Splash up your videos!

Recently I've been spending lot of time (and money) on things to add pizazz to my videos. If you are making videos either professionally or as a hobby you should avail yourself of some products to dress up your cuts and fades. Check out Digitaljuice.com, they run specials on their backgrounds and transition DVD's often and you can get some really good deals. Some discs are as low as $14.95 and $9.95!

Colorful animated backgrounds can add spice to a dull list of text or bullet points. Plus production music not only keeps your productions legal but are a great way to add flare and audio pizazz to your work. Try never to use commercial music as it's a copyright violation and if you intend to sell your work then you might find you have to replace the music later.

Ebay is another good source for video and audio production discs. Many audio production discs and library's are on sale, especially if the company is about to come out with a new library. You can get some sweet deals on audio there on eBay.
I've found several small companies and individuals with good video backgrounds and visual elements like Lower Thirds and frames for sell. Some discs are only $9.95 or if you bid you may get it lower. Lets face it, the general public isn't rushing to get these type items so they usually sell cheap.

You can also search the web for companies that make backgrounds and elements for video and if you sign up for their newsletter, they give away a background monthly or even weekly! So you can get some cool stuff free! You can get free still backgrounds at poser sites like this: http://www.poserwallpaper.com/ and use them as virtual sets with your green screen.

Footage Firm is another company that is good for getting useful video elements. They sell Stock Footage. If you sign up for their newsletter they give away a free clip each month. You can get more free stock footage clips here: http://footagefirm.com/freeclips.asp They also offer sweet deals on stock footage DVD's!

Motion Loops gives away a free clip weekly of backgrounds: http://www.motionloops.com/
There are tons of things out there to help you make better video. You just have to look for them. Have fun and post a link to something you've produced in the comments section, I'd love to see it! Below you will find a screen I created using Photoshop to make the oval, a loop from a inexpensive disc, and a free clip from a web site. Text can be added anywhere in the screen and this could be used to set up a scene or transition into a new segment. You can do this too!
Here is the background overlay I created for the above video. Just click on it to get the larger version, right-click and "save as" the larger version to your hard drive. Then you can port it into your NLE and key video over the green and white areas! Or you can key video into the green area and write text on the white area if your NLE will not key on white. If this is the case you may wish to color the white area blue, as most NLE's will key on blue and green. This image is public domain so feel free to use it in your next video!
J.