Notes on Salem Tribe #4: Video on the Web

So, Why Would I Want To Get Into Video?

A bit about video:

What’s so alluring about video? Video has a one up over fixed media because it has movement. Movement draws attention, and causes you to focus on it. On a static webpage, video stands out because it’s moving. In the mall, video kiosks stand out because it’s moving images set against a fixed background.

So Video has a 1up on static media.

Possible applications for video:

  • Realtors – a 30 second sweeping home tour in place of set photos
  • Restaurants – patron interviews, or weekly menu blurbs.
  • Wineries – see Gary Vaynerchuck, Wine Library TV, do local wine reviews, get local chefs in to recommend what to go with meals
  • Schools – School Newspaper is out – Video Reporting IN! Get kids involved with video journalism
  • Local News – Report on local events like First Wednesday, Salem Art Fair, Film Festival, etc
  • Churches – Video Announcements to replace the classic paper Church Bulletin
  • Bloggers – a gained level of transparency and something to switch things up from just text, video product reviews, soapbox tirades?

Video is relatively easy and cheap to produce for low end consumers BUT because of that accessibility, that means it’s also easy to do REALLY BADLY.

Hopefully I’ll be able to give you some tips on how to avoid that

OK, So How The Heck Do I Get Into Video?

Basics that you need to produce your own video:

  1. A Computer
  2. A Camera
  3. A Software

From there it just goes up, and then you start considering how to augment your productions with better audio, better camera, lighting pieces, etc.

Computer Hardware

Today, a basic $300 off the shelf computer will get you started in basic video editing. Once you start considering multiple video streams, extra audio and sounds and effects, you start taxing the computers resources. In general, faster is better – a faster processor, lots of RAM, fast hard drives, and a dedicated video card are all things that contribute to a better editing experience.

Cameras (types)

DV Cameras

These are the first gen, tried and true cameras, typically take either MiniDV tape , DVD, or have an internal Hard Disk.

Typically start at about $200 and go up from there, all the way up to $2k HD models.

Pros: DV cameras can be really decent, capturing high quality uncompressed DV footage in SD and HD, have decent optics even in low end cameras, and image stabilization – usually no conversion codec needed to begin editing right out of the box.

Cons: Tape models require 1:1 capture time; an hour of footage takes an hour to capture, and lots of hard drive space (13GB / 1 hour of tape for standard DV, more for HD) DV tape $12 for a 4 pack, size is usually a factor; even the smallest ones barely fit in a guys cargo pants, everything else pretty much need a camera bag of some sort. Because they have so many mechanical parts, they tend to suck on the battery pretty hard, a secondary and tertiary battery purchase is usually a necessity.

Personal note (opinion) AVOID DVD/Hard Drive models. Notoriously hard to capture to your computer and then edit. ALL kinds of headaches with codecs. You WILL be sorry.

Flash Video Devices

Flip Cam, Kodak Zi8, Creative VadoHD, Point-and-Shoot cameras. Either recording to internal flash memory, or removable media.

Start at about $100.

Pros: – small size for pockets and purses, generally long battery life, usually good storage capacity, quick start up, VGA/720p/1080p shooting modes.

Cons: – usually fixed storage – when it’s full, you have to pull footage off to record more. Generally poor low light response, poor image stabilization, fixed focus, no AE Lock Mp4 codec harder on system

DSLR

Canon T1i, Canon 5D MkII, Canon 7D, Nikon D90

Pros – Shoot in VGA/720/1080p – SLR lenses – manual focus, exposure, AE lock, framerates – audio input

Cons – start at $700 go up to $2500 – bad audio – need external mic

Video Example 1, Video Example 2

iPhone/iPod

Pros – Decent video/audio, internet connectivity for publishing – live streaming

Owle augmentation (Optical Widgets For Life Enhancement)

Software Needs

The major differences with the following software packages are the professional color correction tools and output options

Vegas / Pro - $80 – $600 -

Premiere / Pro – $80 – $800 – major differences are the professional color correction tools and output options

FCxP / FCP – $199 – $999 – major differences are the professional color correction tools and output options

What’s your goal, what’s your delivery target?

I Gots The Goods – Now What?

Shooting Tips

  • Pre-production – Saves Yourself An Editing Nightmare – script and storyboard your piece, no matter how long or short or it is.
  • Lighting – Decent Lighting On The Cheap AKA Target and Lowes Are Your Friends – Sources for cheap lighting
    • Target lighting examples:
      Consider Professional Lighting as well, Soft Boxes, Deflectors. A really good resource – Movie Light Photography by Rick Lord (lives here in Salem) http://movielightphotography.com/
  • Audio – Mic close, be aware of ambient noise levels. Consider recording with an external mic and or Flash recorder. Examples:
  • Stability – Make sure you have a stable image! Use a tripod, or Gorillapod if you’re in odd situations.
  • Framing – Take the time to frame your shots, pick interesting locations. Consider the depth of field capabilities of your recording device.

Editing Tips

Check out this video. We’ll break down the elements here that make this a good video.

  • The Bumper: The content producer had done their work and created a nice bumper for the front and tail of this web series. It provides a sense of branding to the content, and it’s consistent from episode to episode. This is something that you can design, or pay to have someone design for you, and you can just drop it in every time you put a new piece together.
  • Titling: You’ll notice throughout the video, the text titling. Most editors come with some basic, easy to use titling tools. A title has the same properties of a piece of footage, so you can do animations and transitions to those as well.
  • Lower Third: When you see interviews, you’ll often see a little bubble animation pop up with a title revealing the person being interviewed. This is called a lower third, because it’s typically used on the lower third part of the screen. Even basic lower thirds can be made easily by creating a graphic, importing it, and animating it in with text over the top. There are many sites out there where you can buy pre-made lower thirds that you can simply drop into your video piece.
  • Music: When you use music, be sure that it’s royalty free (or you have a proof of licensing a commercial work) Unlicensed Music = BAD. You’ll either get called on it, or in the case of YouTube, it’ll actually just strip the audio out of your video. Filed under:NO FUN.
  • Audio: Watch your levels. Find a balance between all of your audio sources. Keep things loud without clipping the main output.

What do I do with it now?

Delivery Formats

Websites want you to give them a high quality compressed file, and most editing software will give you a range of output options. I recommend a high quality Windows Media file, or Quicktime/MP4 – H.264 file. If you’re wanting to show HD, you’ll need to output the videos as 720p/1080p

Online Publishing Services

YouTube: Lots of junk on YouTube, but lots of good exposure, easy sharing tools, and the possibility of income generating affiliate marketing.
Vimeo: has a really great art community, but they frown upon commercial work. Their video presentation looks better than YouTube.

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