Video Editing Software

[BarryBostwick]

I'm looking for a program that lets me, I don't know the technical term for it but, merge videos together. So say I have two videos of the same place with people doing different things in different places. I would want to merge the two videos together so it looks like all the people are together. Anyone know a program that would do this? Thanks

[redwudz]

'Video compositing' is probably what you are looking for, also called overlay. That's normally done by shooting one video in front of a 'green screen' then combining it with the second video. If it wasn't shot with a green screen or compositing in mind, that would take a fairly high end video program, a lot of skill and a lot of time to accomplish, especially with multiple objects or people.

One article: http://www.emedialive.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=8596 You can find others by doing a net search for ' video compositing '.

And welcome to our forums.

[BarryBostwick]

Thank you.

Well I'm working on my video at school. They have Pinnacle Studio 11 and Adobe Premiere. I believe those are really nice editing programs. Are either of those able to do what I want to do? If so, are they able to do it without a green screen? The videos I'm making really won't be able to use the screens. Thanks again.

[redwudz]

Just guessing, but you would probably have to edit each frame individually and cut out the figures, then overlay them over a green or other blank background, then use that for your compositing. At ~30 frames per second or ~1800 frames a minute, this will take a while. A program like Photoshop could be used for cutting out the figures. I hope you have a lot of time on your hands. A green screen would make this a lot easier.

[edDV]

Premiere can handle the green screen and get good results with good control. Pinnacle has a limited chroma key.

Doesn't your teacher know how to do this? Is this a video course?

[BarryBostwick]

Yeah, the idea just popped in my head and I wanted a quick answer.

[redwudz]

Just a suggestion, but if both videos were shot against a common background, in editing, you could cut back and forth between the actors and it would appear they are all together at the same time. That's a common method with films as the scenes are shot at different times with different actors. They have to pretend they are addressing people not in the scene being filmed. It's quite effective.

Lighting and background have to be equal to do this properly. The only thing you would find difficult is to show both actors in a single shot. But you may be able to use a split screen and come very close as long as the actors are positioned properly. (Use 1/2 the width of each video, then combine them to a single frame) With skillful editing it can all work very well. This all relates to the planning of the video, story boards and the like.

[BarryBostwick]

Yes. That is pretty much what I want to to do. I wanted to get a big crowd of people. I was thinking I would sit the camera in a set spot. Then take my 10 or so actors put them on one side of the area. Then after I finished I would move them to another part of the area. They would all have a common background. Then when I edit the video I want to combine the clips together and instead of having 10 people there would be 20 or 30. Can Premiere or Studio 11 do this?

[edDV]

Yes. That is pretty much what I want to to do. I wanted to get a big crowd of people. I was thinking I would sit the camera in a set spot. Then take my 10 or so actors put them on one side of the area. Then after I finished I would move them to another part of the area. They would all have a common background. Then when I edit the video I want to combine the clips together and instead of having 10 people there would be 20 or 30. Can Premiere or Studio 11 do this?

What you want to do is create a difference matte but that depends on the background and is quite advanced to do right, plus each actor would need to be placed perfectly. Why try to reinvent the wheel? Shoot your actors over green screen and use Premiere masking (chroma key plus garbage matte) to create the alpha (key). Use XY size, XY position and zoom to place the actors over the background and in front or back of each other each in their own layer. Again your instructor should be able to explain the details. Google "chroma key" for more tutorials.