Optional higlight/identify people on screen

PepsiSteve wrote on 7/27/2009, 6:34 AM
I'm working on silent 8mm films that I had transferred to miniDV. Years ago, we watched them on VHS and dubbed an audio commentary ("Oh, there's Uncle Fred next to Tommy", etc). The problem is there are 5 other people on screen or you don't know if Uncle Fred is on the left or the right.

I'd like to identify who's who on screen, but be able to enable/disable it (like turning subtitles on or off). Is it possible to turn a video track on or off? I don't want to make it a permanent part of the movie. I'd like to be able to put the person's name under/near them.Does anyone have any suggestions?

Comments

mike_in_ky wrote on 7/27/2009, 6:52 AM
Not sure how you would make a version of what you describe and be able to turn it on or off during playback. My opinion is you'll have to make 2 versions, one with it on and one with it off and then play the one you want to see.

Add a text video track at the top of the track stack. Select the "Media Generators" tab and select "Text" with transparent background ("default text") to overlay on your video. Size the text and position it over the subject you want to point out. You'll have to make a new text box for each new person along the timeline as the video progresses. I've done that before and it works just fine, just lots of text boxes to add.

mike_in_nc
Chienworks wrote on 7/27/2009, 11:19 AM
Rendering as many different versions as you want highlights (+1 for the non-highlighted version) would be the only way to do this. You could then burn a DVD with multiple camera angles and use the DVD player's remote control to switch between them.

I'm not sure if DVDA-Studio allows multiple angles or not.
PepsiSteve wrote on 7/28/2009, 9:56 AM
Thanks! I was afraid the only way to do this was multiple renders... The multiple camera angles idea is brilliant, though! I don't know if Studio can do that....I'll add it to the list of features I'd like but can't afford (Subtitles being the other) in Pro.

I ended up doing a "poor man's" version of this - I took frame grabs from each chapter of the movie, labeled the people in the stills and organized it by chapter as well, then created a picture play list of the stills. So, there's a scene selection menu that will play that scene and then another matching scene selection menu that will play the stills from that chapter with the people labeled.

Thanks again for the quick response!
mike_in_ky wrote on 7/29/2009, 10:49 AM
PepsiSteve...

There is a way to use VMS to do multi-camera video. Check out this thread --> http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?Forum=12&MessageID=635287

For the most part, this program provides the way if one has the will!

mike_in_nc