Video Editing Question... Need a "Stopwatch" Timer thing

[phaxmohdem]

Hey all, I have friend doing a video project where he needs a counter in the bottom corner of the screen, counting up the time from zero seconds to five minutes or so. I cannot think of an easy way to do this, or if there is some feature in either Final Cut Pro, or ADobe Premiere Pro that will do this automatically.

Anybody know of something easier than making a frame by fame animation for each second of the timer?

Thanks

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: phaxmohdem
Anybody know of something easier than making a frame by fame animation for each second of the timer?

Thanks

That is what most of them are, animations or stock footage. I think I have one in Hollywood FXs (Pinnacle/Avid). Probably some in After Effects. But try a web search for "countdown timer animation" and see what you hit.

 

[kainthelongshot]

You can do a number of things in Adobe Premiere or Adobe After Effects. I assume you are trying to make a music video that coincides with the beats to music. You have to set the music track up first. Place the track in the timeline. And hit "0". This should start to play the track with audio. I believe you need to hit "*" key to place a marker. You place a marker for every transistion point you want. That will help you place your video clips to coincide with the music. Its a lot easier saying it than it is actually doing it. What I just told you is pretty a barebones approach. It can be a lot more tedious. If you aren't trying to put it to music than you can always put in a "dummy" track and use that to place your markers.

Hope that helps.