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Cart Tutorials a Safe Harbor blogCreating a PIP (Picture in Picture) with Premiere Pro
Creating a PIP effect, or even multiple PIPs for a collage effect, is easy to accomplish in Premiere Pro.
An easy way to manipulate the PIP image is to use your mouse in the Program Monitor window. This provides a more natural way to work than dragging sliders or entering numeric values in the Motion controls interface. Left-click and drag the image itself in the Program Monitor window to position your clip. Grabbing a node on any side or corner and dragging it will resize the image, and positioning the mouse pointer just outside any corner will display the rotation tool. If you wish to animate the image to have it change size, rotate or otherwise move about the screen, you’ll need to use keyframes to change the parameters over time. Click the double arrow button at top right of Effects window to show the timeline view, where you can see the keyframes you create and work with them directly. Position the play head on your clip at the point where you want to begin adding keyframes. Click the stopwatch icon in the Motion controls next to the parameter you wish to enable keyframes for, such as Position. A keyframe is added automatically at the current position with the current settings. Now move the play head to another point in the clip, and change the position of the clip with the interface controls or in the Program Monitor. Any time you change the position, another keyframe is added, or you can manually add keyframes by clicking on the keyframe button, a small diamond to the right of the effect. Think of this like connect-the-dots, where you will define the points that need to be connected. Position the clip play head at the beginning of the clip, then scale it down and position it at the upper left corner of the screen. Enable keyframes for Position, move the play head to the end of the clip, and adjust the position to the bottom right of the screen. You will then have two keyframes, representing a starting and ending position for your moving video clip, and it will move diagonally across the screen between the two keyframes upon playback. By adding additional keyframes at different points in time, in various positions, you can make the graphic zig-zag or whatever you want. Keyframes can be added for Scale and Rotation as well for more complex motion. Right-clicking a keyframe brings up options for Bezier curves and Ease In/Out which will add smoother motion to the animation if desired. These techniques can easily be applied to titles and graphics as well to resize and animate them to enhance any video production.
Matrox MXO or MXO2?
When working in Final Cut 2, the MXO connects to the secondary DVI output of your Mac and converts the video preview to an actual video signal for monitoring or recording to a deck. HD video can be monitored via an appropriate LCD monitor via DVI connection, and an included utility allows you to calibrate the LCD for accurate color grading. The full 1920x1080 HD resolution is supported with 1:1 pixel mapping for accurate image rendition.
Besides Final Cut 2, any QuickTime-based application can also output via MXO to record training videos or other presentations. The MXO can easily be moved from one computer to another with a simple DVI connection to your MacBook or MacPro. MXO2 is different from the MXO in that it’s also a capture device and is portable. MXO2 connects to the MacBook via the ExpressCard/34 slot with an included adaptor, or to the MacPro with an included interface card. The MXO2 can handle practically any i/o connection, including SDI SD/HD, Component SD/HD, S-video, composite, and HDMI (out). Video may be captured as uncompressed or compressed video to many formats, SD or HD, including ProRes 422. An HDMI output, with calibration utility, is included for color-accurate monitoring via an inexpensive LCD display. Of course, you can connect any monitor to the SDI, HD SDI, component or other analog outs of the MXO2 as well.
An optional adapter cable allows the MX02 to be powered from common field pack batteries used by professional videographers, so it is truly portable when used with a laptop in this configuration (the MXO requires AC power). Whether working in the studio or on location, the MXO and MXO2 have a lot to offer Final Cut 2 users. IRE Setup with Matrox RT.X2
IRE is a measure of brightness for NTSC video, with black being 0 and white being 100, with shades of gray in between. In the US, the black level is normally set to 7.5 for broadcast. This means that the brightness scale runs from 7.5 to 100 rather than 0 to 100. Since Japan uses 0 IRE black setup levels, virtually all miniDV cameras will use 0 IRE for black setup when making a recording. In Premiere Pro with RT.X2, you will find the "Setup" option in Project Settings > Playback Settings > Video Output, which by default is at 0 IRE. Knowing that the US uses 7.5 setup, the temptation is to change the setting to 7.5, but don’t do it.
