HOW TO MAKE GHOST EFFECT WITH SONY VEGAS PRO

The Ghost Effect is a staple of movie making and remains impressive despite being one of the easiest to create. In this tutorial you will see not only how to use Sony Vegas Pro to create the Ghost effect but also how to add some echo enhancement to the sound track for extra spookiness.

This really is an exceptionally simple effect to pull off and yet most satisfying to observe. Once you have understood how the effect works you will no doubt see endless possibilities for plenty of other similar effects that can be produced simply by tweaking the basic technique.

So, delay no further, Watch the video and try it for yourself - and you may find yourself creating Ghosts just for the fun of it :)

Jumping through closed door effect - In Sony Vegas Pro

It's a surprising and humerous effect. Jumping through a closed (in this case, car) door.  In this video I show how to make this nifty little effect using Sony Vegas Pro. The version I used for the tutorial was Sony Vegas Pro 13, but any of the Pro versions should be able to do the job just as well.

When I first tried to make the effect, I thought it would just be a basic jump-cut - cutting from the actor on one side of the door, jumping against it, to the actor on the other side of the door. When I tried that approach however, the results were somewhat less than convincing...

So I used the last few frames of the "Jump" side to "blend"  the actor into the door - a bit more with each frame, until they were completely on the other side and this produced a much more convincing effect. But don't take my word for it, check it out in the video below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And if you like stuff like this, then why not subscribe to the Meejah Youtube channel... It's free!
SUBSCRIBE

Cheap/Easy DIY Video Lighting

Photography lighting kits, as a rule, tend to be on the expensive side, but if you are planning to do any sort of decent indor video shooting, good light is pretty much essential. I have seen a number of lighting tutorial videos hailing from the USA which suggest using, as a cheap lighting solution, a clamp light which is common and inexpensive over there. Over here in the UK however, those lamps are difficult to find and not that cheap either.

I had been using a simple bulb in a bulb-holder and attached to a bit of flex & a plug as a light source. It did indeed provide light, but was non-directable, difficult to mount and fragile. I decided that it was time to do something about it, and after a bit of thinking, I came up with a solution.

The solution was a lamp that was cheap, easy to make, directable, robust and easy to mount virtually anywhere. The basic Idea is easy to scale up and can be used for making much more powerful lights simply by using a bigger container and more lamps. Very little skill is needed to make them and I'm sure that these lamps would have their uses for straight photography lighting as well, so if you are looking for some cheap camera lighting, why not try them out for yourself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you like this sort of stuff, then why not subscribe to Meejah's Youtube channel - It's free!

SUBSCRIBE

How to use Windows LIVE Movie Maker - Easy Tutorial

It's not like most other video editors, and maybe it's not well liked, but it's the only video editor that some people have. If you're not sure whether you are going to like video editing or not, and you just want to try it out to see, you're not going to be willing to shell out a small fortune for a top-end video editor.

If you already have a video editor provided free with your Windows, then that's the one you are going to use as a tryout. This is the situation many people find themselves in as they try to get to grips with Windows LIVE movie maker.

Unlike the original style Movie Maker, the LIVE version doesn't look much like a video editor as we know them and at first can seem somewhat incomprehenisible but a little perseverance reveals a program that is perfectly capable of all the basic editorial functions, and providing that your planned movie is not too ambitious, can provide some pleasing results

It's certainly an excellent way of easing your way into the art of video editing and giving you a glimps of what's possible even with basic editing. So if you have been thinking of trying out editing and Windows LIVE Movie Maker is what you have on your computer, then wait no longer. Watch this easy tutorial and make yourself a movie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you like this sort of stuff, then why not subscribe to Meejah's Youtube channel - It's free!

SUBSCRIBE

How to get Custom Youtube Thumbnails (No partnership required)
No doubt you have noticed when scanning through the thumbnail images on Youtube that illustrate the various videos, that whilst most of them appear to be random frames taken from anywhere in the video, one or two are obviously custom images often complete with channel logo and video title.

