2006 09 Digital Juice Magazine

SEPT. 2006

TOOLS, TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR USING CREATIVE CONTENT

SPECIAL HIGH DEF ISSUE

GEARING UP

FOR

INSPIRATION INSIDE!

Jump Backs HD Gallery & Idea Book

• Shopper’s Guide to HD Displays • Using HD Animations in your SD Workflow • HD Dream Suites • Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD: Who Will Win? PLUS:

Practical Print Design • More Powerful PowerPoints • Compositing Juice in After Effects 5 Creative Jump Backs Uses • Choosing a Microphone • The Right Bid for Your Client

PUBLISHERS: David Hebel, Viv T. Beason, Jr.

Juice Insider: Ambitious initiatives by Viv Beason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Talk Back: Reader Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

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Juice News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Are you Ready for HD?: HD Dream Suites by The Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

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HD Animations and Your SD Workstation

5 cools tricks for using JBHDs in your SD productions by David Hebel and Chuck Peters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

20

Getting the Big Picture

35

An introduction to HD television monitors by Eric Franks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Print it!: Using HD Jump Backs for print design by Jacqui Dawson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Right Bid for the Right Job: Three types of clients require three different bid strategies by Matt Leone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

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Cutting-Edge PowerPoint Techniques:

44

Revealing images and video within a single slide by Geetesh Bajaj . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Jump Backs HD Idea Book and Gallery:

Design ideas from our HD animation library . . . . . . 27

My DJ: Set yourself up at digitaljuice.com

by Matt Janowsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

46

Format Wars: Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD

by David Slater and David Hebel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Meals with Appeal

A cooking show opener in search of a show by Brent Milby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Chuck Peters SENIOR EDITOR: D. Eric Franks ART DIRECTOR: Jacqui Dawson CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS: Geetesh Bajaj, Viv T. Beason, Jr., Graham Cohen, Dave Cross, Jacqui Dawson, Jeff Earley, D. Eric Franks, Rick Green, David Hebel, Perry Jenkins, Robert Leitch, Matt Leone, Kevin Lerner, Matt Janowsky, Brent Milby, Chuck Peters, Brian Pogue, Jeff Schell, Kevin Sherman, David Slater and David Traube GRAPHIC DESIGNERS & ILLUSTRATORS: Brent Milby, Saritha Sugunan, P. Gururaj, V. Sridhar PHOTOGRAPHY: Perry Jenkins

Choosing a Microphone:

A good mic is worth every penny by Jeff Earley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Customer Video Showcase Profile:

by The Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Take 5: Five Tips for Using Jump Backs by Chuck Peters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Volume Spotlight: Juice Drops v41: pastelSKETCH . . 48 DIGITAL JUICE PRODUCT CATALOG . . . . . . . 49 The “Year of HD” Again:

by David Hebel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

ORDERING IS EASY! TO ORDER BY PHONE: Call one of our friendly customer service representatives Monday–Friday 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM EST

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DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

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JUICEINSIDER FROM THE PRESIDENT

THE NON CONVENTIONAL BUSINESS MODEL BRINGS AMBITIOUS INITIATIVES by Viv T. Beason, Jr.

I

t may interest you to know that neither Dave nor I come from a traditional business background. Along our journey this fact has proven to be both a help and a hindrance. Not knowing how a conventional business mind would tackle a certain task or problem has caused us to think outside the box by default. I firmly believe this has helped make Digital Juice what it is today. There hasn’t been anyone around warning that we should not redefine the industry’s value for money ratio. No one to tell us that we can’t give thousands of video, sound effects, or animation elements for just a couple hundred bucks. No one to explain to us the potential perils of publishing this free magazine. This lack of formal business training also comes with the price of learning some lessons through the school of hard knocks. This year’s lesson for me has been one of coming to understand the need for a singular and total focus by key employees to expedite complex projects. I completely understand now that the “a few guys wearing a bunch of hats” approach can only get you so far in business. This recent epiphany has caused us to actively seek key hires. It has also forced the reshuffling of our people based on their core strengths and skills in a particular area. A more narrow definition and expectation in job title and responsibility will allow us all to accomplish more things more efficiently. And whatever that “more” winds up being, should be better as well. I say all of this because you are about to see some pretty ambitious initiatives out of this company. A few examples? For starters, this issue of our magazine carries more heft than ever, a whopping 58 pages (not counting the front and back covers). As we grow we recognize the need for more articles, more examples and those articles and examples need to cross over to more forms of media production, like print, presentation, and Web. Another major project that we’ve launched is DJTV. As some of you know, video production is my background, so this project is something near and dear to my heart. The goal here is to provide beginners and experts with weekly access to creative inspiration and technical guidance in an entertaining manner. And then there are the products. More products and different types of products are what you are all clamoring for, and it’s our mission to fill that need as well. You want customizable animations? We hear you. You ask for more narrowly defined animation volumes? We hear you. You need a solution for DVD menus? We hear that too. Thanks for taking this exciting ride with us so far as we feel our way through this maze known as the business world. I promise much more exciting and innovative products and projects in the near future. Viv T. Beason, Jr. is the president of Digital Juice and the co-publisher of Digital Juice magazine.

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with Chuck Peters—Editor in Chief, Digital Juice Magazine

Your Chance To Make Your Voice Heard Got a question, comment or suggestion? We would love to hear it. JUICE ON THE NEWS

I

was watching NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams on Thursday, March 30th. They were doing a segment on immigrants in America becoming successful in new start-up businesses. They mentioned the technology sector and on the screen I saw Jump Backs #375 from Volume 9: High Tech and Internet. This particular animation is the one with the laser beam hitting the CD as if it were encoding data onto it. It looked really cool! —Marc Einbinder

Very cool, Marc. I just took a quick survey of our team here at Juice headquarters and as it happens we are big fans of Brian Williams, the technology sector and immigrants. We also like Thursdays and looking cool, so this one scores big. Thanks for sharing your Juice sighting with us! —CP If you would like to ask a question, sing our praises, bend our ear, or just say ‘Hi,’ drop us an email at [email protected] and you could see it here in the magazine. You can also interact with Digital Juice and other users in our user forums @ www.digitaljuice.com/ community_forums

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CHOOSY MOMS CHOOSE JUICE

I

’ve been using Digital Juice Jump Backs since I went nonlinear as a college freshman in 2001. Even before I turned my hobby into a business, my mom would purchase a volume every now and then for me as a birthday or holiday gift. I like knowing that I can put a title sequence on top of one without sacrificing production quality. Each time I see your stuff played out on NBC Nightly News I think, wow! What a kick your team must get out of knowing that one of the "Big 3" uses your stuff on their branded network news program. That is a testament to the level of quality contained within your products. I love the tips contained inside your magazine, too. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for you guys.—Steven Trauger, Creative Director - STVPTV/AV Facility Engineer - Ocean City School District

DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

You have the coolest mom ever. There’s a lesson here for all of us. Mom’s like Juice. It’s convenient, it’s practical, it’s neatly packaged, and it makes your work look super so people will like you and give you money. It’s the perfect gift! Mom’s like Steve’s might even say that your edit suite is a lot like a nutritious breakfast: You need to have Juice to make it complete.—CP

GOOD PEOPLE

I

have been using Digital Juice products for years now and am impressed every time a new collection or product is released. Furthermore, I would like to compliment you and your staff on their attitude. It has been a distinct pleasure speaking to your staff. From reception to the technical support people, everyone is pleasant and friendly, which is, unfortunately, becoming a rarity in business these days. The vision for Digital Juice, its products and evidently the level of service and quality of its people is extraordinary and unmatched from any stock footage [company] I have ever dealt with. Keep up the good work and never lose sight of your vision.—Craig Van Horne, Producer-EditorOwner, Scorched Ice Digital. Thanks for the kind words, Craig. We truly believe that there is no substitute for good people. We strive to hire and retain people of quality. It’s pretty clear that we have great products, but we also want to be known as a company made up of great people.—CP

SIMPLY AMAZING

I

just have to say that the quality in ALL of your products is just simply AMAZING! Juice Drops 17”x11” layered pictures are in a class of their own. Editor's Toolkits give the LARGEST amount of customizations I’ve ever seen with any royalty-free package. The Sound FX Library is in a class of its own with

not only 96kHz 24-bit quality, but the ease of use is unbeatable! VideoTraxx captures all of the video elements that I could not get ANYWHERE ELSE! My favorite of your products is StackTraxx. The UNLIMITED number of combinations that an audio editor can come up with is ASTOUNDING! I’ve even mixed musical elements from one song into another to make a TRULY custom song. Keep up the amazing work that you guys have put together into such great packages at such unbeatable prices!—Eric Hartmann, Executive Film EditorLazy Eyes ProductionsEGH Productions. Wow. Thanks, Eric. I’m especially glad to hear that the word is getting out on the StackTraxx library, which has been a marketing challenge for us to explain to folks because it is a completely unique and original product. Happy to hear it is catching on - we’ve got new volumes on the way!—CP

CORRECTION CLEAR AS MUD

R

od Harlan, Executive Director of the DVPA and an editor at Layers Magazine,

sent us a note and pointed out that, due to an editorial error, Brent Milby’s May 2006 article “Layered Video Effects” (p. 20) inaccurately described how to properly get Juice Drops layers into After Effects (Figure 2). Rod clarifies: If you want to see the extended part (off of the screen) you have to choose “Composition - Cropped Layers”. If you just choose “Composition”, it will chop off anything that is outside of the document size. The editors send out a big “thanks” to our friend and colleague for setting us straight. We apologize for the error and any frustration it caused.

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SEE COMPLETE PRODUCT GALLERIES

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BESTSELLERS DJTV NOW ON THE WEB! Backs Volumes* 10 Jump

otion Design Elements (MDEs) have been a popular part of our Editor’s Toolkits since the beginning. So popular, in fact, that they have now grown into their own product line. These animated objects and elements are delivered on alpha channel and are scalable, so they offer you a wide range of uses. Look for 10 volumes of MDE Tools coming in Sept 2006. Each MDE volume will sell for $249. You can find out more about our new line of MDEbased tools in the catalog section of this issue, and see animated previews online at digitaljuice.com.

01. JB31: Maximum Impact 02. JB32: Base Camp 03. JB30: Simply Useful 04. JB28: Subtle Impact II 05. JB24: Tunnel Vision 06. JB22: Global Impact 07. JB25: All Music 08. JB12: Corporate/Industrial, Time & Money 09. JB13: All Church

Volumes* 10 StackTraxx

TOP

01. STX14: Rock Stacks 02. STX13: High Impact Stacks 03. STX15: Subtle Impact Stacks 04. STX12: Corporate Stacks 05. STX10: Broadcast Stacks 06. STX11: Epic Stacks 07. STX03: Serious Stacks 08. STX09: World Stacks 09. STX04: Smooth Stacks 10. STX06: Street Stacks

Drops Volumes* 10 Juice

TOP

MDE TOOLS

M

TOP

10. JB14: Medical/Health, Education & Science

NEW PRODUCT LINE:

W

e’re happy to announce that DJTV, the Digital Juice Online Television Network, is now live on

digitaljuice.com! Look for at least three new episodes each week

JUICER 3: AUDIO EDITION

D

evelopment on our free Juicer 3 software continues at a very healthy pace. Our last release included all of our audio products and unveiled a

on a variety of cool and interesting topics. In Production Notes,

completely new user interface for interacting with StackTraxx layers. With a single

Senior Producer, Perry Jenkins takes you behind the scenes on the

click, you can turn the layers of a song on and off and instantly hear how your

set to show you how he does what he does. In Tech Know, tech

remixed song will sound. The dev team is now working on incorporating our

expert, Eric Franks, offers technical information and explanations to animation and video products into the new interface and it help you know what you need to know about tools and technology looks like they’ll have the entire for creating creative content. In Take 5, Chuck Peters shares tips by library cataloged into the Juicer the handful on a variety of production-related topics. Also look for: 3 in short order. As always, the z Try This: Step-by-step tutorials for using Digital Juice content. Juicer 3 is a free tool we provide z Juice in Use: Profiles of interesting Juice users. to all of our customers. Stop by z

Screen Shots: Places where you have seen or heard

digitaljuice.com today to

Digital Juice content.

download the latest version.

NEW

01. JD40: frameCUTS 02. JD39: allFLAGS 03. JD42: highIMPACT IV 04. JD41: frescoVITA

JUMP BACKS VOLUMES x3

W

ith all of the great weekly specials we’ve been having, a lot of you have been attempting to fill out and complete your Digital Juice

library. Well, we have some bad news for you: we’ve just released three new

05. JD36: naturalCUTS

volumes of our Jump Backs animated backgrounds. While we could go to our

06. JD27: glassEDGE

thesaurus to find adjectives to describe JB31: Maximum Impact, JB32: Base

07. JD37: sportsCUTS

Camp, and JB33: In the Round, the only real way to know if you need these

08. JD21: businessIMPACT

or not is to see them in action. You can preview every single animation in our

09. JD10: ultra3D

online gallery. What we can say is that the quality is as perfect as ever, and

10. JD23: cleanCUTS III

each volume is available in both SD- and HD-resolution versions.

