When I want to gain new skills I assign myself a project that will force me to learn those skills. This focused approach works well for me.
My current project is to extend my knowledge and skills in making videos.
In a previous post I mentioned that I built a high performance gaming computer so I could process 4k or higher videos. That step gave me the computing power to accomplish my goal. My next step was to do a deeper dive into my video editor.
I decided that an amusing way to increase my skills was to make an “apocryphal” video series for YouTube. The videos in this series would be only one or two minutes in length and feature special effects that were obviously unreal, but presented as though it was real.
To avoid any confusion for the viewer I went to great lengths to indicate the video is unreal.
First of all I labeled the videos as “Jim’s Apocryphal Videos”. (The definition of Apocryphal is “of doubtful authenticity” )
Other clues included giving the date of the video as April 1, 2020. April Fools Day is an annual custom on April 1 consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes.
My first video in the series was “Unbelievably huge supermoon drifts behind the St. Marks NWR lighthouse”. Note the use of “Unbelievably” in the title.
In this first video my goal was to learn how to use blue/green screens, motion tracking, and use of foreground and background masks. For a first attempt I think it worked well.
This video is best viewed in 1080p HD directly on YouTube at https://youtu.be/YWt-5O0LNxE
Or you can watch this embedded version:
I hope you like it.
Jim