Use This Clever Trick to Extend Your Footage

When director David F. Sandberg hits "publish" on a new video, it's always a must-watch. The filmmaker's nonchalant attitude toward the YouTube viewer algorithm allows him to post whatever he wants, and fortunately for aspiring creators, what he does release is incredibly detailed how-to information that you can bring to your next project. His latest is a bit of an "f--- you," but not in the way you think. 

The Shazam! director, also known as ponysmasher on YouTube, posted a video of himself flipping off the camera for 4 hours. But don't think for a second he stood there the whole time with his middle fingers raised, just hoping his memory card didn't run out of space.

Sandberg followed up the video with a behind-the-scenes look of how and, more importantly, why he gave us the bird for 240 minutes straight. Check it out. 

What seems like a joke turns into a teaching point one could use to extend footage. This could be useful with B-roll or lengthening simple background action in a composite.

By selecting a portion of the clip, copying it, and then reversing it, you can repeat the forward and reverse clips as many times as needed. As Sandberg points out, since the motion is limited, you can't tell the difference between the two clips. It's a technique he used in Shazam! as well. 

Sandberg offers a lot more on his channel than simple editing tricks. Some of our favorites are his videos random lessons learned from filmmaking, the problem solving of filmmaking, and using cuts instead of visual effects.

Have a favorite Sandberg film? Let us know in the comments below. 

Source: ponysmasher