Under the Magnifying Glass

Storycrafting Part 2

By Steven H. Fyffe

Welcome back to another adventure. Did you enjoy discovering the power of Automator in Leopard (1) and the hidden talents of Te xt Edit. What? You haven't read my February column (2) yet. OK. The joy still awaits you. If you're like me, these frigid days are good excuses to vegetate in front of the fireplace and a perfect time for a Mac safari, discovering the hidden gems, ... not that I really need an excuse.

Anyway, I would like to take you back to my January column "Our Storytelling-Storycrafting Apparatus" (3). Recently, I had the opportunity, at our local Macintosh User Group (4), to share my perspective on Keynote 4 (5) and other applications which facilitate our storycrafting. Therefore, I needed a good story to tell.

Larry is a good friend who honored my request to share his life story. I used Keynote as the canvas for crafting the visual story from the fabric of his life. In this column, I would like to briefly describe how the story materialized. I am not going into precise detail of the "how to", but hope to spark within you the desire to craft a story of your own and to discover for yourself how these applications can help you orchestrate your own symphony.

Where to begin? Have a Vision!

I visualized a Charlie Rose-like interview between myself and Larry. On the Keynote canvas, the video clips would be layered in front. Photos or graphical illustrations with animation would be displayed behind and above us. I had hoped to a achieve a three dimensional, warm atmosphere. I envisioned one camera on myself, a second on Larry, and the third capturing both of us ... two friends having a chat together ... sound familiar? This is also my vision when I undertake writing this column. Between video clips of our interview, I would display photos or movies with appropriate musical background.

Video Logistics

To capture our video interview, I used three cameras, an older Canon Optura MiniDV digital camcorder, my Canon Elph PowerShot 850 IS (6), and Larry's Canon Elph. It took awhile to figure out the logistics of the shot. Originally I had hoped to have a dark background similar to the one on the Charlie Rose show or like the current Apple iPhone commercials. Lighting and the size of our black backdrop cloth became an immediate stumbling block. The background was too narrow for us to sit comfortably for our camera arraignment and the lights cast a deep shadow behind us, since we were working in a restricted space. After about a half hour fussing with cameras, lights, chairs, and us, we decided to revise our vision ... always a good idea when reality brings out it's hammer. We settled on Larry's dining room as the set for our "meeting place". We used the ambient light coming through the windows. Ah. This worked great. We both sat on the same side of his dining room table, facing one another while we chatted. We placed the two Canon Elphs on the table to capture closeups of our profiles while we chatted and the Canon Optura captured the two of us in a longer shot.

We sure learned a lot from just the logistics of setting up our shot. Two important lessons was to listen for undesired sounds and recruit someone as a cameraman. After about five minutes into take one of the interview, I realized that there was a radio playing in the background, so scratch take one. When we started over for take two, I mistakenly placed one of the close-up cameras so it obstructed the view of my long-shot camera ... bummer ... and later I realized that the closeup camera on me had stopped recording. A cameraman could have kept an eye on the cameras while Larry and I focused on the interview.

I also discovered, afterwards, that our cameras were not capturing sound with the same volume and quality. We should have done sound checks before doing the whole interview. Also, using a clap board or just clapping our hands, would have facilitated synchronization between the video clips ... yes, at times my lips looked like one of those dubbed in foreign films ... OK, you can stop chuckling now.

Gathering the Resources - First, the Story

The first and paramount resource was Larry's story.

The interview went very well, actually with very few verbal stumbles. Although, both Larry and I were not quit as relaxed as I envisioned ... two friends having a chat ... but it didn't sound like we were reading from a Teleprompter either. I think it helped a lot to face one another instead of looking into the camera lens. Prior to the interview, I had e-mailed Larry some possible questions I planned to ask. Originally, I had thought about writing down the questions, but didn't do that after all. I think that turned out to be a good thing, since it gave the interview a more natural tone in our voices. It did result in me forgetting some of the questions I had intended to ask, but later we recorded follow-up questions over an iChat which went very well.

Gathering the Resources ... continued

Driving through the park on my journey home, I started thinking about Larry's story. What would I need to illustrate the story in Keynote? Of course, I would need a sample of his photos, since his passion is photography. I would also need to capture screen shots of his web pages, since he has become an accomplished web designer for his photo portfolio.

What else would I need to add warmth and feeling to the story of my friend? In the interview, he shared with me his roots in the coal mining towns of southwestern Pennsylvania, his family's move to Cleveland as a teenager, how he met his beloved, and his career at General Motors. I also asked Larry about the types of photos he enjoys taking, his trip out west, including a train ride, and his plans to visit Italy next fall. He also discussed the cameras and Macs he has used over the years.

