09 A Lot Is Changing!

Look at this:

Did you notice I added some layers? Oh really? I'm finally getting the hang of some basic procedures and started to experiment more and more! The learning curve is quite sweet of this program. You can do easy stuff quite fast, and once you get the hang of it more and more details can be edited. The possibilities are endless and you can go as far as you want. (I think the intro video said 99 layers on top of each other. Time to take out your supercomputer)

SOME HIGHLIGHTS 1 DATA GLITCH #1 & 2 The video starts with the astronaut loses her toolbox. I added some layer of data glitch. Very simple by playing with the opacity between the two. I added the data glitch layer on top of the astronaut clip and then keyframed the first frame of the data glitch to an opacity of 0% -> 50% -> 0 %. recap: you use the effect panel and then the clock icon next to opacity and change it on multiple points in your timeline (beginning-middle-end).

I repeated the same thing later in the video ( 10 sec later or so). Here I added a second layer of glitch with blocks. this has a opacity of around 30% to make it more subtle.

Eventually the two effects come together and a transition is made to the next part with the zoom in. Here I created a fade in by playing again with the opacityand keyframes. This way a loading screen pops up to during the zoom in (DRAMA). It also smoothens the transition and the way to the next frames. time to repeat myself: the beauty is that you can keep adding more details and different effects or keyframes for different parameters. The possibilities are endless. I started with a fade. Then I added the glitch. Eventually another one. The also a zoom in.

2. MULTIMASKING

The second part of the video consists of the wormhole journey. OOH YEAH. This could be my general bassline for the videoclip. Some abstract thing in the foreground with some abstract spacey stuff in the background. I level upped the masking procedure a little bit by now. I'm understanding the mechanics of the menu by trying out a lot of different things.

recap: in previous video I explained on how to do a fixed mask that does not change over time. Another example you can find in the video that illustrates this very well is the retrofuture blue neon floor.

What I did for this shot above: First I found a blue neon retro image. I added a mask to keep it and make the background above transparant.

I did the same for a second more cyberpunk rolling floor background.

blended them to this, with 50% opacity for example for the top layer.

Eventually I added a background layer on the bottom of the timeline and i masked of the bottom so the floor would become more present and visible.

recap: the block in the middle I already masked with the pen tool in a previous episode. I kept it from the previous scene with the wormhole. Go check there if you can't remember! Sorry, but it's very simple masking! Again, I will try to explain more of masking over time in the coming episodes. There is some genius stuff over here.

3. SPEED AND REVERSE In a third part of the video you can see some humans and human activity in reverse and sped up. Could it be the astronaut who lost the toolbox?* I find it hilarious. I don't know why, but it makes me laugh every time. I might be broken or worse... have a bad sense of humor! Meh.. I'm sorry and thank you!

More important question could be: how? It is quite easy. I found the clip on Youtube and it is again from NASA. !! ALARM, might no be royalty free, and/or copyrighted.!! (Also the person on the picture can claim rights. Might have to remove it.) Click on the clip you want to speed up and then right-click it (sometimes you have to find the right spot!). A menu will pop up and you can see speed/duration. Click on it.

If you want a clip faster or shorter, slower or longer, you can play with these settings. What do often is speed up a clip to get more movement and dynamics and then copy paste it several times. You can also check the reverse box to play a clip in reverse. I love this effect and plan to use it several times to give more variation and texture to the image.

I think this is enough for this episode. I will try to tackly the changes to the pink orb and some new stuff in the next! Hope I could inspire you and show some basics that could get you started on your own project as well! Stay Strong Y'all XOXOXOXOXOXO