I have been asked by a number of people if I would share with them my
flame video that I used on the candle on top of the birthday cake that appears in this show:
"The Year That Was" - 3:09 min
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... 1064&alb=0Rather than do that, I'll share with you how to make one yourself. I didn't purchase the
flame clip. I figured out how to make one with my old Canon A95 point & shoot camera which has a video mode to capture short video clips. By making one for your own use, you can avoid dealing with copyright issues.
Here are some tips...
1. Use a tripod.
2. Adjust camera settings to shoot video with the best resolution possible.
3. Set the camera either on macro focus or manual focus setting and find the best image in the screen you can get. Otherwise, it will come out like a big white shapeless blob.
4. Use a black background and set it a ways behind the
flame. I used black foam core board behind my skinny candle.
5. Trim the top of the candle so it tapers toward the wick. Shoot so you can only see the
flame, no candle.
6. Leave a nice length on the wick - not so much so it smokes but you want at least 1/2 inch I would say.
7. Have a nice piece of cardboard handy to create an occasional VERY GENTLE side breeze.
8. Start the video clip shooting while the candle is still and end shooting while it's still. This will allow decent looping if you need that later. Shoot 4 or 5 samples 10-20 seconds each so you have some to choose from.
9. Mine was about 20 seconds. But 12 is good, probably better if you can swing that - less in file size etc. But you can edit it. Watch for stillness of the
flame and cut it there.
10. Download the avi off your flash card to get it into your PC. I have used both Roxio and also Photoshop Elements. Then import the clip into Windows Movie Maker for editing etc.
11. Mute the audio when editing in Windows Movie Maker. If you don't mute it, you will get background noise. Clip>Audio>Mute
12. Finish editing and give your video a name via Movie Maker, save as NTSC file and then insert it into your show.
13. Play with the chroma-key feature in Producer to remove the background and ugly blue line (Key Color Black, Intensity Threshold 33%, Intensity Drop Off 20%) and set opacity to 85% so it doesn't look so cartoon-ish when layered on the top of a candle.
Have fun and hope that works for you!
Debbie
Last edited by
debngar on Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:57 am, edited 2 times in total.