Changing this to 7.5 will boost all the brightness levels in your analog video output by 7.5, which results in a washed out image where blacks become grayish and grainy. This ONLY affects the analog outputs – if rendering to DVD or printing back to DV tape via 1394, Setup has no effect. There is no harm in leaving the setting at 0 IRE, as this will provide the best results with DV and DVCAM footage. You may be using an external video monitor to check your editing, and by changing setup to 7.5, you get a false impression of what the final DVD output would look like. You will see video with boosted brightness, then you’ll be doing color correction to try and fix something that isn’t broken!If capturing video from old VHS tapes or similar analog NTSC sources, then 7.5 setup may be appropriate in some cases. You can try and use the waveform/vectorscopes within the Premiere Pro preview monitor to see where the levels are at if you are so inclined , but if in doubt, don’t mess with it.Note that setup does not apply to any of the HD formats, so it’s a non-issue in an HDV project. miniDV or HDV tape for an HDV camcorder?
Think of a still image or word processing file copied to different types of media - hard drive, CD, floppy, USB thumb drive – the data is the same regardless of the media used. It’s the same with digital tape – the only benefit of using HDV tape is that you lessen the chance of getting dropouts in the recording, so you are paying for reliability. Most HDV camera users will opt for a "Premium" grade of miniDV tape, which makes them feel more comfortable, while halving the cost of HDV tape. This seems to be a good compromise for many users. Unlike a miniDV dropout that may last a frame or two, HDV dropouts are typically 15 frames or more due to the Long-GOP file structure used. Video frames are compressed together in groups of 15 frames, so if a speck of dust on the tape causes a glitch, it can wipe out that entire 15-frame block of images. A bad dropout may last a second or two, so that is something to consider. I’ve had excellent results recording HDV to miniDV tapes, with dropouts being rare. I typically run multiple cameras for events and have the option of switching camera angles during editing if there were an issue. Whether to use miniDV or HDV is a personal decision that you will have to base on your own experience, considering the nature of the footage you are shooting, budget, and other factors. If you are doing a corporate video and the CEO is flying in special just for you to videotape his message to the shareholders, then jetting off again, you can’t really ask for a reshoot later. Individual circumstances will dictate your choices. As an aside, I recently read a forum posting where the user inadvertently shot some video in miniDV mode (standard definition) using their HDV camera. They were using HDV tape and wondered if an HDV video could be salvaged from the miniDV recording. The answer is NO – since the camera was in miniDV mode, a standard definition video was recorded and that is that. There is software that can "upscale" SD video to HD resolution with some enhancement, but the quality will never equal that of native HD video. White Balancing Your Camcorder
Different light sources have different "color temperatures", and any object lit with these sources will take on the cast of that source. The human vision system compensates for different light sources, so white always looks white, but camcorders sometimes need our help in determining the best white balance setting for a given situation. In other words, we have to tell the camera what white looks like, and it can then use that as a point of reference to accurately reproduce any color in the scene.
All camcorders will have "auto white balance", or AWB, which often works just fine, but in many cases you’ll want to manually white balance to get the truest color reproduction in your recordings. Most cameras will offer WB presets such as sunlight, indoors (tungsten), fluorescent, and cloudy. Using these presets can work well in many common situations, such as "sunny outdoors". Some lighting situations can be difficult due to mixed lighting, such as indoor lighting mixed with sunlight coming in the windows, typical for church weddings. The color LCD or viewfinder on your camera may show the bride’s dress as having a blue or orange tint for instance. While one of the presets may improve the image, manual white balance will usually provide optimum results to ensure you record the best colors in your video. Consult your camcorder manual for the exact steps to manually white balance your camera, as controls vary between models. Note that cameras usually have to be paused to manually set white balance – you can’t set it while actually recording (though you can switch between the various settings while recording). After switching to manual WB mode, point the camera at something white in the scene, such as a wedding dress, table cloth, aisle runner, white shirt, etc., making sure the white object fills the entire screen (or as much of it as possible). You can use a sheet of paper if you need to, as anything white will work. Push the appropriate camera button to set the WB and then verify that the colors look good to your eye. White objects should look white without colored casts to them. Some higher-end cameras will offer "A-B" settings which allow you to save two custom white balance settings at once. This is helpful when running back and forth between the church sanctuary and bride’s dressing room before a marriage service so you don’t have to keep re-balancing. You will also be able to switch between AWB, WB presets, and your manual WB setting as needed. If you run outside, you can just switch to the sunlight setting most likely, but don’t forget to change it when you go back indoors!
White balance is critical to shooting good video, and should always be checked when changing shooting locations, even when moving from one room to another. While you can always "fix it in post", there is no substitute for good shooting habits. The color corrector in your edit software can certainly improve a video with badly shot color, but it may not ever look as good as if you’d have used the proper white balance to start with.
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