Any Sony Vegas experts in here? GFY Video experts.
 

GFY Video experts,

So after going out and purchasing the new Canon Vixia HF G10 to play around with, I decided to pick up Sony Vegas Pro last week to accompany it with.

This is my first serious venture into trying to produce somewhat quality films. I have never really dealt with editing that much, a worker of mine used to do some basic things for me on the post end, but not too much off the raw footage.

But jesus christ, I just installed Vegas and this thing looks pretty complex. Maybe that's just my newbie eyes (like the first time you ever opened photoshop), or maybe editing is just a really difficult thing to do.

Does anyone know a good starting point? I already have plenty of sample footage shot and imported, but where to begin on this thing? Any good tips or tutorials?

Also,

any idea on the best effects to get that "film" style look in post, those great colors, etc?

Would be so very grateful for any helpful tips at all, or any suggestions towards the right direction. Another saddo case for the GFY experts.. I do hope to improve.

Thanks again fellas.

I rarely use YouTube so I never think of the obvious :( Really appreciate that, going to take a look at those vids first thing tomorrow.

Still,

hands on experience is always grateful too! As well as anything to avoid, sometimes those tips are just as valuable as things to do.

Would really appreciate any and all the help I can get, thanks again Keysync.

Youtube will become your best friend. Everything from the basics of slicing and dicing to adding photo elements and more. One thing you will find helpful right from the beginning to to figure out what you want your output to be and play with some small sample pieces with different rendering settings to get the quality and size files you are looking for.

Overall the amount of information available on Youtube for Sony Vegas is priceless, sometimes you just have to sift a bit.

+ 1

You'll love Vegas once you figure it out. Dig in and it will happen quickly.

Aside from youtube, Sony has official tutorials, which they oddly don't promote:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...asp?prod=vegas

The majority of that "film" look is done during actual production.

Ever notice how "film" plays back differently from a reality show? It's because reality shows are generally shot in 30fps while film is 24fps. So the first step is to shoot in 24fps or a derivative (such as 48fps).

The second is the "bokeh" - this is how the foreground or subject of your video is in focus while the background is all blurred out. You can achieve this in a number of ways, but if you have a basic camcorder, the easiest way is to set your camera back farther and zoom in on your subject. dSLR's are all the rage right now because they can do what only $10k video cameras can do in the past: shoot with a different lens. Photographers have known for years that if you use a lens with a larger aperture, you'll achieve greater "bokeh". So an option for you is to shoot with a dSLR and a lens with a large aperture. Look for a lens that is f/0.x to f/1.8. Some of Sony's new camcorders can also interchange lenses.

In post, you can adjust color saturations in Sony Vegas with the filters (easy enough to figure out once you play around with the program. just drag and drop the appropriate name filter onto your clip). But for something a little more professional-looking and easy, I use Red Giant's Movie Looks:

http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/prod...-bullet-suite/

I know some people say it's hard to find good video guys who can shoot stills, and vice versa, but it's a lot easier for someone with a photography background to shoot great video. I recommend on picking brushing up on some photography skills. It'll help a lot.

Have you ever done any editing before? Honestly Sony Vegas looks no different then any video editor, it may look confusing but yes a few searches will make it easy and once you figure out simple cuts you'll be rolling in no time.

Just remember to make use of the "open in trimmer". Also, to stretch clip time in and out, grab the end and hold ctrl. The software is very intuitive -- just mess around with and you'll get the hang of it quick.

Perfection :) Much obliged good sir, truly is appreciated.

Bronco, Matt, Movieguy.. very cool of you.. this entire thread is exactly what I needed!

Movieguy,

I was going to buy the T3i.. but as a relative newbie, I opted for the Canon Vixia HF G10. Luckily it DOES have native 24p.. so I'm off to a good start to achieve that film look.

I am aware about the depth of field tip as well, and figured out the zoom trick, seriously a good tip.. thanks. I still plan to get the T3i, but I thought it easier to familiarize myself thoroughly with a dedicated video recorder first.

I will take Eric's advice and start playing with some small clips to achieve the look I'm going for, and then reproduce it later.

I know I have a lot of lens work ahead of me, and that's ok.. it will cost some money for the learning curve but I'm ok with it.. I know lenses are incredibly important to achieving different looks. Especially filmish type looks.

But for right now I want to see how close I can get to a decent type of film look with just 24p, depth of field and some other post techniques.. as limited as I may be.

You guys kick ass.. can't thank you enough.

You Tube is great for tutorials and learning any new mainstream software. :thumbsup

Along with Lynda.com