You import all the pieces of your new film video, photographs, and audio effects and you arrange them into orderly albums, ready for use in ShowBiz. Now it’s time to grab your megaphone and start creating. You’ll start by adding items on the linear Storyboard strip, which you use to literally assemble your movie, moving from left to right on the strip. I recommend mapping out the general flow of the film on paper even as a simple list of scenes, titles, and images before you start creating it. However, ShowBiz makes editing so easy that many folks can simply build a film on the fly, following their inspiration where it takes them. Anyway, when you’re ready for the real work, follow these steps:

1. Start ShowBiz by choosing Start -> All Programs -> ArcSoft -> ShowBiz. Or, if you’re already using the program, click the New button (under the Project menu).

2. To add either a video clip or an image, click the Media tab in the library to view the corresponding type of items; if you’ve built multiple albums, you can switch between them by clicking the drop-down list arrow next to the album name. If you need help identifying an item, view any item in the Player window before you add it to the strip by right-clicking on the element in the list and then choosing Preview Media from the shortcut menu that appears. 3. To include an item, add it to the strip in either of two ways: • Click and drag the item from the library directly to the storyboard. or • Click the item in the library to select it and then click the Add Media button at the bottom of the library. ShowBiz adds the item to the next open media square on the strip. When you have multiple items on the storyboard, you can change the order in which they appear on the strip by clicking and dragging an item from one media square to the desired media square.

4. Delete any item that you’ve added to the strip by right-clicking the item on the strip and then choosing Delete from the shortcut menu that appears. Decided that you don’t need that (somewhat disturbing) image of Uncle Milton feeding the family dog? No problem! I wholeheartedly agree.

5. To trash everything that you’ve added to the strip and start over, right-click any item on the strip and then choose Delete All Videos and Images from the shortcut menu that appears. Remember: All Hollywood directors occasionally throw temper tantrums. To display the properties of an item on the Storyboard strip for example, the format of a video clip or its location on your hard drive right-click the item in the strip and choose Properties from the shortcut menu that appears.

Adding Transitions without Breaking a Sweat

Imagine a film that cuts directly from scene-to-scene with no fade-ins, fadeouts, dissolves, or wipes. These are all types of transitions and without transitions, your movie will end up moving at a frantic pace. (I call it jarring the audience; most horror films are shot with few transitions.) Of course, this might be your intention with some projects, but it’s not likely to be your goal with most films that you make. In this section, I demonstrate how to add transitions to your film. Transitions can be placed on the Storyboard strip only after you’ve added at least one video clip or still image. After the strip contains at least one item, follow these steps:

1. Click the Transitions tab in the library to display the list of transitions. (Click the Album drop-down list to select a different category of transition effects.) ShowBiz has a cool feature to help you decide which transition you want to use: Rest your mouse pointer on top of a transition in the list for a few moments, and the item actually animates to demonstrate how the transition will appear onscreen.

2. After you choose the perfect transition for this point in your film, click the desired transition entry in the media list to select it.

3. Click the Add Transition button (below the library) to copy the transition into the next open transition square on the strip. The effect is placed in front of the clip. Note: Transition squares are smaller than media squares, and they’re marked with a filmstrip icon with a diagonal cut.

4. To delete a transition that you’ve added to the strip, right-click the transition square on the strip and then choose Delete from the shortcut menu that appears. Or, to get really radical, choose Delete All Transitions from the same shortcut menu to remove all the transitions in your film with one fell swoop. To add the same transition throughout your movie, right-click any transition square on the strip and choose Apply Transition to All. (You can even add a different transition between all the items by right-clicking and choosing Random Transition to All. However, I personally don’t use this feature because I think it generates a very haphazard film. Think Monty Python’s Flying Circus . . . without the humor.) As you experiment with transitions, you’ll begin to understand where your movie needs them to link scenes and still images together, as well as where you can simply cut from one item to the next. Remember, one of the cardinal rules of filmmaking is to maintain the focus of your audience on your message: Too many transitions are distracting.

