There are a million intros, but take a look at this as an example of creativity, from a wedding videographer's site. This was originally posted over at the Cow.

Gold rule: USE A GREAT SONG.

Another tip is to take scenic stuff and make it into something of a slide show.

A third tip (but you can only use this with forsight). When filming, put your camera on a surface of tripod and film long shots of various scenes (5-10 min). Then use VV to make it time lapse.

Check an example.... I was in the same boat as you after a trip to Japan

Matt.

The Igloo!

Well i'm going to give up right now . . . i'm trading in my canon, my vv3, my pc, my mass of minidv stuff . . . there's is absolutely NO point in me carrying on - forget it . . i'm outta here . . YOU are brilliant! I loved the humour of Kirosawa . . . who IS that woman??? i'm still larfing . . . and the Elvis chap . . . !!! ANd and and and YOUR openning sequence . . . forget it . . . i'm taking up stamp collecting.

NOT! . . . You've handed me a real push to get on with it and get some of my own humour out there - THANK VERY MUCH . . . . or in the words the famous Elvis "Thank very much!"

Whats next? I'll sell tickets!

Grazie

I agree...excellent video!

Thanks guys - I appreciate the feedback.

Btw, one more tip... (although it's probably trivial). Whenever I have a huge amount of footage to sort out, I watch it while capturing it. That gives me a good idea of what I have. I don't take notes or anything - I just watch it.

Then I go out and get a coffee and start pretending I have all of the footage edited just the way Iwant it (don't think of how - just pretend it's done). Then I think about how I would make a trailer for it. Spend time thinking about what shots would make the trailer. What would appeal to a stranger who's attention I only have for a minute or so?

Then I go home and make the trailer. Most of the time that's my best work.

In the case of Japan Snapshots, that was my approach. One thing that really helped out was that I was still learning VV at the time. Every night I would sit down and create a new project and mess with the features. What you see in Japan Snapshots is all of those experiments glued together. FYI - what I was really into at the time was the Deform effect. That's how I did the buildings with the Dolby noise - and how I did 6 rotating screens (they took a whole weekend to get right).

Matt.

Yes of course - A Writer might pen a rough synopsis; an artist will often "sketch" many plans before getting to THE point where there is a way forward; a sculptor will do maquettes; graphic designers will rough-out some "blocks" or areas of images and script - yes? Why shouldn't a person pursuing non-scripted projects not do the same? [Rhetorical question!] It makes sense. AND on relfection that is what I've been doing for the past 18 months.

But you, Matt, have had the conscious thought to realise you were making a TRAILER - that's what has has openned up some hidden and closed doors - yes? I'm going to bring together some of my most "effective" clips and slap on some music. This will pull together some "feel" for what I want - it'll be my Sketch Pad.

Thanks

Grazie

Grazie - get to work. I can't wait to see what you come up with. You can post it on my site for a while if you'd like. Just email me and we'll work it out.

matt@theigloo.com

Woah! There's an offer! - I'm a newbie to this DV stuff - I think I got some "cute" shots in our local park - NOT the flash bang wallop at/of your level of Japan - yes? Fairly 'umble stuff - yes?

Grazie

I clicked on over and saw, to my horror, that the "Trip to Japan" wmv file is 19MB! Aarrgh!

Gotta get broadband... gotta get broadband... gotta get broadband...