I Need a Couple of Lifetimes

Today I was talking with a friend of mine. He had brought in a video that he had edited for me and we were talking about some of the programs we use. I asked how proficient he was in PhotoShop and AfterEffects. He made the comment that he just doesn't have the time to become as proficient in them as he would like. He said, "I need a couple of lifetimes to be able to learn all the cool programs out there!"

I understand. I am pretty good with Final Cut Pro since I edit some kind of video every single week and have done some pretty in depth projects. However, I only know PhotoShop well enough to make the graphics for our preservice and announcement slides, message slides and some occasional files I need for a video.

For instance, this week I've been working on a new graphic for a new message series called Old Testament Southern Style. I wanted the graphic to be one color on top and a different color on the bottom, sort of like the cover on the Charlie Daniels Band album cover. I couldn't figure out how to do this in PhotoShop. I'm sure it's probably pretty easy, but I just wasn't sure and after 15 minutes of trying to figure it out, I gave up and went back to Final Cut. I created 2 files (one of each color) in PhotoShop and saved them as .png files with a transparent background. I then imported these into Final Cut, along with a .tif of the rest of the slide. I put all 3 files on the timeline, then cropped the top layer so only half of the color was showing. This allowed half of the other slide to be visible so the top half was one color and the bottom half was another.

Then, I exported it as a .tif file and I had the graphic I needed!


However, Pastor Tim ended up choosing a different design...