Problem solving quiz

Yesterday in class Ed gave us a short problem solving quiz. Below are the questions we were asked and my teams responses.


Your director has just given you a project to combine three videos from very different sources.    Source 1 appears to have every other line in the image offset, especially with objects that are moving fast. This was shot at 30 frames per second.  Source 2 is a PAL video.  Source 3 is an HD video shot at 29.97 fps. 


What would be the first question you would ask to be able to successfully complete this project?  

What format does the final project need to be in? 

What name is given to the process of bringing together sources of different formats and making them all the same format? 

Conforming your footage is the name given to the process. 

Why does Source 1 have a 'combing' effect, and what do you have to do to be able to use this footage?

The "combing" effect relates to the interlaced footage. An interlaced video source is comprised of an upper and a lower field. When a TV displays an interlaced video, it alternates which field you are seeing every 60th of a second resulting in 1 frame every 30th of a second.

To be able to use an interlaced footage, you first have to deinterlace it.

You just sent your client a finished AE project.  The video was requested in Standard Def.  The client says that the animation looks stretched out.  Their round logo looks squished.  You have to do it again.

What would be the first place you would look to find answers to solve this problem? 

Pixel Aspect Ratio in the Render settings dialog box.

What are two possible settings that might have caused the problem?

In the rendering output settings and the Composition settings.

Do you have to re-animate it?

Technically No since the animation will still transfer over to the changed format but some adjustments may need to be made since the aspect ratio of the screen increasing or decreasing will throw off where your animation positions are.

The project you just completed was thrown back on your desk.  Your technical director is frustrated because the logo you created is not keyable.  The background that should have been transparent, isn't.    

Where do you check to see what was actually rendered?

In the Render queue twirl down menu.

What should have been the render settings to make the background transparent?

RGB+Alpha

How could you have checked this before you rendered the animation?

You could have checked in the Channel Management settings under the Composition frame or you could have used the toggle transparency grid button under the Composition frame.