Using a river on a map as a timeline

A forum to share ideas and opinions on the equipment and technical aspects of film, video and AV making.
Post Reply
edin
Posts: 70
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Edinburgh

Using a river on a map as a timeline

Post by edin »

I am currently looking at a project that will involve video of sections of a river, 24 miles long. I would like to use a map that shows the route of the river, from the source to the sea, as a 31/2 minute timeline track in Edius.

The idea is to follow the map of line of the river as a background image and the introduce the video sections along its route where appropriate. Not with the river shown as a series of still images linked together, but as one long tracking shot. There are various sizes of map and it will need to be of large enough size to give clarity on screen and tracking along its length at a rate of some 3 miles per minute.

Has anyone tried this out and what would be the best way to tackle it, other than a helicopter flight along its length.
User avatar
TimStannard
Posts: 1225
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:20 pm
Location: Surrey

Re: Using a river on a map as a timeline

Post by TimStannard »

Given the length of the river, you will not be able to show any real detail on the screen if you show it all at once.
I'd approach it by having a scrolling river with the screen only showing (say) half a mile at a time.
I'd probably kick off by trying to create a high definition still image (or series of still images) of the map and then simply crop & pan to animate them across the bottom of the screen.
I have some links to useful map resources/software at home which I'll dig out and post over the weekend.
Tim
Proud to be an amateur film maker - I do it for the love of it
col lamb
Posts: 680
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:51 pm
Location: Preston, Lancashire

Re: Using a river on a map as a timeline

Post by col lamb »

So I am assuming that you have a high resolution image of the map, if not produce one that will stand up to zooming in onto a small section of the image.

You can also use Photoshop to highlight the river to make it stand out more against the rest of the map detail. Or use the Photoshop layers feature to highlight each section of the River up to the first video cut point then another layer to the next video cut point, then export each as a jpg.

With the map image on a track using the Layouter function of Edius to zoom into the area where you want to introduce the video. Introduce a title with pointer or text to emphasize the specific location and when you get down to the degree of close up you require fade or cut to the video.
Col Lamb
Preston, Lancashire.
FCPX, Edius6.02, and Premiere CS 5.5 user.
Find me on Facebook, Colin Lamb
User avatar
TimStannard
Posts: 1225
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:20 pm
Location: Surrey

Re: Using a river on a map as a timeline

Post by TimStannard »

Useful information in general about maps here:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2944&p=16316&hilit=map#p16316

Then take a look at this, which includes links to software that can take in ma detail and produce a 3D image - so (with work and if the right data exists) you might be able to produce your "helicopter" shot.

http://www.videoforums.co.uk/threads/36 ... light=maps
Tim
Proud to be an amateur film maker - I do it for the love of it
Post Reply