Movie Credits / graphics / commercial
From: Michael Current (aa700@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 12/10/91-08:21:42 PM Z
From: aa700@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael Current)
Subject: Movie Credits / graphics / commercial
Date: Tue Dec 10 20:21:42 1991
Reprinted from Current Notes, Vol. 11, No. 9, November 1991
Movie Credits and Video Title Shop
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A Night in at the Movies!
Review by Steve Hoffee
Some of the most memorable moments of my childhood were spent at my
Grandparents' on the weekends. These were times when my Grandpa had to
work and he took me with him. Now, most kids might cringe at the
thought of sitting around while their Grandpa worked, but these were
unique circumstances. It just so happens that my Grandpa was a sound
editor for MGM Studios in Culver City, CA and he was just as much (if
not more) of a little kid than I was. He was thrilled to show me the
Prop Room, Makeup, the skeletal back lot (which was used to film the
fronts of houses, saloons, etc.) and, or course, the Editing Room where
he spent so many hours.
As a young whippersnapper, I was overwhelmed by these visits but
could never get enough. At the time, it was a little rough to
comprehend just how much work went into each phase of the filming
process, but, as time went on, I realized that I had seen a little piece
of history in the making and was very fortunate to have been there.
Who would have thought that over 30 years later, I would be sitting
in front of a computer writing a review about Movie Credits software for
VCRs (not me, and surely not Grandpa!).
Andy Warhol was asked what he thought the future would bring as far
as trends. He replied "I foresee pay TV in peoples' homes and the
common person to have his/her day in the spotlight." With cable TV and
shows like "America's Funniest Home Videos," O would say he wasn't far
off. With the blooming VCR, Camcorder, and Computer sales, it only
stands to reason that a software package to combine all of these
components was inevitable.
Before the likes of Video Title Shop and Movie Credits came into
play, I was making in-store ads for a video rental store using my 130XE,
1050, RAMbrandt Art Studio, RAMbrandt Gallery, a VCR and a cassette
deck. I would create each screen with the RAMbrandt Art Studio using
either graphics mode: 7+16, 9, 10, 11 or 15+16, depending on the effect
I wanted to achieve. After saving these pictures in RAMbrandt format, I
would then use the RAMbrandt Gallery to create my slide show. The
Gallery has 10 different wipes to choose from including: spin, fader,
dissolve, vertical, horizontal and diagonal. You may choose up to 10
pictures for viewing, put in any order with any one of the 10 available
wipes added. After this is done you're ready for the VCR and cassette
deck.
While RAMbrandt Art Studio is an exceptional art package on its
own, it was not designed with VCR titling in mind. This was brought
about by a Datasoft program entitled Video Title Shop.
Video Title Shop has many unique features of its own and is
accompanied by a good explanation of how to hook your computer up to the
VCR. Its features include 30 background pictures to enhance your text.
The backgrounds are in MicroPainter format so you can even add your own
favorite pictures. There are two fonts, supplied with the disk, that
can be used in a variety of sizes, then added to your screen with a
variety of effects. All in all, this is an excellent program for VCR
and home movie buffs with many more possibilities and applications just
waiting to be tried.
The most recent video titler, Movie Credits, is brought to the 8-
bit market by LJK Enterprises, Inc.
The purpose of this program is to make headers (the opening screens
including title page, animation, scrolling credits, etc.) for the
beginning of your videos and trailers (the closing screen such as "Th-h-
h-at's All Folks,") for the end in a variety of ways.
Movie Credits comes with a 38-page (probably more, by the time this
review appears) manual that includes an Intro, Edit Session, Tutorial,
Edit References, Command References, Error Codes, Graphic Symbols and
Fonts. The manual is hard reading to just sit down to, but that isn't
its intention. The Edit Session and Tutorial were designed to be read
while at the computer and typing in the supplied samples. This is the
only way you will get the most out of this program.
There are eight fonts (four 8x8 and four 16x16), that load upon
boot-up of the program, with 11 more on disk that can be used with the
Font Builder program. You can also change the size and style of each
font, giving you 10 variations for each one. You have four sizes:
normal, wide, tall, and tall and wide. Styles include normal, shadow,
outline, and raised shadow. Styles can be further enhanced by adding
values for italics and for bold. Some fonts won't look good with some
styles, so a little trial and error may be needed to generate the effect
you desire.
The program also comes with eight graphics, which also load upon
boot-up. With version 1.00, you were unable to add your own graphics.
This has been rectified in version 1.04 with a Print Shop Icon Builder.
The graphics generated with this program cut off four columns on each
side and two rows on the top and bottom, so care must be taken that you
don't lose a pertinent piece of the art. If, by some chance, you do
lose some of the icon you are able to touch it up with the Graphic
Editor, which is supplied on the disk. The graphics 8 icons are
converted to graphics 15+16 which puts them at a much lower resolution,
but I had some good results nonetheless!
Now, if the 2,000+ Print Shop icons that are widely available in
the public domain aren't enough and you happen to have the Converter and
Converter Companion (from Shepard and No Frills Software), The Newsroom
(by Springboard) and Awardware or PrintPower (by Hi-Tech Expressions),
then you have a huge graphic library at your fingertips. You can also
create your own Print Shop icons with the supplied Graphics Editor, or
the public domain program, Icon graphics Editor.
