Pre Show Countdown Clock
Starting just before sunset, I begin my program with this clock clip.
A pre show countdown clock helps to encourage audience members
(both young and old) to settle down and find their seats.
The countdown clock barely shows up on the screen at first,
but because it doesn't contain any video that's essential to
the evening's entertainment, I use it to set the mood.
The announcer's voice lends an air of nostalgia and a
bit of humor with his overly important tone.
This sample clip has been brutally cut to save time.
A few sketchy how-to steps are posted lower down, on this page..
| In addition to making countdown clocks with your personal backyard theater logo, you might also create theme clocks.
The scary voiceover on my Halloween countdown clock was made by a fella (djkevinquinn) on fivver.com ("I will record a SCARY voiceover saying anything you like just in time for Halloween for $5"). For $10 extra, he added scary music back of his voice. I used parts of various YouTube videos for entertainment during the countdown to the main movie. If you're interested in the complete clips: The entire singing busts clip (by Ryan Monette) can be seen here. and the unedited version of the Food Network clip can be found here. |
Intros
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If you're interested in making your own movie intros, there's a free piece of software called Blender that can help you do just that. You'll find at least a dozen tutorials on Youtube to help you produce a 20th Century Fox intro. The problem is, the additional file needed to produce the Fox logo is becoming increasingly hard to locate. I believe the generic backyard theater intro on the left was done using Blender. I can no longer find the page (on Backyardtheater.com) from which I originally got it, nor can I locate the author. It was offered free to those who visited the website. | |
| If you're lucky to have a friend who knows how to do techie stuff, then act REEEEAL NICE and see how far it gets you. My BYT pal Kevin made this for my granddaughter's soccer movie night. He said he found everything necessary (including tutorials) on Ballyweg Productions. |
| I used an internet site called Vipid to make this intro and the one below. Vipid offers many customizable intros for a fairly reasonable price. The videos can be prodced in several different resolutions, all the way up to 1080p. |
Sometimes, even the best intros seem to need a little tweaking. The video clip on the left was created using the Vipid website.
Still, I wanted it to remain on the screen a little longer. So I did a little tweaking in iMovie in order to streeeeeetch it out. The change (seen in the clip on the right) is subtle, but I believe it to be an improvement.
For a tutorial on how this was done, visit this page on the Cracker Jack site.
If you have After Effects skills, you can make your own intro. Here's a Disney intro that my Backyard Theater friend Tronn4 did as a favor for me.
Tronn4 is a frequent poster on Backyardtheater.com.
| Tronn helped walk me through the creation of this video intro - the idea for which I stole from him right before Season 5. It's made using Google Maps, Snapz ProX (screen capture software), and iMovie. Hector (aka Tronn4) has also been instrumental in forming a BYT group Facebook page. You can visit it here. |
MAKING USE OF BLACK SIDEBARS
If you're projecting the main feature in a wide screen format, but showing old cartoons and theater advertisements before hand, you'll have black sidebars flanking each side of the pre show intertainment.
Those sidebars never bothered me, but 133tDad's forum post, introducing his Pajama Pants Theater, made me look at them in a whole new light.
| You can use the area occupied by the black sidebars to project your BYT name and/or logo. | Or you might wish to acknowledge the guest of honor at a BYT birthday party. | |
On Halloween night, flank the old 1931 Frankenstein movie with bats. Rendering an entire movie can be time consuming, so this is probably something you'd only want to do on special occasions. Still, it's a fun addition to cartoons, old movie ads, and special occasion screenings. | ||
If you use a Mac, go here for a tutorial.
133tDad tells how to do it if you're a PC owner.
Pre Show Countdown Clock Tutorial
There may be a more direct way to create one of these clocks. I just haven't discovered it. This tutorial is offered to those with limited software in hopes that they will be inspired to create something of their own. If you do find a better method, please email me. I'd love to share it.
1. Create all the Minute Slides (Show Starts in 10 Minutes, Show Starts in 9 Minutes, etc.) with a graphics editing program (Gimp, Photoshop, etc.) or PowerPoint (which is what I used).
You may want to make a "Now, on with the Show" slide as well.
Personalize the countdown clock by incorporating your backyard theater or organization's logo on the slides. Make the slides' proportions the same width and height as your projector's aspect ratio (4:3, 16:9).
Don't forget to change "minutes" to "minute" when you create the 1 minute slide.
I only mention this because I made the entire movie before I discovered I hadn't deleted the s.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
2. Save the slides as images.
3. Import the slides into iMovie and place in the New Project window.
4. The default length of each image is 4 seconds. Change each slide to 60 seconds.
5. Place a Dissolve Transition between each slide.
UPDATE: Since I don't own the most powerful of computers, I've found that if I stop and export the above work as a movie (From the Share Menu, choose Movie), and then import the resulting 10 minute movie, I have less problems (freezing) then if I wait and export the movie with so many different cuts, transitions, picture-in-a-picture, and multiple audio clips to combine.
6. Import an original drive-in movie countdown clock. Detach the audio. Move the audio under your countdown slides and delete the original drive-in movie clock clip.
Back to Creating a Countdown Clock
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Substitute Your BYT Logo for the Black Sidebars
On the left is a portion of the original cartoon. Black sidebars are visible.
On the right, the same video clip sports patriotic sidebars.
This is a fun addition to cartoons, old movie ads, and special occasion screenings.
Here are the steps:
1. On a black background, create a 1280 X 720 graphic
with the words/graphics you want down the sides.
At first, I tried to make the width of the new graphic bars
exactly the width as the black spacebars.
After fiddling with them for a while, I've decided I prefer them to be
a little narrower. When a thin black line separates them from the movie,
they act more like a frame and compete less with the original video.
2. Save the graphic as a PNG file onto your desktop.
3. Open your graphic in Preview (found on all Macs).
4. From the Selection Tool Menu, choose Instant Alpha.
5. Click and drag the Instant Alpha Tool (ever so slightly) in the
black area in the center of your graphic.
All contiguous black pixels will change color.
When you release the mouse button, all the area that changed color
will be selected.
6. Type the Delete Key to remove the selected pixels.
7. Close Preview. Your graphic should still be on the desktop.
The above PNG-transparency business can all be done in GIMP (free download).
1. Create your graphic.
2. From the Layer Menu, choose Transparency -> Add Alpha Channel.
3. Select the "Fuzzy Select Tool" and click inside the center of the graphic.
4. From the Edit Menu, choose Cut or type the Delete Key.
5. From the File Menu, choose Export.
6. Click on the Select File Type in the lower left and choose PNG image.
7. Click on Export.
8. Open iMove and create a new WIDESCREEN project.
9. Move your Standard (4:3) movie into the Project Window.
10. Select the movie clip in the Project Window and type "c".
Choices will appear in the Preview Window.
11. Click "Fit" and then click the blue Done Button so that the entire movie fits within the frame.
This will create black sidebars on either side of your movie.
If you have more than one clip in your movie,
do this for all the clips.
12. Drag your graphic from the desktop and
center it over your movie clip in the iMovie Project Window.
13. When the graphic is directly on top of the movie clip,
release the mouse button.
14. Choose Picture in Picture from the Pop Up Menu.
Your graphic will appear in the upper right corner of the Preview Window.
15. Use the white corner handles to adjust the graphic
so that it fills the window completely.
16. Click the blue Done Button when you're finished.
20. Make the duration of the graphic clip match the length of the standard movie. Click Done when you're finished.
Here's a sample.
In the post Screen Making Ideas, Tronn4 shared that Disney is now offering "Disney View" (in addition to the standard black sidebars) with its Blu-ray versions of older animated movies.
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