24 Effect - multiple clips playing within a frame

[robemich]

Sorry for the poor description, but I honestly do not the correct professional term for the effect that I wish to copy. Many of you all have seen the TV show 24. I am wanting to emulate the effect that is often used at the end of the show where they show several clips at the same time in different panes. My first question would be for someone to provide the correct name for this effect. Second, I would like to know what editing software is going to be required to do this? Final Cut Pro/Express? Do I have a prayer of doing this with iMovie? Thank you all in advance.

-mike

 

[JohnMC]

Hi Robemich, I have not seen much "24" but I assume what you what you want to do is create a tiled effect with multiple video clips running at the same time. If I'm not correct, I apologize for this post. No, there is no way to do that in iMovie. In FCP/E, layer all the video clips to be put in the tiled effect one on top for each other (in V1, V2, V3, ect.) In your timeline, double-click on the top clip to open it in your viewer, open the motion tab and change the size to around 25%. 25% may be a little big or small depending on your desired effect. Repeat for all the clips. Then in your Canvas simply move the clip around until you like the look. Pretty simple.

JohnMC

 

[robemich]

John,
I think you hit the nail on the head. Fortunately, FCE is available at my bookstore for $99. Hope the learning curve from iMovie to FCE is not too great. Thanks for the info.

-mike

 

[Richard Flynn]

Hope the learning curve from iMovie to FCE is not too great.

Sorry, but FCE is in fact quite a bit more complex than iMovie. Although it doesn't explain the steps for the technique you want to do, I would thoroughly recommend spending a day going through Final Cut Express HD from the Apple Pro Training Series, by Diana Weyland (available for $28.34 USD from the Amazon US site). That way you'll feel far more at ease in the FCE environment. I just jumped into FCE expecting it to work the same way as other prosumer non-linear video editors I'd used on Windows, but was sorely mistaken, and consequently spent months floundering around in the interface. Bit the bullet, went through the book, and now understand what I'm doing!

I've played around with that 24 effect myself, with frames shrinking into corners of the screen, new clips appearing in different corners, etc (which is what they have to remind you of the different storylines before each episode's epilogue). It's quite easy once you get the hang of it, but can be a bit fiddly with setting keyframes. Don't know where to get the 'whoosh—boomp' sound from that always accompanies the effect in 24, though.

 

[zioxide]

Hi Robemich, I have not seen much "24" but I assume what you what you want to do is create a tiled effect with multiple video clips running at the same time. If I'm not correct, I apologize for this post. No, there is no way to do that in iMovie. In FCP/E, layer all the video clips to be put in the tiled effect one on top for each other (in V1, V2, V3, ect.) In your timeline, double-click on the top clip to open it in your viewer, open the motion tab and change the size to around 25%. 25% may be a little big or small depending on your desired effect. Repeat for all the clips. Then in your Canvas simply move the clip around until you like the look. Pretty simple.

JohnMC

Yes, and you can also use the crop keyframes and some others so you don't have all of your clips the same shape.

 

[expergo]

I guess the hard part is not just sizing so many clips at the same time, but when they move all at the same time, is that easy to do?

 

[JohnMC]

If you want to move the tiles around, just use motion key frames to do the job. Everything you need is under the Motion tab I told you about earlier. The best way to learn about keyframing is to read the manual.

JohnMC

 

[robemich]

THanks

Thanks for the input everyone. I read the Apple Press book on iLife '06 cover to cover. I will probably wait now until FCE 6.0 is available and hopefully a updated book will follow....

THanks again.

-mike