Color Editing?

[Randy Robinson]

I was wondering if it would be possible, in editing, to make the image of a film largely black and white, but with patches of color? A little like SIN CITY but not that cartoonish.

More like the flashback scenes in the television series ANY DAY NOW.

Also, I dont really want to use a lot of the green screen technique.

[DIMWIT]

If you can get ahold of Adobe After Effects which is what I use they have color correction filters that you can choose which colors you want to appear anything that is not that color will be black and white. Tip to all I have Adobe Premiere 6.5 and Adobe After Effects 6.5 pro these programs run for about $700-900 a piece. I don't pay for software you download it from Kazaa or Bearshare it's just like Napster only better, word to the wise if you don't have cable modem this can take awhile to download. Also there are tons of tutorials online for Premiere and After Effects. You can do anything from titles to animatics to Special effects and camera angles check it out. Let me know if you need any futher direction in finding it.

[Randy Robinson]

I refuse to download Kazaa or anything like it anymore because the last time I did, I had to restore my computer because I was loaded with SpyWare.

But thanks for the tips!

[DIMWIT]

Believe me I understand your pain about Kazaa I've been there. Bearshare has a free download that comes with plenty of spyware, what you have to do is download Ad-aware it is a free cleanup software made by lavasoft. All big companies use it so it is really good. You load that in and do a system check, that will remove all of your current spyware. Then you download Bearshare go on there and download as much as you can i.e. you can multi-task on there and be downloading 10 things at once. When you are finished load the software put in the keycodes and delete the Bearshare program. Then run another system sweep and delete all of the trackers and cookies that came with the software. The problem that you are having or that you had is that you kept the software on your desktop which leaves a backdoor open all the time for SPAM to come in. They track the sites you go to and then mound on the popups and spyware programs, but if you delete it they will leave. You are shutting the backdoor to you computer. I strongly advise you to try this, the programs are top notch but way to expensive to buy.

[AJ]

Or alternatively you could try BUYING the software and stop being a cheap-ass punk?

As filmmakers, we are all living in glass houses, and pirating software is simply a case of throwing rocks around. After all, we are relying on making some good movies and then distributing them in order to get a profit so we can make more... aren't we?

[DIMWIT]

I am not entirely sure what point you were trying to make there. With the glass house homily, but I was simply trying to be helpful. Of course we are all trying to spring board our movies into stardom but as you may or may not have seen this is the Low- Budget Horror Film Society you elitest sap. No I don't feel any regret for getting pirated software, the software isn't what is making the movie I am and Adobe isn't going bankrupt over me. Until I have the extra $2000 to throw around on something that I can get for free, I will continue to do this. I am pretty sure that noone in here has done 100% legal stuff I don't see any permit forums or contract forums on this site. I think I've met your kind before, the people that think that you shouldn't make movies unless your financed for 16mm. When I make enough money to have a financed movie then I will worry about Legitimate Software. If Michaelangelo stole the paint would the Sistine Chapel not be a work of art?

[AJ]

First of all, lets be clear about one thing, working with a low budget is no excuse for stealing other people’s work.

There is nothing elitist about working in an honest and creative environment.

Yes Adobe software is expensive, but why don’t you try being creative instead of taking the easy route and stealing a solution? If you can’t afford Photoshop, use Corel or Winpaint or Paintshop or any of the freely available shareware packages that cost a handful of bucks to register?

You could try approaching your local post-production houses, ask to get time on their machines during the down-time, middle of the night or weekends or whatever? Or maybe you could approach Adobe themselves and ask for sponsorship, or look into the costs of student licenses?

My point is, that most of the members of this board are aspiring filmmakers, who would be overjoyed to make it big and land some serious budgets for their future productions. But by stealing software to make your film, you are actually helping to undermine the very system which enables you to make a profit from it.

Believe me, it’s not much fun to work for years on a project and then see it being sold on street corners before it has even hit the shelf in the stores! I sincerely hope that never happens to you, but if you are serious about making films professionally, then you should start adopting a professional mindset.

The only “sap” around here is you my friend, you are the one who is actively contributing to the rising tide of digital piracy that threatens all of us who rely on the entertainment business.

You might like to characterise Adobe or Warners or whoever, as being ‘big business’ or faceless corporations, who can afford to miss out on a few sales, but the reality is that Photoshop, After Effects and all the other software packages are made by guys just like us, and they deserve a little respect for the work they do.

I don’t know about Michelangelo, but I’d say that in my opinion true art cannot be built on a foundation of deceit.

[DIMWIT]

I see the error of my ways, you are absolutely right 100% the "Cheap Punkass" that you called me wasn't neccessary I always thought of it as just being thrifty I always intended to buy the software but in the meantime I figured why not get really good at using it. I would like to call a truce. I don't want to sound like the shady guy in the alley rubbing his hands together waiting to get into mischief. But I will continue to work on learning the software with the copy I have, and hopefully soon I will have the money to buy a legit version.

[xander171]

hey i be a punk! is it cheap to use my college's avids and after effects machine???

[AJ]

xander171 said:

is it cheap to use my college's avids and after effects machine???

Of course not, they are properly licensed versions. Didn't you read my post?

Anyways, I've said my piece. Piracy is an issue which really gets me steamed, if you've been on the receiving end of it you tend to see things from a different perspective.

To answer Barenerves question, I would guess that After Effect is probably the most elegant solution to your shot requirements, but I suspect that a similar effect could probably be reached by using a combination of other software, albeit at the cost of extra effort and time.

[mandor700]

The reson most of this software is so expensive is because they don't actually sell that many units, not to say that its because of rampant theft but it's specialist software. It's like film cameras, the reason they're so expensive is because of the thousands of hours of time and engineering that go into something that may only sell a few hundrend units. All up there might be $5000 of raw materials in cameras.
And software is the same, except that CDs cost a few cents these days.

[Randy Robinson]

I am thinking of buying 'Vegas Movie Studio + DVD' for my editing pretty soon. I have been looking at several editing programs (that are affordable) and this one seems like the best.

On this site - www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=SBVEGASMSDVD&Dept=cameras&CategoryName=acc_DIAccessories_DIOthers - it says that it features 'Green Screen Chromakey Effects.' Does this mean that my original question would be possible with this program? I understand that if so Green Screen will be needed, of course.

Has anyone here ever used this program --- or done what I am trying to do?

And no one worry, I dont plan to get the program off Kazaa or anything. I have the money saved for editing software, I am just trying to learn more before I go buy it.

[Randy Robinson]

Also, if 'Vegas Movie Studio + DVD' doesnt do what I need it too, I was wondering if anyone knew a program (that works with a PC not MAC).

Thanks!

[El]

I myself am a vegas user. I started with Vegas Movie Studio, then upgraded to Vegas 4, then Vegas 5, skipped 6, and now I have Vegas 7. I absolutly love it! For all the morons that are trying to use two programs (premiere and after effects), Vegas combines the two into one! I've been making movies since I was 5 (no joke) and have yet to come up with an effect that I can't do with Vegas. Once you understand the software, milk it! My advise is to buy Vegas Movie Studio, then upgrade immediatly to Vegas 7 or 8. It's still cheaper then buying the full version right away.