Computer Graphics Survey

Recording Video

Using Premiere 4.2.1 on MacOS Computers

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Before beginning the project

Tutorial Description

In this first session, we'll create the elements for our video:

• A live-action recording (using a video digitizer).
• A title card (a full-screen image with type).

As in previous occasions, you will find familiar features in this program, helping you to guess function and operation. The Title window has many of the standard facilities of drawing programs like FreeHand. In the following session, we'll also see the Project window, which displays a visual list of the elements to be edited (like the Cast window in Director); and the Construction window, which offers a timeline to arrange those same elements (similar to the Score window in Director).

Record Video

1. Go to one of the Macs with video input. Change the configuration of the computer for video work:
   • Check that the video camera connected to the computer is ready.
   • Turn off AppleTalk
     
   • Switch display to thousands of colors
     
2. Find the Premiere application icon in the Video folder and start the program:
   
3. When the New Project Presets dialog appears, select 'Presentation-160x120' and click 'OK'.
   
4. From the Capture submenu of the File menu, choose Movie Capture. This will bring up a new window where you should see a live feed of the video from the camera hooked up to the computer. Also, a new 'Movie Capture' menu will be added to the menubar.
   
5. From the new 'Movie Capture' menu, choose 'Recording Settings'.
   
6. Enter 160 (width) by 120 (height) for the recording size. Check the following options: 'Post-Compress Video', 'Conform Movie to 10.00 fps', 'Audio Block Size 1/2 Second'. These are not necessarily the best settings for highest-quality results, but they should allow you to fit your video recording on a floppy disk (if you keep it short).
   
7. Use Movie Capture-->Video Input. This will bring a dialog box with three sets of options, displayed in turn by using the pop-up menu in the upper-left corner of the dialog. On the right you should also see live video from the camera, to allow you to preview adjustments.
   
8. Choose 'Source" from the pop-up menu (upper-left of dialog). Make sure the following options are selected: 'Digitizer Built-In'; 'Input Composite'; 'Format NTSC'; 'Filter TV'.
   
9. Choose 'Image' from the pop-up menu. Adjust the slider to get the best possible preview image. If the lighting is not bright enough, you will probably need to boost contrast somewhat. If possible, avoid increasing Sharpness above its default level of 50, since it will add random artifacts (noise) to the image, making it harder to compress.
   
10. Choose 'Compression' from the pop-up menu. Select the following options: 'Compressor Motion JPEG A'; 'Depth Best Depth'; 'Quality 100'; 'Frames per Second 10'. Leave the other options unchecked, then click OK to close the entire dialog. If you find that the file size is too big, return to this dialog to lower the Quality slider and re-record.
    
11. Use Movie Capture-->Sound Input. This will bring up another dialog box with three sets of options, displayed in turn by using the pop-up menu in the upper-left corner of the dialog. On the right there is an additional section with a meter to check sound levels.
    
12. Choose 'Source' from the pop-up menu. Select the following options: 'Device Built-In'; 'Input Microphone'.
    
13. Choose 'Sample' from the pop-up menu. Select the following options: 'Rate 11.025 kHz'; 'Size 8 Bits'; 'Use Mono'.
    
14. Choose 'Sample' from the pop-up menu. Select 'Compression None'. This is the safest setting at the moment to avoid incompatibilities.
    
15. In the section to the right, select 'Speaker Off While Recording' (this avoids possible feedback noise). With the Volume slider set to 100, speak into the microphone and adjust the Gain slider so that a consistently high number of green bars is visible, avoiding red bars. Remember to speak in the same manner later on during the actual recording.
    
16. Click on the Record button in the Movie Capture window. The preview image will disappear briefly. When it re-appears (at a reduced frame rate), start your shtick. When done, click the mouse button anywhere.
    
17. Make sure to save your recording: File-->Save. This file can be named any way you like. We'll use this recording as raw footage for the final video to be edited in the following session.

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Create Title Card

• Use File-->New-->Title to open the Title window.
  
  • This is a drawing program built into Premiere, with features and tools not unlike the ones we saw in other graphics programs (PageMaker, Illustrator, etc.)
  • The dotted boxes at the margin of the blank document are the title-safe and action-safe areas, which are only relevant to work done for TV. The boxes will not appear in the final version, however, and they may be useful to help position your title.
    
• Use Windows-->Title Window Options to bring up the Title Window Options dialog.
  
  • Fill in the frame size (160 W x 120 H)
  • To choose a different background color, click on the box below 'Background' to bring up a color picker dialog.
    
    • Click on the color you want.
      
• Now enter and format the text of your title. Remember to make it legible by using uncomplicated typefaces at the largest size possible.
  • Choose the Type tool ('T') in the toolbox
    
  • Click anywhere in the document area. A white box and a flashing insertion bar will appear. Start entering text at the keyboard.
    
  • To reposition the title block, click inside it with the Arrow tool, then drag it to a new location.
    
  • To resize the title block, click on one of the handles at its edges with the Arrow tool, then drag.
    
  • To format the type, click on it to select it, then:
    • Use the commands in the Title and Font menus. The same formatting applies to all the text in the same block.
      
    • Choose new colors in the color picker, brought up by clicking on the color swatches.
      
    • Change the transparency of the type with the Opacity pop-up sliders.
      • Make the type opaque by dragging the slider up.
        
      • Make the type see-through by dragging the slider down.
        
    • Change gradient direction by clicking on one of the arrowheads surrounding the gradient preview.
      
    • Modify the drop shadow by dragging on the shadow preview ('T' at the bottom of the toolbox).
      
      • You can also change the settings in the Title-->Shadow submenu.
      • A drop shadow is often helpful to increase the separation between the background and the type.
• Optionally, you can explore the simple drawing tools available in the Toolbox to add other elements to the title card besides type.
  • The Polygon tool can be used to crate arbitrary shapes with straight edges. The shaded right half of the tool icon in the toolbox lets you draw filled shapes; the left half is for drawing the outline of the shape only.
    
• While the Title window is still active (in front of other windows), use File-->Save to save your work to a Premiere Title file.
• Close the Title window.

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On ACG Lab computers, the program Premiere is on the hard drive, inside the Video folder.

For this project, use the ACG computer with video input ACG-26 (Power Macintosh 7500/100). The camera is a JVC RGB model, to set it up:

• Make sure the lens cap is off.
• Turn the power on (see that the red light on the power supply is on--if not, use the ON/OFF switch, on the power supply itself). The barrel of the camera lens should rotate to focus automatically.
• Adjust the zoom using the 'W' and 'T' buttons on top of the camera body (the lens may not focus at extreme telephoto settings if the subject is close to the lens).
• Turn on the incandescent lights next to the camera for better illumination (this helps to offset the green cast from the fluorescent lights overhead).

Documentation on Premiere is available on the 'ACG' lab file server, in the 'ACG_DOCS' volume.

The Art Computer Graphics program of Fullerton College offers a class covering video in detail, ACG66: Multimedia Video. Look it up in our class schedules.

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