We get asked a lot on how we made the vidoes or more commonly what program or programs
did we use. Well it varies from video to video. Dead or Alive was made exclusively with Adobe
Premier after the videos where edited in Photoshop. The cartoons where all animated using
Adobe After Effects and then where brought into Adobe Premier for the final touch.

When preparing video for animation it takes longer to "break apart" the still image than it
does to animate it. This is because if you can imagine If you make the arm for example in
the CPR Jackhammer video move, when it moves it will leave a space, so you have to paint or
fill in the space so it looks normal. The Better Days video incorporated a lot of animation of the
text and even 3D effects to some of the photos. The 3D effect you will see in many of the
photos some subtle but others do stand out more, where it appears the still image will move.
This effect was accomplished with some work in Photoshop to break apart the image and to fill
in space. If you watch the Better Days video you will see a good example of this technique
where a team of rescuers are walking a patient to a waiting helicopter. In the video you will see
the rescuers move and reveal more of the helicopter. I had to paint in part of the helicopter so
it would show a part of the helicoptor not in the orignal picture.

I have to say the one thing that is awesome on with Steve’s videos  is that he is a natural at
storyboarding. For example the Dead or Alive video he knew exactly what he wanted and he
laid out the 150 plus photos to the sound track and it turned out great. If you look at some
of the other videos I did for Woodbury, they turned out okay but it was very hard to come up
with a concept until I shot video to see what I had. The exception was Better Days , which I
knew was going to be a photo montage.  Having a concept will save you a lot of time. I find
that the video is getting easier to put together but the concept still is the toughest and most
time consuming.

I Promise New video that is dedicated to all of those that serve in public safety.