Chad Whisnant tweets in and asks, “What bitrate do you export with?”
@cineblur What bitrate do you export with?
— Chad Whisnant (@VideoWiz19) April 15, 2013
When exporting, you usually refer to the bitrate of the video in Megabits per second. Don’t get Megabits confused with Megabytes. They are not the same thing. Megabits, or Mb (lowercase b), are used when referring to transfer speeds. Megabytes, or MB (capital B), are used for file sizes.
These setting are what I use when exporting for web streaming. When exporting a 720p video, I use 5 Mbps. When exporting a 1080p video, I use 10 Mbps.
I find that using the “auto” bitrate feature takes longer to export and creates larger file sizes with more compression. So, using auto bitrate is an all-around bad idea.
Simple. If you stick to those guidelines when exporting for web stream such as Vimeo or Youtube, your video will look great while still maintaining a small file size. Keep in mind, if you are exporting for broadcast or other outlets, your bitrate will vary. Always ask them what their preferred settings are.
When working in a live church production, there are many roles required to pull everything off. One of the most important roles in the video department is that of the technical director. The technical director is the person calling shots and putting up the camera feeds on the big screen. They’re kind of a big deal, so it’s very important that the director is trained and always on-point with the flow of the service.
A “fallback” shot is basically a shot that you can fall back to in any situation. If you have all of your cameras pointed at a singer, what happens when the singers stop for an instrumental break? Or what if the band decides to throw in a last minute bass solo, and you don’t have a clear shot of the bassist yet. In situations like that, it’s a great idea to go to your “fallback” shot. Wide shots usually make good “fallback” shots. Drum shots also make great “fallback” shots because the drummer is almost always doing something interesting. Always having a “fallback” shot will save you whenever the action stops or something unexpected happens.Remember to always asses where each of your cameras are and make sure you have a “fallback” shot for any situation.
When I first started directing, I would always use the fader on the switcher, especially during worship sets. I would never cut between shots, because I was afraid to. It is simply much easier to mix between shots because it doesn’t take much timing or thought, and it’s just easier. But, I soon found out that, if you want to get good at directing, and properly convey the emotion and energy from the live worship environment, you have to cut sometimes.
My good friends Sutton McKee and Matthew Tibbenham have just released the first episode of their new interactive web series, “The Wrong Guys For The Job.” This comedic web series follows 2 criminals, Larry and Charlie, as they do their job…..or at least try to.
We recently had a big women’s conference at my church……not a conference for big women, but a women’s conference that was big…..anyways, I was given the last minute task of making intro video bumpers for the 4 different speakers. Instead of rushing something from scratch that would of turned out mediocre, I purchased an After Effects template. I customized the temple and adjusted the timing to match my music and voice-over and the videos turned out great. And it only took me about an hour. 
Vignettes are a nice stylized way to color grade a clip. But, unfortunately, there are no pre-installed vignettes inside of Premiere Pro.
DVD menus are notorious for being bland. They take time to make and usually turn out to be the least impressive element in a production. After the many hard-worked hours that it takes to complete a project, you don’t want the DVD menu to ruin the delivery of an awesome production. Remember: the DVD menu is the first thing that the client will see when they pop that little disc in. You need it to be impressive.
So, to address this inevitable problem, I’ve created a free After Effects preset that fixes it. Simply apply the preset to your footage, and adjust the angle to “straighten” your footage.
Adding the “pendulum” effect in After Effects has never been easier! 100% satisfaction or your money back!
There are two adjustable effects parameters when you add the preset. One controls the “shake,” and the other controls the “rotation.” The default settings of 10 and 8, work well for most clips.
“Vintage FX” is a preset pack for After Effects and Premiere Pro containing 33 professional presets. Each custom preset color corrects your footage, making it look vintage and retro. I made these using basic effects that are built into the programs, so there’s no need to purchase high-end plugins or 3rd party applications. There are lots of different effects and styles, made with different purposes in mind. Some are warm and faded, others are dark and contrasty.
