Music video lip sync

[INFRATOM]

What is the easiest way to make a music video to have lip sync with music , and on and off jump to other scenes like they have on TV. Every time it jumps back to singer there is a lip sync with music and music plays from begining to end with no interuption. This is a home video project for my son. Thanks

[thecoalman]

Do you mean using two cameras?

[greymalkin]

if you have a video editing program that will allow you to use different layers of video then it shouldn't be too hard.

if the person "singing" is going to be singing in the same position/shot for the whole video then you can just record them singing with the music playing on a little boombox so they can keep sync'ed up. Let them sing along to the whole song in one big take...

Then you can go into your video editing program, load up the video of the performance and sync up the actual recording (audio) of the song (this shouldn't be hard at all).

next for the "cut scenes" just lay over the other scenes you want wherever you want them..you should be able to layer just the video or mute the audio on these extra tracks...When you lay the extra video over it the original synced video is still running in the background so you won't ever get it out of sync...

If the "singer" will be singing in many different scenes you'll have to do the boombox/lipsync thing and sync the video up each time it comes back to them..just alot of sliding..etc.

Don't use a tape either when the singer is singing along...use some sort of digital media as the tape may play a little faster or slower than "normal" and this really screws things up...

i hope that made sense..it sounds like a fun project!

[byteguy]

What software are you using? It sounds like you are either using the wrong product or you have got something odd going on.

Do you want to make a music video like my daughters made here?

Here's how I did it.

1) Make a CD of just the song you are doing. Put it on a boombox and play it LOUD while you film.

2) Start from the beginning and film multiple versions. I did one from a distance, one close-up to one daughter, and one close-up to the other. Play the boombox each time. Feel free to offer direction, you are going to throw away this audio later.

3) Take all three takes and load them into your editor. The three audio tracks should look almost exactly the same.

4) Zoom in and move the takes left or right until all of the audio track peaks and valleys line up.

5) If you can, LOCK the position of the video so you don't accidently drag them out of synch later.

6) DELETE all of the original audio and import the song from the source.

7) Depeding of your software, you then use "blend" or "cross-fade" effects to pull one of your three video tracks up and display it.

Good luck

[greymalkin]

Thats a good idea about leaving the audio tracks and using them to sync up!

The poster is just asking for advice on what would be the best way to do it..so theres no problem and they aren't doing anything wrong..I don't think they've even started yet..

Also, byteguy...those video's are cute! what software did you use for them all? I'm also interested in what you used to capture the 8mm footage?

I feel your pain on the field order reversal...I recorded my brother in laws wedding and I was so excited cause we had 2 cameras...the problem is they both recorded in reverse field order...I didn't know enough about it and I just sync'ed them up and commenced swapping angles as i saw fit. After rendering/authoring the file my footage looks jumpy and blurs when I move the camera and the other cameras footage looks fine! ack! oh well I deleted the original footage cause I was doing it for free and already spend too much time with it!

thanks!

[INFRATOM]

My question does not rquire a double camera, my point was actual person singing would be under different scenes like in car or other scenes singing same song music doesn't stop on final dvd jumps from one scene to another when it is on singer it has perfect lip sync. Your ideas helped .. Thanks .. I know I have to go through extensive editing and sync'ing video with audio. I have ulead studio, bought Adobe Premier but haven't used it yet, which is best SW that I can separate audio and slide over to sync

[byteguy]

... what software did you use for them all? I'm also interested in what you used to capture the 8mm footage?

I use an Adaptec PCI VideOh board to capture from my old Sony 8mm handycam. Then I edit and author with EditStudio Pro.

I just have to remember to set "top field first" in the encoder when I make the final Mpeg and then I have a good clean file.

The real pain comes in on the projects where I mix my captures with slideshows from ProShow Gold. I have a whole procedure worked out where I convert the PSG output to top field first before including it.

My question does not rquire a double camera, my point was actual person singing would be under different scenes like in car or other scenes singing same song music doesn't stop on final dvd jumps from one scene to another when it is on singer it has perfect lip sync

I only use one camera also. The easiest way is to film them singing the ENTIRE song in the car, on the bridge, underwater, wherever. However, you could just play a section on the boombox and then synch it up later using the audio. It takes a little more work, but it's not too bad.

Don't use the original audio from your camera. It just won't work and you'll get all sorts of different background noises. If you want to have THEM singing then record them first, burn that to a CD, play that as your tracking sound, and included that clean recording as your final sound.

The trick is (as greymalkin pointed out) to use a CD so that you don't get tape-speed issues as the batteries run down... and to play it LOUD so that the waveforms are very pronounced and easy to line up.

[byteguy]

I have ulead studio, bought Adobe Premier but haven't used it yet, which is best SW that I can separate audio and slide over to sync

Forgot to answer this... I tried Adobe but it drove me nuts. It's a great program but we just didn't agree on how to do stuff. I use EditStudio now. It automatically displays the audio and video as seperate items but locks them together so you can slide one and the other follows. Very useful for your project.

Then, you can unlock the connection and delete the original audio without having to demultiplex the source file.