Re: PXL effect for Premiere?

[Paul Stopko <pas1670@ritvax.isc.rit.edu>]

>>i'm not sure how plug-in effects for Premiere work but if they're anything

>>like Photoshop plugins whouldn't it be relatively easy to come up with a

>>PixelVision plug-in effect?  i guess you'd just have to reduce it to b/w

>>with whatever number of shades of grey the PXL uses then somehow simulate

>>the low frame-rate stutter.  am i way off here?  shouldn't this be doable?

>>is there any other element of the PXL effect you'd need to recreate?  i

>>think the wild reactions to light changes might be tough to simulate.  any

>>ideas?

>>

>>i realize there are purists out there who may object to my suggestion of

>>simulating PXL output but, hey, it's the end result we're really after

>>isn't it?  who cares how we got the wacky look.

>>

>>thinking in terms of ease,

>>-tim

>

>==========

>Well. I kinda thought the point of it was to use the pxl out there in the

>field, or in the studio.

>If you just wanted stuff to look like pxl, you could tape everything on a

>Hi8 camcorder...or Bolex for that matter & then make Pxl footage of a

>monitor halying back your hi quality tape.

>SOrt of like how the old cinescope films were made of old TVshows.

>Then you'd have a sort of pxl look.

>But the depth of field would be different.

>

>I'm a photog & I use several differnet camera systems.

>Theres a cult for using the simple plastic camera called the Diana or

Holga.

>Sure, you could try to ignore the sophistication of a more modern camera &

>simulate the low tech quality, but its more fulfilling to wrestle a unique

>image from a toy camera.

>Just like a pxl.

>Plus its just more fun.

>But if I didnt have the old cameras, yeah I'd prob do some simulating to

>capture the spirit.

>But it'd only be a simulation.

>

>



I agree with him that using the actual pixelvision is better. I've also used

the Diana or Holga camera's and it's pretty hard to replicate their look in

Photoshop. Anyway say you are holding out to buy a Pixelvision a reasonable

price, instead of what these people are charging, here is something you can

try if you already have Premiere and Photoshop 4.0.



Take your video in Premiere and export it to Numbered Frames at a slower

framerate say 15fps. (That will make it more jerky)This creates a directory

with every frame of video saved as a separate image file.



Then go to Photoshop 4, create an Action that:

changes the Mode to B&W,

Boosts the Contrast,

and Change the Image Size, for example instead of 640x480@72dpi change it to

320x200@72dpi. (this will make it more grainy, try different amounts of

resolution changes till you find what you like.)



Apply this action to all the frames.



Then go back to Premiere create a new movie at the original resolution and

import in your frames, it will have to resize your frames and thus make the

movie grainy.



You can copy any of your Photoshop filters from the plugins directory

directly into Premieres plugins directory and then use them right in

Premiere, but you would have to do it the way I just stated to change the

resolution. You could also try applying heavy compression on b&w video other

filters changing the bit depth from 8 to 5 or 6 and so on. Anyway, it's a

lot easier and looks better if you have the real thing but there are lots of

thing you can try digitally.