Slater
02-01-2003, 02:49 PM
This post is updated periodically. See the end of this post for most recent edit date.
What follows is my amateur perspective on producing digital video. I’m sure that there are others who know a whole lot more than me and I hope they offer their perspectives (FishEye?). I’ll break it down into the following six areas: Camera and Accessories; Hardware; Software; Filming; Editing & Production; and Posting.
I only began using my camera in January 2002 after we had bought it for our trip to India. So let me say at the outset that I’m no expert. Anyone can make a good short video by considering the following issues.
Camera: I have a Sony DCR-TRV330 which is a Digital8 camera. Digital8 cameras are somewhat different that DV (Digital Video) cameras. Digital8 cameras have slightly inferior image quality, don’t shoot as well at night, but are cheaper than DV cameras. However, the editing process and format is the same once the video is on the computer. I bought the Digital8 camera basically because it was cheaper.
Camera Accessories: Essential upgrades for shooting videos (in my opinion) include a long-life battery, glass filters (UV and Polarized), a wide-angle lens, a good camera bag, and to a lesser degree an attachable spotlight for night shots. My camera came with a two hour battery which is really a one hour battery if you use the fold-out screen for filming (which you will). The last thing you want is for your battery to die just as your buddy hooks the biggest bass of his life. The wide-angle lens is a must. Mine only cost an additional $50 and it screws onto the filters. My only complaint is that I can’t fit the camera into my camera bag with the wide-angle lens attached.
Still Images: Many of these video cameras come with the ability to shoot stills onto a memory stick or some other removable storage device. Be aware that the image quality of these images is poor and only marginally suitable for web publishing. Of course, the more expensive the camera the better the still image quality. Check the megapixel size of the stills. Anything two megapixels or less is not great.
Hardware: Computer hardware essentials include a video card, FireWire card (for connecting the camera to the computer), lots of memory and storage. My specs: Dell Diemension 4400, Pentium 4 at 1.6GHz, 64MB NVIDIA GeForce MX Graphics Card, FireWire card, 256MB DDR SDRAM (whatever that means!), 40GB internal HD, 60GB external HD (Maxtor DV3000 – especially designed for digital video). I’ve used up about 50GB to date. Remember that you need excess storage for rendering the video. If you only have a few gigs free you’ll have problems. As a reference, one minute of raw digital video (AVI format – the stuff that comes right of the camera and the format that you will use to produce your highest quality video output) equals approximately 216MB, or 0.22GB.
Software: I use the software that came with the FireWire card. It’s called MGI VideoWave 4. It’s simple but effective. I understand that Pinnacle makes a good editing software that’s cheap. Adobe Premier is the best but it’s complex like all Adobe products and I assume expensive.
Filming: Bring the camera with you as much as possible. You never know what you might see. Keep it dry. I use a small cooler (I’m cheap). Too much exposure to damp air and it can malfunction. This happed to me once. The camera was fine after I brought it inside for a couple of hours but the little moving parts are clearly sensitive to moisture. Don’t get zoom happy. If you feel the need to zoom, do it slowly. The picture will get progressively unstable as you zoom in on something. I rarely have footage worth saving when I’ve been zoomed all the way in on something – too shakey, not good for viewing. Don’t talk too much on the tape. Nothing’s worse great footage ruined by you yelling something stupid into the mic that is only six inches from your mouth. Talk softly because yours is the closest sound to the mic, by far. These mic’s are sensitive.
Editing & Production: Be conservative in the footage you take off the camera. Remember how much disk space this stuff takes up. Remember that your audience will probably have the attention span for about half of what you think should be on the video. Only include the best stuff. If you’re producing for the web, use mpeg format. The minimum that I’m able to achieve with my software is 54kb/second with sound, or 3.2MB/minute. If you intend on e-mail the video to people, keep the footage under 1MB, or the equivalent of 17 seconds. For television viewing, I write the edited footage back to a digital tape and then use the camera as a VCR with my TV. The video quality is the same as it was on the original tape. You don’t loose image quality with the digital format. If you really want to get fancy, get a DVD writer for your computer. Unfortunately, this technology is new, pricey, and there are competing standards, so you may want to wait on this purchase.
Posting Once you've produced your masterpiece, we hope that you'll want to share it with the Reel-Time family. If it's less than 1MB then you can just include it as an attachment with a post. More likely, it will be greater than 1MB which means you will need to put it on a web server and provide a like within a post. Alternativey, if you don't have access to a web server, you can contact me and we'll make arrangements for putting it on the Reel-Time server. The html tag for embedding video is as follows:
When posting videos use the following naming convention for the thread subject:
Video: "Video Name" (#MB)
That’s it. I’m sure I missed some stuff and raised more questions than I’ve answered. I’ll try to answer any questions you might have. Have fun!--125-3
What follows is my amateur perspective on producing digital video. I’m sure that there are others who know a whole lot more than me and I hope they offer their perspectives (FishEye?). I’ll break it down into the following six areas: Camera and Accessories; Hardware; Software; Filming; Editing & Production; and Posting.
