Millennium Board Game Trailer - Filmora, Behind The Scenes

It took me about 2 hours to put this video together (images and clips) and about a week to tweak it. That's the way most videos go. They are a process of elimination, trial and error.

Overall, I'm very happy with the results, although I wish this software wasn't so buggy. It tripped my computer several times and sometimes the timeline wouldn't sync with the music track so I had to close the program and reboot it.

It's not my first experience with Filmora from Wondershare but for the price ($59) I think they have a lot to offer. Previous to this software I had mastered Windows Movie Maker, which is not saying much but I had bought a batch of filters and effects for it and I was happy with the results. For me it was easy to use and I had memorized every shortcut and was able to produce videos in no time.

I still miss some of its features, like panning to any corner you wanted and being able to add up to 7 motion and special effects at the same time. The WMM Greenscreen was a bit glitchy but pretty decent overall. WMM had its good and usable features but lacked the array of filters and overlays that Filmora offers.

While I like to keep things simple,

I'm a sucker for special effects.

While I like to keep things simple, I'm a sucker for special effects whenever a scene calls for it. Like most software packages, Filmora comes with hundreds of effects and many overlays that are mostly suited for advertising or home movies.

What I really like and find useful are the static TV Filters and a good number of Cinematic effects and Lens Flare Filters. In this video I needed to show a series of events in the past and then transition to images of the future to setup the reveal shot for the Millennium logo.

To get those effects I made a short newsreel footage of events using the Static TV Filter (there are 5 different filters to choose from). They worked perfectly for the effect I was after. I could have added some film grain and other similar effects but since this was a flashback reel it wasn't necessary because it went by so fast.

The 7 images are set to .5 seconds each so they go by in a flash but you get the feeling of time lapse and what I'm trying to convey.

Here's a close-up screenshot of the actual Timeline with the images in the video.

The Filmora interface is fairly easy to work with and with limited practice you can put a video together rather quickly without too much effort and get some amazing results.

For me, Filmora's biggest drawback is the lack of panning and zooming filters. Panning is so important because it simulates camera angles and zooming is useful for establishing shots or pulling back to reveal a specific part of an image or scene. Without these effects at the proper speed, your video lacks a cinematic feel.

Am I asking for too much? I doubt it because I can think of dozens of effects I wish I could trade off for the ones I really need that already are included with this software package. I'm sure I can buy the effects I need separately but I haven't looked into that yet.

I had also considered using Sony's Vega Movie Studio 13 but I found it a bit technical for my taste. Otherwise it's a very good choice too.

I just needed to get this video finished so I can move on to other things, which I suppose are equally important. There's just so much to do and only about 18 hours a day to work with.

Let me know what you think of this video and if you have any questions about some of the effects, I'll be happy to Post about it next time.

If you're having trouble putting your videos together I have another blog dedicated to that entirely. You can read all about book trailers and video teasers here:
Book Teasers Pub, Book Trailers and Videos