Re: Favorite Tricks/Cheats

Speaking of the infamous "white flash"...
Long ago, I used to do this making a full screen white graphic then simply fading or dissolving out of it to the shot. What I do more often now - that like much better - is adjusting the gain levels on the clip to start on a cut that blows out the shot to white then keyframing that back down to normal over seven frames or so. This way, the effects is customized for each shot - almost looking like the shot builds itself organically during that quick white flash. The clip builds from the darkest parts of the shot to the lightest. This has an energy to it that simply fading a white flash just doesn't have. I also found that I prefer cutting to the white then getting it back to normal rather than going to white than back out, even when it's very quick.

Of course with any "white flash" effect, you still need to make sure your brightest whites don't go out of the broadcast legal color spectrum.

* I like getting the videographer to shot some various "whip pans" when they can so I have a blurred transitional element that matches the color spectrum between two clips. Sometimes I add blur to that.

* I like to use some of those esoteric "transitions" on text. I'm not talking about keyframing text where it types in and rotates or anything like that. Using some of the really cheesy transitions that I'd probably never really want to use on full screen video has turned out pretty well when it's used on text that has an alpha channel around it.

* Playing around with various blending modes in transitions or composites. (Such as "multiply", "color dodge", "lighten" or "difference".) I use Boris Red a lot and I love being able to keyframe and adjust the blending modes over time for unique looks.

As far as NLE specific tricks, I'm using Avid Adrenaline HD right now, so my top two today are:

1. Map the "add edit" button to your keyboard.
This lets you cut on the fly and keep going. If you hit the "add edit" icon on the interface, it stops playing after your cut. That drives me crazy.

2. The "Extend" Key - learning to use that feature has probably saved me hours of trimming footage.

-Tim