Final Cut Plug-Ins

Updated (with examples below): January 11, 2008

I can’t believe I never wrote a post about these – I was positive I did! Anyway, here are two free plug-ins for Final Cut that came in quite handy for me.

Final Cut doesn’t ship with a guides or grid feature like, well, every other app in the universe. Even with these plug-ins, creating guides isn’t as easy as pulling them from the ruler like in Photoshop, but at least you got ‘em.

http://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/freeware/dh_grid.php

http://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/freeware/dh_guides.php

I can’t believe this other plug-in is free because it’s so awesome for that old movie or damaged film look. It allows you to make your footage look old and damaged in all kinds of different ways all of them can be adjusted to your tastes.

http://www.cgm-online.com/eiperle/cgm_aged_film_le_e.html

As part of a “Then and Now” series for Little Caesars, we did a few black and white videos of how things used to be and full color videos (with intros featuring the THX logo and sound) of how things are now. All “Then” videos used the Aged Film plug-in so you can see how awesome it is. I don’t even think I tweaked any of the settings.

The Remedy Process … Then still makes me laugh every time I see it. Dan Walker, who plays the customer has worked his way up from store manager to Senior Director of National Training because every moment he spends working (which is almost every moment, period) is given all his passion and dedication to standards of excellence whether it is lifting up the employees or serving the customer. Jeff Drozdowski, who does a great job of playing the awful store manager is one of the Managers of National Training and is an extraordinary teacher, also exemplifying the company’s #1 Founding Philosophy: “Little Caesars Must Be A Fun Place To Work.” The best part was an accident – Jeff throwing the returned pizza onto a pile of empty pizza boxes makes it look like it’s a pile of returned pizzas. His delivery of the line “Have a good one” is one of the best in cinema history.

Orientation … Then has another accidental gem. Our first take was interrupted by the phone ringing. These videos were shot really early in the morning so it couldn’t have been a customer but the fact that no one answered it was hysterical as we re-watched it and worked it into the final take by using a cell phone to call the store.

Finally, Workplace Safety … Then, is short but funny. That sound is actually Jeff screaming.

The Story of the History of Little Caesars

 

Based on some very nice feedback, here is a summary of how this video got made:

I LOOOVED the Little Caesar’s thing!
1) Hilarious

Well, a lot of that has to do with Mr. Chris Lewandowski and Ms. Barrie Bailey, the on-screen talent. Chris is fabulous in everything he’s in.

2) Holy cow! Who did all those costumes?!

Well, here’s where my talent comes in. The original concept for the history of accounting came from Barrie. We sat down and brainstormed what time periods we could include and how we’d show transactions in those time periods – like trading furs for pizza in the frontier. We began with no budget (that was increased only marginally by donations of lots of free pizza) and I came up with the idea of contacting museums and other institutions to use their exhibits as sets and backgrounds. The Detroit Historical Museum provided a couple sets that are part of their permanent exhibit, The Streets of Old Detroit. The outfit Barrie wears is straight out of her closet. I don’t know why (I imagine its some sort of role-playing) but she owns all sorts of costumes and she and her husband own their own blue-screen. Even the cave-people costumes she already owned! Extra things like the coon-skin cap, mustache, etc. Chris and Barrie bought out of their own pocket as usual. These two are so committed to everything they do for the company. They are really an inspiration to everyone who works around them. Let me make it clear I don’t expect the company to pay for this stuff – my point is, I think it’s awesome that these two and many others really care and really give and sacrifice for what they do. The company’s #1 philosophy written in the employee handbook and other places is “Little Caesars Must Be A Fun Place To Work” and they are among the brightest in keeping it that way. There are grinches and grouches, of course, but they are far outnumbered by passionate, awesome people.

The Michigan Renaissance Festival provided the set and actors for the medieval piece. Those actors own their own costumes – it’s what they do for a living.

The scene with the giant computer was shot in the University of Michigan School of Computer Science building in the display for their piece of the old ENIAC.

For the scene in the first Little Caesars store (yep, that’s really the first one – I live just a mile or so from it) I got a cap from a Johnny Rockets but I forgot it and Chris ingeniously made one out of a Crazy Bread (registered trademark) bag!

The ancient Rome scene is, of course, that park in Ann Arbor and a mere bedsheet. The coins with Caesar’s face are Caesarland tokens – I’m quite proud of that touch.

The background for the cave-people scene was in the University of Michigan Natural Science Museum. As I said, the costumes came directly out of Barrie’s closet.

Some locations let us come in and film with no question, others asked for payment and got free pizza.

3) The old footage was awesome! Where did you get it?!!

Ah, archive.org which is a wonderful filmmakers toybox! Loads of ephemeral and other free footage for the download! I typed in things like “computers” and “accounting” and got what you see in the video.
4) totally, totally hilarious- you wrote and directed it??!!

Like I said, Barrie came up with the concept and the rest we hammered out together. I directed most of the videos I did there. In some cases, there were many directors which is maddening but the more experience and education I got as time went on, I was trusted and empowered more and more. Sometimes that would frustrate people because I’m a perfectionist and that might mean multiple takes.

When it was shown in Las Vegas at the national Managers Rally, I was backstage waiting for the dance number that followed and I almost cried as people laughed and cheered during it. I felt like Charlie Chaplin at the Academy Awards in the movie Chaplin.

From the Vaults

I just found this video I made months ago when I was experimenting with the process of making video podcasts.

The intro is a collection of pictures and video of me at work followed by me explaining en español the benefits of using podcasts for training.