Posted by RP on 07/01/06 23:24

Hello rec.video.production! Pardon my noobieness, but I've recently
started making videos for fun (and, well, my son is getting married in
September and they've asked me to do a video for display at the
wedding, but that's another story). I need your help on a technique I'd
like to achieve.

I have a ton of photographs and .wma music, and some historical VHS and
Hi-8 clips that I want to assemble into some kind of retrospective
production to be displayed at the wedding. I have reasonable starter
gear, including Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, CS2, Encore 2.0, a decent
scanner, a GL-2, and a powerful gaming rig that's been supplemented for
this purpose with 2 big-ass 500g SATAs for storage. I am a rank noob at
video, but am technically competent and have good aesthetic
sensibilities, a good ear and eye, and high standards for production
values in most endeavors. Although I have virtually no experience, I
was asked to do this because I composed a video for my Dad one Father's
Day and it was a big hit. I've spent the last few months playing with
these toys to get familiar with the capabilities of the various
technologies, and now I'm ready to get down to the business of
assembling footage. So here I am.

I have in mind a kind of still image photo montage, peppered with
occasional video clips for variety, but the primary asset will be still
images with a soundtrack. I've seen the kind of photo montage that I
have in mind (it's certainly not a very original idea) and one effect
I've noticed in professional productions is a kind of panning across
still images separated by cross dissolves. The panning provides a real
sense of motion and brings a professional look that I never enjoyed in
my Dad's video, and I'd like to try that out in this next project.

How is this effect typically achieved? Is it necessary to create new
footage panning the camera in real time across the surface of an actual
photograph, or is there some kind of digital effect that can be
employed with my already scanned in digital images?

I hope this message makes sense, and thanks all for reading. I look
forward to your responses, and to becoming an active member of the
newsgroup.

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