You can't fail to communicate…

*User Generated Content – the buzz phrase for videos produced by staff themselves…

Introduction
If you have been given a Flip or similar small video camera, and are being expected to produce some worthwhile video recordings, here are some useful pointers to getting the best out of it.

The good news is that these cameras are usually solid state, with a built in storage chip, so there are no tapes to worry about. It will record for maybe an hour or two depending on the model and then you will either hand it back or copy the recorded files to your computer for further use. To do this you will need to follow the instructions for your camera.

Hints and Tips for Creating your Film

Content
Every good film starts with the script and it’s no different for you. Think very carefully about what you want to say.

You may find that drafting a script, and perhaps using sketchy drawings or a text description to share your ideas in the form of a storyboard helps.

Carefully plan the length of each shot and depending on your plans for editing (there may be no time to do any!) you may need to shoot in sequence, so your finished film plays back straight from the camera.

Holding the Camera
Firstly, hold it still, and don’t wave it around!

The biggest mistake new video users make is to film in the way you would naturally look at a subject. The human eye will dart about taking in details of a scene, but with a video this is called ‘hosepiping’ and is very difficult to watch. Pros keep the camera steady, framed up on a pleasing composition and they let the action happen in the frame. Introduce slow camera movements where appropriate, either (very slow) pans across a scene, or (very slow) zooms in or out, either to reveal more of a subject, or throw emphasis on a subject by moving in. Make sure you have a reason for any camera move.

The other point on composition is to try and keep the subject large in the frame. If you are shooting a head and shoulders interview, then make sure the audience can see the expressions on the face, and if filming a larger subject cut together wide ‘establishing’ shots with close up detail shots.

It also helps if, for example, you are shooting a single person, to position them off to the left or right of the frame and have them looking into the frame.

Background
Try not to shoot against a bright light, and watch for straight lines or plants appearing to come out of the subjects head or ears.

Think about the background you choose – it should not be too fussy or detailed as that will detract from the subject matter.

Sound
Remember the microphone is usually built in to the camera and is often not very good quality. Being built in means you cannot put it where it needs to be -  near the speakers mouth or the action.

To counteract this, keep the subject close to the camera, close windows and doors, turn off background music if possible, or find a quieter spot to film.

And don’t let two people speak at once … the human ear does a much better job of sorting out multiple conversations than a recording, which will sound awful!

I hope this short list helps – and do come back and visit, as we will be adding new tips to it as we find them…

Good luck!

Although this sounds like it should be the easiest thing in the world to achieve, the reality is often the exact opposite, and so I felt it was worth writing a simple explanation of the process.

Before you start there are a number of things to bear in mind;

Video files are not actually ‘embedded’, into your PPT presentation, they are simply linked, which means the video files need to be placed in the same folder as the PPT presentation, and remain there, if the link is not to be broken. This folder should always be on the hard drive. Never try to play videos from a CD, always copy them over for best results.

So how do we go about getting the videos ready for Powerpoint?

Firstly, the video files must be in a compatible format, such as AVI, MPG or WMV, and which formats work best varies depending on the laptop and the version of PPT  you are using.

If we know you will need to use the files in PPT, we will prepare the correct versions for you, bearing in mind a number of things which are outside our control, such as speed and power of the delivery laptop and the resolution of your presentation.

If we make files too tiny they will display too small, and will then appear fuzzy if they get resized. (NB: Never do this! More later)  If we make them too large the laptop can sometimes stutter or even crash. As a result, we tend to go with a standard size of 640 x 480 pixels, or if we are confident of your delivery laptop, maybe 800 x 600 pixels.

The presentation resolution will depend on the screen resolution of the host laptop, or will have been set in the master template, but is likely to be either 800 x 600 pixels, in which case the video would show up in a box slightly smaller than full size; or it may be 1024 x 768, so the files at 640 x 480 would occupy about two thirds screen size. If we can find out what resolution you are using for projection, we can make files which fill the frame, assuming the laptop will be able to cope.

The process of linking the files is quite straightforward;

1 – Go to the slide where you would like the video to appear
2 – Go to Insert;Movie on the menu
3 – A dialogue box will display asking if you wish the movie to play as the slide displays, or wait for a keypress. If your video is playing from it’s own slide then the former would apply, but if you have a title or some other information displaying before the video, we recommend choosing the latter, so when you hit the space bar, the movie will run.
4 – A video box will appear on the slide for you to position it as you wish. For all sorts of complicated reasons, the one thing you must not do at this stage is resize the video box. Videos must stay at the size they are when they are imported, if the quality is to be maintained. Resizing the video box will almost guarantee that the video displays at a lower quality.

To determine the optimum size for your final videos, we can provide sample videos at different sizes and in different formats. You should soon be able to work out which version works best.

To summarise then;

1 – Make sure the video files are in the right format and are the right size for your computer and software.

2 – Make sure you have copied the video files to the same folder as your presentation.

3 – Menu – Insert; Movie

4 – Don’t resize the movie!

Good luck – and you know where we are, if you have any further questions!

For more information, here are the official Microsoft sites which have a lot more information on the whole topic.

For POWERPOINT 2003:  click here
For POWERPOINT 2007:  click here.

And finally, thanks to Charles and Paola of Viva, our favourite provider of Powerpoint whizziness, for proofing these thoughts.