They certainly grab the eye. Relevant custom images that perfectly illustrate what the video is about surrounded by a sea of ... well... less than relevant random pictures.

You may think that the videos promoted by such images have a better chance of attracting viewers than the random pics have - And you would be right. No doubt, if you are a regular uploader of videos to Youtube, you would probably like to be able to do this yourself, and may be thinking "How do they do that"?

Well, the people who put up custom images with their videos are all "Youtube Partners"-  that is they are in business with Youtube and take a share the advertising revenues that accrue from their videos. Because they are business partners, they have a number of perks that are not conferred on the common herd - one of which is the ability to upload custom thumbnails.

So if you would like to be able to upload custom thumbnails with your videos, you will have to first try to become a Youtube partner - a long and often unsuccessful undertaking - Or, you could cheat. If you are planning on the latter, then just check out the video below :)



Enjoy...

More Free (licence free) Music

Just another quick note about the licence-free music that I'm putting up on the Meejah site ( www.meejah.co.uk)
There are a number of different styles of music that you can download there - You can find them, appropriately enough, under the "Free music" tab.

The music files are all "Youtube safe" which means that you can use them without upsetting Youtube and having your videos pulled for musical copright issues.

The example in the video below is called "Epic" and it's an example of the "Filmic" style As I say there's plenty more at the Meejah website ( www.meejah.co.uk), so get over there and take a look.

Enjoy  :)

Getting it together

Another quick update.

I've just finished building the Meejah website - in it's infancy at the moment, but it's the place where you will be able to find all the links and resources that I will be mentioning in Meejah videos. I had a bit of trouble with the domain registration thing, because I have never done stuff like this before - BUT! - now it is up and running.

It's a bit sparse on content at the moment, but that will be remedied as time goes on.

However, there is already a section carrying Royalty free music of different styles that you can freely use in your videos without the Youtube Music police coming round to sort you out!

If you'd like to check it out, here's the link:

http://meejah.co.uk/

It would be a good idea to bookmark it as I will be adding more content (and free music 'n stuff) as time goes on.
Cya soon.

Stuff goin' on!

Just a quick update.
I've been a busy boy over the last two days. I've created "The Meejah Channel" Youtube channel where all the forthcoming "How to" videos will be hosted, as and when they are made. There is nothing on the site as yet of course, as I'm still busy setting things up, but if you can't wait to subscribe (I know you can't), you could always get in early and subscribe now :) - Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMeejahChannell

I am also half way through (or thereabouts) building a Meejah website where I will have more tips and tricks, links, and resources as well as some free stuff like sound effects and copyright-free music - All yours for the downloading. It's not quite ready yet, but when it is, you'll be the first to know and I'll post the link here.

Now I'm going to sort out my Video Studio (it's actually more of a large cupboard full of junk, but "Video Studio" sounds posher)

That's all for now
Have a good'un.

Meejah - Start making videos now.

Hi, I'm William Huw and I like making Youtube videos.

Now I know that there are lots of people out there that would like to be making videos for Youtube (and other places), but they believe that it's all beyond them. They think that it's all incredibly difficult (it's not), extremely technical (it doesn't have to be), and that they will have to buy lots of expensive equipment (they won't).

In fact, if you probably have everything you need to start making videos that you can publish on Youtube (and other places), right now.

So I have decided to make a blog that will show you how to do just that. How anyone can make some pretty good videos even if they have no budget and little to no equipment.

Each blog will be accompanied with a Youtube video, so you can see for yourself exactly what it is I'm banging on about. All the videos will be posted to TheMeejahChannel - my Youtube channel. If you would like to subscribe (it's free), here's the link: TheMeejahChannel

Once you have begun making and posting videos, you can even start to make money from them (it's not difficult), OK you probably won't make your fortune from them (well, not right away anyway), but you can cerrtainly make some pretty decent pocket-money to begin with, which could be a big help if you decide that you do want to buy some expensive equipment later on  :)

So don't delay. Make sure you get the lowdown on all the videomaking tips, tricks and wrinkles that will be coming this way by subscribing to this blog.
See you at the Oscars.
Will