Cooking with Professor Monkey - How to Cook for Humans
This one minute movie is proudly developed for my CMPT 365 assignment 1. The software that was used was Adobe Premiere.
For the purpose of web publishing, the movie is compressed down to ~5MB. However, I also kept the original ~600MB version.
Features of the Movie
The 3D logo (with “Vincent’s monkey university”) is modeled and created by me using an external 3D program. It is later imported into the video using the avi format.
The talking monkey is animated using a still image with the help of a program called “CrazyTalk”. The script the monkey uses is generated using Text-To-Speech from Windows.
The use of transparency in my project is extensive. Up to 7 video and 3 audio channels are used at one time, and all the still images are composed using Photoshop. For example, the different banners/titles at the introductory screen, the credit screen, and the “order-now” screen are all composed using Photoshop with alpha channels. Half-transparency is also used. For example, at the end, the blue screen is superimposed on the sped up version of the main cooking video.
Irregular-shaped masks on videos are used extensively as well. For example, the video is superimposed on a marble background, with irregular edges. There is a mask around the monkey and also around the logo, so that there wouldn’t be a white static background behind them.
The main cooking video is captured from VCR. The cooking video is then edited to cut out unneeded parts. At least 5 transitions are added when the editing is done. The scene of the kitchen in the beginning is filmed at home using a camcorder borrowed from the school.
The midi that is played at the background during the main part of the cooking video is composed by me 2 years ago. It is then imported into cakewalk and exported in the midi format.
The motion option on still images is also used at various locations. In the beginning, for example, the picture slides across screen, and the word “for” is splashed onto the banner.
Sound effects are positioned at the right time, with fade in and fade out properly adjusted. The clip is made to fit exactly one minute.