* Data from June/July 2006 Sales

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DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

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HD DREAM SUITES

VIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE

ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com

Are you ready for

HD? by The Editors

HD DREAM SUITES

The move to HD production will likely be slightly different for each of us. “ Depending on the type of video you create, the expectations of your clients, and the size of your budget, you might consider approaching HD from a number of angles. ”

There’s little doubt that the

future of television, and therefore the future of television production, is high definition. It’s only a matter of time before you will shoot your work on HD, edit it in HD and distribute it for viewing on HD displays. While you don’t necessarily need to rush into HD right this minute, it would be wise to start planning for your HD future now. We have.

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DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

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Here at Digital Juice, we are well aware of the rising demand for HD content. Along with our extensive SD graphics and stock footage libraries, we currently offer 13 volumes of high definition Jump Backs animations, delivered at 1920x1080, and we have more Jump Backs HD volumes on the way. We’re also planning to offer HD Toolkits and stock footage in the future. We realize that we need to be on the bleeding edge of the transition to HD, so that when you’re ready to make the move, we’ll have the content you need.

GEARING UP

The move to HD production will likely be slightly different for each of us. Depending on the type of video you create, the expectations of your clients, and the size of your budget, you might consider approaching HD from a number of angles. Something unique about Digital Juice is that we don’t just make product, we actively produce video. Over the last several months we’ve upgraded our own cameras and edit bays for HD. Along the way we’ve done a lot of research, and considered some pretty cool equipment.

HD DREAM SUITES

In this article we’ll spec out three HD options at three different price points to give you a sampling of what’s out there and jump start your thinking about your future HD decisions.

Figure 1

JVC GR-HD1

1. ENTRY-LEVEL HD (LESS THAN $10,000) Professional videographers and studios of all sorts will be converting to HD sooner or later, but in the immediate future, most of them will still be distributing SD products to clients. For production houses that want to shoot HD but are still delivering SD product on DVD, the answer is probably a camcorder that shoots in the HDV format to Mini DV tapes. CAMERA FORMAT

There really are very few professional HD cameras that have an MSRP below $5,000, the JVC GR-HD1 (Figure 1) and the Sony HDRFX1 (Figure 2) being two of the few. Despite being caught between being expensive consumer camcorders and low-end professional cameras, the footage from this class of camcorder looks great on DVD. Still, if you are just barely able to scrape together enough money for an HD camera of this sort, you might want to put off the switch to HD until you are ready to take it to the next level. We’d still take quality SD footage over inadequately shot HD any day, especially since the end-product is probably an SD DVD-Video disc anyhow. Remember, in many cases, good lens optics can be better than your acquisition format.

Figure 2

Sony HDRFX1

EDITING

Almost any modern editing computer can edit HDV video, once the right codecs are installed. You will definitely need a machine rated at around 3Ghz or faster, a gig of RAM, FireWire and a few hundred gigabytes of hard drive space at a minimum, but a box with those specs can be ordered for about $500. Software-wise, most professional apps will do the trick, such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Studio or Sony Vegas.

(continued on page 12)

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HD DREAM SUITES

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Are you ready for

HD?

Figure 5

Sony HVR-Z1u

(cntinued from page 11)

Figure 3

The format is “ still going to be HDV, but at this level the cameras will have more professional features, such as XLR microphone inputs and interchangeable lens systems.

”

Canon XL H1

Figure 4

JVC HD100u

2. TRUE HD FOR SMALLER SHOPS ($10,000 - $20,000) The next level up for professionals is a big one, since we are now talking about more than ten thousand dollars for a camera system. The format is still going to be HDV, but at this level the cameras will have more professional features, such as XLR microphone inputs and interchangeable lens systems. Since blue-laser DVD players are currently rare, actually distributing video at this quality means Internet or broadcast television. Wedding and event videographer in particular will still be generating SD product for quite some time now, primarily because everyone and their brother (in-law) owns a DVD player. Fortunately, HD looks great on DVD and it looks great on those very popular plasma televisions. CAMERA FORMAT

The Canon XL H1 (Figure 3), JVC GY-HD100U (Figure 4), Sony HVR-Z1U (Figure 5), and Panasonic AG-HVX200 are good examples of the kind of cameras you might use at this level. Ranging in price from about $5,000 and up to $10,000 or so, these cameras are not inexpensive, but the quality for that money is astonishing. EDITING

Once you’ve dropped $10,000 on a camera and accessories, you are also going to need some serious processing power and hard disc space. Start thinking about a brand new Apple G5 or a multiprocessor Windows machine, probably connected to a terabyte hard drive raid array. While the FireWire connection will be all you need for HDV video, a special HD-SDI video capture card might be desirable, depending on which camera you choose. Software is not going to be a problem, but you’ll still need to make sure you have the right codecs and converters installed.

(continued on page 14)

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DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

ORDER ONLINE www.digitaljuice.com

HD DREAM SUITES

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Are you ready for

HD? (cntinued from page 12)

While most of “ the professional editing software

Figure 6

Avid Media Composer Adrenaline HD

packages on the market today will not have any trouble with HD footage, when you are working at this level, you’re probably going to be using a custom turnkey solution.

”

3. HD FOR THE BIG SCREEN, BROADCAST OR BLUE-LASER DVD (PRICES? IF YOU NEED TO ASK...) If you are ready for the Big Screen, high-definition digital cable and blue-laser DVDs, then you are ready for big time (and big money) equipment. We’re talking $100,000 just for the gear you need to start shooting, but you had better have something left over for post-production as well. CAMERA FORMAT

Two standout cameras that you might want to consider for your next feature film are the Sony CineAlta HDWF900 ($102,000 MSRP) and the Panasonic VariCam HDC27FP ($65,000 MSRP). Don’t forget that these cameras are typically paired with ten thousand dollar lenses and thousands of dollars in tripods and heads. EDITING

Your computer is definitely going to need a special capture card with HD-SDI inputs. And the video you work with is going to be uncompressed and very challenging for any computer that is not in top of the line, especially in terms of storage. While most of the professional editing software packages on the market today will not have any trouble with HD footage, when you are working at this level, you’re probably going to be using a custom turnkey solution, such as a complete Avid Media Composer Adrenaline HD system (Figure 6). MAKING THE HD DECISION

How soon will you need to make the move to HD? It depends. The big question is when does it make sense for you? If the gear can make enough money

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DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

to pay for itself, the move is definitely justifiable. Certainly, as your customers, clients and distributors start demanding HD, you’ll need to be ready to make the move. And it’s never bad to beat your

competition to the party. Like they say in business schools, either be the first or be the best. Hopefully you can be both.

The Editors

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HD Animations And Your SD Workstation: 5 Cools Tricks for Using JBHDs in your SD Productions by Dave Hebel and Chuck Peters Figure 1a

E

ven if you haven’t yet made the move to high definition, you may still decide that Digital Juice’s High Definition Jump Backs are a

worthwhile investment. In fact, HD Jump Backs will let you do some pretty cool stuff in your current Standard Definition workflow. Here are five tips that show how you can use the free Juicer application to make the most of our HD animations in your current standard definition productions.

Figure 1b

Figure 1c

Figure 1d

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High Definition Jump Backs animations are an “amazing resource for your SD edits NOW, and may be the perfect introduction to your HD future. ” TIP #1: FROM ONE TO MANY 1920x1080. The visible area shows only a

Start by launching the Juicer, and opening one of your HD Jump Backs catalogs. Select the animation you like and drag it to the Batch window. For this example we’ll use JBHD 221 from JBHD Volume 12, Base Camp (Figure 1a). Set your canvas resolution to 720x480, or whatever resolution you normally edit in (DV, PAL, etc) as shown in Figure 1b. Next, go to the Settings Tab and click in the Element Mode box. You’ll notice that the Juicer’s Preview window changes functionality and appearance. Use the zoom control at the top left of the Preview window to zoom out (Figure 1c). Notice that you now have a visible “window” of 720x480 on your canvas, but the animation is still

DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

from the Juicer at 720x486 by changing the canvas Resolution settings and rendering. However, if you do this you'll end up with a squished animation, because the Juicer tries to scale it down to fit every last bit into the 720x486 frame. If you don't want to introduce distortion, turn again to the powerful, but often ignored, Element Mode feature in the Juicer. With the canvas Resolution (the size of the output animation when Juicer finally renders) set to 720x486, check the Element Mode box. Keystroke 958x486 in the Element Resolution boxes, then select Center from the Element Position twirly to center it in the visible area (Figures 2a). This effectively crops off sides of the TIP #2: CROPPING FOR STANDARD DEFINITION animation, keeping only the middle section To use an HD animation on an SD system without distorting it (Figure 2b). With this at DV resolution you might simply render it little trick you can convert any HD or

portion of the animation. Notice also that the animation now has handles and you can move it around. Click in the Preview window and hold down your mouse button to drag and reposition the animation. Use the visible area to select whatever portion you of the animation you like and render out just that part, maintaining full resolution, with no scaling or loss of any kind. By moving the HD res animation around the canvas you can create dozens of similar-but-different SD animation variations from a single HD Jump Back (Figures 1d, 1e and 1f). Pretty cool, huh?

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Figure 1e

Figure 1f

widescreen footage for an SD screen (another option is to use a letterbox mode, which we'll get to next). Of course you don’t have to center the animation perfectly in the visible area. You can position it more to the right or left depending on your preference. Before you finish, create a “shortcut” for yourself by saving your settings. Click the twirly icon next to the Element Resolution parameters and select Save to add 958x486 to the pull-down for future use.

creating an HD letterbox look. Again, save your settings for future use.

TIP #3: THE LETTERBOX LOOK

By now, you’re starting to see some of the things you can do in Element Mode. But we’re not done yet. We have a few more creative suggestions to share. This time we’ll maintain the aspect ratio of the 16:9 HD animation but scale it to match the horizontal resolution of our SD canvas (720). You can do this by selecting Element Mode, clicking on one of the corner handles in the Preview Window and scaling the animation to 720x369, or by key stroking 720x369 into the Element Resolution boxes. Next, center the animation by selecting Center from the Element Position twirly (Figure 3a). You’ll see that there are now blank sections at the top and bottom of the visible area (Figure 3b). When this renders out, the blank checkerboard sections will be black,

Figure 2a

TIP #4: CUSTOM LOWER THIRDS AND OVERLAY ELEMENTS

Here again we’ll use Element Mode with one of our HD Jump Backs, this time to scale an animation to create custom lower third and overlay elements (Figures 4a and 4b). This time, hold the Shift key as you click on one of the animation’s corner handles in the Preview Window. Holding the shift key lets you scale the animation without maintaining its aspect ratio. Use the same technique to shape and position the animation to create a coordinated sidebar that you can use as an overlay. Sure the Editor's Toolkit’s Lower Thirds and Overlays with alpha channel are cooler, but this quick-and-dirty technique is a fast-and-easy way to create matching lower third and overlay animations from your full-screen HD backgrounds. TIP #5: ROTATE

Another way to change the look of an HD animation is to rotate it. To rotate an animation, go to the Effects Tab, and select a 90-, 180- or 270-degree rotation from the Rotate box. Return to Element Mode on the Settings tab to scale the animation and fit it to the canvas for export. You’ll find that this works the best on abstract animations and less well on those with 3D objects or themes.

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Figure 3a

Figure 2b UNLIMITED POTENTIAL

Our HD animations give you a lot more options than standard SD source material. With our high definition Jump Backs in your SD workstation, you can rotate, reposition and scale to your heart’s content without worrying about quality loss. The free Juicer application is the ideal tool for resizing and exporting high definition animations for use with your SD system. A simple understanding of the Juicer’s Element Mode and Rotation tools can multiply the usefulness of each HD animation by ten times or more. Even if you haven’t invested in HD production gear yet, you’ll find that our high definition Jump Backs animations are an amazing resource for your SD edits NOW, and may be the perfect introduction to your HD future.

Figure 3b

Figure 4a

David Hebel is the Founder and CEO of Digital Juice. Chuck Peters is Vice President of Media and Publications at Digital Juice.

Figure 4b

SEPTEMBER 2006 DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE | 17

PRODUCT FEATURE

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BIGPicture

Getting the

An introduction to HD television monitors by D. Eric Franks

A

s a video producer and a consumer, you may soon find yourself in the market for a high definition TV that can display

your HD content in all its glory. Before you run up your credit card, it’s important to understand a few key things about HD television sets. High Definition (HD) is easy to define: HD refers to video with 700 or more lines of vertical resolution. Finding a monitor that can display more than 700 lines of resolution shouldn’t be difficult and, in fact it isn’t.

