AE photomontage

[Griffinstudios]

http://www.elysiumdigitalstudios.com/Photo.wmv

Montage I did for a memorial service.

Just looking for comments or critiques.

[Caveman]

I can't view it.
It says "the request is invalid in current state".
Maybe try a quicktime.

:thumbsup:
CAVEMAN

[Griffinstudios]

Hmmm...

I guess right clicking and saving as doesn't work either.
I'll try and get a QT up.

[jvmatlock]

Wow! You did a fantastic job. How many man-hours did this take? What a wonderful rememberance you created for that family.

[Isaac_Brody]

Looks excellent. My only critique is that the movement seems slightly stilted and computerish. Did you use easy ease to smooth out the camera moves? Other than that it's perfect. Excellent work.

[Sirius_Doggy]

WOW! Ken Burns would be proud of your work. What music did you use? Sounds a bit like LOTR soundtrack stuff.

[xl70e3]

I liked it, really, but I agree with Isaac here: the camera movement often seemed too "computerish" and discracted from otherwise beatiful imagery.

Sirius, I'm pretty sure the it was Pearl Harbor soundtrack for the first minute, but after that I don't know...

[Sirius_Doggy]

Sirius, I'm pretty sure the it was Pearl Harbor soundtrack for the first minute, but after that I don't know...

Now that you mention it, yeh, the beginning does sound like Pearl harbor. But at about 4:38 there is a change in music that carries out to the end that I would swear was from LOTR. Still a great video! The only shot I didn't care for was the pool shot where he pops up out of the water. It just sort of changed the mood too much from "man - look at this man's life" to sort of "ha-ha" for a couple of seconds there. There were a couple of jerky "computerish" moves but still overall a technical masterpiece. It made my wife cry watching it!

[Neil Rowe]

i really liked this.. great job.

[AZScott]

I can see this was a lot of work in planning out the photos to use, in what order, doing some creative masking and cloning of the backgrounds in order to do the moves, deciding on seamless transitions from one shot to the next, etc.

That being said, I really got tired of the effect. Not only did the moves seem jerky in spots, with strange motion vectors careening in different directions for no dicernable reason, but the sheer constant motion and hard stops wore me out! I would have rather seen some photos just stand on their own merit, with maybe a tasteful pan or zoom. Then pull out the KSITP effect only for the shots that are most suited for it.

One of my favorites was the still portion of the last shot, just the clouds and sun moving, because it was understated (until the lens flare, of course). Some of the beauty in this technique is that you can really pull the viewer in with very subtle moves. The color shot with the family standing on the lawn is an excellent example of this - I really buy that shot! Good job! Or the wedding picture with the eye patch - subtle. When it gets too "effect-y", it feels like you're moving just for the sake of moving.

[Griffinstudios]

Thanks to all who commented...I appreciate it. Firstly...the music was from pearl harbor and Legends of the Fall...not lord of the rings.

I do agree that the movements do appear very "mechanical" and no I didn't use Easy Ease. I didn't even know it existed...I guess I'll know better next time, thanks.

I would have to agree with AZscott that it had some pretty strange motions...I was aware of them...but because of the deadline I had to make some tough choices. This was my first time attempting something a little different and I was a clumsy OX with the movment.

That being said. I shortened the online version and left out about 25 still photos that were of a more traditional montage.

Thanks for the advice...I'll be starting another one by mid week and will take the suggestions into account.

[ransom]

I really like the effect. Are there any tutorials out there that show how to do it? I can imagine how to do parts but not all. Thx.

[jvmatlock]

http://www.adobeevangelists.com/aftereffects/The3DPIctureTrick.pdf

[Griffinstudios]

heh...that's a pretty good tutorial actually. Once you understand the basics, it's easy to add more and more images to create side scrolling transitions and greater depth.