I only began using my camera in January 2002 after we had bought it for our trip to India. So let me say at the outset that I’m no expert. Anyone can make a good short video by considering the following issues.
Camera: I have a Sony DCR-TRV330 which is a Digital8 camera. Digital8 cameras are somewhat different that DV (Digital Video) cameras. Digital8 cameras have slightly inferior image quality, don’t shoot as well at night, but are cheaper than DV cameras. However, the editing process and format is the same once the video is on the computer. I bought the Digital8 camera basically because it was cheaper.
Camera Accessories: Essential upgrades for shooting videos (in my opinion) include a long-life battery, glass filters (UV and Polarized), a wide-angle lens, a good camera bag, and to a lesser degree an attachable spotlight for night shots. My camera came with a two hour battery which is really a one hour battery if you use the fold-out screen for filming (which you will). The last thing you want is for your battery to die just as your buddy hooks the biggest bass of his life. The wide-angle lens is a must. Mine only cost an additional $50 and it screws onto the filters. My only complaint is that I can’t fit the camera into my camera bag with the wide-angle lens attached.
Still Images: Many of these video cameras come with the ability to shoot stills onto a memory stick or some other removable storage device. Be aware that the image quality of these images is poor and only marginally suitable for web publishing. Of course, the more expensive the camera the better the still image quality. Check the megapixel size of the stills. Anything two megapixels or less is not great.
Hardware: Computer hardware essentials include a video card, FireWire card (for connecting the camera to the computer), lots of memory and storage. My specs: Dell Diemension 4400, Pentium 4 at 1.6GHz, 64MB NVIDIA GeForce MX Graphics Card, FireWire card, 256MB DDR SDRAM (whatever that means!), 40GB internal HD, 60GB external HD (Maxtor DV3000 – especially designed for digital video). I’ve used up about 50GB to date. Remember that you need excess storage for rendering the video. If you only have a few gigs free you’ll have problems. As a reference, one minute of raw digital video (AVI format – the stuff that comes right of the camera and the format that you will use to produce your highest quality video output) equals approximately 216MB, or 0.22GB.
Software: I use the software that came with the FireWire card. It’s called MGI VideoWave 4. It’s simple but effective. I understand that Pinnacle makes a good editing software that’s cheap. Adobe Premier is the best but it’s complex like all Adobe products and I assume expensive.
Filming: Bring the camera with you as much as possible. You never know what you might see. Keep it dry. I use a small cooler (I’m cheap). Too much exposure to damp air and it can malfunction. This happed to me once. The camera was fine after I brought it inside for a couple of hours but the little moving parts are clearly sensitive to moisture. Don’t get zoom happy. If you feel the need to zoom, do it slowly. The picture will get progressively unstable as you zoom in on something. I rarely have footage worth saving when I’ve been zoomed all the way in on something – too shakey, not good for viewing. Don’t talk too much on the tape. Nothing’s worse great footage ruined by you yelling something stupid into the mic that is only six inches from your mouth. Talk softly because yours is the closest sound to the mic, by far. These mic’s are sensitive.
Editing & Production: Be conservative in the footage you take off the camera. Remember how much disk space this stuff takes up. Remember that your audience will probably have the attention span for about half of what you think should be on the video. Only include the best stuff. If you’re producing for the web, use mpeg format. The minimum that I’m able to achieve with my software is 54kb/second with sound, or 3.2MB/minute. If you intend on e-mail the video to people, keep the footage under 1MB, or the equivalent of 17 seconds. For television viewing, I write the edited footage back to a digital tape and then use the camera as a VCR with my TV. The video quality is the same as it was on the original tape. You don’t loose image quality with the digital format. If you really want to get fancy, get a DVD writer for your computer. Unfortunately, this technology is new, pricey, and there are competing standards, so you may want to wait on this purchase.
Posting Once you've produced your masterpiece, we hope that you'll want to share it with the Reel-Time family. If it's less than 1MB then you can just include it as an attachment with a post. More likely, it will be greater than 1MB which means you will need to put it on a web server and provide a like within a post. Alternativey, if you don't have access to a web server, you can contact me and we'll make arrangements for putting it on the Reel-Time server. The html tag for embedding video is as follows:
When posting videos use the following naming convention for the thread subject:
Video: "Video Name" (#MB)
That’s it. I’m sure I missed some stuff and raised more questions than I’ve answered. I’ll try to answer any questions you might have. Have fun!--125-3