Introduction: How to Make a Movie in Sony Vegas

This is my tutorial on how to make a movie. My friend and I just like to mess around and film stuff. These are quite simple to make and edit, but if you are going for the muzzle flash, it can be hard. I use the Sony Vegas Platinum 12 TRIAL, and it works just fine, but you can spend $600 if you want to go pro. XD

Materials:
-Sony Vegas (I used Sony Vegas Platinum TRIAL)
-Video tape(s) to edit
-Computer
-SFX
-Muzzle flash tapes

Step 1: Filming

Just film what ever you want, using Nerf Guns or prop guns, but make sure that for the recoil, do only a tiny little jerk, not a full spasm. Also, don't worry about extra filming that you don't want in the movie, we will cut that out later.

Step 2: Editing (cutting)

Now is where you cut the film. All you do is drag the scene into the Movie track (you will see the name on the left margin.) and click on the far left or right of the scene so you see a different icon and drag to the spot where you want to cut it. You can do this to all of your scenes and put them back to back on the Movie track.

Step 3: SFX

Now is where you put in the sound effects like gunshots and punches. You can obtain these at http://sweetsoundeffects.com/gun-pack-2/. Or http://sweetsoundeffects.com/fight-sounds/. To put these into the movie, go to the Sound Effects Track, use the frame by frame option until you get to the part where you want the sound effect. Now take your SFX file and drop it in front of the little bar that marks your current position. This should now make it sound like a gunshot or punch.

Step 4: Muzzle Flash

Now you can put in the muzzle flash. This step is optional, as it takes a bit more time. Start out by getting the muzzle flash file at http://www.detonationfilms.com/UnitK-4.html. Cut the movie so that it is just a few frames of the muzzle flash that you want. Now drag this into the video overlay track where you want it. Right click on the video, click on Media FX, and click on "Chroma Keyer." In the box that says color, it should show a blue rectangle. Click on this, and select black. Now your video shouldn't be covered by a black screen. Now right click on the video of the flash, and click on Video Event pan/crop. Now you can click on any of the corners and drag it in or out to make the size of the flash correct. You can reposition it by clicking and dragging inside the box. You can change the angle by clicking and dragging in a circle outside of the box so that you see a circle with an arrow at one end. Now close this out. You should have something that looks like a muzzle flash when you play the move at full speed, but you may notice that the flash is too slow and looks bad. All you have to do is click and hold ctrl key, and do what you would do to cut the scene, but you should see a jagged line beneath it, this is used to speed the clip up or slow it down. Drag it about 2-3 frames into the scene, and the flash should be faster. Adjust this to your liking.

Step 5: Environmental Glow

This part is the part that takes the most time. First, right click on the Video overlay track, and hit insert video track. Now hold ctrl key, and drag your main video up to the new track. Now go to the part where you start to recoil. Cut the video all the way to the bar. Now using the mouse wheel, zoom in so that the video seems to get longer. Cut the video the other way (from the back) until the video that you are cutting is only 1 frame long. Now right click on the 1 frame video while zoomed in, click on media FX, and click on Sony Bump Map. Now click on the small arrow in front of the word location, and in the box that is marked source, type in 0.205, 0.169, 0.550. In the box marked destination, type in 0.848, 0.261 (to do this, the drop-down menu next to light type has to be spotlight, but we will change this later.) Now in this menu, click on light type-omnidirectional. In the box marked intensity, type in 0.068. In the box marked focus, type in 0.871 (again, has to be in spotlight mode, but change back once done.) In the box marked ambience, type in 0.871 again. In the other two boxes where you type, make them zero. In the drop down menu below these select alpha, and un-check white is high.

Step 6: Done!

Now you are done making your movie, if you want to play with some features in your movie, that is great! Tell me about it! If you have any questions, just ask them in a comment or PM.

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PS I just now as I am typing this text, got Sony Vegas Pro 12 TRIAL, so if you get this (I would recommend it) and have any questions, just ask!