Headlines, photos... I need help figuring out low-budget ways to get good shots, some with movement, of headlines, articles and photos. Anyone got a link to a discussion about this?

Also, I guess I need to get approval from every source, eh?

Headlines, photos... I need help figuring out low-budget ways to get good shots, some with movement, of headlines, articles and photos. Anyone got a link to a discussion about this?

Also, I guess I need to get approval from every source, eh?

You'll get the best results, I think, by scanning the material into a tiff or similar image file and add the motion in post rather than trying to shoot it in-camera. And yes, you would need permission to use any copyright materials (which for all practical purposes would mean just about anything you use that you haven't personally created).

I wondered if scanning was the way to go. Thanks for confirming that.

Just curious, do you know, with his exponentially greater budgets than mine, what Ken Burns' method is?

I saw Errol Morris's "The Thin Blue Line" recently and was impressed by his amazing closeups of newspaper articles that showed just two or three words of the text. The texture of the newsprint was fabulous.

Thanks for the tip.

It's called macrocinematography but I don't know how it's done w/video. Macro lenses is my guess. Look for people who shoot insects because what they use is what you'll need to use.

Ken Burns original method was to actually pan, zoom and rotate the cameras in front of the still images. Motion Controll software can help with repeatable camera movements.

Nowadays, the "Ken Burns" effect, - often called "Pan and Zoom" is achieved within various NLE's by digital manipulation. A large rez digital image is loaded, and the NLE resizes, pans, zooms, rotates to mimic the effect as if a camera were doing it in real space. Stagetools has a software plugin that works really well with different apps.

Thanks folks for the replies!

Richard, I'll look for more info about Stagetools. I appreciate the specifics.

Thanks folks for the replies!

Richard, I'll look for more info about Stagetools. I appreciate the specifics.

The "Ken Burns" effect is standard equipment in Sony Vegas as it comes from the box and there are plug-ins that enhance the basic ability. Likewise, the tools to do "Pleasantville effect" where the scene is grey-scale except for one colour are also standard equipment.

I'm pretty sure all the major NLE's have a version of it. In Avid its called "Pan and Scan".

Here's the stage tools plugin

http://www.stagetools.com/