Last year, I made a promo for my church on an event called “Hope For Lubbock.” I fumbled with a few ideas, and 4 days before the due date, I decided to trash everything and start completely over, so I grabbed the Canon 5D mkII and our Glidecam, and went to town. Which, honestly, turned out to be a great idea.
I wanted something different. I knew I wanted words to be the main element to get “HOPE” in the viewer’s mind, with shots of around town to also be prominent, so people could connect better. I had watched a few tutorials on matchmoving, so I figured I would try that technique to add some edginess to the promo. Matchmoving is a bit time consuming, but I cut some time-corners when making the 3D text with Zaxwerks Invigorator. The presets in Invigorator made making high quality text very easy and simple. I used Trapcode Particular and Magic Bullet Looks. I also used Video Copilot’s Optical Flares, which is absolutely amazing. I don’t use it that often, but it is definitely one of my favorite plug-ins for After Effects.
This video turned out great, and for 3 days of work, I was proud of myself.