I finally learned ...

[EvilBread]

Premier Pro doesn't do A/B editing I believe , but their single track workspace works just as well after a while. :S Although having a quick look on the internet now it might be available in the effects controls tab.

[PJoseph]

Dawg, Regarding shooting blood against green screens and compositing it in - yes. There are already several companies that provide royalty free blood splatters that already come keyable right into whatever software you use. They are high resolution and you can resize them, move them around, color correct them - whatever you need. They are not bad. I've used them for gags on TV shows. Just do a search and you'll find them. pJ

[Cereval]

Premier Pro doesn't do A/B editing I believe , but their single track workspace works just as well after a while. :S Although having a quick look on the internet now it might be available in the effects controls tab. That kinda sucks for me ... but I'll look into the effects tab idea - thanks. For some reason it really bothers me that I can't do A/B, but I'll probably end up adapting in the end if I can't find a solution.

[Danny]

Dawg, Regarding shooting blood against green screens and compositing it in - yes. There are already several companies that provide royalty free blood splatters that already come keyable right into whatever software you use. They are high resolution and you can resize them, move them around, color correct them - whatever you need. They are not bad. I've used them for gags on TV shows. Just do a search and you'll find them. pJ but do you prefer that quick adn simple way or the good old exploding blood pack method?

[PJoseph]

Hellsing, That's a great question. I would love to do as much pratical effects as possible - blowing up live hits is always good because the actor can react to them and you have some damage that you don't have to recreate digitally. However, you don't have much control and sometimes you don't have the time to set and rig. It's good to use some live effects and then mix in some composited effects later and you can really make it look sweet. I first used the digital blood hits on Hollywood Vigilante (it's posted somewhere below) and as you can see, it looks pretty phony. The biggest reason is that I didn't factor in the residual mess that would be left behind (and I've worked with squibs before, so I should have known better) - hence I tried to cut out sooner, but it wasn't really great. Overall, the effect was well designed, but my execution was pretty lame - it was the first time I had used it and I was experimenting. Now, on the Stunt Awards gag (also posted below), I had a little Kill Bill joke I directed with Zoe Bell. I hadn't actually thought about adding the blood splatter while shooting it - it was only AFTER I cut the piece that I thought "hey, a blood splatter would be funny and sell the whole Kill Bill idea", so we added that. It was two parts - one part the blood squirt which then resolved to another effect which was the blood smear on the camera lens. Once I color corrected it, added the sound effect, it was good. In that case, doing something live would have been difficult. Now, of course, I'm aware that it's supposed to be a joke and not really going for realism, so it can look a little phony. BUT, it was still a good little gag and helped the joke. So, if I'm planning on adding something digitally, here is what I took away from those two experiences. 1.) Having as much as you can live and practical is good. You don't need a ton - even pulling a piece of shirt out with just a small amount of gore beneath will work. 2.) Then I can add a nice composited blood splatter which can help sell the gag further. 3.) I also learned that having a library of those effects at your fingertips can only enhance your work while editing, because if you want to fuss with the shot a bit, then you can add more, make them bigger, smaller, redder...the possibilities are endless. I now have a ton of guns, explosions, fires, blood hits, rockets - all sorts of nifty little gizmos I can use that I've already paid for and are royalty free. Dems my thoughts. pJ

[Danny]

hmm good points i think id still prefer blood packs, though they have the porblem of igf you screw it up you need a new shirt say if they get shot in the chest a new blood pck set up adn a retake which could tkae about 45 minutes on average for what may be a 3 second shot of a bullet wound. ive taken a look at these things before, found a few royalty free ones myself but never actually tried to implement em, is there any good tutorials for this anywere you might have found?

[PJoseph]

Hellsing, There is where I bought a bunch of stuff that I thought worked really well. (I not only bought the Action Essentials, I bought Riot Gear for broadcast style graphics that I can use for lower third ID's, title cards - all usefull stuff for my work). Anyway, this link will take you to a sample clip as well as a tutorial that plays in your browser. http://www.videocopilot.net/action.html Trust me, these things are EASY to use. Literally drag on the layer above your video and they key in perfectly. Then you can resize, reframe, color correct, whatever you need. Works in all the major software (I use FCP HD). pJ

[Danny]

damn!, thats going to favourites, nice find!

[PJoseph]

Andrew Kramer has a bunch of really good titles in his library. All sorts of elements and tutorials. For the money, I think it's a very good deal. pJ