Is Being Just a Video Editor Enough?

Being a Jack of all Trades is a matter of survival.

Years ago there was a saying "Jack of all trades, master of none". That saying had it's place in time, but these days, in order to survive, I have had to become a master of many trades. In my case I needed to expand from being a video editor into a video producer, videographer, editor, designer, sound editor and web developer.

Dissecting the Video: Mission Impossible Text (Pt 2)

The lit fuse text transition mask bringing in the text layer.

Last week in Dissecting the Video: Mission Impossible Text (Pt 1), we prepared the first After Effects comp of the fuse with alpha. This week we'll build the main composition of the fuse burning in and leaving the text in its path. As mentioned last week, this composition will be a 6 second 720p comp.

Dissecting the Video: Mission Impossible Text (Pt 1)

Creating a title with a Mission Impossible theme.

On my demo reel I used a lit fuse to transition from each line of text. This week we'll discuss how those transitions were created.

This effect was done in Adobe After Effects using one piece of footage - the video of the lit fuse. The fuse I used was a royalty-free clip I purchased from the Artbeats website. The clip comes as two files the actual fuse movie and a black & white matte movie.

Video Production Budget Preparation

Preparing a budget for a video production.

A lot of times when working with clients, I will get the question: "How much will it cost to produce a 10 minute video?" Generally the person asking the question believes that there is a set formula, such as X dollars per minute. There is usually a surprised reaction when they find out that they can't get an estimate without having some idea what the video will contain.