“

Shopping for an HD Television display doesn’t have to be baffling. In this article, I

High Definition

talk about the fundamentals of HD television specs to help point you in the right direction so you can prepare to make an informed purchase decision.

(HD) is easy to

define: HD refers to video with 700 or more lines of

”

vertical resolution.

DIGITAL VS. HD

Don’t confuse DTV with HDTV. Digital Television (DTV) is simply a television signal that is broadcast in a digital format. DTV does not necessarily mean HD, however, and standard definition digital television will be with us for a long time to come. While everything is very rapidly going digital (DVD-video, digital cable, satellite and even broadcast), the transition to HD is progressing at a much slower pace. While the vast majority of households in the United States are already digital (thanks to DVD movies and digital cable), only a tiny minority are HD. The latest statistics estimate that there are only six million households currently watching HD television. COMPUTER MONITORS VS. TELEVISION MONITORS

Monitors display signals. Computer monitors display signals from computers.

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Television monitors display signals from television tuners (or DVD players). If you are looking for a television, make sure that the monitor you are buying has a built-in tuner. A set labeled “HDTV-ready” is very likely a monitor without a built-in tuner. It will be blank until you hook something up to it. 720p VS. 1080i

While HD means anything with more that 700 lines of resolution, there are only two HD formats being transmitted right now: 720p and 1080i. 720p60 video has frames of 1280x720 running at 60 progressive frames per second. 1080i has a frame size of 1920x1080 at 60 interlaced fields per second. These are the magic native resolution numbers you are looking for in the specs for your HD television. While there are no 1080p60 (60 progressive frames per second) transmissions, it isn’t completely

unreasonable to expect that 1080p might someday be common, perhaps in the form of a new blue-laser DVD disc. FORMAT

The most complex part about buying an HD television will probably concern the format or the display. While cathode ray tubes (CRTs) have been the dominate display for nearly 70 years now, a handful of new technologies now give you more options. Of course manufacturers and even neutral experts disagree on which is best. The good thing is that you do have a number of choices at a number of different sizes, qualities and price levels. We aren’t going to pretend to cover everything here, but we can give you a sentence or two on each format to point you in the right direction. CRT

CRTs are the oldest display technology and still provide the best possible image. Since

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Figure 1

PRODUCT FEATURE

34-inch Toshiba CRT ($1,200)

Figure 3

Figure 2

45-inch Sharp Aquos LCD ($5,199)

50-inch Panasonic Plasma ($3,300)

a CRT is fundamentally a single big glass tube, the viewable screen area is limited. The tube is also relatively massive when compared to all of the other technologies for similar screen sizes. A 42inch CRT is a beast of a television that will require a good amount of muscle to move into your living room, but 42-inches is about as small as plasma televisions get and is downright puny for a front projection system. The MSRP $1,200 34-inch Toshiba 34HF85 is the least expensive and smallest HD monitor highlighted here (Figure 1), but it also has the brightest image and displays native 720p and 1080i. PLASMA

Plasma technology is one of the most confusing. Relatively inexpensive (if $1,000 for a television can be considered inexpensive), plasmas are bright, flat and sexy. Be careful, however: most entrylevel (read: $1,000-$1,500) plasmas do not display a true HD image and cannot display 720 vertical lines of resolution. Plasma televisions also use a lot of electricity. This bright 50-inch Panasonic plasma monitor pictured here (Figure 2) has an MSRP of $3,300, does not contain a tuner and displays a native 1,366x768 image, which is perfect for 720p. LCD

LCD monitors are usually smaller than plasma displays and are also more

expensive. The $5,199 MSRP Sharp Aquos 45-inch LCD television (Figure 3) is a good example and supports true 1080p resolutions. LCDs are not as bright as plasmas, but are usually bright enough in all but sun-drenched rooms. LCD monitors, despite being inferior to CRTs in image quality, are rapidly becoming the favorite monitor both in the field and in the studio because of their lightweight and small desktop footprint. LCD televisions are also becoming more popular too, but they are generally quite small, even smaller that CRTs. Inch-forinch, LCDs are also the most expensive televisions around. PROJECTION: FRONT AND REAR

Traditional projectors, like the kind you might find in your office’s conference room, can support HD resolutions. Most are designed to display a bright, high contrast image on the screen: ideal for text and PowerPoint presentations but not so great for movies. Projectors suffer from two weaknesses: limited brightness and limited contrast range. Projectors come in two different physical formats: front projection and rear. The two formats are technologically the same and the difference is merely a matter of whether

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your living room can accommodate a big box up front or whether you can mount a small box on your ceiling to project onto a screen on the wall. Projectors have the greatest range in price. Entry-level home theater projectors start right around $1,000 and have two serious strengths: huge screen size at a relatively low price. Most home theater projectors only support 720p HD images, if that. 1080i projectors are currently rare, probably because they start at around $10,000. The Sony VPL-VW100 (Figure 4) is an entry-level 1080p projector that has an MSRP of $9,999.

Figure 4

Sony 1080p Projector ($9,999)

HD

PRODUCTION

MONITORS A “production monitor” is a special type of monitor that can be calibrated to very accurately represent video previews from

SUMMARY

Fundamentally, finding an HD-compatible monitor is easy: there are many models on the market. Just make sure the device you are looking at can display the number of lines you need. The most difficult part may be trying to figure out how big of a television you want and, more importantly, what you can afford.

D. Eric Franks is Senior Editor of Digital Juice Magazine.

your editing software. The host of display technologies that now compete for space in the living room make selecting a production monitor for the edit bay even more complex. It might be time to brush up on your vectorscope and waveform monitor reading skills.

SEPTEMBER 2006 DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE | 19

PRINT DESIGN

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Figure 1

Print it!

Using HD Jump Backs for Print Design by Jacqui Dawson

W

hen we started producing high-def animations at Digital Juice, I was thrilled. As a print designer, it meant that I

had a whole new resource for background imagery in our print and promotional campaigns—including this magazine. HD resolution Jump Backs provide this same advantage to you as a video producer as well. With Jump Backs HD, you Figure 2

can offer your clients matching DVD covers, disc art, flyers, postcards, stationary or print ads—materials which can be designed and distributed at the same time as the video production.

Jump Backs HD, you can offer your clients matching DVD “ With covers, disc art, flyers, postcards, stationary or print ads. ” BIGGER IS BETTER

images for use in print. Let me try and explain it in laymen’s terms.

Though our Standard Definition Jump Backs are beautiful to look at on a TV screen, when converted to 300 dpi for print, even the PAL resolution stills could only be reproduced at around 2.5 x 2 inches (Figure 1). With the 1920x1080 pixel resolution of the Jump Backs HD library, this reproduction size jumps to 6.4 x 3.6 inches (Figure 2).

Figure 3

Digital Juice’s high definition animations can help you expand your business as a video producer. Whenever you work on a video project using these animations (or their standard definition counterparts) you have the resources available to develop complementary print materials without worrying about where you will find sufficiently high-resolution imagery to match. This synergy can involve something as simple as a parallel mailing of flyers and postcards while a TV commercial spot is active (Figure 3), or it can be as extensive

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Figure 4

as designing the whole look for a wedding (Figure 4). EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE

There are a lot of misconceptions about resolution, dpi and image quality, especially as they relate to converting

The general rule is that a 300 dpi image is required for most higher-end print jobs. However, this value of 300 dpi is relative. Since dpi means dots per inch (and is equivalent to pixels per inch for our purposes here) it is meaningless unless you also know what size your image is in inches. A more meaningful measure for a computer image is its pixel dimension. This value is absolute. It should not change when you change dpi values. For example, a 1500x3000 pixel image at 100 dpi will be 15 inches x 30 inches. (1500 dots/100 dots per inch x 3000 dots/100 dots per inch = 15in x 30in). The same 1500x3000 pixel image at 300 dpi will be 5 inches by 10 inches. (1500 dots/300 dots per inch x 3000 dots/300 dots per inch = 5in x 10in). The pixels are not changed in any way and your image is not being scaled up or down. The only change

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Figure 5

Figure 6

is that the final printing output device is being told how closely together you want the pixels or dots of the image to be placed when printed. So, if you receive or capture an image which is at 72 dpi, this does not mean you can’t use it to print with. You can easily convert the image to 300 dpi in Photoshop. The important detail is how many pixels the image contains and how big you want the image to be when it is printed. BE SIZE WISE

If you open the image in Photoshop, and go to the Image Size window, you can see how these calculations work (Figure 5). There is a little square checkbox at the bottom of this window called Resample Image. This should NOT be checked when you are only changing dpi values. (At this point you don’t want to add or remove any pixels from your image, which is what selecting this box would do.) For example, if your 72 dpi image has 1440x3240 pixels, changing the dpi from 72 to 300 with Resample Image OFF will show you that your image can be printed

at 300 dpi at a size of 4.8 x 10.8 inches. However, if your pixel dimensions are only 400x900 then at 300 dpi your image can only be printed at a maximum size of 1.33 by 3 inches. SCALING HD JBs

Because the majority of JBHD animated backgrounds are abstract in nature, scaling them up slightly in Photoshop is usually not a problem, especially when they act only as a subtle background for text in something like a large format postcard or ad (Figure 6). For anything as large as a poster or signage you are probably better off using a background designed for print resolutions like those in the layered Juice Drops collection, but for most print projects linked to your video production, you can quite easily use a frame from an HD animation to produce a unified look and expand your creative offerings.

Jacqui Dawson is a Creative Director for Digital Juice Print/Animation Products and Art Director of Digital Juice Magazine.

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SEPTEMBER 2006 DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE | 21

THE BUSINESS

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The Right Bid for the Right Job

Three types of clients require three different bid strategies by Matt Leone Giving agencies “ an all-inclusive rate is like giving your dog the entire box of Milk Bones and asking him to take only what

”

he needs.

Y

ou’ve got a killer setup: a high-tech editing bay, soundproof audio booth, an insert stage and all the Digital Juice products you need. The only thing missing is a paying client. The most important tool in your production arsenal is a successful bid or proposal. Unlike many tools, you’ll find that creating an effective bid is not a one-size-fits-all scenario. If you are like most producers, you find yourself bidding to three major types of clients: private individuals; corporate or business clients; and agencies and creative brokers. As you will see below, your style of bid should depend on the type of client you are pursuing. Before getting into the specifics, here are some general practices to follow that pertain to all clients. KNOW YOUR MARKET

Do your research and find out what your competition is offering and charging. Standard rates are extremely location dependant, so you should concentrate your research to your local area. Whether you make phone calls pretending to be a client or would rather be upfront about it and simply explain that you are in the same business and are researching pricing is up CONSUMER BIDS: KEEP IT SIMPLE

The consumer bid may at first seem like the simplest type of bid to create, but in reality it can be the trickiest. Of all of your clients, the consumer is the least likely to understand the intricacies of production. The key here is to keep your proposal simple enough for them to understand, while still covering all your bases. If you present the average consumer with a stack of papers to read and sign, more often than not, you’ll never hear from him again. Try to limit your proposal to one page. A good way to do this is to provide one package price for all the services you’re offering and then list the few items that may be extra. Here’s an example for a wedding video. Shooting and Editing (DV Quality): Crew, lighting and raw materials included. Finished product will include the wedding ceremony and reception and will not be less than 45 minutes or greater than 1.5 hours in length. A copy of the original raw tapes will be provided. Package Price $______________ Extra copies on DVD, VHS or DV tape can be provided at $_________ ea. That’s it. Short and Sweet. No sense in bombarding your consumer client with complicated video jargon that will make their eyes glaze over and then head for the hills. Of course it can be more complex than that, for example, multiple camera productions can be a part of a more expensive bid, but none of these sorts of “extras” need to add to the complexity of the bid. For most consumer clients, you are going to offer a set package template, which your samples and demos will easily cover.

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to you. I prefer the latter and have found that most of my competitors have been extremely cooperative in many ways, especially when approached honestly. The goal here is not to undercut your competition’s rates to win a bid, which is, in fact, counter productive to the entire industry. The idea is to determine what others are offering at what price so you can compete fairly. You may come in higher or lower, but armed with the right research you can more accurately explain why you are higher or lower. Maybe you include specific services as part of your package

price that others don’t or maybe the depth of your experience lets you complete projects in less time and therefore you can charge less for the same quality. No matter what type of job you are bidding, whether for the Jones Wedding or an AT&T Corporate Communications project, everyone wants to be dealt with fairly. Keep the language in your bid clear and be careful not to mislead a client into thinking they are getting more that you are able to honestly provide. Let’s examine successful styles for the three major types of bids.

