Adobe Session with David Helmly

The past week I was able to sit in on an Adobe session with David Helmly, the Head of Global DVA Field Operations at Adobe. This session included tips and tricks within Premiere and After Affects, the two programs that I enjoy the most and am interested in mastering. One of the effects that Mr. Helmly ran the class through was the Morph Video Cut Effect in Premiere. I found the small tutorial he gave with this effect to be very helpful especially when I looked back on a project that I did last year when I wasted a lot of crucial time trying to interview people. The group of people that I was interviewing individually for this project were not the best camera talent, and often rambled when I asked questions, leaving me with inadequate content for my composition. Eventually, each talent was able to make his/her point, but I ended up having to cut the reel to where it sounded choppy.

Having known about the morph cut before this project would’ve been very helpful, as this tool is very useful for interviews in particular, and especially for putting together a decent video with one take. Below I have attached a before and after video with and without the morph effect, to show the difference it makes in smoothness. Also, this particular effect is very accurate in tracking facial features, so seeing the end result is truly amazing, and for me shows the future of Adobe and technology in general as to where it’s headed. This is a particularly interesting feature to me because this kind of technology could be used with bad intentions, for example, to edit together false conversation.

As the presentation moved forward into After Effects, Mr. Helmly stressed motion graphics templates within the graphics essential panel. Not only do you have amazing tools to work with, but Helmly hinted at a lot of success to be made within this feature. He mentioned that being able to create graphics packages on-the-go, on something like a phone, is what companies are starting to value greatly. There are so many small tools within the platform that some people never realize exist, which is why I was curious as to Mr. Helmly’s choice to showcase the ones that he did. As being someone who is very passionate about video, finding these small shortcuts that help my workflow be more efficient is amazing. Most of the shortcuts that he showed us were new to me, and I definitely feel that I will be able to get more out of my Adobe experience.