DV for Teachers

Philips WebCine beta MPEG-4 player from Philips I doubt that many educators will encode MPEG-4 material for educational use anytime soon, but Philips has a beta player for Windows here. Note in the information their emphasis on the mixed blessing of

integration of digital rights management and content protection technologies.

I wonder about the future of Fair Use of copyrighted material for educators; the issue generates considerable heat in areas far removed from Napster.

DV is popping up all over
Los Angeles has a very active users group for Apple’s Final Cut Pro, the LAFCPUG (try to say that three times fast). Erstwhile DV Guy Phillip Hodgetts gives an extensive hands-on review here.

Gretta Wing Miller of Downtown Dailies has a good introductory Final Cut tutorial on the LAFCP site here.

Finally for today, new links in the Cool Links section on the right: the World Wide Users Group for friendly support on a host of multimedia and design issues for Mac, PC, and even Linus and BeOS, from basic to extremely sophisticated, and DV Guys, with a lot of tips and tutorials on Final Cut Pro on the Mac.

Remember in the old Star Trek show, when they just talked to the computer? We aren’t there yet.——-

Adobe Premiere 6.0 arrived last week. I plan to install and work with it within the next couple of weeks and will report on it here.

Links to Premiere 6.0 reviews:

Macworld: Venerable Video Editor Gains DV Support and Interface Enhancements

“Premiere 6 still has some minor rough spots, but it’s improved enough to deserve a close look by anyone editing video on the Mac.”

DV Magazine: Do the new features and integration add up to a winning NLE?

“There’s very little it can’t do and it’s an excellent value.”

Two colleagues and I are preparing a presentation to professors and instructors in our university about video streaming in general, and specifically some of the issues in presenting the video in the online WebCT environment. We’ll try to cover the most vital aspects—when and where to point the camera, optimizing sound recording in difficult circumstances, file compression, and posting with associated content. We also will present good and bad examples, showing the consequences of good and bad planning.

One difficulty I’ve encountered with people unfamiliar with the logistics of making effective computer-based video (in presentations or online)is their expectation of TV-like quality with little or no effort beyond pointing a video camera and pressing the red button. Many professors or other smart, highly-trained people who wish to put video material on their laptops don’t realize:

that video often isn’t the best format for a given presentation

the difficulties of getting any streaming format to work well within PowerPoint (even many of Microsoft’s own “approved” formats can hiccup)

the importance of good sound and microphones and their impact on effective visual presentations

that usually they’ll need external speakers if more than a handful of people need to hear it.

There are other concerns, but that’s a good start for today.——-

Still working on the video project, but this link is too good not to post right away: Bruce Johnson’s Lighting on the Cheap provides excellent advice for getting professional lighting results with inexpensive worklights from a home center, along with some foamcore, aluminum foil, and wooden clothespins. His total cost for the lighting kit: less than $200.

Very very good article for the budget minded educator – the only kind there is, no?——-

The project ate my time – still working on the links promised last week. Should post some tonight. Thank you for your patience.——-

Apple announced Final Cut Pro 2.0, much anticipated by editors at many skill levels. Look at Lisa Brenneis’s overview of the new features “They Moved the Yak”.

Late night tonight. I’ll catch up on some good new links and good advice over the weekend, and post lots of it on Monday.——-

Good, inexpensive lighting

Do you need more light to make your video look more professional on a PTA-funded budget? Try halogen work lamps from your local home center. They often cost as little as $19.95, and with some white foam-core board, you can easily bounce and diffuse the light to good three-point effect. Just make sure to white-balance your camera to insure correct color, especially as halogens can go more yellow as the bulbs near the end of their useful life.

Updates may be meager this week, as Monday is the drop-dead date for the video I’m producing.——-

Timing Video to Audio

Chris Meyer, motion graphics expert, knows a lot about editing – and in this PDF file of a DV magazine article from June 1998, explains the hows and whys of editing your video to your audio track. Very helpful if your students want to make a music video.

You’ll need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file.——-