Seeking Advice on Slideshow Video Production for Our Marketplace

Antoonyx

Introduction:
We are in the process of creating unique slideshow videos for each product in our Marketplace, specifically canvas arts. We need suggestions on software and methodology.

What We’ve Decided On:

Slideshow Videos: We aim to produce slideshow videos, where each product gets its own video presentation.
Content Flow:
    Front Image: Start with a front image of the canvas art, which then zooms out. As it zooms out, a room fades in to showcase the artwork in its natural setting.
    Detail Pan: A pan across the canvas to highlight the intricate details.
    Frame Display: A pan across a corner to show and describe the mounting frame.

(Note: Final scripting details are still in the works.)

Resources We Have:

Photoshop Actions: We have created Photoshop actions that transform our images into flat-faced visuals. These are perfect for the "close up pan across" and "image on wall in situ" sections.

Production Plan:

Folder Structure: We plan to maintain a unique folder for each item. Each folder will contain a variety of images meant for the video.
Video Software Assumption: We hope to find video software that offers placeholder functionality. Our vision is that when we engage in bulk production, the software will automatically switch to the appropriate folder for each product, ensuring that the right images are used for the respective videos.

What We Need Help With:

Software Recommendations: Which video editing software would best fit our needs, particularly with regards to the placeholder and bulk production functionalities?
Methodology: Has anyone attempted something similar? Any guidance on how to achieve this efficiently?

ariestav

Hi @Antoonyx!

Thank you for your question — we are happy to help answer your questions. In full transparency, you are going to get a biased answer as to which software you should use as you’re on the Dataclay forums !

First, I would recommend Adobe After Effects to build our your master, dynamic, template. You can achieve that with Templater Rig. When you outfit an AE project to accept dynamic data using Templater, the resultant project is what is known as an “Autograf”. This project file can be linked to a variety of data sources, but a spreadsheet, such as a Google Sheet, is an easy one to use for starters. Each row in the sheets represents a new output video to be rendered, while each column in the sheet refers to the dynamic items (i.e. layers) within the After Effects compositions.

As you design and build your Autograf, you link Templater to a footage repository containing the footage you want to use for each output. Then, in the data, you write a relative path from that footage repository to where the footage actually exists. The best part is that the footage does not necessarily even have to be on the same machine that AE is running on. In the linked datasource, you can use URLs and when Templater reads that URL it will attempt to download the footage locally to that drive. In your case, you can keep sub folders within the main footage repository so that each video’s contents are separated. Then, in the data source, you can enter the subfolder path to the assets.

Dataclay customers are achieving the bulk production and automation you are currently seeking. Templater for After Effects can re-version master After Effects projects into still images and videos.

To get a comprehensive overview of the software and workflow, please take a look at this video which just scratches the surface of what’s possible with Templater Rig, Pro, and Bot.

Templater by Arie Stavchansky | Plugin Demo | Adobe Creative Cloud