Here's the sitch...

[Taylor Simpson]

This topic is the only reason I made an account on this forum. I figured the people on here would know what they're talking about and be helpful (so prove me right).

 

Here's the sitch:

 

I want to create a video drum-cover of a song. I have a flip video camera (simple, I know) and recently bought the Joby GorillaPod flexible tripod for it to shoot some interesting angles. What I want is record different angles (i.e. looking at my bass pedal, looking at my snare drum, looking at the drum set in its entirety, etc) and then make the video with a couple of these angles showing simultaneously. For instance, I want viewers to be able to see the shot with my bass pedal and the shot of the entire shot at the same time, then change one or both of the "feeds" to another part of the drum set. This is a long-winded explanation, I know, but its odd to describe in text and I want to be concise.

 

Basically, here is what I need:

 

1.) A free, user-friendly video-maker program to make this happen (i.e. be able to overlay two different videos or more on top of each other and be able to change them mid-video.

2.) Some tips on how to make this happen (since I've never done anything like this before) including some ideas I may not of thought of on how to accomplish something like this. It's very plausible that I'm over-thinking this.

 

Thanks ahead of time!

[Arturo Sinclair]

What you want is a compositing program such as After Effects where doing what you say would be quite simple (assuming you spend some time learning the program). AE is not free of course, but you can download a 30 day trial version, go into overdrive with coffe or tea and study the tutorials. Head over to http://www.videocopilot.net/ and study their fantastically good (and free) tutorials.

 

Then, if you need more time than the 30 day trial you can "rent" the entire Adobe suite for about 19 dollars a month and finish your project. If you don't think your project is worth the effort and the small expense then I would not even bother:-)

 

I imagine if you are in this forum is because you have more than a passing interest in media and are a creative person, so I would suggest you invest some time (and some money) into learning with tools that are used throughout industry so instead of simply a pastime it develops into something more exciting and useful for your future.

 

AE is of course one option, there are many others, including editing programs like Final Cut/ Motion etc which you can use in combination with AE or by themselves. In any case it will take hard work and perseverance,

 

good luck!