Comments on: Creating Video Podcasts

Question: Creating Video Podcasts

labnol — Thu, 25 May 2006 02:15:07 -0800

I plan to create a video podcast with moving or animated backgrounds like we see on TV weather shows. I have a trial version of Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 but it doesn't come with any animated backgrounds. I like the ones that are on digitaljuice.com but since it is just an experiment, I am looking for a free resource where I could download them. Can somewhen please post links where I can download video sets and backgrounds. I just need a couple of them. If anyone here has done this before, a link to learning tutorial would also be much appreciated. Thank you everyone.

By: grumblebee

grumblebee — Thu, 25 May 2006 06:24:02 -0800

You can easily create such backgrounds yourself. If you have a camcorder, film some random textures (stone walls, fabric, M&Ms, shag carpet, ice, etc.) Either move the camera a bit while you're filming, or -- better yet -- lock the camera down and move a light so that the contours of the textures change over time.

Capture these clips into Premiere and layer them on top of each other in tracks.

Then drag the whole sequence into another sequence (nest it), so in the new sequance, the original -- all the textures -- become one track.

Apply a couple of effects to that track. I suggest a blur, so that the view can't tell what the textures actually are, and maybe a tint, so that you can bring them all into the same color space. You might want to experiment with glows, too.

If you don't have a camcorder, take still photos of textures (or do an images.google.com search for textures) and create the movement inside Premiere, using keyframe animaton.

I hope this helps.

By: labnol

labnol — Fri, 26 May 2006 03:21:41 -0800

Thank you grublelee.. You have given me lot of interesting ideas. Thanks again.

Still, I wish I could find some readymade animated background videos to save me all the time.

By: grumblebee

grumblebee — Fri, 26 May 2006 08:27:58 -0800

Check ebay. You may find people selling readymades (artbeats, digital juice) cheap.

Here's an in-between solution. Grab an interesting bit of movement from a DVD, i.e. a shot of a camera panning across the New York skyline -- or spiderman swinging by. Blur it up so much that you can't tell what it is, but can see interesting colors. Use that.

I'm not a copyright lawyer, but I suspect you can use such footage if you blur it beyond recognition.