As a video editor, you can use many tricks to improve the visual aesthetics of your 4K videos, especially when you deliver in lower resolutions.
For instance, you can not only reframe your shots to create additional angles by cropping, but also change the dynamics of your edit completely by adding fake camera movements to virtually any static shot on your timeline.
And, the best part is that you can do so while using only the provided assets of your NLE without any third-party plugins whatsoever. In this particular case, we’ll see this simple yet extremely effective technique in action applied in Premiere Pro CC by Christian Maté Grab.
First and foremost, you will need to change the size of your Premiere Pro CC sequence by making it smaller than your actual footage. Then by using the basic settings located in the Effects Controls of every clip and the power of keyframing, you can create multiple pan, zoom, or rotation movements that can make your video as if you have captured those on set with some expensive hardware rigs. Moreover, you can produce these effects in a matter of a few minutes while getting the same (if not better) results.
If you want to create a simple zoom in or zoom out camera movement, for instance, you will need to play around and animate the Scale parameter of your 4K clip. Try out a few different settings and see what works best for you as it’s recommended to use small increments to get the optimal results.
Faking a slider movement can also be done in a similar way. Again, shrink the size of your 4K clip, reposition the frame, select in and out points, and create keyframes for each point accordingly. If you want to emulate even more complex movement when your camera is moving around a subject, then tweak the Rotation parameters instead just like shown in the third example with the hand watch in the video above.
Ultimately, you can try out different combinations of all the three options to get even more complex shots. This simple technique will allow you to not only add more kinetic energy to your footage but also save a lot of time and effort as opposed to pulling this off with a real crew and actual equipment on a physical set. Just capture a few static shots by using a standard tripod and then emulate the movement in post. The creative possibilities are limitless, so put this technique into practice and see what you can get on your own.
[source: Christian Maté Grab]
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