Adding Special Effects without Paying George Lucas

I haven’t mentioned the Timeline strip yet because the first step of movie making is to edit the clips and still images in your movie and add transitions (all of which is taken care of on the Storyboard strip). After you finish these tasks, click the Timeline tab to switch to the display. From here, you can add special effects, incorporate a soundtrack and text titles, and then modify the starting and ending points for each. Note that the Timeline strip also has four smaller mini-strip. The upper two, Text and Effects, allow you to edit the text and special effects that you add; the lower two, Audio 1 and Audio 2, allow you to edit the two audio tracks you can add to your movie. (I discuss each of these in the sections to come.) To refresh your memory on what’s happening in your film at any point on the timeline, rest your mouse pointer over the desired spot for a moment, and ShowBiz displays a ToolTip that tells you the name of the transition, clip, or still image that you added previously on the Storyboard strip. When most of us think about special effects in the movies, Star Wars and Harry Potter come to mind: lightsabers, flying brooms, and invisibility cloaks. (I really, really want one of those.) However, in the world of video editing, an effect is a special visual appearance that you add to the video. For example, ShowBiz allows you to

 -  Flip your movie’s alignment (horizontally or vertically)  

-  Add virtual raindrops or flames

 -  Display your movie on the side of a blimp

 -  Turn a video clip into a neon sign

Maybe these effects aren’t appropriate for your sister’s wedding video, but when the subject of your movie is fun and games or when you want to create a new film noir masterpiece in stark black-and-white, effects are just the ticket. (Horrible pun intended.) Because ShowBiz is an entry-level (and hence relatively low-powered) video editor, you can have only one effect active at a time, but you can place multiple consecutive effects throughout your movie. To experiment with effects, follow these steps:

1. Switch to the Timeline strip display and click the Effects tab in the library to check out the available effects. Again, you can choose another album of effects by clicking the Album drop-down list box.

2. Click the desired effect in the list to highlight it.

3. Click the Add Effect button (bottom of the Media list). This copies the selected effect into the next open block on the Effects row, located above the Timeline strip.

4. To determine where your new effect will start and end during the movie, hover your mouse pointer over the beginning or ending edge of an effect block in the Effects row and then click and drag the edge. To move the entire effect to another spot, simply click and drag the effect block up or down the row to the desired spot. Naturally, you can toggle back and forth between the Storyboard strip and the Timeline strip as you work. In fact, one of the things that I enjoy most about video editing is the freedom to try new things. With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can add and delete clips, tinker with the effects, and just generally monkey around with timings and placement until you get precisely the film you want. How about them apples, Mr. Hitchcock?

Adding Sound

What movie is complete without a stirring soundtrack? For example, would the zombies in Return of the Living Dead have been anywhere near as scary without that punk rock playing in the background? Or how about the signature scary chord every time you saw any body part from the monster in Creature from the Black Lagoon? With ShowBiz, you can add two audio tracks to your film; typically, I use one for the soundtrack and a second one for any additional narration or sound effects that weren’t recorded with the video clips. If a video clip already contains audio, you don’t have to add anything. (In fact, most of the sample video clips provided with ShowBiz already have their own audio.) However, you can still overlay or, as videoheads call it, dub extra music or sound effects, which will play along with the audio from the clip. In addition to the sample audio provided with ShowBiz, the program also accepts audio in MP3 and Microsoft WAV formats, and you can add your audio tracks to the library in the same manner as video clips and still photographs. To add a soundtrack, follow these steps:

1. Switch to the Timeline strip display, click the Media tab in the library, and then choose either the Sample Audio album or an album of audio that you’ve added yourself. Click the Album drop-down list box to choose another album.

2. Click the desired audio entry in the list to select it.

3. Click the Add Media button to add the selected audio. It will appear in the next open block on the Audio 1 or the Audio 2 row below the Timeline strip. Just like when adding an effect, each audio clip appears as a block. ShowBiz adds the audio block to the Audio 1 row until that row is filled, and then the clip is added to the Audio 2 row.

4. To move an audio block to another point within your film, click and drag the block to where you want it. Unlike an effect, however, you can’t extend or condense the length of an audio clip by dragging the beginning and ending points.

