How to encode your frag movies

My good friend Salmon over at PldX has written up an excellent tutorial on encoding frag movies with the x264 codec. I used this tutorial to achieve that silky smooth quality in Meatshot Vol. 2. You can find the tutorial here.

General guidelines for encoding:
Think about your final product before you even start the project. The resolution and fps of the clips must be consistant.

Despite the fact that we all have broadband connections and hundreds of gigabytes of HDD space, we still need to think about the file size. 40-45 megs/minute is optimal, maybe even pushing it. Anything beyond that is often a waste, but if oversized files and longer download/upload times rock your boat then just fucking do it.

Short clips and videos need more bitrate than long ones. (You don't need to know why.)

High resolution and output fps need more bitrate to keep it all clean and smooth.



Tip: your NLE (non-linear editing system) be it Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere etc., will offer several image sharpening effects. Experiment with them to give the image some added crispness. Don't go overboard though, moderation is key in video editing.

Color correction in Meatshot Vol. 2

Today I'm going to give you step-by-step instructions on how to achieve the look I created in Meatshot Vol. 2. The basics of this method apply to other NLEs such as Adobe Premiere and Final Cut etc, but naturally the settings will be a bit different.

1. Open your clip in Vegas.

2. Create a new layer above the clip.

3. Right click on the empty space and choose "Insert generated media". Choose "Color gradient".

4. First set the angle to 90, then choose your colors. You can change the transparency from the slider on the left.

5. Next, set the compositing mode of the top layer to overlay by clicking the green little box with the symbol α.


6. You can control the overall brightness by changing the opacity of the top layer. 70-90 was used throughout Meatshot Vol. 2. It depends on the clip.

7. Add the effect "Levels" to your video clip and experiment with different settings. I like to add a little contrast to make that shit pop.


Additional stuff:

• "Unsharp mask" can be used to sharpen the image, but it will affect the colors a bit.
• Make your bottom layer "compositing child" so that layers below the clip will not be affected by the compositing mode of the top layer.
  

• Try duplicating the clip, setting the compositing mode to "Add", then creating the color gradient layer on top of those two. This gives the video more brightness and allows for more interesting looks (it'll also increase your rendering time)
• Glow, use sparingly please.

hf