Actually you CAN apply or mimic many Photoshop tricks with videos. Afterall a video is just a series of pictures made to seem to have montion. The basics are the same. For example my favorite; curves. If you spend a few minutes searching the web for Photoshop curves you'll pick up some basics like on the following link. While the images themselves don't really show off the difference that well, the curves shown better illustrate what I've been trying to put to words in several past posts I made on Color Curves: http://www.digitalsecrets.net/secrets/curves.html

Also this site http://www.carlvolk.com/photoshoptips.asp while geared to Photoshop does go into some detail as to what the various filters do and you can learn some of the basic how-to of using filters and then apply them to your videos using many of the Vegas Video FX filters.

GG,

As far as I am concerned, sign me up!

I have to agree with you with regard to online training, I do WebEX seminars all the time and it is a great medium! I get to go to training while in my slippers! Though, I must admit, a classrom is still a bit more dynamic and interactive than an online web conference, but it is getting better all the time. Besides, you can always kidnap the trainer and pick his/her brain before and after sessions. Tougher to do online.

I don't think a book necessarily on VV3 is what I had in mind. I was looking more for "If you want to involve your audience, stay away from these styles of transitions, do these kinds instead, or dont mix multiple styles in the same video" and "To create a dream scene, the best way to accomplish this is to get a closeup on the subject, do a dissolve that blurs as you zoom in, and then ..." etc etc. Real-world tips/hints and techniques for making your vidoes give it that wow factor and make it appear professional (even when you are not!).

Anyway, I would be interested in buying your book. Just let me know where I can get a copy. ;-)

Regards,

JavaNut

BillyBoy,

While I know that it is possible to apply the same techniques as they do in photoshop for a particular set of images, what I am referring to goes beyond the images themselves and also speaks to proper transitioning, how to build a cut scene correctly to instill the audience that something is going to happen. I.e. before entering a door, to instill suspense, show in reduced frame rate a picture of the hand approaching the door knob and then before they actually grasp the knob, cut back to the person so you can see the action of the door being opened. This gives the impression that... Then explanations go into how to use VV3 to do these transitions and cuts etc. See what I mean?

Thanks for the tips though, I will look them over. Any help I can get is always beneficial! Boy, can I use a lot of help! ;-)

Regards,

JavaNut

Hmmm.... what you're really looking for then is technique. Maybe Steven Spielberg is looking for an apprentice, or Ron Howard. <wink>

Seriously, If you're looking to instill suspense, probably the best director from a few decades ago for putting you on the edge of your seat was Alfred Hitchcock. Rent a few of his movies. The shower murder scene in Psycho is a classic for instilling suspense without the typical in your face style of today so was Rear Window and Vertigo. In Psycho you never see the actual killing, you see the built up to it and the end with the blood going down the drain. Scary stuff for its time. You can learn a lot about "cutting" a film watching Hitchcock films.

Today most directors rely too much on "special effects" and it shows. I can imagine how Hitchcock would have done Men in Black. It probably would have been a much darken comedy. Actually it probably would have been a suspense thriller instead and been better because of it.

That is very different than effects and filters. What you are looking for is not about VV3. VV3 has the tools required to do many things cinematicly. Using them is about the art itself. At most bookstores there are several good books on what you are looking for. A good overview is "The Five C's of Cinematography." Next look for books on the art of storytelling on film and video. Finally get more specifically into the art of editing.

Get to the point that you can 'slice' a video and tell the story with cuts only. Then add disolves. Lots of transistions and filters make a mess in the wrong hands. Tell the story and then use the 'effects' as a punctuation. How you use them will determine their emotional effect on the audience. Like the difference between slow motion as the lovers run together across a field and slow motion when a warrior is hit with a bullet.

I almost always slice a video first. When I am happy with the story (even in a music piece I create a story), then I add an effect here and there, but like adding tabasco to soup, carefully.

Best of luck