In this project, I am attempting to create a short video of the city of Pittsburgh that showcases the history, scenery, and local flavor of the area. Most of the sources of the video that I will be using are Vimeo and Youtube sources (listed below) that were shot by either organizations around the area or people that live within the city’s vicinity. The challenge will be to put together both professional and amateur footage in a way that is cohesive and blended into a presentable product.
Using the source material that I gather from around the web, I plan to create a tourism advertisement. With additional effects such as title cards, overlays, and transitions between video scenes, opacity adjustments, and filters, I will attempt to capture the essence of what makes Pittsburgh special to its citizens — whether that is the environment, the food, the art, or the local culture. The end goal is to entice people to learn more about the city and coordinate a visit to see it in person and to express my own civic pride. That will be accomplished by the pastiche that I create with the materials and the call to action at the end of the clip (to visit the tourism bureau’s website/visit the city today).
Technically, the creation of the video will require the ability to slice segments out of pre-existing clips in multiple formats (downloaded and captured from their source), the addition of transitions and fades between those segments, the overlaying of title cards and descriptions, plus the layering or mixing of multiple audio tracks. I know how to do some of these things already, but will require additional research on text overlays and audio mixing within Adobe Premiere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXnoA5N859I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qri3VhRQA7Q
https://vimeo.com/121993211
https://vimeo.com/118258995
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6OLkQQnG8w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rVK3cuxCU0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VeET2xrOZs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewEv0WwRXyg
https://archive.org/details/SailingDowntoSteeltown
https://archive.org/details/Plant_Fueled
https://archive.org/details/Bus_Stops
This looks like an awesome idea! I did not grow up in Pittsburgh, but I have fallen in love with the city and consider it a second home. It will be cool to see the city from perspectives of professional and amateur artists because I’m sure they focus on different parts of the city as well as have different levels of access to view points. Are you going to show any old versions of the city contrasted with what has been developed since in that spot? What about showing how the city has kept so much of its original roots of a steel town?
I think compiling professional and amateur footage will present a unique editing challenge, but will also lend itself to creating a real feel for “authentic flavor” like you seem to be striving for. I would especially look out for videos taken by Pittsburgh natives and not just tourists. When compiling clips from YouTube, be sure to look at the license listed in the description. Initially I was under the impression that self-made YouTube videos were public domain, but after a bit of digging I found that if the license is a “Standard YouTube License” it’s, in fact, not. Some YouTube videos will have Creative Commons licenses, however. Just make sure to keep track since half the video sources have to be from the public domain or Creative Commons.