Animation Technique Question

[Erik]

Hey,
I joined a while ago after reading posts for a long time.
I only recently got into super 8 filmmaking, sometime in July or August...

Anyways, my question is regarding an animation technique I saw in a film called Tarnation a while ago.

All I can do is describe it, as I am trying to learn more about it :
It appears as one image and then with each frame there are more images becoming smaller, as if they zoom out each frame but justify the top left side or something. They also seem to stay on the left. It's quite interesting looking, and I have wanted to try that with super 8, but I don't know how. I've tried searching on the internet, and through the forum, but to no avail.

Has anyone tried this? Is there any information on how to properly do this, and what I need. I don't exactly have the best camera to use either (B&H 2123XL)

Anyways, if anyone has some information, I'd greatly appreciate it!

[Actor]

I know the filmmaker used iMovie, the freebie NLE program that comes with Macs.

[Erik]

I was hoping there might be a way to try and do that without computers... I've thought about it a while, and I think it's just a matter of lining up a sheet of multiple photos with the top left of the camera, while zooming out a small amount each frame, but keeping that corner aligned... It's too bad that to have anything in focus and fill in the screen, it has to be like three or four feet wide, because of my cameras rather basic lens...

I haven't done much work with computer editing, it dosen't work out well for me. I usually like to have something tangable like film, and I can count the frames and the like.
...But, I am willing to try. What are some of the better programs available for editing on a computer?

Thanks

[audadvnc]

You can accomplish this effect with a number of techniques:

- in camera - consider it similar to an animation project. Move your images around to fit the camera frame. A zoom lens can come in handy for image resizing.

- optical printing - the "traditional" film based effects generation technique. You'll need access to an optical printer, which can get pricey at a commercial house. It works better with larger formats; 35mm or 16mm. You lose a generation of film using this technique.

- video switching effects - if you've already transferred your material to video, you can perform the efx in real time using a standard video switcher and transfer to an edit video copy. You'll lose a generation of video using this technique.

- computer NLE - Avid, FCP, Premier, etc - computers live for this kind of image manipulation; it may be your most time and cost effective choice. If you're using the proper AVI formats your generation loss is minimal. If you're hard up for cash, a number of free NLE and video manipulation programs exist. For example, VirtualDub can handle the kind of wipes you're talking about.

[Erik]

I'll have to look into zoom lenses before starting. I want to try and do this on film first, and see if that meets my needs before going on to anything else to try and acheive the same effect. Thanks so much for your advice!