CORPORATE BIDS: MORE ITEMIZATION

Direct Business Proposals should also stay on the simple side, since many of these clients also have a limited understanding of production. They are, however, a bit more business savvy and will want a lot more itemization to justify costs, so you may need to spend some time setting up your proposal with a well thought out introduction letter that details your experience, your commitment to quality and so forth. The proposal itself should be somewhat more detailed, but not overly so. Here is an example of a typical break down for a direct business client. Scripting, Creative, Storyboarding: $_______ per hour Producing & Coordination Service: $_______ per hour Video Shooting (Beta SP format): $___ per 10 hour day or per hour Video Editing (Digital Nonlinear): $_______per hour Video/Computer Graphics: $_______per hour

3D Animation: $_______ per finished minute Materials (blank tape, digital storage): $__________ Voiceover talent: $________ per hour On-Camera Talent: $________ per day Make-Up: $_________ per day Total Production Package Price $__________

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The Right Bid for the Right Job (continued from page 22)

CORPORATE BIDS: MORE ITEMIZATION (continued)

What we are doing here is listing all the ingredients that go into calculating your total package price. You need to let the client know that you will stick to the package rate that you quote unless the initial information you were given for the quote changes and you are forced to spend a lot more time than anticipated. It’s important to try to stay with your package rate even if you go over a bit on your time charges. The minimal profits you may lose on the job will often be made up in customer loyalty and repeat business.

AGENCIES AND CREATIVE BROKERS: THE MOST DETAIL

Agency proposals and bids need to be the most detailed. First of all, good agencies have people on staff that are used to dealing with complicated estimates. Secondly, since agencies are negotiating the transaction, any possible confusion usually gets magnified by the time it reaches the end client. The following is rough break down for an agency bid. Creative Services (consultation, scripting): $________ hr

2D Animation: $________ per finished second

Shoot (Digibeta/HD Format): $________ hr

Post Production (uncompressed): $_________ hr

Lighting: $________ day

Materials (blank tape, digital storage): $_________

Grips: $________ day Producer on Shoot: $________ day Post Production Supervisor: $________ hr Video/Computer Graphics: $________hr

3D Animation: $________ per finished second

Masters: $_________ea VHS, DVD or Beta Dupes: $________ea Total Estimate: $__________

It’s your call, but production package rates for agencies are usually not a good idea and using a strict, itemized tab with an agency is usually the best route. You should be as detailed and as thorough as possible. Don’t worry about the list being too complex: the agency is in charge of making sense of it all for the client. They may complain a little in the beginning, but you’ll be glad in the end. All-inclusive rates help non-expert individuals and direct corporate clients make solid decisions. Giving agencies an all-inclusive rate is like giving your dog the entire box of Milk Bones and asking him to take only what he needs. With an ongoing tab, the agency is more likely to inform the client when budgets are being exceeded, leaving it up to the agency and client to make the call.

That’s it in a nutshell. Most of all, remember to be honest and fair. Always do your best work and deliver what you promised. Consistently do so and you will be rewarded with repeat business for many years to come.

Matt Leone has been doing local, regional, national and international video production since 1979. Leone Creative is a full-service video production and multimedia studio in south Florida.

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Cutting-Edge PowerPoint Techniques

PRESENTATIONS

Figure 1

Two stock photos from the Presenter’s Toolkit on a slide

Figure 2

The Custom Animation dialog box

Figure 3

The Order & Timing tab

Revealing images and video within a single slide by Geetesh Bajaj

W

hile Microsoft’s PowerPoint® presentation software is designed for business professionals, it is often used as a

simple, but effective, slideshow tool for displaying images. From serious seminars and meetings to wedding receptions, PowerPoint has proven itself to be both easy to use and quite versatile. In this article, we are going to explore some animation techniques for revealing pictures in a presentation in more creative ways.

many more advanced options that follow on these “ There are techniques for triggering image reveals… ” To start off, create a new presentation (Ctrl+N) and insert a blank slide. Insert two images (Insert menu > Picture > From File) somewhere on the slide. Position is not important right now, since we’ll rearrange the pictures later (Figure 1). 1. Right-click one of the pictures and choose Custom Animation. This will open the Custom Animation dialog (Figure 2). 2. Select the checkbox next to one of the images. 3. On the Effects tab in the Custom Animation dialog, from the Entry Animation and Sound dropdown, select an animation effect. Although there are quite a few options here, you should probably stick to something simple like Appear or Dissolve. 4. You will also see your other picture in the Custom Animation dialog. Check

the checkbox next to it in the Check to animate slide objects box and set the animation Effect. Appear or Dissolve will work here again. It’s best to match your animations instead of randomly selecting a bunch of different distracting effects. On the Order & Timing tab, look to make sure the Start animation option is set to “On Mouse Click” (Figure 3). This is the default behavior. You may instead choose to change the timing here to “Automatically” and then enter the number of seconds to set the pace of the show. Click OK to apply your changes and then go ahead and preview your slideshow. At first, the slide will be blank, but when you click, the first picture will be revealed. Click again and the second picture will be revealed.

TRIGGERING VIDEO PLAYBACK

You can also trigger video playback with this technique, but there is an additional set of options you’ll need to configure. To get a video clip into your presentation, from the Insert menu, select Movies and Sounds > Movie from File and select the movie to insert. PowerPoint will ask you if you want the animation to start automatically: select No so that we can trigger the video with a click. To set up how the movie is revealed and played:

INTERFACE

CHANGES

This tutorial uses an interface element of PowerPoint that has changed a lot over the years (the Custom Animation dialog), but essentially the same features are available in every version since PowerPoint 2000 on both the Machintosh® and Windows® operating systems.

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SEPTEMBER 2006 DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE | 25

PRESENTATIONS

STOCK

VIDEO

So what video should you put in your presentations? Digital Juice has a few thousand ideas. Between the 3,000 small-screen resolution clips included with the Presenter’s Toolkit and the thousands of broadcast resolution clips in the VideoTraxx library, there’s sure to be something that illustrates your point perfectly. Go online to digitaljuice.com to browse through then entire library to see for yourself.

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Figure 4

Multimedia Settings for a video file.

1. Right-click the movie file and select Custom Animation. 2. Check the checkbox next to the media file on the list (Figure 4). 3. Go to the Multimedia Settings tab. 4. Select the Play using animation order check box. 5. Click OK to return to your slide and then preview the show. Now you can have a montage of images revealed one after the other followed by a video, all revealed one at a time in a creative way within a single slide. MORE IDEAS

Revealing multiple pictures on a single slide is a simple enough idea, but you can get a little creative and take this to the next level. For example, what if you arranged multiple pictures (and video) so that they are exactly the same size and lined up at exactly the same location, stacked on top of one

DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

another? Now, instead of a collage of images gradually appearing with each click, you get a little slideshow within a single slide of your presentation. There are many more advanced options that follow on these techniques for triggering image reveals, text

reveals and multimedia playback, but once you understand the basics, the rest is relatively easy.

Geetesh Bajaj is the author of Cutting Edge PowerPoint For Dummies. His websites include indezine.com and ppted.com.

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Idea Book & Gallery

FOR THE DIGITAL JUICE JUMP BACKS HIGH DEFINITION, NETWORK QUALITY ANIMATION LIBRARY

Jump Backs HD Idea Book JBHD 01: High Tech & Internet

This is just a sample of first frames from the 20 high definition animations in this volume.

This volume brings you computers, binary numbers, world wide web, internet, networking, global communication, satellites, high technology, circuitry, and more—all at 4 times the resolution of our SD Jump Backs.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #008 from JBHD01: High Tech & Internet

PROJECT NOTES:

HD Jump Backs are an essential element for creating killer high def composites. JBHD #008 from JBHD01 makes the perfect background for branding the look of The I.T. Show.

This is just a sample of first frames from the 20 high definition animations in this volume.

JBHD 02: Corporate/Industrial, Time & Money The title says it all, this volume gives you anything and everything related to industry, business, finance, time, and more!

JBHD USED:

JBHD #025 from JBHD02: Corporate/Industrial, Time & Money

PROJECT NOTES:

A quick color change made most of this green graphic bright blue, the perfect hue for Roger Hedinger’s financial forecast, and the globe Motion Design Element makes a world of difference in the overall look. Changing color is easy in Juice’s free Juicer.

JBHD 03: Medical/Health, Education & Science This broad collection has a variety of animations which fit perfectly together— whether it involves parts of the human body, educational themes, scientific concepts or medical procedures.

This is just a sample of first frames from the 20 high definition animations in this volume.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #042, 060, 051 from JBHD03: Medical/Health, Education & Science

PROJECT NOTES:

HD volume 03 is a medical marvel, making for hot HD health and hospital video. Here the producers combined and composited three separate animations to make one wonderful background for MedTalk.

JBHD 02

Digital Juice Magazine • September 2006

Jump Backs HD Idea Book JBHD 04: High Impact

This is just a sample of first frames from the 20 high definition animations in this volume.

Subtle or bold, retro or high tech, High Impact volumes have a sampling of many styles of sophisticated animations designed for any production.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #061 from JBHD04: High Impact

PROJECT NOTES:

While you can correct colors and combine animations, such complex re-working isn’t required. This seminar slate is an excellent example of a broadcast quality drag-and-drop HD backdrop.

This is just a sample of first frames from the 20 high definition animations in this volume.

JBHD 05: Retro Clean

Retro Clean animations have simple clean lines and a crisp neo-retro feel—hip and stylish without being extreme.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #095 from JBHD05: Retro Clean

PROJECT NOTES:

HDJBs make beautiful bumpers for promoting programs. Just add your title text and video to build eye-popping promos.

This is just a sample of first frames from the 20 high definition animations in this volume.

JBHD 06: Extreme I

An explosion of color, light and movement in your animation arsenal— useful when you need your production to say “LOOK AT ME, NOW!”.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #105 from JBHD06: Extreme I

PROJECT NOTES:

Commercials come alive with HD Jump Backs. Make your commercial spots sparkle like diamonds with these 24-karat animations that make even local commercials look like national spots.

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JBHD 03

Jump Backs HD Idea Book JBHD 07: Extreme II

These are first frames from the 20 high definition animations in this volume.

Abstract colors and radical themes—from an extreme road trip to a whacked-out roller coaster ride, this volume moves your production from point A to point B in a hurry!

JBHD USED:

JBHD #124 from JBHD07: Extreme II (above)

PROJECT NOTES:

JBHD USED:

HDJBs are serious tools for serious productions. Jump Backs HD are sophisticated enough to support brainy scientific subjects like Mysteries of the Galaxy...

JBHD #138 from JBHD07: Extreme II (at left)

PROJECT NOTES:

...they’re also fun enough for funky, fab forays into punchy pop-culture productions like The Great DJ Hunt. Whatever emotion you need to communicate, there’s a Jump Back to match the mood.

JBHD 08: Subtle Impact

The title says it all—soft styles with impact, visually interesting animated backgrounds with a variety of subtle themes. These animations have enough personality to stand out, without disturbing the message.

These are first frames from the 20 high definition animations in this volume.

JBHD USED: JBHD USED:

JBHD #159 from JBHD08: Subtle Impact (at right)

PROJECT NOTES:

HD Jump Backs are a magnificent way to make memorable menus. If you want to deliver DVD menus that impress your clients, JBHDs are the solution you seek.

JBHD 04

JBHD #157 from JBHD08: Subtle Impact (above)

PROJECT NOTES:

There’s no telling how an animation will fan the flames of creativity and inspire an editor. The flame theme of this background was the perfect match for this Kerr Gas Group project.

Digital Juice Magazine • September 2006

Jump Backs HD Idea Book JBHD 09: All Music

These are the kind of music-themed backgrounds that will make your productions shake, rattle and roll and get your audience out of their seats and onto their feet.

These are first frames from the 20 high definition animations in this volume.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #170 from JBHD09: All Music (above)

JBHD USED:

PROJECT NOTES:

JBHD #169 from JBHD09: All Music (at left)

Thematic volumes like All Music are an excellent way to add interest to otherwise ordinary edits. This Spotlight on HIV graphic is enhanced by the shining lights in the animation.

PROJECT NOTES:

Animated audio elements like these speakers from JBHD #169 add energy that makes music-themed programs pop off the screen.

JBHD 10: Simply Useful

These unique animations luminously draw the viewer into the scene with an aesthetic palette that is just right. They work perfectly as the foundation for a DVD menu or as an anchor for television graphics. These are first frames from the 20 high definition animations in this volume.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #186 from JBHD10: Simply Useful (above)

PROJECT NOTES: JBHD USED:

JBHD #187 from JBHD10: Simply Useful (at right)

PROJECT NOTES:

Jump Backs communicate a company’s concern for quality. This bright background projects the perfect pairing of cuteness and quality to portrait the Little Scholar Prep School in the right light

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JBHDs really are Simply Useful. This animation is bold and blue off the disc, but by softening the color saturation it becomes a soft, subtle supporting element in this show open.