You’ve Just Gotta Have Titles!

In movie jargon, titles can be anything from the opening titles of your film to the ending credits. With ShowBiz, you can open your film with impressive titles that fill the screen, or you can thank your brother for being Best Boy, Grip, or Gaffer. (I have no earthly idea what those exalted individuals do, but they must be pretty important.) To add titles, you can use either of two methods (or mix both methods in one film):

-  Add a text item from the library: With the built-in animated text formatting provided by ShowBiz, you can impress your audience with your powerful message. (This is the easier method, but you’re restricted to the text formats provided by ShowBiz.)

-  Insert a still image, which you’ve created, from the library: If you need a specific title to match your exact specifications for example, something incorporating a company logo create a digital image with Photoshop or another image-editing program and then add the image to your library. A title that you build yourself outside of ShowBiz is added to a media square just like a video clip, so follow the steps in the earlier section, “Building Your First Movie.” To create and add a text item, follow these steps:

1. Click the Text tab in the library. Feel free to click the Album drop-down list box to choose different categories of text effects.

2. Click the desired entry in the album list to select just the right text effect.

3. Click the Add Text button to add the text effect into the next open block on the Text row (above the Timeline strip). In addition to typing the text for the effect, you’ll typically be able to choose a font type, the size and color of the letters, and even niceties such as shadows, blurring, and the intensity (or opacity) of the letters.

4. After you type the text and set the type options, click any other block on the Timeline strip to return to your work. Text blocks can be adjusted and moved just like the visual effects: Simply click and drag the beginning and ending edges of the text block, or click the block and drag it to a new location.

Previewing Your Oscar-Winning Work

Okay, I know you’re itching to see what your next masterpiece looks like. Lucky for you, ShowBiz allows you to preview your work any time. Of course, your Storyboard strip must contain at least one video clip or still image, or you’ll have nothing to preview. These are the two different Preview modes:

-  Preview the current clip: To see how a single clip or image will look, click the desired media square on the Storyboard strip to select it and then click the Active Clip button (which appears under the Player window). Click the familiar Play control the right-pointing triangle to start the preview.  -  Preview the complete movie: To view the entire film from beginning to end, click the Entire Movie button under the Player window and then click the Play button. Like most other video editors, ShowBiz must apply the effects that you’ve selected before the film can be shown. This process is rendering, and it can lead to a considerable wait on older PCs. (This is the reason why professional video editors crave the most powerful personal computers on the market . . . otherwise, they tend to keel over from sheer boredom while the rendering drags on.) ShowBiz generally has to render your effects any time that you preview a film if you’ve changed anything. Therefore, I advise that you save a full-length preview until you’ve finished as much of your effects work as possible. When you click Play, ShowBiz displays a yellow line across the Timeline or Storyboard strip to show you the current point in the film, which comes in handy when you need to check the synchronization of different elements in your film with one another, such as effects, titles, or audio. The program also displays the total duration of the selected clip (or the entire movie) as well as the elapsed time. The other controls under the Player window operate much like they do in Microsoft’s Windows Media Player.

To stop the preview, click the Stop button (it’s the button with the yellow square); to pause the film at the current point, click the Play button again. You can also reposition the preview at any point within your film by clicking and dragging the slider underneath the Player window. For a larger preview, toggle the Player window into expanded mode with the three View buttons at the top-right corner of the Player window. You can choose between Normal view (the default), Large, and Full-screen. Saving and Burning before Traveling to Cannes I think that Cannes is somewhere in France . . . or perhaps Belgium. Anyway, it’s a big thing among filmmaking legends like you and me, so you’ll want at least one copy of your finished masterwork to carry along with you. Luckily, ShowBiz allows you to save your films or even record them to a disc both of which I cover in this last section. You can always save your work in progress. To save a project that you’re working on to your hard drive for later, click the Project button in the upperleft corner of the ShowBiz window and choose Save. Windows opens the familiar Save As dialog box, where you can specify a location and a filename. After your project is completed, here are two methods that you can use to produce a finished movie.