Tutorial Exercise (Week 7)

Essay Question 3

Discuss several considerations in shooting and editing video for multimedia.  What techniques would you use to produce the best possible video, at a reasonable cost?  Which of these techniques apply to all video, and which apply specifically to multimedia?

We should take several considerations in shooting and editing video for multimedia such as planning, recording the video, editing the video, transition and special effect, titles and captions, sound and music and fade music clips in and out to make a more dramatic effect

Planning

In creating a video or any multimedia presentation for that matter, a solid plan will save time, minimize frustration, and produce a better final product.

• ·         Begin at the end: what do you plan to do with this video when all the work is done? Are you going to show it on TV from a tape? Will it be “burned” to a CD or DVD? Will you want to post it to your school’s web site? Each of these formats requires different considerations when shooting and editing your production.
• ·         Create a storyboard before you shoot your video so that you have a good idea of the kinds of shots you need. The only exception might be a social event where you want some spontaneity but even in that case you’ll need a plan.
• ·         Clean off your hard drive. Video take up huge amounts of space. Depending on several factors, 1 minute of video could require 100 mb or more on your hard drive. The more room you have the more flexibility you will have in the editing process. For large projects or multiple projects, consider getting an external FireWire hard drive.

Recording the Video

With a good plan in hand, the “shoot” should go smoothly and result in plenty of good raw materials for the editing process.

• ·         The better the quality of your original material, the better your final product. Use a digital camcorder if you can but no matter the camera, use a fresh tape.
• ·         Use a real video camera. That may sound like a stupid suggestion but many digital still cameras, and even some cell phones, claim that they will take movies and people believe it. These devices take short, very small videos which will not be of high enough quality to show anywhere but in a postage-stamp sized window on your computer screen. Hopefully, you want something better.
• ·         Turn off the date/time display on your camera. Those features and other messages that appear in the viewfinder could become part of your video.
• ·         Plan a variety of wide, medium and close up shots. Include some establishing shots which tell the viewer where they are.
• ·         Always take more video than you’ll need. It can often be difficult to go back and take additional shots later.
• ·         Keep a written log of your shots so you have some guide when looking for the scene you want during the editing process. It also helps when you are planning titles or captions for a scene. (This is a good job to give to an assistant cameraman.)
• ·         Hold a shot longer for subjects that may be unfamiliar to your audience and shorter for subjects which are easily understood.
• ·         Avoid zooming around. Using the zoom on your camera frequently or suddenly can distract from the message of the program itself. In addition, if your video is destined for the web, your sudden movements will look terrible due to the slow frame rate and small size.
• ·         Use a tripod to get a steady shot. While the “jiggly” look works for Cops or “The Blair Witch Project”, it probably won’t work for you. And even the best digital stabilization software in your camera won’t compensate for an unsteady hand.
• ·         Make sure the subject is well lit. Although the higher end video editing software (Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid DV Express or Adobe Premiere) can adjust for brightness and contrast, the process takes time. And it can never fully compensate for a bad picture.

Editing The Video

If you’ve done a good job of planning your project and recording the video, the editing part will be both easy and fun. Having a good computer with lots of hard drive space and great software (iMovie is the best of the inexpensive programs) will also help.

• ·         Most editing programs will allow you to name each individual clip, either as it’s brought in or after it’s in the clip library. Do it! If you don’t you will have dozens of “Untitled” shots making it difficult to sort things out later.
• ·         Unless you have a small hard drive or don’t have much space left, be generous as to what you import to the computer. Remember, you can throw clips away much easier than importing them in the first place.
• ·         Bring in a little “padding” at the start and end of each shot to allow for transitions and effects.
• ·         Follow the “30-3 rule” of video editing: keep your shots under 30 seconds and your scenes under 3 minutes. This helps to set a fast pace and keep your audience interested.
• ·         Make sure your clips are in the right order in the Timeline. If you need to rearrange, you can just click and drag them to the correct place in most editing software.
• ·         Adjust the amount of footage showing at the start and end of each clip to create a smooth transition between scenes. Try inserting some black space between sections and use a fade transition.