JBHD 05

Jump Backs HD Idea Book

JBHD 1 1: Maximum Impact

This volume goes a step beyond our normal High Impact volumes by giving the user animated graphics with even more movement and even more layers of complexity.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #210 from JBHD11: Maximum Impact

These are first frames from the 20 high definition animations in this volume.

PROJECT NOTES:

With a little creative compositing, Jump Backs animations can become fantastic frames for your footage. In this case, a VideoTraxx clip combines with this background to build a breathtaking brand.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #208 from JBHD11: Maximum Impact

PROJECT NOTES:

The usefulness of high definition graphics doesn’t stop with the screen. Because they’re delivered at such high resolutions, JBHDs translate terrifically to the printed page.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #207 from JBHD11: Maximum Impact

PROJECT NOTES:

Need an extreme look? Jump Backs are both elegant and edgy. Whether you need to promote a prominent podiatrist or a rockin' radio station, you’ll find that HD Jump Backs set you up for success.

JBHD 32 06 |

DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

Digital Juicewww.digitaljuice.com Magazine • September 2006 ORDER ONLINE

Jump Backs HD Idea Book JBHD 12: Base Camp These are first frames from the 30 high definition animations in this volume.

This is a simpler, less complicated and less layered volume of Jump Backs animations. It goes back to the basics and sticks to the motto “less is more”. Base Camp animations give you the foundation or starting point for your own creations.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #224, 245 from JBHD12: Base Camp

PROJECT NOTES:

Your logos will come alive when you layer them onto our animations. Create high-end IDs like this is an easy way to make your clients look fantastic, fast.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #250 from JBHD12: Base Camp

PROJECT NOTES:

Even in-house edits for corporate communication can benefit from the right background. What better way to show success than by rolling out a company’s Quarterly Results with a rich, regal opening sequence that commands respect.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #248 from JBHD12: Base Camp

PROJECT NOTES:

This big-time broadcast background is made even better by adding elements from Juice Drops. Jump Backs can be used on their own, or as foundations for cool composites like this.

www.digitaljuice.com • 800.525.2203

JBHD 07

Jump Backs HD Idea Book

JBHD 13: In The Round

A festival of revolving motion, this volume takes you anywhere that turns—be it a roulette wheel, a winding staircase, a wall of classic columns or a room full of speakers.

These are first frames from the 25 high definition animations in this volume.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #251 from JBHD13: In The Round

PROJECT NOTES:

JBHDs make you a winner every time, and the investment will pay off bigtime with your clients. This graphic advertising a cruise ship's casino night was just what Windhammer needed to set the wheels in motion.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #257 from JBHD13: In The Round

PROJECT NOTES:

With JBHD animations, you have everything you need to create big, bold, beautiful graphics that can broadcast right beside the best the industry has to offer. Don’t create these yourself, get Jump Backs.

JBHD USED:

JBHD #269 from JBHD13: In The Round

PROJECT NOTES:

Jump Backs never steal the stage, they just make you like the a star. We don’t take the credit for your edit. We’ve done the work, you get the reward. And your clients will love what you can give them.

JBHD 06

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FORUM

ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com

My DJ

JOIN THE

DJ

Set yourself up at DigitalJuice.com

FORUMS

by Matt Janowsky

The Digital Juice Community

N

ask questions, get answers,

Forums are a great place to

ext time you’re surfing the Net, drop in on DigitalJuice.com to register for your free User Account. Once you register you’ll

get some great benefits including Free Downloads of Digital Juice

suggestions, and just plain have some fun. I’m in there

content, membership in the Community Forums and access to the

all the time; my member

Customer Showcases, where you can upload your work for public

name is Matt, if you have

appreciation. Registered members also get auto-fill functionality for

any questions let me know—

online orders and access to personal online order history. Not to mention, a free subscription to Digital Juice magazine. Registration is fast and free, and the process is super simple; it only takes a minute. Here’s how you do it. Figure 1a

“

share your knowledge, give

I’d be glad to help out. To get started click any of the Community Forums links on DigitalJuice.com, then click the Register link to get to the

At DigitalJuice.com,

Forum Agreement page.

membership

Check the Forum Agreement box and click

really does have its

OK. Next, fill out your name

”

privileges.

and info and click OK again. You will then see a

STEP 1: CLICK THE CREATE LINK

confirmation screen. Click

Go to digitaljuice.com and look for the box at the top right that says “Sign in or Create your own personal account for easy online shopping” (Figure 1a&b). Click Create to go to the registration page.

the Go to Forum Now? link

STEP 2: FILL OUT THE REGISTRATION FORM

to it! I look forward to seeing

Now just simply fill out the registration form, starting with your name and shipping information (Figure 2a). Make sure to check the appropriate box to indicate whether the address you entered if for a business or residence (Figure 2b). STEP 3: SELECT A PASSWORD

Next, enter your email address and pick a password (Figure 3). You’ll need to enter

to start talking with all of the great Forum Community Members. That’s all there is you in the Forums! —MJ your password to access your personal information and to take advantage of all of the cool extras at digitaljuice.com (like the free downloads and Forums). STEP 4: OPT-IN FOR ENEWS

Don’t forget to opt-in for the free Digital Juice eNewsletter (Figure 4). To get it just check the Sign Me Up! box. The weekly

eNewsletter will inform you about special pricing deals and new products. Checking this box can save you hundreds of dollars off new Digital Juice content. Click the checkboxes to identify the product categories that interest you most.

(continued on page 36) Figure 1b

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FORUM

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Figure 2a

My DJ (continued from page 35) STEP 5: CLICK REGISTER

All you have to do now is click the Register button (Figure 5a) and you’re done! After you click it, you’ll see a confirmation screen telling you that your registration was successfully completed (Figure 5b), or an error message explaining any problems with your registration form (Figure 5c). STEP 6: FIX ANY ERRORS

If you missed a required field or entered invalid information, you will receive an error prompt. Just scroll down to correct your entries. Small red arrows will appear next to the problematic fields on the form (Figure 6). Make the necessary corrections and click the Register button again to update the form.

Figure 2b

Figure 3

main My Account Menu page (Figure 7a). This is where you can get Free Downloads, review your online order history, edit your shipping and billing info, change subscription options, or edit your password (Figure 7b). From this page you can also upload sample of your work to the Video or Image Showcases (Figure 7c) and sign up to participate in the Community Forums. Signing up for your free User Account at DigitalJuice.com is fast, easy, and comes with all kinds of great benefits. At DigitalJuice.com, membership really does have its privileges.

Matt Janowsky is a Video Production Specialist and a staff team member at our newest location, Digital Juice Orlando.

STEP 7: ACCESS YOUR ACCOUNT

Once you have entered your information correctly, you will be redirected to the

Figure 7b

Figure 4

Figure 5a

Figure 5b

Figure 5c

Figure 7a

Figure 6

Figure 7c

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DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

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TECHNOLOGY

SEE COMPLETE PRODUCT GALLERIES

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Format W ARS

Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD: Who Will Win?

by David Slater and David Hebel

T

he current state of high definition DVD distribution is a good-news/bad-news scenario. The good news is that the next generation of high capacity DVDs

capable of playing HD resolution video and movies is now here. The bad news? Unfortunately, the industry is divided into two camps; Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. As we all wait to see how the format war plays out, it's important that we be informed about the issues. This article is designed to help you understand the similarities and differences of the two competing formats.

war in the 70s and 80s, many feel “ Like the VHS/Beta there can be only one winner. ”

DRAWING THE BATTLE LINES

While the high def DVD conflict may seem new to some of us, the battle has actually been looming for a couple years now. While there have been many talks of peaceful reconciliation and consolidation of Blu-ray and HD-DVD, in the end neither could agree on terms and all out war was declared. Like the VHS/Beta war in the 70s and 80s, many feel there can be only one winner. Consumers hate to be in the middle of these type of battles, but perhaps the competition will at least cause manufacturers to price compatible players low enough (under $200, please) to permit adoption by the masses. Perhaps in the end we will see some sort of compromise, possibly in the form of dual-format writers and players, but with huge royalties at stake there is no guarantee of compromise any time soon. Here’s a breakdown of how we see the lines being drawn now, each side with strategic advantages and potentially fatal disadvantages.

TALE OF THE TAPE... ERR... DISC FEATURE

DVD

BLU-RAY DISC

Single Layer/Dual Layer Capacity

4.7/8.5 GB

25/50 GB

HD-DVD 15/30 GB

Laser Type

650nm (red laser)

405nm (blue laser)

405nm (blue laser)

Data Transfer Rate (DATA)

11.08 Mbps

36.0 Mbps

36.55 Mbps

Data Transfer Rate (Video)

10.08 Mbps

54.0 Mbps

36.55 Mbps

Supported Video Codecs

MPEG 2, MPEG 1

MPEG 2, MPEG 4 AVC (h.264), SMPTE VC-1

MPEG 2, MPEG 4 AVC (h.264), SMPTE VC-1

Supported Resolution

720x480/720x576 (480I/576i)

up to 1920x1080 Progressive (1080p)

up to 1920x1080 Progressive (1080p)

Supported Bit Rate

up to 9.8 Mbps

up to 40.0 Mbps

up to 28.0 Mbps

Audio Formats

Linear PCM, Dolby Digital, DTS Digital Surround

Linear PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS Digital Surround, DTS-HD

Linear PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS Digital Surround, DTS-HD

Audio Rates

6 channels of 24bit/96kHz

6 channels of 24bit/192kHz 8 channels of 24bit/96kHz

2 channels of 24bit/192kHz 8 channels of 24bit/96kHz

Cost of Video Players*

$53 and up

$999.99 (BDP-S1)

$499.99 (HD-A1) $749.95 (HD-XA1)

No. of Titles Listed on Amazon*

2500+

73

87

Available (or soon to be) Authoring Software*

Many

Sonic Scenarist (Windows), DVD Studio Pro (Mac), Toast (Mac)

Sonic Scenarist (Windows) DVD Studio Pro (Mac), Toast (Mac)

* as of August '06

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TECHNOLOGY

4 Reasons Why HD-DVD Will Win 4 Reasons Why Blu-ray Will Win

#1

PLAYSTATION 3 Sony’s soon to be released Playstation 3 will include a Blu-ray player. Though Microsoft’s off to a great head start in the next generation gaming console wars no one can count Sony out. Sony has led the last two gaming generations (Playstation 1 and 2) and has a good chance at claiming the third. However, the expected high cost and delays could hurt. Keep your eye on Playstation 3. If it doesn’t catch on as Sony expects, it could be a bad omen for the Blu-ray format. If it thrives, Blu-ray may also.

#2

HIGHER CAPACITY At first glance the higher capacity (potential) of Blu-ray is a big plus. On single layer discs you get 25GB and duallayer 50GB. It seems like a no brainer compared to HD-DVDs 15GB/30GB limits. Even if Blu-ray were to lose the HD Movie battle it could still win a place in the hearts of computer users who need high capacity storage. But no one will necessarily consider that a true win.

#3

BIG NAME SUPPORT Blu-ray is off to an early lead in the support department with over 170 members of the Blu-ray Association including board members Apple, Dell, HP, Hitachi, LG, Mitsubishi Electric, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK, Thomson, Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros. One thing is almost certain, Sony would have to be in bankruptcy before they’d ever cave and release their movies in any format but Blu-ray. Sony sticks by their own technology to the point that it is sometimes painful to watch.

#4

UMM, DID WE SAY PLAYSTATION 3!!? Hey, this is what Sony is counting on to be their trump card. Expect them to play it for everything that it’s worth. We don’t care how popular Microsoft’s XBOX 360 or Nintendo’s Wii (yes... Wii as in “weeee” is their next generation console name) are. There’s no doubt that Sony Playstation 3 is going to sell millions of units. It’s very likely that the first HD capable DVD player in a majority of homes could in fact be the Playstation 3.

#1

IT’S CHEAPER Cheaper doesn’t always win out, but in this case, it doesn’t hurt. Sure we all have Apple iPods and our kids eat Kraft Cheese & Macaroni instead of no name MP3 players and store-brand mac and cheese, but when it comes to new technology there is generally a tipping point, and price can be a big factor. HD-DVD has already won the race to a price below $500. If they win the race to <$200 and then <$100 the game may be over. In the end, the format that consumers buy into will be the winner.

#2

HEAD START As the iPod showed, head starts sometimes mean diddly-do—it came in years later and spanked every other digital music device that came before it. However, when two technologies are as closely matched as HD-DVD and Blu-ray, the odds favor the first to market, particularly when combined with Reason #1.