For Larry's early years growing up in a coal mining town, I asked him to share photos. I also searched Google for typical scenes of coal miners and coal mining towns.

Larry also sent me photos to illustrate his teen years, early adulthood in Cleveland, marriage, and career. I did Google searches for the different kinds of cameras and Macs he has owned.

What would I use for musical ambiance? Tennessee Ernie Ford's "16 Tons" would make a great musical background for the coal mining town section. And "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb" was perfect for his teen pictures ... yes, Larry's hair style had a remarkable resemblance to Edd Byrnes … and brought quite a chuckle from members of our MUG and Larry also. Frank Sinatra's song "All the Way" would be great for the photos of him with his beloved. I wanted to include only a short clip from the songs, therefore, I used Amadeus Pro (7) to trim music clips and adjust the volume to fade out. I own iLife '08 so I did a Spotlight search for "piano". I knew that there are several musical jingles installed and sure enough I found Piano Ballad tucked away in a Jingles folder on my hard drive.

In his .Mac (8) iDisk Public folder, Larry also placed a copy of a movie he created from his photos using Photo-to-Movie (9). I used Quick Time Pro (10) to select a couple sections of his movie to create a trailer, inviting people to visit his web page. I also used Quick Time Pro to export the music from the movie to use as a sound track for the screen shots from his movie. I also used Snapz Pro X (11) to record portions of Larry's web pages (12) & (13).

The Texture of Our Canvas

Once I gathered all the resources for sharing Larry's story, the storycrafting began in earnest.

Like selecting the texture of a painter's canvas, the first thing to do in Keynote is choose a theme. This sets the mood for our story. Apple includes several themes to choose from or you can purchase third party themes. I purchased Galleria from KeynoteUser (14) and felt this was the perfect atmosphere for the visual story of my photographer friend.

Planning ahead, I had the option to choose a slide size up to 1920 X 1080 which would fill my HDTV screen when the finished story was exported to a Quick Time movie and displayed using Apple TV (15). Now that Apple TV Take Two (16) has arrived, we can post our story on a .Mac Web Gallery (17) using iMovie '08 (18) for viewing without a computer or, if the Web Gallery is password protected, by subscribing and streaming from our Mac to the Apple TV.

Our Story's Musical Score

Keynote 4 gives two options for musical sound tracks. First, you can import one music soundtrack to play or loop during the entire story. Second, you can play one or more songs for a single slide. Although, there is no option to select a group of slides and play a sound track for only that selection, Keynote allows you to precisely time Builds (appearance and disappearance) of text, photos, and objects. For example, when I played "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb," I had two teenage photos of Larry which I wanted to display at close to full size. Therefore, I timed the first photo to appear and remain visible for several seconds, and then disappear right on cue, just as the second one swooshed into view. Also, by exporting the Keynote story to a Quick Time movie, you can use iMovie '08 (18) to add sound tracks over a particular section of slides.

Smart Builds Add Pizzazz

One thing new in Keynote 4 is Smart Builds. This allows you to display a group of photos within a single Keynote slide. This is the easiest way to match up an audio track with a large group of photos, because it is self contained within a single slide. For example, I used a Smart Build to "Thumb Through" photos Larry took out west while he discussed them with me.

Video Editing & Sound Tweaking

As I mentioned above, I had video from three different cameras. I used Quick Time Pro (10) to create separate video clips of questions and answers on each topic. The volume from my long-shot camera was lower than the one used for close-ups. Therefore, I exported the sound track using Quick Time Pro (10), used Amadeus Pro (7) to amplify the volume, deleted the movie's original sound track, and pasted the amplified version back into the movie, again using Quick Time Pro (10). For most of the story, I used video from the close-up cameras, but when Larry and I were more animated ... moving our arms around lot to illustrate a point, I would switch over to the long shot camera.

Video Masks & Instant Alpha

In order to minimize distractions, like my shoulder showing on the corner of Larry's close-up video, I made a mask. For this, I needed a graphic with a transparent area to layer on top of the video clip. I used The Print Shop (19) to create the mask template. This was simply two identical shapes layered on top of one another. The bottom layer was larger and I used the soften edge tool to add warmth. The inner layer was a contrasting color (red). When imported into Keynote 4, it was very easy to make it transparent using the Instant Alpha tool by simply clicking on the smaller contrasting area and like magic it disappeared. Then, I just layered the graphic with the transparent area on top of the movie using Keynote's Arraignment tool. Sound difficult? Not in the least. Just jump right into using Keynote and The Print Shop and you will discover of joy of using these applications together.

