Glenn DeLaune reviews: ShowStoppersFX Wedding Collection Volume One

A Creative COW "Real World" Product Review

Glenn DeLaune Extreme Video Productions Lafayette, Louisiana, USA © 2003 Glenn DeLaune and CreativeCOW.net. All rights are reserved.

Article Focus: Videographer Glenn DeLaune takes a look at Show Stoppers FX Wedding Collection Volume One and concludes that this collection of backgrounds, overlays, mattes and titles helped him to create the best looking wedding video he has ever produced.

To be successful in the video production business, your videos have to stand apart form the rest of the pack. If wedding video production is your primary business, you must provide your customers with a video they can cherish forever. One way video editors can enhance their video projects is by using various tools in conjunction with video editing software. ShowStoppersFX Wedding Collection Volume 1 is one of the best tools I’ve seen. This fantastic collection of motion backgrounds, animated titles, animated overlays, and soft edge mattes can make your wedding video productions look like they were created by a high priced Hollywood studio. Let’s take a look at this collection as I explain how I used them in a wedding video. After inserting the ShowStopperFX DVD into my computer DVD drive, I was able to access an HTML file. This is the built-in viewer and it’s a great way to preview all of the effects in the collection. The best way for me to use this collection was to open up Windows Explorer and drag the “media” folder from the DVD onto my hard drive. Once there, they could be accessed easily form within my NLE of choice which is currently Sonic Foundry’s Vegas. I wanted to create a classy looking title to start this video. First I imported one of the motion backgrounds and dropped it onto a video track and I also imported an animated title and placed it on a video track just above the motion background. The animated titles have transparent backgrounds so it looked beautiful against the motion background that I chose. Next, during the ceremony, I used one of the overlay graphics. The overlay graphics also have transparent elements in them that enabled me to insert close-ups of the couple into the overlays transparent area. This created a very nice background to the shot of the couple making their wedding vows to each other. I used a couple of different overlays throughout the ceremony. At the reception I captured the first dance and by using one of the mattes, I was able to put the couple dancing in what looked like a 24K gold heart graphic. This was a nice effect to show the couple’s first dance together. At the end of the video I went back to the overlay section. I wanted to create a photo slide show of the stills that were taken by the wedding photographer. By using the pan and zoom features contained in my editing software, I was able to move in and out of the photos that were inside the overlay frame I had chosen. When I was finally finished with the video and delivered it to my customers they couldn’t have been happier. They were so moved by what I had created for them that they assured me they would tell all of their friends who were getting married about the great job I did for them. COW Rating: This collection of backgrounds, overlays, mattes and titles helped me to create the best looking wedding video I have ever produced. One of the great things about this product is the "tips section" of the DVD. There you will find examples of how to use some of the effects on the disc. Watching those samples really gave me inspiration and some great ideas of how I could use these elements in my video. I can’t wait till my next wedding project so I can use this collection again. Glenn DeLaune Extreme Video Productions http://www.extremevideopro.com

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