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I want a programme where I can make fade ins and outs to occur when I want them

U

unregbaron

macrumors 6502
Original poster
I want a programme to use in a theatre for a play where I can make fade ins and outs to occur when I want them. At the moment I have to reedit if the Director chooses to change the fade times, which takes ages.

Is there such a thing?
 
Thanks -

The projections I want to have control over are synched to a sound track using the programme called SFX:

An operator presses buttons to make the sound cues happen for the stage show and my video work and lighting react to the sound.

I will look again at imovie - can I make fades of custom length quickly, in any Mpeg format? (using Mpeg 2)
 
Are you looking for something that allows you to adjust the fades live? If so you only have a couple of options. One is to get a small video switcher. The other is use FC Express/Pro to feed the projector directly and if the director wants a change in fade length it will only take a few seconds to change the fade length.

Why do need/want to use an MPEG format?


Lethal
 
unregbaron said:
Thanks -

The projections I want to have control over are synched to a sound track using the programme called SFX:

An operator presses buttons to make the sound cues happen for the stage show and my video work and lighting react to the sound.
Click to expand...

If you're just looking to change the length of a fade or the placement of a fade in a clip in an editing program, then use iMovie, or get one of the Final Cut apps and do it there.

If you need to have the fade times change dynamically, or be able to fade in and out of a clip at any time, then you need a media server like Catalyst from High End (very expensive) or Versatility from Element Labs (free download from their website). I don't know what your budget is or the scale of your show, but this is how the big shows do it. This is a much more complicated solution, but it will give you much more flexibility since all of the fades are done on the fly (you don't need to do any editing at all).

Hope that helps...
 
unregbaron said:
I will look again at imovie - can I make fades of custom length quickly, in any Mpeg format? (using Mpeg 2)
Click to expand...

Yes you can, however the video has to already be imported...

iMovie will be able to import Mpeg 2 quality footage. Rule of thumb: If QuickTime can play it, iMovie can edit it... lol

Can you go into a little bit more explination on how you are filming this? It seems a little fuzzy in my head.

This is what im thinking.
You film first the play and natrually the play has the lights dim out and the sound fade out as well. You keep the camera running, unless its intermission, and wait for the lights and sound to come back up. Done deal...

If you want to edit where the lights and sound go on and off in the video than use iMovie or FCE or FCP and use the fade and place it where you wish by simply splicing the video into two parts. The first part being the end of the fade. You can change the length of the fade in all the programs. You just have to play with it.

Not sure if this answers your question but hope it helps.
 
Tex,
I think he needs to do this during a live show on screen.

Sounds complicated. Everything should be worked out in rehearsal.

Give us a little more detail.
 
this is VJ stuff I think.

which requires seperate programs with seperate hardware controllers...

but thats also for big shows and stuff.

I mean, you want to have video playing on a big screen somewhere from a computer. That means you need a program to output the video in fullscreen and allow you to press different keys that cause different actions, like a fade, to occur to the video as it is playing.

but you can only project what your screen in front of you shows.

if you want to see something like a controller program in front of you that controls different things, you need hardware outputs...

this might be kind of complicated...
 
Why not use keynote? You can add a fade transition to each slide, then the fade will be activated when you move to the next slide. If you need the screen to be blank sometimes, just add black screens to the presentation.
 
I think you're going to need to be a little bit more specific about exactly what you want to do. There are a half dozen good answers to your original post, but each one is a good answer to a slightly different problem 🙂

If it's live playback of video sources for a production, or if you're videotaping a live production with minimal edits and all you want is to fade in/out, consider a video mixer, as some people have said. There are lots of good modern units, but even some older ones will do the job nicely. I had a Panasonic WJ-AVE5 mixer for a while which I picked up on eBay for about $200 USD. As far as effects and wipes went, it was kind of cheezy, but if all you needed to do was fade in/out from black, or do A/B rolls, cut to/from sources, etc., it did a fine job. It had S-Video inputs and outputs. You can get mixers with DV in/out nowadays, but they cost a bunch more.

Fun toys, in any case 🙂
 
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