#3

BIG NAME SUPPORT HD-DVD is no slouch in the big name department. Supporters include: Toshiba, NEC, RCA, Microsoft, Intel, Universal Studios, New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. The fact is, right now there are more movies released in the HD-DVD format than Blu-ray, and movie companies will ultimately show loyalty where the dollars are to be found. If they feel they can make money supporting HD-DVD, or both formats, they will do so.

#4

THE NAME Let’s face it, the average consumer (and for that matter, Blockbuster) just figured out all the ins-and-outs of DVDs over the past two years. Now manufacturers are telling them that HDTV is the next big thing. A name that combines HD and DVD will be much easier for you to explain and for them to understand than some new fangled name like Blu-ray. The minute you mention blue lasers, eyes are going to glaze over. K.I.S.S (Keep it Simple Stupid) may be the ultimate playing card that HD-DVD has to play and the fact that they are using the same ad agency that did the “Got Milk” campaign tells me they plan to play it.

THE RACE IS ON

We’re following this closely at Digital Juice and, as warranted, we’ll keep you updated on the battle. As soon as the picture is a little clearer, you can rest assured we'll be the first content players on the block to make the move to one (or both) of these high capacity formats.

David Slater owns Movies Rock in Toronto as well as being a huge supporter of the Toronto Final Cut Pro User Group and a technical moderator on Digital Juice’s own DJ Forums. David Hebel is the Founder and CEO of Digital Juice. 1.800.525.2203 ORDER BY PHONE

SEPTEMBER 2006 DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE | 39

COMPOSITING

SEE COMPLETE PRODUCT GALLERIES

ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com

Meals with Appeal

A cooking show opener in search of a show by Brent Milby Figure 1

VideoTraxx 3 Good Eats clips #7557, #7565, and #7566.

D

igital Juice has everything you need to create awesome

productions, with minimal elbow grease. With Jump Backs,

Juice Drops, Editor's Toolkits, StackTraxx, and the Sound FX Library, you can literally build an entire production from the ground up and you can do it with any project. To prove this, I will attempt to build a sequence to be used as an opening for a cooking show, using nothing more than Digital Juice products.

I’m not sure exactly what we're cooking on this show, “ but since it is a fictional show...I guess it doesn’t matter. ” MEALS WITH APPEAL

My cooking show will be called “Meals with Appeal.” I’m not sure exactly what we’re cooking on this show, but since it is a fictional show, I guess it doesn’t matter. Let’s start with VideoTraxx 3, which is a volume of our stock footage library that contains about 3,000 clips. The “Good Eats” category in VideoTraxx 3 is dedicated to nothing but food and dining related footage. To find the clips I need, I can use the Juicer to just browse around for inspiration, or I can use the search tool to narrow my choices by keyword to be more specific. My show open will be 10 seconds, so I don’t need many clips to start with: #7557, #7565, and #7566 should work fine (Figure 1). I decided to

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COMPOSITING

Full Screen Wipe 1 from Super Set #249 on Editor’s Toolkit 10 was the perfect way to transition into our title text.The food objects are layers from a Juice Drop #3138 off foodFUSION

Figure 2

Juice Drops layered images #2799 from glassEDGE and #3138 foodFUSION

start with the two raw-foods clips and end with the finished, fully cooked meal. The logo for my show will come in at the end when the finish meal appears. JUICE DROPS

Juice Drops layered Photoshop graphics are loaded with stylistic illustrations that are ideal for print and television applications. You could use Juice Drops in nearly every project you ever work on. For my show open, I used Juice Drops #3138 from foodFUSION and #2799 from glassEDGE (Figure 2). From image #3138, I made a logo out of the bowl of food, used the vegetables layers to surround the logo (Figure 3) and then animated them in a circular motion. I pretty much used Juice Drops #2799 as it appears on the disc as a background element for the logo and gave it a little animated spin to compliment the foreground logo.

Figure 3

MOTION AND DESIGN

I needed a few more animated elements to complete the visual layout of the opener. Super Set #249 from Editor’s Toolkit 10 looks great. The set contains backgrounds, transitions, lower-third nameplate anchors and special Motion Design Elements. Perfect. To start with, I used the two full-screen wipes to transition between my three VideoTraxx clips. While I was at it, I grabbed the first Motion Design Element of the flower objects (Figure 4) to use as filler design behind my logo for a little flare. For the final visual, I dissolved from my final clip of the fully prepared meal (VTX3, #7557) to the empty plate from Juice Drops #2799.

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The finished logo for our fictitious food program

Figure 4

MAESTRO, MUSIC PLEASE

My show open wouldn't be complete without a musical sting to go with it. The Digital Juice Sound FX library has a logos category that is made up of short stingers made specifically for this purpose. I found one that works (in this case, MusicalFX > Logos > Acoustic Logos > Acoustic Transition Set1 #7915) and my show open was ready for primetime. To see

and hear the final version, go online to digitaljuice.com. I think it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. Bon Appetite!

Brent Milby is Senior Animator at Digital Juice.

SEPTEMBER 2006 DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE | 41

AUDIO

SEE COMPLETE PRODUCT GALLERIES

ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com

Choosing a Microphone A good mic is worth every penny by Jeff Earley

T Figure 1

hat brand new camcorder you bought in 2001 doesn’t do HD and the computer you purchased a couple years ago seems

painfully slow. I have great news for those of you who invested in a

The heart-shaped pickup pattern of a cardioid microphone.

decent microphone two decades ago, however: there is probably no need to upgrade your mic. And to those of you have not yet purchased a good microphone, I also have good news: a $100-$500 investment today will still be making you money long into the future. In this article, I’m going to help you make some decisions about getting a

Figure 2

The frequency response graph of a Shure SM58 vocal microphone.

POP

FILTER

No, a pop filter is not something you can hook up to your radio to eliminate bad music. Most vocal mics have some sort of limited “pop” filter or windscreen built into the head of the mic. This internal filter is often used in conjunction with a foam filter that goes around the mic. In the studio, we add another pop filter that is mounted on a stand in front of the microphone.

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professional microphone, focusing specifically on studio and vocal applications.

The human voice occupies a fairly narrow range of “ audio frequencies, somewhere between 300-3000Hz. A vocal mic can specialize in targeting that range. ”

DYNAMIC VARIETY

While there are quite a few different kinds of microphones, for studio vocal work at a reasonable price, I’d recommend getting a dynamic-type microphone as a starter. Dynamic mics convert acoustic energy (sound waves) into an electronic signal using a small diaphragm that moves back and forth. It’s almost exactly the reverse of a speaker. Dynamic mics do not need a battery or external power. However, most dynamic mics probably will need some kind of preamp to boost the signal a bit, so you’ll need to factor that into your shopping. If you’re recoding into a camera that has XLR inputs, then a preamp is probably built into the camera’s circuitry. If you are recording directly to your computer, perhaps via a sound card’s 1/8-inch stereo miniplug, then you may need to add a microphone preamp or mixer to your budget. Professional

DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

preamps, mixers and sound cards will all have XLR inputs on them. A decent USB audio interface with XLR inputs and preamp starts at around a hundred bucks. We use a variety of solutions in our studio, including a Digidesign Mbox and an Aardvark DirectPro 24/96.

PATTERNS

Microphones come in a number of different pickup patterns, so you’ll need to make a choice here, too. An omnidirectional mic, which picks up sound in all directions, would be great for recording plays or concerts, but might not be the best pattern to use for an interview to camera with a noisy city street nearby. A cardioid pattern (Figure 1) picks up less sound from the rear of the microphone than from the front and can help. In a quiet studio environment, you might not need this sort of directional

pickup pattern. Shotgun microphones are very sensitive, have a hypercardioid pattern that is very directional and are great for newsgathering and fieldwork, but don’t sound the best for studio voice work.

VOCAL MICROPHONES

The human voice occupies a fairly narrow range of audio frequencies, somewhere between 300-3000Hz. A vocal mic can specialize in targeting that range, even thought the entire range is typically much wider: generally from 50Hz to 15kHz (Figure 2). There’s often a little added response in the 5kHz range to accentuate the intelligibility of the voice as well.

Figure 3

A classic Shure SM58 vocal mic.

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CLASSIC VOCAL MIC

DIGITAL JUICE PRAGMATISM

One example of a classic vocal mic is the Shure SM58 (Figure 3). It is a great vocal and instrument mic that has a response tailored to the human voice. It has a builtin pop-filter screen and is also quite ruggedly built to withstand being tossed around in your audio or camera bag. You can easily find one of these for under $100, so if you are looking for a first vocal microphone, this would be a good one.

We use a variety of microphones in different situations here at Digital Juice. In our studios, we trust our voiceover work to the venerable ElectroVoice RE20 (MSRP $750, but you can find them online for much less), which is permanently installed in our audio booth (Figure 4). The RE20 is a dynamic mic with some special features that I like. It has a wide, nearly flat response (45Hz-18kHz), similar to a condenser, but it is almost impossible to distort or overload. It has a cardioid pickup pattern, with almost no off-axis coloration. This means that if your voiceover talent moves around a little bit, your frequency response will not thin out. It has a built in pop filter and a “Variable-D” design that virtually eliminates proximity effects, meaning that your talent can get right up on the mic without changing the bass

Even if you eventually start accumulating a collection of fancier and more expensive mics later, I can guarantee you’ll still find uses for the SM58 decades from now. There are fancier and more expensive microphones around, such as ribbon mics that start at around a thousand dollars and go up over $10k, but these are studio-only beauties that are way too fragile for fieldwork.

response. There are tons of great mics out there in the same class as the RE20 and there may even be some that sound better or are a better value. In all honesty, the reason we use the ElecroVoice RE20 is because I have been using it for many years and it is the microphone I am most comfortable using. That’s the great thing about microphones, however: the classics don’t go out of style.

Examples on the

WEB

Logon to digitaljuice.com and go to the magazine section of the Website to listen to audio examples of three different microphones included with the electronic version of this article.

Jeff Earley is Director of Digital Juice Audio Products. Figure 4

The ElectroVoice RE20 vocal mic in a shock mount with pop filters.

SHOWCASE

SEE COMPLETE PRODUCT GALLERIES

ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com

You can check out the

Customer Video Showcase Profile

videos featured here on our

by The Editors

CHECK OUT

THE

SHOWCASE Customer Video Showcase: http://www.digitaljuice.com/ customer_video_showcase/

W

e’ve been seeing some amazing videos submitted to our Customer Video Showcase. There’s quite a range as well, from professionals to hobbyists, from solo event videographers to large production houses, from America to

Use the Filter by User

Germany and Africa. We thought it might be interesting to talk to a few of

dropdown list to locate a

these folks and share a vignette of their work with you.

specific artist’s work. The list is ordered by last name.

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was a little more refreshing, because many “ This project times a client doesn't want to try something different. —Jaeson Koszarsky ”

DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

PROFILE 1:

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Artist: Jaeson Koszarsky Video: Westwood Plaza Theatre commercial Category: Television Commercial

Mr. Koszarsky is a veteran full-time video production professional with Adelphia Media Services in State College, PA. He’s mostly a postproduction guy (doing editing and compositing), but is a capable shooter when needed. A long-form commercial for the Metzger Animal Hospital that he worked on won two CAB (Cable television Advertising Bureau) awards.

ABOUT THE VIDEO

This is a fun little commercial for a local movie theater that combines source video (shot by Joel Watkins with assistance

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from Keith Pohl) with VideoTraxx stock footage and animations from the Jump Backs library and Editor’s Toolkits. A StackTraxx song was also used. A few effects and solid audio post leave no doubts that this is a professional job. The client was apparently pleased as well and work has begun on another set for them. The spot airs on cable in central PA. “Westwood Plaza was a real collaboration with our entire staff. This project was a little more refreshing, because many times a client doesn’t want to try something different, out of the box.” HIS GEAR

Jaeson edits on Apple Mac G4s and G5s, with Media 100i and Media 100HD hardware and software systems. He uses Photoshop and Boris Red for most of his graphics and animation work. WHEN HE’S NOT AT WORK

Jaeson and his wife are volunteer instructors at the Penn State Karate Club.They host free selfdefense workshops and competed in the Isshinryu World Championship Tournament in 2005, with Jaeson placing second in his division.“We’re planning to compete again in 2007.”

PROFILE 2: Artist: Ryan Ragle Video: Company Product Summary Category: Corporate Video ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ryan Ragle works for UGS. His work involves print, video and Web content and he doesn’t shoot video full-time professionally.

