Until now. Read on to see what changed my mind.

I had heard how on indie films people had used a green or blue screen outdoors. This supposedly had the advantage of even lighting without any real work. I’d always wanted to try it, but I had no frame and I couldn’t think of anywhere else to hang the screen.

My dad came to the rescue last week with a great idea: Grab a few clamps and hang the blue screen from the gutter on our house. Hanging the screen in front of the garage door ensured enough room to back off for a wide shot.

I hurried outside to try it. The day was pretty windy, so the screen was constantly in motion. This is unfortunate, since that messed up the key a little. But still, I got results at least as good as those in iSundae II with about ten minutes of work. Compare that to the hours I spent on a single shot for iSundae II!

Here’s my test video:

I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do when the wind isn’t ruining my shot!

By the way, on the subject of chroma keying, I’ve been messing around with the demo of DVmatte Blast recently. It does a very nice job!

Seriously, though. Recently, I learned about a very neat transition in Final Cut. Introducing… The Gradient Wipe!

(Disclaimer: Remember when I talked about cheesy transitions? A gradient wipe can be just as cheesy if you overdo it. Don’t.)

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s jump in. First of all, what is a gradient wipe? My local dictionary says nothing on the subject, so you can make up your own definition based on the explanation. Let’s play with a gradient wipe.

Add a gradient wipe between two clips just like you would any other transition. Now, for basic experimentation, find the second clip in your browser and drag it into the slot I’ve pointed out in the picture. Drag the softness slider up a bit, play the video, and you should see something pretty interesting. Here’s what I got:

Gradient Wipe from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

Pretty neat, huh? Let me explain how it works. When you added the clip to the slot, you added a matte. Final Cut uses this matte to decide which areas of the shot to transition first. Darker areas at the beginning, lighter areas last. We can use this to our advantage to make a very artsy transition.

You’re going to need Photoshop or some similar photo editing application for these next examples. Launch Photoshop and create a new image the size of your video. Make sure your foreground and background colors are black and white, then do Filter>Render>Clouds. Save that image and bring it into Final Cut.

Drop your new cloud picture into the matte slot on your gradient wipe. Play it and see what happened. Here’s mine:

Cloud Gradient Wipe from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

Let’s make this even more interesting. Remember the movie National Treasure? When Riley is explaining to Ben the security surrounding the Declaration of Independence, there’s a really neat shot of “kids on their eighth grade field trip.” The kids come in first, and then the background fades in behind them.

The filmmakers probably did a lot of motion tracking and matting and such to pull off this shot. Here’s a low-budget/lower-time way to get the same effect with a gradient wipe.

First, shoot some video of your people walking in front of something. Plan ahead more than I did and make sure they stand out against the background. The key to making this work without too much hassle is to have your subject stay still for a few seconds before they start to move.

Bring that video into Final Cut, and then export a frame of the part where your subject is standing still. Open the image in Photoshop.

Do a nice cutout job of your subject and get them on a separate layer. Get rid of the background and make it white. For the foreground, you have two options. You can either shade your subject all black to make them fade in all at once, or, as in the National Treasure effect, paint your subject in gradually lightening shades. Remember, darker fades in first.

Once you’ve saved that, bring it back into Final Cut and drop it in the matte slot. You may have to do some adjustments, but you should come out with something like this:

Complex Gradient Wipe from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

As you can see, the possibilities are nearly endless. If you come up with anything interesting, leave a comment linking to your video. I’d love to see it!

It’s a pretty good pack. Probably the best sound effect is a trailer title whoosh, which is really hard to find for free. Highly recommended!

Combat Mime Video 4 — Faking a Punch from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

This is probably going to be the last video in this series, but stay tuned for more videos on other subjects coming soon.

I’m sure that you’ll want to check this book out now, so now is the time for me to mention that it is out of print. There are a few used copies available on Amazon, though.

Combat Mime Video 3 – Shove from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

We’ll be posting more videos soon, so stick around to learn more fight techniques.

I’m sure that you’ll want to check this book out now, so now is the time for me to mention that it is out of print. There are a few used copies available on Amazon, though.

 
Combat Mime Video 2 – Elbow Jab from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

We’ll be posting more videos soon, so stick around to learn more fight techniques.

I’m sure that you’ll want to check this book out now, so now is the time for me to mention that it is out of print. There are a few used copies available on Amazon, though.

When you find a tree you like, just click the check mark button, and Dryad makes a Wavefront .obj file, which can be imported to Blender. Sweet!

1. Never install audio mixer batteries backwards. Not only does the mixer not work that way, but it’s also a fire hazard.
2. Use extreme caution when reaching into the depths of electrical equipment. I received my very first electrical shock that way. (Although it scared Rebekah a great deal more than it did me.)
3. If you happen to be the one chosen to stand in the sun, running the camera, while the actors conveniently perform in the shade, I have found an umbrella to be a handy tool for keeping the sun off. However, you must exercise caution, for if it’s a windy day and you can only hold the umbrella with one hand, it’s very easy for the umbrella edge to blow forward and creep into the camera’s view. I ruined several good shots that way.
4. Never get involved in a spoon-waving war with your co-editor.
5. If your actors have to remove their glasses (as ours did) while acting, it is utterly pointless to try and guide them with hand motions. You can gesture for them to move one way, but if they can’t see which way you’re pointing, it doesn’t do any good.
   The other option is to direct them verbally. However, the downside with this is that “forward” can mean many different things. It usually results in things like, “My left or yours?” “Forward towards the camera, or forward from where I’m facing?” “Do I back up backwards, or toward the other actor?” Unfortunately, I have not yet found a good cure for this.
6. Never allow anyone to move a microphone if you’re wearing the headphones, and the volume’s up. For some reason, it took me several painfully loud instances to figure this out.

Now, I’m sure you won’t be able to apply all of these to your movie-making, but hopefully, at the least, I’ve given you a few laughs.