and panning along the sentence, following the narration. It seems to be a pretty standard special effect in Doc's.

Emre Safak · March 8th, 2008, 07:04 PM

The fewer you use the better I'd say. What kind of a documentary? I don't see any of that stuff in Attenborough's documentaries, for example.

Richard Alvarez · March 9th, 2008, 10:09 AM

Sometimes, you'll see the pan-and-zoom aka "Ken Burns" affect utilized. In that sense, the document is scanned as a jpg or tiff, then brought into the program. Most NLE's have some sort of pan-and-scan feature, or you can find third party plug-ins for it. If you want to 'highlight' a line, you can use a gaussian blur on the rest of the doccument with a cut-out mask for the line you want to highlight, or use a bit of secondary color correction if you like. Lots of ways to do it.

You see this technique more in news style expose' sort of programs. While Subject "A" is talking, you cut away to the memo that contradicts or re-inforces what he is saying - that sort of thing.

G. Lee Gordon · March 9th, 2008, 11:01 AM

Thanks Richard. I guess I have to study up on the different ways to edit Blurs on FCP. I didn't know you could assign a certain area(like a box) not to be effected... Was wondering how people were editing out brand names or nudity with that little blur.

G. Lee Gordon · March 9th, 2008, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Alvarez

You see this technique more in news style expose' sort of programs. While Subject "A" is talking, you cut away to the memo that contradicts or re-inforces what he is saying - that sort of thing.

Thats exactly what I'm doing. Any advice on how to add some pizzazz to that effect would be much appreciated.

Ben Winter · March 13th, 2008, 03:59 PM

AhI know what you're talking about. Import as a JPEG or TIFF like Richard is saying, and then keyframe some movement into it--zooming in, panning across...be sure to make the keyframes Bezier lines so they slow down before stopping, and accelerate before moving...that, in my opinion, really adds the professional touch.

Vasco Dones · March 16th, 2008, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G. Lee Gordon

(...) zooming in on documents, (...) and panning along the sentence

I use Imaginate by Canopus
(http://www.canopus.com/products/Imaginate/index.php):
works fine for me, and it's pretty easy to use.

An alternative could be DigiRostrum by Lumidium
(http://www.lumidium.com)

Vasco
www.donesmedia.net

Cameron Naghibi · April 15th, 2008, 02:49 PM

and program that lets your do a ken burns effect or pan and zoom, most NLE let you do it and AE you can highlight etc.

March 8th, 2008, 09:52 AM	#1
G. Lee Gordon Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 431	Documentary Special Effects Filming a documentary and was wondering, what are some techniques for zooming in on documents, highlighting a few lines and panning along the sentence, following the narration. It seems to be a pretty standard special effect in Doc's. __________________ "Get Er Done!!!"

March 9th, 2008, 11:01 AM	#4
G. Lee Gordon Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 431	Thanks Richard. I guess I have to study up on the different ways to edit Blurs on FCP. I didn't know you could assign a certain area(like a box) not to be effected... Was wondering how people were editing out brand names or nudity with that little blur. __________________ "Get Er Done!!!"

March 13th, 2008, 03:59 PM	#6
Ben Winter Trustee Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Hollywood, CA Posts: 1,675 Images: 1	AhI know what you're talking about. Import as a JPEG or TIFF like Richard is saying, and then keyframe some movement into it--zooming in, panning across...be sure to make the keyframes Bezier lines so they slow down before stopping, and accelerate before moving...that, in my opinion, really adds the professional touch. __________________ BenWinter.com

March 8th, 2008, 07:04 PM	#2
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	The fewer you use the better I'd say. What kind of a documentary? I don't see any of that stuff in Attenborough's documentaries, for example.

March 9th, 2008, 10:09 AM	#3
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Sometimes, you'll see the pan-and-zoom aka "Ken Burns" affect utilized. In that sense, the document is scanned as a jpg or tiff, then brought into the program. Most NLE's have some sort of pan-and-scan feature, or you can find third party plug-ins for it. If you want to 'highlight' a line, you can use a gaussian blur on the rest of the doccument with a cut-out mask for the line you want to highlight, or use a bit of secondary color correction if you like. Lots of ways to do it. You see this technique more in news style expose' sort of programs. While Subject "A" is talking, you cut away to the memo that contradicts or re-inforces what he is saying - that sort of thing.

April 15th, 2008, 02:49 PM	#8
Cameron Naghibi Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Glen Allen, VA Posts: 59	and program that lets your do a ken burns effect or pan and zoom, most NLE let you do it and AE you can highlight etc.