October 2006 Newsletter
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Welcome to the Photo to Movie NewsletterOctober 2006In This Issue:
New Features in Photo to Movie 4.0 for Mac OSPhoto to Movie 4.0 (Mac OS) has been available since May 2006. It features a number of significant improvements over earlier versions in addition to numerous minor changes. Whether you've upgraded already or not, you should check out the new features below.
Photo to Movie User Profile - Christopher Seufert
In this monthÂs newsletter, we profile Christopher Seufert. Christopher is the founder of Mooncusser Films, in South Chatham, Massachusetts. Christopher created a short documentary about radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi using Photo to Movie and Final Cut Pro. It was commissioned by the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center, was narrated by Walter Cronkite, and has won 5 awards so far. LQ Graphics: What kind of work do you do? Christopher Seufert: IÂve owned and operated Mooncusser Films, LLC since 1992, after a background in journalism and anthropology. We specialize in documentaries, educational films, music video and corporate/promotional projects. ItÂs essentially me as producer/director and I hire out freelancers as needed on a project by project basis. LQ: What is your background? CS: My background goes back to print and TV journalism out of college, grad school for anthropology and then more specialized experience in video. I worked as a TV news reporter where I learned shooting and editing, then worked as a video conferencing technician in the early days of distance learning (around 1993). Then I transitioned into a staff position in community television, a stint freelancing full time in lighting and sound jobs in Manhattan, and then full time at my own company, based here in the Boston area. IÂve done it all at this point, and it serves me well in running my own company and in hiring out to freelancers. LQ: How do you use Photo to Movie? CS: I use it as a quick and easy version of After Effects. The more graphical logic of it works better for me, especially when IÂm sitting here with a producer or client in the studio. LQ: How has Photo to Movie benefited you in your work? CS: ItÂs made me more inclined to put my photos and stills into motion, rather than choosing to keep them static. Many of my projects are low budget, and so Photo to Movie helps me to deliver more to the client for less. IÂll put motion into my movies when I ordinarily wouldnÂt. ThatÂs worth a lot. It increases the quality of the product IÂm able to deliver. Though there are other products that do the same thing, the tight focus of the product helps me go into and out of the product quickly. The next step for me would be to see it in a Final Cut Pro environment as a plug-in. LQ: What feature(s) in Photo to Movie do you use most often? CS: I must confess I donÂt use the random feature much, though I like the idea. IÂd like to see that become more intelligent. Anyway, importing and exporting ease-of-use is the thing I appreciate most. Drag and drop your images into it from the desktop, adjust the green and red boxes (start and stop) and export to a DV movie. ThatÂs all you need to know to get going. No manual required. LQ: Tell us about Mooncusser films. CS: IÂm currently in production on a direct cinema-style feature length documentary with musician Suzanne Vega and just recently completed a short documentary for a museum focused on the contributions of Guglielmo Marconi to wireless radio. This was narrated by Walter Cronkite, who retired when I was in about eighth grade. That was incredible to find myself writing a script for him and on the headphones directing his narration. I remember being in my pajamas and hearing his voice relaying news of the Vietnam War. So, that was a milestone for me and my company. Next up is something that I shot in the Czech Republic with classic documentary-maker Albert Maysles (ÂGimme ShelterÂ, ÂSalesmanÂ, ÂGrey GardensÂ) and a music video with Boston musician Chris Trapper (from the Push Stars). LQ: How did Photo to Movie help you with your Marconi project? CS: Essentially, I was able to use motion on a project when I ordinarily wouldnÂt have. The keyframing in Final Cut Pro and the importing and exporting to Adobe After Effects are more involved and would not have made sense on the budget we had (about $17,000). I got your demo from Apple OS X Downloads, which I check every day, and it came along at just the right time. I was suffering with getting motion on the images that day with other applications, I downloaded and dried the demo, affirmed the export was of the quality I needed as a QuickTime movie in Final Cut and registered. The next day, my client was astounded by how much I did overnight. LQ: How are you using Photo to Movie with your Suzanne Vega Project? CS: I must admit I donÂt use the audio feature. I do a lot of dragging and dropping of images from my external FireWire hard drive or from my desktop, wrangle the green and red boxes for the movement, make sure IÂve got a good buffer at the front and back, then export to a QuickTime movie and into Final Cut. WeÂve been showing the rough-cut to test audiences here on the Cape and then at a festival in Europe this last September. WeÂre now shaping the rough cut for submission to South By Southwest in Austin, Texas in early December and Photo to Movie is helping me shape out the utilization of the