Videos

Client: Exotic Vacations (DeVry University Course Project)

Project: Advertising Video For Fictional Vacation Company

Overview:

This was a DeVry University course project. Tasked with creating a 2-3 minute commercial for a fictional vacation company. We also had to create the company logo and storyboard for our video. The entire concept, theme, and elements were entirely based upon our own creativity. We were required however to include a few specific elements. They were:

1. include at least two green screen clips,

2. incorporate the company logo we created and it must have a motion effect attached to it,

3. must include transition effects,

4. must include text and/or narration, and

5. must include sound effects and/or audio tracks.

The Solution:

I chose to create a vacation company that exemplified class, elegance, and excellence. It was to be a company that specialized in exotic vacation locations. These would not be your normal "Disney" type vacation destinations that you see everyone else going to. The logo I created was designed in Photoshop and was intended to symbolize that class, elegance, and excellence mentioned above.

We were given several sites to find free stock images and video clips. I chose only the most exotic looking locations for my clips. The mood I was attempting to create was one of relaxation. When I was doing my research I was most attracted to the videos with calm, relaxing music. To me vacation should be first and foremost relaxing, with a bit of adventure mixed in. I set that mood right from the beginning clip. I faded it in and used my soothing soundtrack to set that mood. Most of the clips I chose were much longer than what I wanted or needed so I had to cut each down quite a bit. I was looking to create a faster tempo video with more quickly changing clips. It's those type videos I believe keep the viewers attention best. I also did not want my commercial to seem like a sales pitch. I wanted it to enchant the viewer and make them dream of that exotic vacation they have always wanted to take.

The text overlays I actually created in Photoshop and added them into the scenes. On the last map image I actually put all my text on separate layers in Photoshop so that I could use them in "sequence" in Premiere Pro and move them around independently. I think that worked out really well. It ties in the whole video nicely.

I added my soundtrack fairly early in the process. It was getting hard to "envision" the final piece without it. I found the perfect soundtrack at Freeplay. I actually downloaded many different tracks from Freeplay and a couple of other free sites. But the very first one I placed on the timeline was "The One". Getting that right so early saved me a ton of time. And it was almost the perfect length as well.

For my green screen clips I wanted to fly a banner over a beach like many of our beaches here in Florida do. So I found a green screen plane with a banner and used that. Then I overlaid my text message (using Premiere Pro's text section) over top the banner and moved them in unison. I also needed to get my logo moving somehow in the video so I decided to make a banner and place the logo on that and fly that behind the sign banner. So my Flying Logo is actually a mix of:

1. my Logo,

2. a banner I created in Illustrator, and

3. two rope images I found that I had to cut and paste and adjust in Photoshop to fit.

Quite the process just to create a Flying Logo. I also used a green screen helicopter at the end with green screen smoke and a green screen sunflare moving across the screen. My transitions were simple Cut and Crossfade transitions. Since this was a commercial I didn't want to jazz it up with unprofessional looking "fancy" transitions. I then faded it all to the end, keeping the logo on the screen as long as possible to help cement the company name into memory like any good marketer should.

The entire video was composed in Adobe Premiere Pro. The text overlays, logo, and red and orange gradient background (seen at the end) were created in Photoshop as mentioned above. The rope images used to pull the logo behind the green screen plane were all adjusted and modified in Photoshop. The simple red and white banner used to house the logo flying behind the green screen plane was created in Illustrator.

Client: Double Identity (DeVry University Course Project)

Project: Movie Trailer Video Creation Using Supplied Video Clips

Overview:

This was a DeVry University course project. Tasked with creating a short movie Trailer video using pre-supplied video clips. We had to cut the clips and put them together to create the Trailer we envisioned. Had to remove the audio in those clips and replace them with our own theme music. Had to complete the Trailer with transitions and text. Also tasked with designing the movie name choosing the text that best fit the movie and give it a complimentary background to be seen in this Trailer and for use on movie posters.

The Solution:

The clips we were given had no discernible order. It was totally up to us to cut these clips up and create whatever flow we wanted. So I chose to create a Trailer that highlighted multiple genres. I chose Suspense, Action, Intrigue, Murder, Romance, and Power. Pretty much everything that makes a great movie.

I chose my clips to be shorter thus keeping the Trailer moving quickly as to not bore the viewer. The font I used for my text overlays is called Adventure. It's a great font for emphasizing emotion. I added some drop shadow to each in Photoshop to help the text stand out and also to add to the "dark" and suspenseful feel of the Trailer.

The final piece of this Trailer, and probably the most important part, was the theme music. Music to me can make or break a video, movie, etc. Music and sound effects really help set mood. Just hearing the music gives one the sense of what this movie will be about. I was able to find several free sound files that worked perfectly with this Trailer. To me you almost have to have your music and/or sounds picked out first, or fairly close to the beginning of the process. I think it's much easier to compose the video shots when you have the sound ready to go. It helps with composing the timing of the piece, the mood of the piece, the layout of the piece, etc. So with all my videos I generally choose my sounds early.

For the movie title and background I chose a black background and added a simple gray pattern from a splatter brush I had in Photoshop. I used another brush pattern to draw out the red slash. I wanted it to kind of symbolize a bloody slash. The movie title text was a simple Courier font that I then drop shadowed, gave it some grain, and pushed out to highlight the "Double" aspect of the movie title. It's a simple design that I think works well.

The entire video was created in Adobe Premiere Pro. The text overlays and final movie banner were created in Photoshop.