Transitions and Special Effects

As you may have noticed in the movies running at your local theater, special effects can make a good production even better – or completely ruin it. Don’t get caught in the SFX trap.

• ·         Try to use the same one or two transitions consistently throughout the video. Using a different transition for each clip will distract from the story you’re trying to tell.
• ·         Don’t use a transition if the start or end of a scene contains an important scene. Transitions will make it hard to see details in your film and your audience will miss the point.
• ·         Keep the transitions short. Although transitions can run six seconds or more in most programs, long changes between scenes can slow down the pace of your story.
• ·         Don’t go effects crazy. All video editing software and many digital cameras allow you to apply a variety of special effects to your video (turn your color video into black and white film noir) but using these features should be part of your planning.
• ·         Never use the effects built into your camera. Most are difficult to use and you can’t undo them after the video has been transfered to the computer.

Titles and Captions

·         As with special effects, the way you use titles and captions can do a lot to enhance or ruin your project.

• ·         Use titles and captions sparingly. Let the video and sound tell the story.
• ·         Make your text large enough to be seen and choose a color which can be easily viewed on the background of your video.
• ·         Leave the text on the screen long enough for your viewers to read it.
• ·         Titles (text on a blank background) can sometimes be more effective than captions (text superimposed on the video).
• ·         Although most editing software allow text to be scrolled in and out of the screen, use this sparingly since it can distract from your story.

Music and Sound

Think about this: even silent movies (and Mel Brooks’ “Silent Movie”) were not silent. They were usually accompanied by background music which was designed to enhance the mood. The right music and well placed narration can make your video project even better.

• ·         Make the addition of sounds part of the planning process. As you are working on the storyboard and recording the video, think about music that might enhance your production.
• ·         Don’t count on the built-in microphone on your camcorder. It will do a fair to good job of picking up general sounds but will do a lousy job of recording individual voices. If you need to hear a single person, most cameras will allow you to plug in a microphone, a wireless mic would be even better. You may also want to record what the person has to say and add it as a narration.
• ·         If you’re serious about sound, use headphones plugged into your camcorder while you are recording the video. In that way you can get a good idea of the sound you are actually getting on the tape.
• ·         Music should be brought in directly from the CD based on start and stop times rather than trying to record the track.
• ·         If your video has sounds, you will need to take this into account and adjust that volume to balance with music and narration.
•  Remember the copyright laws! Adding music from the Star Wars CD to your vacation video will probably not get you into trouble. Adding it to a student project that is displayed at parent’s night could.

·         Publishing Your Movie

·         The final step in your project is to put the video in a form that your audience can actually see.

• ·         Before exporting your final product, preview it to make sure it really is finished. In most inexpensive video editing software this preview will be a little jerky around transitions and captions but you should be able to get an overall impression of your film.
• ·         Make sure all the cables are connected correctly and that you understand how to work the recording equipment (VCR, camcorder, DVD burner). For tape, run a short test of your connections by digitizing and recording a short (30 second) movie and then play it back.
• ·         Record two (or even three) copies of your film. That way you can remove the movie and all its video clips from your hard drive to make room for the next video production.
• ·         If you ever plan to return to this project and do any additional editing, don’t throw away the original files. Move them to an external hard drive or server. Editing the edited version of the video will result in a loss of quality and it will be more difficult to get what you want.

Video consideration

• •          Video can add great impact to your multimedia presentation due to its ability to draw people attention.
• •          Video is also very hardware-intensive (require the highest performance demand on your computer)

–        Storage issue: full-screen, uncompressed video uses over 20 megabytes per second (MBps) of bandwidth and storage space.

–        Processor capability in handling very huge data on real time delivery

• •          To get the highest video performance, we should:

–        Use video compression hardware to allow you to work with full-screen, full-motion video.

–        Use a sophisticated audio board to allow you to use CD-quality sounds.

–        Install a Super fast RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) system that will support high-speed data transfer rates.