SHOWCASE

ABOUT THE VIDEO

Ryan’s video combines quite a few Digital Juice products into what we call a “noshoot commercial,” although the spot does contain a few location shots. With VideoTraxx stock footage as the foundation and a music bed from StackTraxx 12: Corporate Stacks, the clear voiceover narration and simple, readable textual elements communicate the message. With custom graphics and video shot on location at a factory, the short product summary does its job well. “The new Corporate Stacks made the music track creation a breeze.” Ryan commented. “The best feature is outputting to separate tracks so I could adjust the levels as I saw fit. I only had to spend about 30 minutes customizing the mixes for the five videos.”

Video Traxx 1: Industry #01237

CHALLENGES

“No manufacturers want you in their factory taking video of their plant. Most feel you will grab proprietary processes they use… Having the video from VideoTraxx 1 & 2 was an immense ease of my problem.”

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Video Traxx 2: Autos & Motorsports #03421

SEPTEMBER 2006 DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE | 45

VIDEO

Figure 1a

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Take 5

Five Tips for Using Jump Backs by Chuck Peters

S

ome people are just naturally creative. They seem to have no shortage of ideas. Others need a little nudge to get the

creative juices flowing. This installment of Take 5 is meant to stir the creative side of your brain to get you thinking outside the “text box” in terms of Jump Backs uses. Heck, Jump Backs aren’t just backgrounds for text. There are tons of other ways to use them.

Figure 1b

Here are five interesting ideas you may not have considered.

Add these tricks to your editing arsenal, and keep “looking for more ways to make the most of your animated elements. ” #1 — REVERSE THE ROLES

Figure 2a

Figure 2b

Laying text over a Jump Back animation is the most obvious use of our animated elements. But have you ever thought of reversing the roles? A simple luminance key is a fast and easy way to create cool textured text. We started with a black and white text template (Figure 1a) and used a luma key (setting the threshold to 0% and the cutoff to 100%) to let our stars and stripes animation (#394 from Volume 10, All American) show through the white letters (Figure 1b). Advanced editors might take this a step further by applying video to the black portion. #2 — CREATE KEYED BACKGROUNDS

Figure 2c

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If you ever shoot interviews or talkinghead talent, you’ll find that Jump Backs make excellent virtual backgrounds. Instead of shooting your

DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2006

subject in a drab office or in front of some cheap white lattice, slap some green paint on the wall and chromakey those clips over a Jump Back. It’s easy to do, and instantly increases your production value.

montages you make, whether for weddings or TV commercials. While I use stills in this example, you could just as easily use full-motion video with this crop-and-drop technique.

#3 — MAKE A MONTAGE MATTE

Here’s another real-world example; this one from a video about Afghanistan that I recently edited. I selected Jump Back #905 from Volume 22, Global Impact (Figure 3a) as my base layer. Rather than cutting my B-roll in full screen and fully opaque, I decided to let the texture of the Jump Back show through my footage (clip #4832 from the Int’l Faces category of VideoTraxx 2 as seen in Figure 3b). I was inspired by this particular Jump Back’s letterboxed look (with the dark bars at the top and bottom). I cropped the top and bottom of my video to fit into the center of the animation; making it seem as though the footage fades in from behind the animation. Next I created my two text layers using Premiere’s titling

Jump Backs are a great way to jazz up your photo montages. I was recently volunteered to create a photo montage for my daughter’s kindergarten graduation ceremony. Instead of just running the pictures full screen (booooring), I selected a playful kindergarten-looking background from Editor’s Toolkit 10 (Background #240) to use as a foundation. Next I cropped, scaled, and rotated the photos and added drop shadows using Premiere Pro’s Video Effects and Motion Controls (Figure 2a, 2b & 2c). It wasn’t hard to do, but the parents raved over the production. This is a great tip for spicing up any of the photo

#4 — VEIL YOUR VIDEO

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app (Figure 3c). In case you were interested, the ghosted “Afghanistan” text that you see is actually a drop shadow set to 62% Opacity (Figure 3d). I set the Opacity of the main text layer to 0% so that all you see is the soft shadow layer. #5 – SET THE STAGE

Lots of pros in lots of places use Jump Backs as “dressing” for big screens on big stages in big venues. Think back to the last time you were at a big football stadium, a rock concert, a keynote address at a major tradeshow or contemporary service at a mega-church. For most big venues, Jump Backs are the product of choice for adding splashes of color to help define the mood and to literally set the stage for big budget events. You can use this tip even if you

VIDEO

Figure 3a

Figure 3b

Figure 3c

Figure 3d

don’t do road work for rock stars. Wherever there’s a screen at an event, there’s an opportunity to add excitement with Jump Backs. Why not provide custom colored projections during dancing at a wedding reception or a helping of hues during a special choir number? JUST THE BEGINNING

Since this article is called Take “5,” I’m legally obligated to stop here, but these five creative ideas are just the beginning. Add these tricks to your editing arsenal, and keep looking for more ways to make the most of your animated elements.

Chuck Peters is Vice President of Media and Publications at Digital Juice and Editor of Digital Juice Magazine.

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Volume Spotlight V

olume 41 of the Juice Drops library, frescoVITA, is just what its name implies—a breath of fresh air. Its illustrations brim with colorful verve and vitality. Rendered with the rough texture of a coffeehouse wall fresco, subjects covered in this volume jump from the mundane to the sublime—the everyday backyard BBQ giving way to angels, romance and turtledoves.

JD41:frescoVITA This is just a small sampling of the 100 different layered designs in this volume.

As with all Juice Drops volumes, these illustrations are provided in layered Photoshop PSD format so you can isolate individual elements from the designs or rearrange the existing art to suit your purposes time and time again. Check out a few examples of what’s in the volume and how it can be used at right and below.

frescoVITA art in use in everyday design projects—in a travel poster (top, using JD #4172), as the main company identity for a restaurant (right, using JD #4137) and, using an element from the same frescoVITA illustration, as background art for a fashion ad spread (above). frescoVITA illustrations, like all other Juice Drops volumes, can easily be broken down into the individual layer elements from which they are constructed. Here, the hero element from JD #4139 is used as a spot illustration for a recipe card in a magazine.

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INTRODUCING OUR NEWEST PRODUCT LINE!

Motion Design Elements Library The first 10 volumes in the library include: 001: Revealers 002: Animated Frames Vol. 1 003: Animated Frames Vol. 2 004: Countdowns 005: Future Tech 006: Global Intentions 007: Motion Grab Bag Vol. 1 008: Motion Grab Bag Vol. 2 009: Line Items 010: Motion Plaques

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Editor’s Toolkit 1: Multipurpose Tools • 40+ GB, 6 DVD-ROMs

Editor’s Toolkits Complete Animated Graphics Packages for

• 50 Animated Jump Sets with matching animated background, template, overlay, and lower third • 50 Additional animated overlays and 50 additional animated lower thirds • 200 static lower thirds, 250 static mattes

Every Video Producer or Editor

• Thousands of stills in over 20 categories

Create a coordinated and professional look effortlessly with animations organized into matched sets. 10 Volumes • 100s of Animations per Volume • Backgrounds, Overlays, Lower Thirds, Wipes and Motion Design Elements Editor’s Toolkit 2: Multipurpose Tools 2 • 55+ GB, 10 DVD-ROMs • 15 Animated Jump Sets with matching animated background, template, overlay, lower third, full screen wipe & transition • 100+ Motion design elements • 100 Wipes and transitions to match ETK1 plus 50 additional wipes & transitions • 15 Additional lower thirds and overlays • Thousands of photos & photo objects

Editor’s Toolkit 3: Wedding Tools

Editor’s Toolkit 4: High Tech Tools

Editor’s Toolkit 5: Soft & Subtle Tools

• 70+ GB, 10 DVD-ROMs

• 80+ GB, 10 DVD-ROMs

• 80+ GB, 10 DVD-ROMs

• 20 Animated Jump Sets with matching animated background, template, overlay, lower third, full screen wipe & transition

• 20 Animated Super Sets with a High Tech edge, each with the following matching animated elements (at a minimum): 3 backgrounds, 2 overlays, 2 lower thirds, 2 full screen wipes,2 motion design elements, 1 transition wipe as well as 4 alpha channel mattes.

• 20 Animated Super Sets with a Soft & Subtle look, each with the following matching animated elements (at a minimum): 3 backgrounds, 2 overlays, 2 lower thirds, 2 full screen wipes,2 motion design elements, 1 transition wipe as well as 4 alpha channel mattes.

• More than 320 Animations in all

• More than 320 Animations in all

(formerly Wedding Editor’s Toolkit)

• 100+ Motion design elements • 20+ Additional animated backgrounds • 50+ Additional full screen animated wipes • 25 Bitstream™ Fonts

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Editor’s Toolkit 6: Corporate & Broadcast Tools

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• 63+ GB, 8 DVD-ROMs • 15 Animated Super Sets with a Wedding theme, each with the following matching animated elements (at a minimum): 3 backgrounds, 2 overlays, 2 lower thirds, 2 full screen wipes, 2 motion design elements, 1 transition wipe as well as 4 alpha channel mattes. • More than 260 Animations in all

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Editor’s Toolkit 8: Sports Tools • 70+ GB,10 DVD-ROMs • 54 Animated Jump Sets with a network sports feel, including individual animations for Basketball, Football, Baseball, Soccer, Golf, Hockey & Tennis. • Package also includes globe and multipurpose animated backgrounds for a wider appeal. • Each set in the package contains the following matching animated elements (at a minimum): 2 backgrounds, 1 overlay, 1 lower third, 1 full screen wipe and 1 motion design element

Editor’s Toolkit 10: Multipurpose Tools III Our BIGGEST and BEST Yet! 62% More Content for the Same Low Price.

• More than 320 Animations in all

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Editor’s Toolkit 9: Christmas Tools • 90+ GB, 12 DVD-ROMs • 16 animated graphically matching Super Sets with a seasonal theme. • Each set in the package contains the following matching animated elements (at a minimum): 3 backgrounds, 2 overlays, 2 lower thirds, 2 full screen wipes, 1 transition wipe, 2 motion design elements and 4 animated alpha channel mattes. (Most sets also have several extra elements.) • Bonus holiday animated text elements. • Bonus video design elements with Santa Claus.

• 30 animated graphically matching Super Sets • Each set in the package contains the following matching animated elements (at a minimum): 3 backgrounds, 2 overlays, 2 lower thirds, 2 full screen wipes, 1 transition wipe, 2 motion design elements and 4 animated alpha channel mattes. (Most sets also have several extra elements.) • More than 500 Animations in all

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D I G I TA L

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C ATA L O G JB01: High Impact I

JB02: High Impact II

The high impact volumes include dozens of different styles, ensuring you’ll find the perfect animation for any production.

Subtle or bold, retro or high tech, our high impact volumes have a sampling of many styles to suit every project. DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

Jump Backs Network Quality Animation Library The royalty-free collection that just keeps growing —more variety and more innovation all the time.

JB03: High Impact III

JB04: Wedding

When you want your next project to stand above the rest, but you don’t need a specific theme, then you want a High Impact Jump Back.

Not just for weddings! If you are looking for super soft and subtle animations you’ll definitely want to add this volume to your library.

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 56 ANIMATIONS $249

33 Volumes • 40+ Animations per Volume 15-30 Seconds per Animation • Seamlessly Loopable JB05: Sports

JB06: High Impact IV

JB07: High Impact V

JB08: High Impact VI

Shoot and score with this impressive collection of sports-related animations. Covers football, baseball, basketball, tennis, golf, hockey, soccer, and more! DVD 49 ANIMATIONS $249

Back by popular demand, High Impact IV continues the signature Jump Back style and takes it to a whole new level.

With its mix of high tech looks and energetic style this volume stands out as one of our all-time best sellers.

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

Not intimidated by the success of Volume 7, this volume once again shows why Digital Juice leads the way in royalty-free animations.

JB09: High Tech & Internet

JB10: All American

JB11: Retro Clean

Computers, binary numbers, world wide web, internet, networking, satellites, circuitry, global communication, and more.

The perfect mix of patriotism, history, politics, independence, government, military, the heartland and holidays.

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

Need the latest cutting-edge look? Volume 11 animations have simple clean lines and a crisp neo-retro feel—hip and stylish without being extreme.

JB13: All Church Subtle, tasteful animations that are a musthave for any church-related video project. Also includes soft theme-free graphics perfect for any job. DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

JB14: Medical/Health, Education & Science This broad collection has a variety of animations which fit perfectly together. So many themes and looks—so many uses! DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

JB12: Corporate/Industrial, Time & Money The title says it all, anything and everything related to industry, business, finance and time.

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

JB15: Weather&The Elements

JB16: High Impact VII

These animations convey the mood of the seasons—animated fall leaves, lightning storms, clouds, snowflakes, and much more.

Taking up where Volume 8 left off, this newest High Impact volume features sophisticated animations designed for any production.

