hey guys
could you recommend some cool tuts with regards to working with video. i really want to get into making videos for my tracks and maybe a bit of vjing. any links to tuts and what software i would need would be most welcome.
thanks

 

All depends on the video editor you use, your starting level and what you want to achieve.
If you want to achieve video with tons of effects, graphics and creative editing because you think in vjing but you want to create your sequences good idea is take a look on lynda.com tuts.

As first step I suggest to follow Premiere/ or Final Cut tuts (the essential training series/ lynda) where the software and its key features are presented.
Get good editing skills by practicing with your own footage ...the learning curve of this, it's simple & quick!

Secondly depending on your interest you should cover other tuts about technical aspects of the image and creative editing techniques: Here is where the fun starts specially for vjing
layering, time remap,key-framing, motion paths, nesting, crops, color grading, simple matte creation, luma issues, compression standards (read some focal press pdfs are full of terminology)
...and follow the typical beyond the basics/ Lynda series staying in the editor. Discover and use the straight FXs of the video editor. Pure video, powerful,creative and simple without messing around with Visual FXs.

Third step should be to have a go with the FX: and this domain can be simple with quick fixes done in 2D (typos/ blending modes) or really complex requiring 3D modeling skills, understanding the rendering process, the passes and the composing onto video, camera tracking, advance keying etc,(concepts sometimes not as intuitive as might think)
In one word the main goal is integration! I guess this is the main goal of many disciplines including music!

For the easy thing if you are on a mac, you might try motion for final cut (you can find lynda.com tuts / with that, you might add to your video FX's as lens flares/ lightnings / steams/ simple particles systems/motion graphics)
For more complex stuff done in After Effects (AE) , the material is huge: lynda.com, FxPhd, and the free ones as creative cow, videocopilot, ( some of them so, so cool!) where you can follow projects along.

Obviously if you are serious about FXs good idea is to learn some 3D program and starting to get into compositing CG onto live action using AE or other powerful programs as Nuke (tuts from Digital Tutors / the gnomon workshop/ cmiVFX ).

Ok, if you find it a bit overwhelming, actually it's not need to go through all of it, unless you want develop a narrative. There are all kind plugs very handy for all that eye catching fxs or animations *yes* in sync with the music without using 3D or second party programs, although the trend falls to the side of the top notch realism and astonishing graphics

Other thing you might try is flash, a funny way to get into animation without caring about all that hassle of the seeming integration!

 

thanks for the reply! started on after effects but its just too much for me! would like a simple program and maybe use plug ins
cheers again

 

Hello, i used to use Sony Vegas and it was such a friendly program, you should try it. After effects is ineed way more difficult but it offers alot of things vegas dont. I highly recommend you the new blue fx plug ins for vegas, theyre easy to use and the fxs are awesome, i didnt really needed any tutorials to start using them, just drag the fx to the video time line and its done.

About learning on video, i really think you should go oldschool and read video shooting related books, read about first planes, camera position, lighting, etc the old ones specially are really interesting, they show you that back in those days creating a movie was pure use of imagination like using customed masks, shooting in specific time of the day, attaching the camera to weird places, etc

I think having good raw footage is having 80% of the job done, the other 20% is coloring effects or cuting parts wich is pretty easy, unless you want to do more complex stuff that requires 3d max or heavy after effects compositions i think you should focus on getting good footage.

Some books in english ive read are:

Brown, Blaine, Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers, Directors, and Videographers
Martingell, Paul, Better location shooting :techniques for shooting video

The other ones were in spanish and i cant really remember the names

 

Sony Vegas and Aftere Effects are two different programs After Effects is FX programs, where you can do a manipulation of video, but Vegas and Premiere FCP are video editing programs I think you should start with premiere and many doors for you will be opened, and you will see what you wanna do with it