Meet Ian Stark, professional video producer and founder of vIT, a company delivering innovative short films for business and offering professional video production services. Ian is a long-time advocate and user of NewBlueFX, which helps him create unique videos for his clients.

Recently, Ian discovered the new Picture-in-Picture effect in NewBlue Video Essentials II. He was shocked to find that it allowed him to do in 1 minute what had recently taken him 45 minutes to accomplish. Explains Ian:

“A few months ago, I was faced with the challenge of making a very dull piece of equipment look interesting for a short case study about some new technology. The equipment is a very plain-looking RF transmitter called a ‘Bounce’ that communicates with special LCD displays in a retail store. Typically, the ‘Bounce’ is mounted on the wall in a back-office. In this case, the back-office was more like a cupboard and it was impossible to get the camera and lights in the room.

As a solution, we decided to take still shots. Sadly, the background was horrible; and because the units are so uninspiring to look at, the results were poor. I was reluctant to use them in the final video and decided to spice them up using Photoshop.

Recalling an interesting tutorial that showed how to make something similar to the iTunes Cover Flow (i.e. the image reflected on a ‘polished’ black base with a black background), I set about cutting the bounce from the image: creating a black background, duplicating the layer, vertically flipping it, reducing the opacity, applying a layer mask, applying a gradient, tweaking it, tweaking it more, then bringing it into my NLE (Sony Vegas). Including working out how to do it, the process took me well over 45 minutes, not including switching back and forth between Vegas and Photoshop to do more tweaking. In Vegas, I used 3d Track Motion to add some more interesting effects. The end result was great and the client was happy that their dull Bounce unit now looked cool.

Two weeks later,  NewBlue launched Video Essentials II,  which includes the Picture-in-Picture filter. Like any kid with a new bag of toys, I explored all the presets and fiddled with all the dials. And guess what . . . the Gentle Reflection preset (which is, of course, a PinP effect) does EXACTLY what I had done with Photoshop, but in less than one minute! I defy anyone to tell the difference! My client can’t.”

Not only did the Gentle Reflection preset in Picture-in-Picture give Ian the look he wanted, it allowed him to work more efficiently. Says Ian,

“I’m in this business because I love it – but I also need to pay the mortgage. Anything that saves me time that I can reinvest in growing the business gets a big thumbs up from me.”

NewBlueFX low cost and vast assortment of creative options and techniques allow professionals like Ian to develop a signature look.

“I’m not a big flashy transitions guy and I don’t particularly care for gimmicky effects in the corporate videos I produce. However, I do like to experiment and come up with a subtle ‘look’ for each project. NewBlueFX let me experiment and tinker with ideas quickly and easily and develop alternatives for my clients without taking hours out of my day. “

Here’s a clip that showcases Ian’s use of the Picture-in-Picture effect:

Check out more of more Ian’s work at www.videoit.uk.com.