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

JB17: Extreme I

JB18: Extreme II

JB19: Extreme III

JB20: Subtle Impact

An explosion of color, light and movement— your productions will say “Look at me, NOW!” when you add this volume to your animation arsenal.

Abstract colors and radical themes—from extreme road trips to crazy roller coaster rides—move your productions from point A to B in a hurry!

So much action, so much intensity—you can almost hear the beat thumpin’ or the guitar grindin’ under these cool backgrounds.

The title says it all—soft styles with impact, visually interesting animated backgrounds with a variety of subtle themes.

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

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JB21: High Impact VIII

JB22: Global Impact

High Impact VIII takes up where its popular predecessors left off, bringing you highenergy animations in a variety of styles and colors.

Go global with your next production— you can literally have the world at your fingertips—and in motion. DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

NEWLY RELEASED VOLUME!

JB33: In The Round A festival of revolving motion, this volume takes you anywhere that turns— be it a roulette wheel, a winding staircase, a wall of classic columns or a room full of speakers. DVD 25 ANIMATIONS $249

JB23: Clean Streak

JB24: Tunnel Vision

Clean Streak is clean, cool, and structured— animations with sharp edges, bright colors and lots of attitude in motion.

Tunnel Vision takes you for a ride down dimly lit passageways, around hairpin curves, through tubes of light—buy a ticket and get on now.

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

JB25: All Music

JB26: Future Tech

Music-themed backgrounds that will make your productions shake, rattle and roll— get your audience out of their seats and onto their feet.

A surreal journey to the future and new dimensions—highly stylized elements and motion not found anywhere else in the Jump Backs series.

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

Jump Backs HD

High Definition, Network Quality Animation Library

JB27: International Flags

JB28: Subtle Impact II

Beautifully rendered, rippling, waving, full-screen animated flags from countries around the world.

This sequel won’t fail at the box office— soft, sleek energy boxed up for your next low-key production.

VOLUMES AVAILABLE:

NEW Volumes!

JB HD 01: High Tech & Internet

JB HD 11: Maximum Impact

DVD 58 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

JB HD 02: Corporate/Industrial, Time & Money

JB HD 12: Base Camp

JB HD 03: Medical/Health, Education & Science JB HD 04: High Impact VI

JB29: US State Flags

JB30: Simply Useful

Accurately rendered and textured full-screen animated flags from the 50 U.S. states, as well as the District of Columbia and 5 U.S. territories.

The original animations in our latest volume luminously draw the viewer right into the scene with an aesthetic palette that is just right.

DVD 56 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 40 ANIMATIONS $249

JB HD 05: Retro Clean JB HD 06: Extreme I JB HD 07: Extreme II JB HD 08: Subtle Impact JB HD 09: All Music JB HD 10: Simply Useful

JB31: Maximum Impact

JB32: Base Camp

This volume goes a step beyond our normal High Impact volumes by giving the user animated graphics with even more movement and complexity.

This is a simpler, less complex volume. It goes back to the basics and sticks to the motto "less is more", giving you the foundation of a good design.

DVD 20 ANIMATIONS $249

DVD 30 ANIMATIONS $249

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JB HD 13: In the Round

• 13 volumes, 20 or more animations per volume • Full 1,920x1,080, 16:9 res. • 15-30 seconds per animation • Seamlessly loopable PER VOLUME

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SEPTEMBER 2006 DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE | 53

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D I G I TA L

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C ATA L O G

DIGITAL JUICE

SOUND FX LIBRARY

StackTraxx Layered Digital Music Library

• 10,000+ SOUND EFFECTS in more than 170 categories and 4 main classes

The revolutionary production collection that puts you in control! Just $249 per volume or as low as $49 per

• Superior 24-bit, 96kHz stereo

volume in a 15-PAK Bundle.

• WAV format lossless quality audio

VOLUMES AVAILABLE:

• Now 15 volumes to choose from!

• Keyword searchable

Vol. 1: Extreme Stacks

• 20-40 original full length songs per volume

• Over 55GB of content

Vol. 2: Power Stacks

Vol. 5: Holiday Stacks

• 1 DVD with proprietary digital layered files plus up to 4 CDs per volume (CDs contain Standard Compact Disc Audio)

Vol. 6: Street Stacks

• 4-7 separate editable layers per song

Vol. 3: Serious Stacks Vol. 4: Smooth Stacks

Vol. 7: Groovy Stacks Vol. 8: Fifties Stacks Vol. 9: World Stacks

he Digital Juice Sound FX Library is the most comprehensive collection of audio effects ever collected together into a single package. Produced by renowned industry-veteran sound designers and distributed at 24-bit/96kHz resolutions, the artistic and technical quality is state of the art. The keyword searchable index makes the over 10,000 clips eminently usable, like no other media library anywhere else.

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• 4 broadcast cuts per song—:10, :15, :30, & :60 • NEW! JUICER 3.0 COMPATIBILITY

Vol. 10: Broadcast Stacks

Using the included Juicer 3.0 software you can convert to virtually any sample depth and bit resolution you might need. Compatible with both Mac and PC, the software also make searches and previews a snap.

Vol. 11: Epic Stacks Vol. 12: Corporate Stacks Vol. 13: High Impact NEW! Vol. 14: Rock Stacks NEW! Vol. 15: Subtle Impact Stacks

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SOME OF THE CATEGORIES INCLUDE: NOISE FX—Alarms • Beds • Bells • Bumpers Buttons • Descends • Feedbacks • Flashes • Growls Phasers• Ricochets • Stingers • Thumps • Transitions GENERAL FX—Animals • Crashes • Explosions Foley • Household • Impacts • Liquids • Sports Technology • Transportation • Weapons • Weather MUSICAL FX—Musical Logos • Musical Transitions Musical Textures • Musical Elements

Taking production music a step further, StackTraxx allows you to turn layers on or off creating original mixes or isolating individual tracks, using our free Juicer 3.0 software.

HUMAN FX—Attitudes • Business • Children Commercial • Common Greetings • News • Numbers Occasions • Sports • OnTheSet • Questions Responses... plus many more.

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VideoTraxx 1 Film & Video Library • • • • • •

3000+ Video Clips 34 DVDs • 220 GB 36 Categories Royalty-free NTSC/PAL Free Juicer Software

CATEGORIES INCLUDE: Aerials, Abstract, Agriculture, Business, Children, City Life, Elderly, Extreme Sports, Family, Farming, Fitness, Government, Health, Industry, International, Landscapes, Leisure, Music, Nature, People, Science, Sights, Sports, Suburbia, Technology, Urban, Weather, Work and more.

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CATEGORIES INCLUDE: Adrenaline, All In The Family, Animal Kingdom, Around the House, At The Park, Body Shots, Business & Economics, Casino, Couples, Drugs, Medicine & Emergency, Film, Photo & Video, Good Eats, Hands, International Culture, Music & Dance, New War, Scenics, Space, Team Sports & Athletics, Workshop & Garage and more.

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C ATA L O G

Image elements from Juice Drops #4378 from one of our newest volumes, Volume 43: popLIFE.

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JUICE DROPS Layered Photoshop Design Library Print Resolution Art You Take Apart VOLUMES AVAILABLE: JD01: highIMPACT

JD35: futureTECH

JD02: techXTREME

JD36: naturalCUTS

JD03: cleanCUTS

JD37: sportsCUTS

JD04: ultraGRUNGE

JD38: pastelSKETCH

JD05: subtleIMPACT

JD39: allFLAGS

JD06: ultraFRESH JD07: hyperXTREME JD08: techIMPACT JD09: highIMPACT II JD10: ultra3D

JD40: frameCUTS NEW! JD41: frescoVITA NEW! JD42: highIMPACT IV NEW! JD43: popLIFE NEW! JD44: frameCUTS II

Presenter’s Toolkit The Ultimate Presentation Graphics Library $299

• 6 DVDs with 40+ GB of royalty-free content • 4900+ graphic backgrounds (1600x1024, 300 dpi PNG) • 2000 photos and 2500 photo objects • 3200+ video clips (320x240 MPEG1 Video 30 FPS) • 900+ music clips (128 kbps MP3) • 6700+ PowerToonZ illustrations • Free Juicer software for browsing,copying,special effects • Compatible with PowerPoint, , SongShowPlus, Keynote, MediaShout, Sunday Plus as well as other presentation and worship software.

JD11: xtraGRUNGE JD12: retroFRESH JD13: peopleEDGE JD14: subtleIMPACT II JD15: highIMPACT III JD16: ultraCUTS JD17: scienceIMPACT

TECHNICAL SPECS: • 100 royalty-free layered illustrations per volume • 1-4 DVDs per volume • 44 volumes available now

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JD18: cleanCUTS II JD19: medicalIMPACT JD20: illustratedIMPACT JD21: businessIMPACT JD22: boundlessEDGE JD23: cleanCUTS III JD24: geoIMPACT JD25: shadedEDGE

• Unlimited possibilities— turn layers on and off in Photoshop, customize the design for every project

JD28: freshFORM JD29: flowerPOWER

• 1100+ photos and photo objects • 50 video clips (320x240, MPEG1) • 60 animated elements (320x240, MPEG1)

• All images are 17.25" x 11.25" at 300 DPI for a pixel resolution of 5175x3375.

JD26: paperCUTS JD27: glassEDGE

• 2600 graphic backgrounds

• Files are delivered in layered Photoshop .psd & flattened RGB & CMYK .tif formats

• 54,600 photo and background remixes • Compatible with PowerPoint, , SongShowPlus, Keynote, MediaShout, Sunday Plus as well as other presentation and worship software.

P R I N T / P R E S E N T A T I O N

JD30: lifeSHADES JD31: foodFUSION JD32: templateCUTS JD33: ethnicECHOES JD34: fluidFORM

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Juice Drops Volumes can also be added to any MIX & MATCH

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JUICE BOX

The “Year of HD” Again by David Hebel

H

igh Definition television has been “just around the corner” for the past 10 years.

The past five years, the “Year of HD” has been annually declared by numerous companies, magazines, and industry pundits. At Digital

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• Introducing DJTV • Juice in Use in the NEXTEL Cup Series • 10 Toolkit Tips • 5 Tips for Lighting Talent

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Juice, we’ve been a little skeptical of these claims as we measure the pulse and pace of HD by the sales of our hi-def animation libraries, namely Jump Backs HD. Since they were first introduced about four years ago sales have always been slow for Jump Backs HD. The truth is, we expected them to be slow because we ourselves didn’t believe that HD had really arrived for the average video producer at the time we introduced them. Over the years sales have slowly but steadily increased, but were far and away dwarfed by the movement of our standard definition products. But, at Digital Juice, we’ve always had an “if you build it they will come” attitude about our product lines that has served us well. Usually by the time a product line gets “discovered” we’ve had it out for two or three years and it has quite a few volumes (i.e. StackTraxx and Juice Drops). We figured the same would happen with our HD Jump Backs, but sometimes things need a little push. THE HD TIPPING POINT

In May we announced to our customers via email, “Get Ready for the Future.” We declared that the time to purchase HD animation content was now, and in the future Digital Juice would actively be releasing more and more HD content. Making a declaration like that is pretty meaningless in and of itself. We did something similar five or six years ago when we declared that it was time to move to distributing content on DVD. Fine and dandy, but practically no one had a DVD drive in his computer. So we gave them away free with our product. Now, let me just get this out of the way. We’re not giving away free HD editing systems to everyone. But we did decide to make the pricing of our Jump Backs HD sooooo attractive that everyone in video production, whether currently using HD equipment or not, would be tempted to buy them.

TEN FOR ONE

For a limited time, you can buy the first ten volumes of our Jump Backs HD for only $249. Yep, ten volumes for the price of one. It’s a great deal, in fact it was so great that when we first announced in May we weren’t prepared for the deluge of orders. We sold out of our stock in two days and the orders still kept coming in. We regrouped, restocked, and decided to keep the special going so that everyone who wanted could take advantage of this fantastic offer: two hundred high definition Digital Juice animations, in 10 volumes for only $249. If you have HD equipment now, this is a no-brainer. But even if you don’t do HD yet, you can still use the animations in your standard definition editing (read HD Animations and Your SD Workstation on page 16 of this issue to learn how to do that). Best of all, you’ll be ready when you do make the move to HD. This is a small investment that will pay off for years to come. ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END

It wouldn’t be a special if it continued forever, and this deal won’t last much longer. This is our special HD issue of the magazine and we are making our last big push to get the word out about this deal. This special will end October 16th at midnight. I hope you take advantage of it! Welcome to the world of HD.

David Hebel Founder/CEO, Digital Juice, Inc. David also writes the weekly Digital Juice eNewsletter, which is the place to find out about the latest products, specials, and FREE weekly downloads. To subscribe go to http://www.digitaljuice.com/subscribe/.

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