still images (photos and album covers from her past) outside of Final Cut Pro. It takes about 1.5 seconds to open the application and start throwing images into it so itÂs good for scriptwriting and roughing out images from our storyboard. So, it functions for me outside of the editing environment as a producer. LQ: Is there anything else you would like to tell us? CS: I appreciate how specialized the software is. In this day and age where software is always adding new features and becoming more generalized, I think Photo to Movie has done well sticking to what it does best. Also, thanks for sticking with Apple. We thank Christopher for taking the time to let us know about how Photo to Movie has been of benefit to him. You can see a sample of the Marconi documentary and other video by clicking the link below. http://www.mooncusserfilms.com/ If you would like to be profiled in a future newsletter or on our Web site, please email us at software@lqgraphics.com. Frequently Asked Questions  Photo to MovieHave a question about Photo to Movie? Send us email at support@lqgraphics.com. How do I use Photo to Movie with iDVD?To use Photo to Movie with iDVD, you will create your movie in Photo to Movie. Then you will click on the Make Movie button or choose File > Make Movie... Once the Make Movie dialog opens, choose the iDVD icon at the top of the window. Next, for best compatibility, manually launch iDVD from the Finder (see below). Then return to the Make Movie dialog in Photo to Movie and choose whether to add the movie to a new iDVD project or the existing one. Next choose a project name and a place to save the movie file. It is recommended to save both within your Movies folder. Then click the Make Movie button. Photo to Movie will render the movie and then send it directly to iDVD. Some recent versions of iDVD (iLife '06) take too much time to launch and Photo to Movie versions prior to Photo to Movie 4.0.3 may not correctly add the movie to the iDVD document. For this reason, you should launch iDVD manually yourself if you're using Photo to Movie 4.0.2 or earlier. Photo to Movie 4.0.3 or later fixes this problem. How do I use Photo to Movie with Final Cut?To use Photo to Movie with Final Cut, create your movie in Photo to Movie. Then press the Make Movie button or choose File > Make Movie... When the Make Movie dialog appears, choose the QuickTime panel. Next you need to match the format of the Photo to Movie export to your Final Cut movie. You will probably be using either DV, DV Widescreen, HDV 1080i, or HDV 720p. The widescreen formats (HDV included) will only appear if your Photo to Movie document has been configured as widescreen. Once you have chosen your format, click the Make Movie button. Once your movie is rendered, drag or import your movie into Final Cut. You may also choose other formats such as Uncompressed 4:2:2 for top-quality video. The disadvantage of this format is that it will take a lot of hard disk space. You may also find yourself using MPEG-4 occasionally, although this will result in signicantly lower quality. RSS Feed AvailableWant to make sure you always get the latest news about updates and special promotions from us? Then subscribe to our RSS feed, so you automatically get updates as soon as they are available. LQ Graphic's RSS feed will include:
How do you subscribe? First, you need news service (or aggregator). There are several free services, such as Blogline.com or Newsgator.com. Once you have registered, just follow their instructions for adding a news feed. You simply type (or copy and paste) the following link: http://www.lqgraphics.com/wordpress/?feed=atom And then you will automatically receive any news we post. ItÂs simple and free. Help NeededLooking for Users to ProfileWould you like to be profiled in one of our upcoming newsletters? Do you have a project created in Photo to Movie that you are especially proud of and would like to share it with others? If so, please contact us at software@lqgraphics.com and let us know. We are always looking for new and exciting projects to share with our customers. Beta TestingBeta testing for Photo to Movie 4.1 (Mac OS) will be starting soon. To be a beta tester, you should be a licensed Photo to Movie 4.0 user. If you are interested, make sure you're on our Mac Beta emailing list. You can do that by visiting this web page: Job OpportunitiesAre you a Mac OS developer? A marketing specialist familiar with Mac marketing? Or a technical writer familiar with Photo to Movie? Are you able to write tutorials or how-to's for Photo to Movie? If so, email us at software@lqgraphics.com. We might be interested in hiring you. Special Offer! Catalog, Organize, and Search Your Digital Video
In conjunction with T-Squared Software, LQ Graphics is offering a whopping $20 discount on FootTrack for Photo to Movie customers. We use FootTrack to catalog over 100 hours of video. Almost instantly we have access to all of video footage. We also tag it just like in iPhoto and can search for specific scenes in an instant. SAVE $20, FINAL PRICE $29.95 FootTrack allows you to import, catalog, and search your digital video tapes. It also compresses your footage for permanent storage on your hard drive. FootTrack is the iPhoto for digital video (DV)! Learn more about FootTrack. To take advantage of this limited time offer, click here now. NoticesTo unsubscribe from this list click here. LQ Graphics, Inc., 7172 Regional Street #297, Dublin, CA 94568 |
