Getting ready to record video

Steps to Creating Videos

While this site is not intended to provide a complete set of instructions for video creation (links to tutorials are available on the Working with Video page), this is a brief overview of the steps needed to take in order to create a video:

PLAN: Understand how, why and for whom you want to use video, then plan the video step by step. Time spent on planning out a video storyboard will save many hours in editing tasks later on. This extremely important step is frequently overlooked by inexperienced video makers, but usually people make this mistake only once! You can seek help or advice at any time from the FDL staff to get started.

Video takes only a little time to shoot, but a lot of time to edit and compress.  A few minutes of planning will save hours, or even days, in editing later.  Keeping a log of shoots and clips you felt went well during the shooting process can help you organize your video for editing.

Sound is often the most important part of video; don't bother working with video that requires audio unless you are certain that your sound capture capabilities are good.

Awareness of photographic lighting principles remains important, but  ambient lighting can serve most needs. Exceptions are longer videos that require natural lighting. For example, in one video a short conversation takes place, while the sun appears to plunge from full afternoon light to dusk in about three minutes.

EQUIPMENT: Gather together the proper hardware and software resources. You can check out recording equipment from FDL or EMS. You can use your own equipment which can vary but should consist of the following, at least:

• A computer purchased in the last four to five years with 4GB+ of RAM and plenty of hard drive space.
• Software to import, edit and encode the video.  Ex: iMovie, Movie Maker, Adobe Premier.
• A digital video camera - complete with storage cards and charged batteries.
• A tripod is highly recommended, especially for stationary shots.
• A microphone that works with your camera, if audio is required (may require batteries).
• A means of storing your video, usually network space, or an external hard drive.
• A means of distributing your video, usually a network location, a streaming server (MediaCAST, YouTube, Vimeo, or DVDs, depending on size and purpose).

Software: If you are make a simple, short film, products such as iMovie, or Movie Maker will serve most people's needs. These products all do a reasonable job of helping users import video, edit and organize clips on a timeline, add sound, and titles and credits and transitions. Best of all, they are all easy to learn and use. When time to export the format should be as H.264 or .mp4, these are the most compatible formats across multiple devices.  More advance users may want to invest in Adobe Premier, Adobe After Effects, or Final Cut Pro, which will provide advanced editing and exporting features. For voice-annotated screen capture movies, recommended softwares are Camtasia, Jing, and Screencast-o-matic.

Unless you are making only a few small movies, it is extremely advisable to have a video storage plan, since video files can take up a huge amount of disk space. (For example, a high-quality, ten-minute movie will take up around 8 gigabites during the editing process). Fortunately, external drives and other storage resources are relatively inexpensive.

Hardware: video editing requires a large amount of disk space, RAM and processor speed. Most computers and even some smart phones or tablets, from the last four to five years will work fine for basic video editing.

STAFF: Assemble any needed support staff, actors or assistance. Enthusiasm helps, so offer rewards such as credits, resume lines and other forms of fame.

SHOOT: Pay attention to lighting, background noise and other issues, then shoot the video. Make sure to do multiple takes, it gives you more option when it comes time to edit.

MOVE: Transfer your video from the camera to your computer via USB cable or storage card. Be aware that you'll need sufficient disk space to succeed at this step.

EDIT: Edit the video using the video editing software.  Make sure you have gathered together and ensured copyright permissions on any additional still shots, audio files, or other content)  Plan to spend most of your time on this step (less if you completed Step #1).

You will begin your video editing project by importing video into the program you are using. Once you do this you will have your video on your computer so you can edit it, as well as an original copy on the storage card from the camera. You should save all the video you have shot on your storage card as a back-up until your project is complete, in case the worst happens and you need access to the originals. As for the footage you have just imported to your computer, you will need a good way to store it.

If you are working on your personal computer, and you have enough memory space (remember, video requires a huge amount of memory, at least 5 GB for a short video), you can simply save your project on your hard drive. However, if you are working on a computer in a Linfield computer lab, or need to use multiple computers to edit your project, you will need an alternative method to save your project. Using a portable hard drive is one option, or a large flash drive depending on the size of the video.

SAVE AS YOU GO and consider making an additional backup copy of your work, in case the worst happens. Remember that video editing is very time consuming, and a hard drive crash or an error of some kind can mean the loss of hours and hours of labor. It would be wise, if possible, to periodically make back-up copies of your project as your are editing it. You can also use a cloud service to store your files and access them from multiple computers.

Sharing Your Project Once you have finished your digital video, you will need to create a final version of the video that other people can view. There are many options you can use, depending on what your final presentation needs to look like. DVD or CD-Rs can be used to store large, high-quality movies, while smaller films can be stored on network space so that they can be viewed online. When deciding which form you want to use, consider who your audience is and what the purpose of your project is. If you are creating a movie which you want others to be able watch at home, a high quality DVD copy is preferable, but if your video is intended for viewing on a computer, you can save it online, or perhaps on a flash drive.

SHARE: Distribute the video according to its intended use. Common options include streaming, DVD and even e-mail for smaller videos.