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Documentary style


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I posted this in "Editing" but I'm not sure that's the right place for it. Here goes in General:

 

I'm currently editing an experimental documentary film and have a

quick question for the forum

 

One of the things I'd like to get on the screen is a postcard. I'd

like to move around the image, zoom, pan, etc. I was wondering what's

the best way to get a decent quality copy on the screen? Part of the

problem comes with the fact that they're so small

 

I've scanned some of the postcards now, but I'm wondering if it would

be better to shoot them with a camera, or take a still photo of them

with a digital camera. I know if I shot it with a camera I could do

the zooms and pans myself, but is there a way to do that in FC?

 

Let me know if you have any ideas, or how you might do it.

 

Ah yes. And I'm not concerned if the quality of the picture is 100% clear (a little grain or grittiness is fine), just as long as it's not gritty enough to be distracting.

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I'd say scan them at the highest quality(600dpi or something). You can then animate pans and zoom or a mix in adobe after effects. Here's a link to an easy tutorial to follow:

 

http://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_...zoom/index.html

 

Strange link, but it works :)

 

Good luck.

 

Are there any other programs that will do that? I have a Mac and don't have after effects.

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Most edit programs have simple tools to animate zooms and camera moves, check your software. At the TV station I work at we used to use a program that was stand-alone, but for the life of me I can't remember it. I always used after effects because its easier and high quality.

 

I would recomend against using a camera, since you probably can't get a quality camera to do it with. An XL-1 or DVX-100 is not suitable, since its close focus capabilities keep you from really zooming in with sharpness. I have a fujinon 6.7-110 with macro, and still have troubles with documents that size. Also when shooting things that small you'd better have a good tripod, since very little moves will look like shakey-ness on camera. Post is definatley the way to go for just about any still object, unless you want to impart realistic light effects (When forced to shoot docs, I do a lot with my lights just trying to make it look interesting, once I got asked why I needed 3 lights to light 1 doc. I do not allow myself to move the camera because the tripod isn't great and the floor is soft, which makes things even harder.)

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Thanks for the help everybody. I'm planning on doing most of the film in super8mm, so it would make sense to shoot the cards in that also, in order to keep the look consistent.

 

I can use the scanned images for some of the images I have in the background and I may need the paning and zooming on those.

 

Sweet.

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