Step By Step 3: VHS Effect

 To start this step by step i first had to import my clip. Once imported i began by selecting the section of the clip i wanted and transferring it to the timeline. Once i had selected the duration of the clip, i then had to duplicate the first clip twice stacking them on the above timelines. This allowed me again to use the blending tools to create mild distortion once i had changed the properties of each of them that is.

So now that i had the original & the copies overlapping it allowed me to change the blend mode to "Linear Dodge (Add)" this creates a form of transparency, this allows me to create a distorted look, but that bit comes later.

Next I had to create the distorted coloration of an old VHS recorder which is simple enough. So to create this effect you simply have to add the RGB color balance effect.

 So once you have added the effect you need to then change each of the clips colour properties, one needs to bee 100% blue, another needs to be 100% green & the last needs to be 100% red.

Once this has been established and the properties have been changed then you can move onto the next step. The next step is to create a more visually distorted look you achieve this by going to each of the duplicate clips and changing the horizontal properties slightly to the left, the percentage i had it on was 960% which created the look that i was after, it took some experimenting to find out what worked & what didn't.

The next step you will need to right click onto your project panel, this will bring up a menu of options. I selected insert "Adjustment Layer" this crafts a plain layer that you can stack at the top, the advantages of this are that you can add any effect to the adjustment layer & it will effect every layer underneath. It saves having to add the same effect to each clip.

Now you will need to go to the effects & preset section & look up "Wave Warp". Once you have found it you then need to drag and drop it over the adjustment layer. this will effect each of the clips.

Once you have added wave warp you will notice that there is a lot of distortion & that will need to come down a bit, but first to create a more authentic looking VHS aesthetic, you will need a line of distortion. But you cannot do that with wavy lines, it needs to be more static so in order to achieve that look you first need to click onto your adjustment layer and select the effect options.

 So now your on the options you will need to change the "Wave Type" to square. you now have a lot more options at your disposal, the first option to tweak at this point will be the wave height & width. The default for the height is 10% and the width is 40% which gave the effect on the left .

 But to acquire the effect also to the left you will need to change the width to 800% and leave the height at 10% this will give a line of distortion running down the clip. the image on the left does say that the width is at 1000% but that was some experimentation gone wrong the distortion didn't work with such a wide rang.

Once all the values have been changed correctly you then need to make sure that pinning is set to "all edges".


Next step is to create some grain, so to accomplish this you have to locate "noise" in the effects panel and add it to your adjustment layer, this will allow you to turn up the amount of grain the clip has giving it a much more retro aesthetic.

The final touch was to add the old fashioned date on the top right hand side which was easily achievable by just selecting the title option, typing in the numbers you want selected & setting them up in the top right hand corner.

This is what the finished effect will look like, its not too bad it could be better but this one was definitely the most challenging to achieve.

Down below is the finished effect in its entirety check it out.

Step By Step 2: Pixel Effect

So for my next experimental piece i chose an effect that seemed rather interesting, i found an effect that creates a pixel like mask over the top of your footage & once i played around with the effects properties i realized there were some interesting designs you can come up with here is an example along with my second step by step guide, again the final piece will be listed at the end.

So first i had to import my selected clip, i chose this clip from Andrews MMI that i was camera - op on. So once i had imported the clip i then pressed "Alt" and dragged the clip above onto the next timeline duplicating the following clip. This allows us to use the blending options again creating some rather spectacular visual effects.

So to locate the desired effect, you first need to go to your effects & presets, there you find the effects folder, i scrolled down until i found the "stylize"option which opens up a variety of options, the one in particular that you are looking for is "Mosaic". You then need to drag and drop the effect on top of the copied clip. You will then be [resented with the effect in the image above. to control & manipulate the effect you will need to move onto the next step, changing the properties of the effect.

You are presented with three options once you get to the effects panel, the first two allow you to change the amount of vertical & horizontal blocks. I changed my horizontal to 75 & my vertical to 3 this gave the effect you see above. As you can see you are now seeing the shapes of the original clip coming through but in order to make that more visible you will have to go to the opacity settings on the copied clip & change the blend mode to "Screen".

Once you have changed the blending mode you will be left with the effect located above, its a striking effect which could be used for such things as music videos & other forms of artistic & out there media. The finished effect is located below.

Step By Step 1: Glitch Effect

My first experimentation is fairly simple and only involves one effect to create. Here is the step by step guide in order to achieve the effect i am showcasing. I will also have the effect in its entirety at the end.

So first i imported my clip into the timeline. Once i had my clip i then used the razor tool to cut up individual parts of the clip. Once i had them lined up i then had to delete a segment after each & every other segment. This created a jump effect which is the foundation of the glitch effect.

