Adam Wheeler reflects on the process of creating a music video production synced to audio. Some of the key steps included: 1) Importing audio and placing markers on beats to sync video footage. 2) Importing and trimming video clips, then using camera tracking to add motion to text/images. Tracking often failed. 3) Using time remapping and easing keyframes to smoothly transition footage speeds to match the music. Limitations included low frame rates causing dropped frames. 4) Adding vintage effects like static, damage, and burns to replicate an aged VHS look. This was time-consuming to configure and animate.

1. Production Reflection
Adam Wheeler

2. Process
• Import the song into the composition and
drag into the media layers
• After importing the song I pressed L x2 to
open the waveform of the track so It’s easier
for me to place markers on the main points
of the track I want to sync my footage to, so
it’s a lot more accurate.
• It’s very time-consuming to find all of the
individual beats on a track and maybe a
waste of time limiting my time to work on
the rest of my product

3. Process
• Imported my footage into the project and
trim the clip into the section of the clip I
need, scrapping the rest of unneeded
footage.
• I CRTL + Click on the video layer and select
track camera, this will analyse the footage
and give us track points to work with, we
can use this to motion track text/PNG files
by creating a solid and a null layer.
• Often the camera tracking failed as it wasn’t
able to find track points and track each
individual frame and also didn't’t work with
the adaptive resolution
• The final product for the 3D Motion track
didn’t come out as well as hoped for as the
edges were rough due to the anti-aliasing of
the render, I tried compensating this with
Ambient Occlusion (SSAO)

4. Process
• After I’ve selected the footage I want to play
at a specific marker, I use a third party
plugin called Time Remap which allows me
to manipulate the footage speed depending
on the frame rate of the footage, After I’ve
worked with the speeds a bit, it seemed
very rough at times so I highlighted all of the
key frames, pressed F9 and this easy eased
my key frames, allowing me to edit the
curves in the graph editor in a U shape
formation making my footage flow better
with the music.
• Problems I had were that my footage was
only 60fps limiting me to only 50% speed
and often I would need to go lower than
that which caused my project to drop
frames.
• With the 24/30fps footage I had, I couldn’t
manipulate the footage with Twixtor
without there being any frame warping and
frame loss.

5. Process
• I Fully synced my footage to my background
track so the video flows well with the audio
and with Twixtor with the U Curve Velo
allows the scenes to transitioning smoothly.
• I had to be very careful with the curves as if I
pull the curves to far down it may cause my
composition to drop frames.

6. Process
• The next and final stage is the effects stage, I
had experimented a lot with individual
effects to replicate the old look to my trailer
as it’s supposed to look aged and a VHS
style.
• I was able to replicate this look by using a ix
of Sapphire and BCC plugins for AE/SV and
the plugins I primarily used were S_TV
Simulator, I used this to give the scrolling
effect as if the transmission wasn’t coming
through, I used Film damage to give it an
aged and damaged look with the scan lines
and I used BCC Film burn to replicate it
burning so I could transition it to the outro
scene and a lot more Effects to add to my
trailer e.g. blurs, lighting etc.
• It’s very time consuming finding the right
effect then messing around with it and then
following it up by animating the effect so it
changes.

7. Process
• Finally I add my final product to the render
que and render out the final product at
720p @ 24fps.
• Problems I had were that the render time
was very time consuming and often the
render would crash meaning I had to restart
the render over and over again.