Make Your Video Widescreen

Want to give your claymation or animation a more professional look? Many professional films nowadays are filmed in wide screen format or at least edited in post to be output as wide screen. To me personally, it just looks more appealing. If you do want to learn more about what widescreen is and what it is all about, I've included resource links below. Here's a quote from one of them, explaining a little why widescreen works.

Since 1955, most movies were (and are) filmed in a process where the width of the visual frame is between 1.85 to 2.4 times greater than the height. This means that for every inch of visual height, the frame as projected on the screen is between 1.85 to 2.4 times as wide. This results in a panoramic view that when used properly can add a greater breadth and perception of the environment and mood of a movie.

How do you convert your video to widescreen format though? Well, it's pretty simple. You'll first need to get Virtualdub, a free video editing program, and then you'll have to follow this relatively-easy-to-understand tutorial. If you follow the directions as given, you'll have your videos in widescreen format in no time.

Resources:
Virtualdub Website
Tutorial Page
Widescreen Wiki Page
Widescreen.org

Video Editor: Avidemux

Here's another free video editing program that I found called Avidemux. It looks like that it might be a little like Virtualdub, but it probably has some differences. If you've downloaded Virtualdub and don't really care for the interface, you should maybe check this out and see if you like it better. If you haven't try both and choose which ever one you like. On the site there is a forum as well as a Wiki page so there should be no problems in learning how to use the program. As always, links are below.

Avidemux Main Page
Avidemux Forum
Avidemux Wiki

More Wire Removal Testing

I had the concept down on wire removal, but I didn't really try it yet. Today I tested out the theory, and it seems to work pretty well. The only thing that is messing me up right now is flicker problems from not constant lighting that shows where the wires were. I tried concealing it somewhat using a plug-in in Virtualdub and while it fixed the flicker problem there are other abnormalities that happen because of it. Other than that and some bad masking, it looks pretty good. I may need to try to fix it by using the plug-in first and then masking out the wire, but I'm having some problems with using footage in Blender that has been exported from Virtualdub. Once I can figure that out, I'll do another blog post to update you on what's happening.

Virtual Dub

I haven't been using Virtual Dub very long or very much, but from what I've already seen from it, it's got some potential. It's another free video editing software that you can use to edit your shot footage, add sound, apply filters, and do a number of other things.

The couple of things that I've been interested in it for are some of the downloadable filters that you can use to Deshake and Deflicker your clips with. The Deshake really works well, and if you have some really shaky footage, it will do a couple of passes and work to stabilize your video. Deflicker simply helps take out the flicker a little that may occur in some animations because of unstable light sources, you wearing white that reflects light, and some other reasons.

Like I said though, I don't know much about the program and how to use it, but I'll be sure to post some of the things I find about it that I think will help you learn more as well.