Hi to all DFG members,
I thought some of you may be interested in learning of a way to get JPEG photos from your digitial video footage. This is only basic stuff but useful if your just starting out in filmmaking or your already a professional wanting some simplicity.
If you've got a pc, chances are that it came with free microsoft windows 'Movie Maker' software already installed. This software can only do very simple editing, but what its great for is easily creating JPEG stills photos from your footage.
What you will need first though is a firewire cable, and if your computer hasn't got one already inbuilt you need a firewire port to plug the cable into. You can buy both these things together at shops like Jessops or PC World. When you've got these things you can very simply download your DV or Digital 8 footage into Movie Maker.
Now your are ready to create JPEG photos and it's very simple to do this. You can go through your footage a frame at a time, so you can capture things like smiles, winks, or anything else in tiny detail. And it is so simple. When you've found the frame you want, you simply click on the camera icon and then save the picture.
If your entering your film into festivals chances are they'll want publicity photos, so its good if you can send photos that are taken from the actual footage. Another great thing is that if your contacting people about your film via e-mail you can send them some photos as attachments. If you've got good stills it will make people more interested in your film, and you've also got something that you can use in brochures, articles etc about your film.
I'll attach some JPEGs' from some of my own films with this blog so you can get an idea of what JPEGs look like.
Hope this has helped some of you.
Paul