User:Gumpfanatic/Media 2.0

Video CoPilot is an internet based visual effects developer, specializing in Adobe After Effects. They publish VFX tutorials, sell film and video post-production products, and maintain a blog dedicated to the visual effects community. Founded by Andrew Kramer in 2005, they are currently headquartered in Lake Elsinore, California.

Their official home page is www.videocopilot.net

History
Video CoPilot is the brainchild of Andrew Kramer. Andrew discovered a passion for filmmaking—and in particular VFX with Adobe After Effects—after finding a trial version of the software in the magazine “Mac Addict,” now known as MacLife. After making the transition to the full version, Kramer self taught himself how to use it from the age of 16. In a video interview, Andrew stated that he “played around and tinkered with the software” until he gained a firm grasp on it. Going from simple motion graphics to full blown sky replacements.

He started Video CoPilot in 2005 with the idea that he could make a little bit of money in between his freelance visual effects projects by selling design products and project templates. Video CoPilot got off the ground by providing free After Effects tutorials through the online creative community, Creative Cow. Subsequently, through a Creative Cow DVD program, Video CoPilot published and distributed it’s first product, “Serious Effects and Compositing” for After Effects 7. It was a huge success due to it being the first product to delve into vfx training that others had left untouched, such as green screen chroma key.

Video CoPilot has since published over a hundred free tutorials on its own website, alongside offering several products designed to enhance a VFX artist’s capability to do his or her job. The freely available After Effects tutorials work to generate interest in the program, thereby creating new customers for their products.

Tutorials
Video CoPilot's free tutorials are the cornerstone of it's business model. The very first tutorial was a sky replacement, posted on January 6, 2005. Since then more than 100 After Effects tutorials have been posted, including the addition of 'After Effects: Basic Training', ten tutorials designed to give a basic understanding of the software. The company offers tutorials in motion graphics, color correction, sound design, and many professional quality special effects. Andrew Kramer records his tutorials with a Dual quad-core Xeon @ 3 Ghz. 4GB of RAM, a raptor drive and a Geforce 8800 GTX graphics card. He uses a Neumann studio mic to record the audio and Camtasia studio to record.

Community
Video CoPilot has fostered a worldwide community. Their tagline is “Engineering VFX Knowledge” and they continually offer training and products to professionals in over fifty countries including Brazil, Pakistan, Switzerland, Vietnam, and Serbia. In the United States specifically, Video CoPilot has become a VFX industry icon, garnering the respect and admiration of countless professionals and amateurs alike.

Criticism
Some professionals claim to have received demo reels from prospective employees with exact copies of Andrew Kramer’s Video CoPilot tutorials being presented as their own work. This has led to an ongoing debate within the community as to how important originality is.

Stock Footage Products

 * Action Essentials 2 (2K and 720P)
 * Evolution
 * Riot Gear
 * Video Streams HD
 * Real Clouds
 * Shockwave

Plugins and Presets for After Effects
Along with multiple free presets, Video CoPilot offers
 * Optical Flares
 * Twitch
 * Film Magic Pro
 * Element 3D

Music and Sound Effect Products

 * Pro Scores
 * Designer Sound Effects
 * MotionPulse

Training Products

 * Serious FX Training
 * The Bullet
 * Series One DVD

Demon Cam On August 9th, 2011 Andrew Kramer released an iPhone app called Demon Cam based on one of his famous tutorials. With this app anyone can shoot a personalized video and replace people's faces with demon faces which are chosen from a wide variety of demon templates. It has built-in automated face tracking, can record in HD and renders for final output very quickly for a mobile device. He even made a very exciting film promo to introduce this app in very humorous way. This app is available for only $0.99 on the app store.