digital video faculty innovating with technology project gateway technical college spring, 2007

Digital Video

Faculty Innovating with Technology project

Gateway Technical CollegeSpring, 2007

Shoot

Transfer to computer to edit

Edit

Transfer to media and enjoy

Common Video Steps

Publish

Shooting

• “Get it right in the camera”– #1 time-saving and effort-saving technique

• Video camera microphones often pick up too much extra noise– Can buy an external mic at Radioshack

• If your camera has a microphone input

– Built-in microphone might work fine for you

Shooting Tips

• Off-center subjects– Rule of thirds

• Vary long, medium and close shots

• Zoom = BAD– A little very slow zoom – ok

• If not using a tripod, prop yourself on furniture and walls for stability

• Use camera motion sparingly

Shooting: Tips

• Unintended motion can ruin your video

• For stability– Sit– Lean against a wall– Hold the camera with both hands– Find a level place to park your camera– Use motion stabilization, if this is a feature of

your camera

Shooting: Rules for Motion

1. Don’t use motion to move from shot to shot

• In recording mode: stop; reframe the video, and then reshoot – don’t pan

Shooting: Rules for Camera Motion

• If you must use motion (Pan):1. Never pan back and forth

2. Pan from the waist and move your body• Don’t use your hands or wrists

3. When following a subject, try to keep him in the back third of the frame

4. Shoot for a few seconds while stable at both the beginning and end of the motion shot

5. Use the horizon as a horizontal cue

Shooting: Tilt

• Never tilt up and down– Tilt in one direction and then stop

• Tilt at the waist– Using your hands will introduce shake into the

picture

Shooting: Zoom

• Get to know your zoom controls in advance

• Zoom slowing to the desired framing, and then stop, even if it’s not ideal

• Disable digital zoom

Shooting: Lighting

• Shoot with the sun to your back whenever possible

• Use camera’s preprogrammed AE modes for sunlight, sports, spotlight and similar environments

• Avoid backlit subjects

Shooting: Sound

• Turn off all background noise you can– TV off!

• Use headphones to better gauge sound quality

• Use a directional microphone

Shooting: Sound

• There are several reasons why the built-in camera microphone may not be adequate– Omni-direction– Attached to the camera, it can pick up camera

noise– Headphones can help you hear what the

camera is picking up

Shooting

• Audio– Can split from the video and “overlayed” over

another part of the video– [example]

What camera to buy?

• Depends what you’re planning to use it for

• Check reviews at http://www.cnet.com

Transferring to your computer

• Also called Capturing• From camera, usually by cable

– Firewire (IEEE) or USB• Sony calls firewire i-Link

• Confirm the camera is on• Switch the camera from “record” to “vcr” mode

– Mode is also called play, review …

Editing

• Generally for assembling and transitioning multiple pieces of video

• Many different video editing software programs– Both Macintosh and PC

• From basic to exceedingly complex and feature-filled

Entry-Level editing programs

• Windows Movie Maker (incl with Windows) PC• Adobe Premiere Elements ($99 or less) PC, probably

Mac• iMovie and iDVD Mac• Roxio Movie Creator• Pinnacle Studio• Ulead Video Studio• Easiest?

– Mac iMovie and iDVD are easiest combination if you can get comfortable with the platform (incl with Macs)

Profession Editing Software

• Adobe Premiere

• Apple Final Cut Pro

Capturing from the camera using Windows Movie-Maker

Capturing from the camera using Windows Movie-Maker

Capturing from the camera using Windows Movie-Maker

Capturing from the camera using Windows Movie-Maker

• Capturing

Capturing from the camera using Windows Movie-Maker

Capturing from the camera using Windows Movie-Maker

Capturing from the camera using Windows Movie-Maker

Capturing from the camera using Windows Movie-Maker

Capturing from the camera using Windows Movie-Maker

Capturing from the camera using Windows Movie-Maker

• Capturing

Viewing Captured Clips in Windows Movie-Maker

Editing - Trimming the beginning and ending of clips

Editing - Trimming the beginning and ending of clips

Editing – changing from Clip to Timeline view

Editing – Saving the Project

Editing – Saving the Project

Splitting the clip

Splitting a clip

Titles, Transitions and Effects

Adding Titles in Windows Movie Maker

Transitions

Adding a Transition

Transcoding

• Most editing programs are able to output your final video into a format your audience can view (i.e. DVD)

• The process of transforming video from one format into another is called transcoding

• The most common transcoding that most people will do is to transform captured digital video into a DVD-compliant MPEG-2 format

Publishing

• Most entry level and some profession programs have VCD and DVD mastering tools

• Programs designed specifically for these tasks:– Apple iDVD– Roxio DVD Creator – Nero

Editing Steps

1. Add clips to timeline• Choose parts of the clips to include

2. Add transitions3. Add titles4. Publish5. Transfer to media

• Sometimes done while publishing

Can also often add musicCompress either in Save or Export step

Editing: Publishing

• Allows you to pick options for– Output formats– media

• Media– Back to camera– CD– VCD– DVD– To VHS tape– Can store small video files on a flash drive

Compression takes awhile

• Think about how much data we are manipulating– A single picture (frame) has hundreds of

thousands of pixels 640*480=307,200

– 29.97 frames per second for television

Other Video Techniques

• Webcams

• Adding to PowerPoint– Linking, not inserting

• Using Gateway’s streaming server Screencast videos