Alpha again - Preview and Photoshop Elements

Speaking of Instant Alpha, having graphics with a transparent background is very useful for a Keynote story. I used a Smart Build to display all the cameras which Larry has used over the years, while he was discussing them in our video interview. I wanted them to appear to float above our heads, as if suspended in mid-air. I first did a Google search for each one and downloaded those which had a plain colored background, if possible. I have used three different applications to make the background invisible. Of course, Keynote 4 has its own built-in Instant Alpha which works great for graphic images already placed onto the slide. However, for Smart Builds you need to drag an image which already has a transparent background into the clipping bin. I found that the new Preview in Leopard (20) also has a great Instant Alpha tool to easily render the background invisible with the added advantage of being able to save the subject with the alpha channel (the subject alone) as a PNG file.

On occasion, it was more difficult to use Preview and Keynote's Instant Alpha when a graphic has complicated backgrounds (bunch of stuff instead of plain) or with background without sharp contrast to the subject (like white iBooks on a white background or cameras with black case displayed on a black background). For this, Photoshop Elements (21) was my best bet. I would first use the Erasure tool on the background making it a single color which was in sharp contrast to the subject. Then, using the Magic wand click on the background. Click Select in the Menu bar and choose Inverse from the drop-down menu. Now copy (Command-C) which copies the subject without the background.

At this point, if you want to just drop the image into Keynote, all you would need to do is switch over to your Keynote slide and paste (Command-V). However, for a Smart Build you need an image file, so let's move on. You have the subject in the clipboard, but now you need to create a "transparency" slide ... remember overhead projectors? ... don't admit it ... it will indicate just how old you are. Under File in Photoshop's Menu bar, select New and then New Image. Make sure the "transparency" box is checked. Photoshop creates an image box with a transparent background. Just paste (Command-V) your subject into the new transparency image and Save As a PNG file. It will then be ready to drag and drop into your Keynote slide's Smart Build photo bin.

Animation is Moving

Please allow me share with you just one more cool feature in Keynote 4. While Larry was discussing how his father relocated his family from the coal town of Pennsylvania to Cleveland, I wanted to show a map with a car slowly moving from one location to the other. Also, when Larry talked about his upcoming trip to Italy, I wanted to have objects move from his head over to a "thought bubble" which I made with Comic Life (22).

And finally, in a couple slides I wanted a video clip to start playing in the center of the slide and then move to a corner, slowly shrinking to fifty percent of the original size. All this can easily be accomplished using the new Animation Tool in Keynote 4. All you need do is select the graphic you want to animate and select Action in the Inspector window. You can designate the path you want the object to Move. You can also designate the degree of Opacity or Size you want the object to change, and then set the precise timing of your animation. Very cool.

Time to Tell Your Story

If you read my second column (23), you recall that I wrote, "In my experience ... inductive learning (24) is the fastest and surest method for retaining knowledge." Today's column included a bunch of that deductive stuff ... you know what I mean ... lecturing. In order for you really learn the power of Keynote and the other applications in our storycrafting apparatus and to experience the joy of discovering how you can use them to tell your own story, you need to jump right in ... the water is fine and exhilarating. I have been preaching using Keynote as a storytelling tool for quite awhile, but not until I had the honor of crafting this visual life story of my dear friend Larry did I really experience it for myself ... boy did I learn a lot. You really need to try it for yourself!

Call your great aunt that has all those photos from years gone by and ask her to let you video record her telling you about each one. Does your grandpa love to tell tall tales which always seems to include a moose? ... yes that's Jared's lot in life & he knows that no matter what the story is about a big old moose will wonder in to pester us. Anyway, first ask for the honor to share someone's story and then use our great storytelling/storycrafting apparatus to make it come alive.

Thanks, Larry

I want to say one more time how much I appreciate Larry's friendship, what a great honor it was to get to know him better while crafting his story, and how much he has enriched my life by having the opportunity to share his tale with others. I want to give all my readers a personal invitation to visit Larry's web pages (12) & (13), in order that you too may experience the depth of beauty Larry has captured in God's creation with his lens.

Thanks again for visiting. You all take care now.

References

(1) http://automator.us/leopard/index.html

(2) Under the Magnifying Glass - The Lonely Dynamic Duo

http://www.maccompanion.com/macc/archives/February2008/Columns/UMG6.htm

(3) Under the Magnifying Glass - Our Storytelling-Storycrafting Apparatus

http://www.maccompanion.com/macc/archives/January2008/Columns/UMG5.htm

(4) http://gallery.mac.com/neoac_mug#100047&view=mosaic&sel=0&bgcolor=dkgrey

(5) http://www.apple.com/iwork/keynote/

(6) http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=145&modelid=15262

(7) http://www.hairersoft.com/AmadeusPro/AmadeusPro.html

(8) http://www.apple.com/dotmac/idisk.html