Another file that loads upon boot-up is a 9-sector character set
block that can be used for borders or animation. You can easily replace
this block with your own creation using the Character Editor, or any
character set editor that saves its files in 9 sectors and, once again,
there are many of these editors available in the public domain.
There is a predefined 3x2 set of Character Animation Blocks
illustrated at the end of the manual for easy use and reference. These
include Helicopters, Tanks, Cars, Cameraperson and Pac Man. They have
numbers below them that, when typed in, produce the corresponding
character in the program. I found that trying to use your own character
set was quite time consuming and tedious, but, with a lot of patience,
it can be done. This was especially true when creating animation
screens.
On all of the screens (or pages) you have four colors to work with,
including the background. These colors can be changed between screens
with a pen command which is the same as BASIC's setcolor, only in hex.
LJK gives a listing of colors and the hex equivalent along with the hex
for luminance. For those that are not familiar with hex, you may be a
little baffled by the many hex references, but don't be. You can get
through the program and benefit anyway.
The Edit Session was done quite well, but I found myself altering
the existing files by changing the pen colors, text, wipes, scrolling
speed, graphics, etc.. In the edit mode, you can type "HELP" and will
be presented with two sets of commands. The top set is the editing
commands and the bottom set is the program commands. These are almost
useless without the manual, but are a great help once you have an
understanding of the commands. For example, if you want to insert a new
set of screen colors you can comply press the letter "I" in the edit
mode and insert that command at any line number. This function is great
for changing screen colors before going to the next screen (page). The
program automatically renumbers the file for you, making editing a
breeze. You are also able to put multiple commands on a line using a
minimum of memory.
The Tutorial section covers Text Graphics, 80x48 Bit Image
Graphics, Block Animation, Graphic Primitives and Transferring to Tape.
You're given sample programs for each topic that you type in and see how
each set of commands works. The examples are presented well and easy to
understand.
Version 1.04 has added some much needed utilities. These utilities
are as follows:
8x8 Font Adjuster: This adjusts your standard 9-sector fonts for
use with the Font Builder, giving you a wide variety of fonts for use
with the program.
Graphics Builder: This generates new graphic files by mixing and
matching pre-existing graphics files made by the Print Shop Icon
Builder.
Graphics/Character Editors: These are actually two different
utilities that perform similar functions. The Graphics Editor lets you
create new graphics or edit any of the graphics files on disk. This is
a great feature for repositioning the icon, putting it in inverse or for
simple touch ups. The same can be done with the Character Editor,
adding the capability to switch between 8x8 and 16x16 fonts. You can
also change the block size (maximum 6x4).
Wipes: These consist of Swap (from one page to the next), Iris (the
screen opens from the center to the outside borders), Wipe in from left,
right, top or bottom of the screen. All of these can be executed at any
speed you choose.
Orientation of characters is also available. The text can go from
left to right, right to left, bottom to top, top to bottom, top/left to
bottom/right, bottom/right to top/left, bottom/left to top/right and
top/right to bottom left.
Some Problems?
This program is not recommended for the use who doesn't want to
work at building the screens from scratch. There aren't any menus to
choose from, because the screens have to be entirely programmed in.
It would be nice to have the ability to print out your own graphics
sets, as well as add your own Micro-Illustrator or Micropainter Picture
files.
I also would have likes to use a joystick, or touch tablet, with
the Graphic/Character Editor.
Conclusion
I really liked this program for its versatility. The more I used
it, the more comfortable I felt with the command sets and programming in
general. being able to use a wide variety of art and fonts was
definitely a plus. There is much more to this program than first meets
the eye. I found customer support to be excellent. All my questions
were answered with simple explanations. I recommend this program to
anyone who wants to take the time to make some truly entertaining movie
credits.
As far as comparing this program to the others mentioned is this
article, each program has unique features which are not really found in
any of the others. I personally like, and will continue to use each and
every one of them until someone comes up with a 12-disk set that
includes all of the above features in one tidy package (a guy can dream
can't he?).
The software that was mentioned in this article can be purchased
from the following:
Movie Credits, $19.95, LJK Enterprises, Inc., 1351 Yves Dr,
Manchester, MO 63011-3669. (314) 527-6909.
RAMbrandt Art Gallery, $19.95, Awardware, $13.50, and PrintPower,
$13.50. B & C ComputerVisions, 3257 Kifer Rd, Santa Clara, CA 95051 1-
800-969-8810.
Video Title Shop 3 disk bonus pack, $14.95, Newsroom, #13.50.
American Techna-Vision, 15338 Inverness St., San Leandro, CA 94579 1-
800-551-9995.
The Converter, $19.95, The Converter Companion, $19.95. No Frills
Software, 800 E. 23rd St., Kearney, NE 68847 (308)234-6250.
RAMbrandt Gallery (PD #181/#182, $4), Font and Character Set
Editors (PD #331, $2), icon Graphics Editor (PD #184, $2), Fontdisk+, 9
sector fonts, (PD #175, $2). MAPDA-USA Branch, 333 Peninsula Dr, Lake
Almanor, CA 96137. Include $2 shipping charges.
--
Michael Current, Cleveland Free-Net 8-bit Atari SIGOp -->> go atari8 <<--
The Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG is the Central Atari Information Network
Internet: currentm@carleton.edu / UUCP: ...!umn-cs!ccnfld!currentm
BITNET: currentm%carleton.edu@interbit / Cleveland Free-Net: aa700
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