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Cyberlink PD13 can edit your film transfers beautifully and create wonderful productions.
I've been doing my own 1960s 8mm film transfers for about 2 years now, and had some wonderful ideas, tips and tricks from this forum and through perseverence. I thought others may like to know my system if they're attempting to transfer their own old film home movies to video and edit them.
Above is my youtube link to a 4.5 minute mini movie, I've cut up one of my movies to give you a view of what can be achieved with Cyberlink PD13 editing the old film. Remember, film is not HD, only the video camera is, so it's not as clear as modern video!
For those with old 8mm film, you only need an adjustable speed projector, a handicam, a white piece of paper, and a table. That's it!
Now that film is getting old, it's imperative that those who have celluloid film protect it by copying it to digital before it degrades to far. Here's how I do it. I hope it helps someone out there:
1. I have a digital camcorder (I use a panasonic tm900, or my sony pj760 handicam) they take nice AVCHD video so I can make dvds or blu rays, and it's high def enough to look lovely on an hd tv or pc.
2. The projector must have a speed adjustment knob, otherwise you'll get th horizontal black flickering bars due to the frame rate being slightly different, therefore frames get caught in the 'video' instead of being optically ignored.
3. Seet up the projector on a table with the camcorder directly infront, underneath the projector lens. I make sure the camcorder is not throwing a shadow on the projection. The camcorder can't be too far below the projector else a keystone effect will be visible.
4. I focus on a piece of text (like a magazine) stuck to the screen first, using manual focus on the camcorder. Then I remove the text and project instead, adjusting the projection until sharp.
5. The camcorder should be set on a normal daytime setting.
6.I fill the screen to about 80% with the projected picture, leaving some black areas around the picgture, this means I'm definitely capturing the whole projection, and looks better ultimately due to differnet screen sizes ie 4:3 projection, on a 16:9 tv.
7. Test the projection, looking through the digital camcorder, to make sure there are no 'frames' flickering. if you cans ee them, adjust the projector's speed until they're gone.
8. Keep a dimmed light on, so you can see what you're doing. It also reduces the very contrasty effect.
9. Record the whole reel, no need to stop. while recording I like to 'announce' the name of the reel at the start (to the camcorder) so that later, if you forget which reel was which, it's on the digital recording. I also often announce names and places,...this would be useful for anyone else viewing these original digital files later.
10. Import it to CLPD13 as usual.
11. Listen to the name of the reel and name the project accordingly.
12. Uncheck the sound of the projector in the clip's track one.
13. If there is any major change to colour, do it now, to the whole clip or series of clips.
14. The big one....I like to put a 'mask' (I use the rectangular one with 'keep aspect ratio' unchecked) over the whole projection. This makes nice neat, sharp edges and ultimately looks better than the fuzzy projector's edges, especially if you're adding titles and effects.
15. Now you're in the position of having done all the 'whole' clip edits, and can carve it up. First play it fast forward and split and cut out all the obvious bloopers, feet etc.
16. Start at the start and make a nice title and introduction. Play through at normal speed. Add in captions for places and people where required, nice titles for important events like birthdays, christmases etc, add Pips and effects that you want.
17. I often split clips and add nice transitions where subject matter changes. It also eliminates those faded ends of film.
18. I add credits, to acknowledge the cameraman, locations, and music.
19. Last job....I go back to the beginning and add in music to the track below the main video track. I research music, instrumental usually, that matches the era and 'feeling' of the video. If it's too long, I use the audio transitions, or simply fade it out by lowering the volume to zero in the appropriate places. It's the music, I feel, that really makes the video.
20. It's really important to have saved your work in different incarnations 'save as' , a, b, c etc... along the way, incase you have a glitch, you can always go back to the last time it worked without loosing all your efforts! At the very end, after you've produced and finished the project, you can 'pack project materials' in a folder you've made and that way all the original files used will be there if you ever need them again.
That's my system, hope someone can get use out of it. It's so much fun, and Cyberlink Powerdirector is so great for this type of application. Hope you enjoy my miniclip.
Jenny Jenny