So once i had my jump cuts in place i then had to copy several of the segments & them on the timeline above. e i had them in place & all lined up i then was able to go to the effects of the copied segments & change the properties for both opacity & motion. So i selected the copy & changed the opacity to 75% but there was no change, to see the difference you would have to apply a blend mode, i selected "Linear Dodge (Add)" this allowed to blend both the copied & original layers together which creates an overlap. So now that i had the overlap i could now use the motion property on the copy to manipulate the movement of the glitch effect. I changed the default position of the copy to 932% pushing it slightly to the left creating the effect you see below.

 I did experiment with trying to key-frame the motion but came out with no success so i stuck with the more jumpy look. I did also change the motion of the vertical motion properties to a higher percentage but it resulted in the
overlap to be obscured.

So once i had changed the properties of one of the copies i doubled up the next two & applied the same changes to the properties pushing one of the copies to the left & one to the right. this created i nice animated effect, but to really have the glitch look technological it would be a good idea to add the implication of a malfunction like effect with the colors distorting. In order to achieve this i had to go to the effects search bar and look for RGB colour balance, once i added this to the separate individual copies i began to experiment with different colour changes. I chose to just change each individual one to a different colour which finally once i rendered & exported gave me the following effect.

Introduction to Live Project 2

So to start this module off, the module being the Live project we were supposed to come up with concepts to pitch, I chose to pitch my script from level 4 as i have been wanting to create that film since level 4. The concept itself is achievable with a small amount of locations and no special effects that are to out there that would make the film more difficult than it needing to be. I have put a pitch together to show exactly what is needed for my project and i have decided that i am willing to give up the directors role to someone else if that means it being made, i would be happy to edit my film as that is something i have been wanting to explore. Here are some stills from my pitch.

Kodak Awards: Time/ Modern Shoot

So now we had the final shoot for the Time project and i was reprising myt role as the victorian man from the first shoot. as well as helping out any other way i could. So to start the shoot off me and Andrew went and collected the costume from Preston Park and then headed up to Sunderland.

Once we arrived at Brads house we then began to set up and i headed to go and get into my outfit, Once dressed i helped out with Tony's costume and got him painted up outside. Once everything was ready they began to shoot and got the first scenes out of the way.

Me and Tony headed outside so they could practice the angles and the synchronization of the blinds being pulled down together. This was quite a quick shoot definitely the quickest out of the bunch of shoots we had done so far, and there was no issues with this shoot at all really except from trying to get the camera balanced with the slider, other than that the shoot was a success and we had now leave both adverts to be sent off and await there arrival so the editing could begin.

Kodak Awards: Popcorn/ Third Shoot

Now we only had a pack shot left to finish off, but before we could shoot i had to make a trip to Paper Chase and pick up a few cards and accessories. I bought pens, pencil case, key ring and a selection of cards. The cards were the hardest thing to shop for due to that there were no specific Valentines day ones so i had to improvise with the most vague cards they had.

So now i had the items i just had to stop off and buy some popcorn, i then went into the studio to help set up, Janice had cut out some confetti to drop of the cards and popcorn and found some pillows that made the background look more aesthetically pleasing. i was in charge of the shimmer effect so that we have that effect running through the whole advert.

The shoot went well and we had several takes using no confetti then using confetti and slow motion as well. Overall i was happy with the design of the pack shot, the gels that we used really added to that warm feeling we were going for and the end product i think will end nicely with this pack shot.

Kodak Awards: Time/ Caveman Shoot

So now we were off to Seaham beach to start the second scene of the time advert. Me, Andrew and jack arrived there to await Rachel our actress, whilst Liam, Shaun and Brad went to pick up Tony our actor from the Seaham train station.

Once we had all met up we took the actors to the cafe up top where they could get changed into there costumes. Once dressed we grabbed the equipment and trekked down to the location, we then dropped the equipment and began to set up. i was going to be taking the role of sound that day but was not needed in the end so i was moved onto clapper boarding.

so once the equipment was set up and the actors were almost ready brad added some make up to the actors whilst a few of us got the fake blood and practiced different techniques of splatters and designs, to then move onto creating a love heart on the cave wall. So now that everything was ready we were ready to shoot , the day of filming went by with no major hiccups except some wardrobe issues with the whites of t- shirts coming through under the fur. we also had an issue with a dog running into one of the shots which though was annoying was also rather funny.

Overall the day went very well and the shots that were needed were all done on schedule but something did catch our attention that we were almost through the film and would not have enough to shoot the roman scene. This meant that we would have to be careful with how much film is used on the final shoot.