When

11:45-12:15 Friday Feb 22, 2008 at UBC Forestry (30 minutes of fun filled action!)

Goal

Beginners walk out of session with enough information to be able to try videoblogging

Script (MC'd by Jordan Behan, assisted by Roland Tanglao and Warren Frey)

1. Videoblogging demo reel showing many types of Video Blogging from Guerilla / Cheap and Cheerful "LIVE RECORDINGS" to full on professionally produced "SHOWS" - 2 minutes
2. Live from Cell Phone Demo (qik.com/roland from N95 livestream first 2-5 minutes)
3. Ustream Streaming Demo (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-from-strutta-headquarters)
4. Warren's "Before You Hit Record" tips - lighting, shooting with an eye to editing, audio, etc.
5. The Videoblogging Process - Ingest, Edit, Publish using point and shoot or cheap video cam
6. Questions and Answers

Videoblogging Basics

Hardware you need

• point and shoot digital camera with video mode (ideal for beginners) OR
• computer with webcam (ideal for beginners) OR
• video camera OR
• cellphone OR

Advanced:

• microphone(s)
• audio mixing board

Software you need

• none! when starting can just post unedited video
• iMovie and MoveMaker (beginner)
• Adobe Premier, Final Cut Express, Final Cut Pro (advanced!)

Many Ways to Videoblog

Live from Cellphone

• quality is lower even with 3G and WiFi, not great for anything with text e.g. slide presentation
• resolution is lower (176x144 aka "CIF" to 320x240 to 640x480)
• buffering is a problem (what if you lose connectivity?), you lose the remainder of your cast
• you typically can't get original file, only flash aka ".flv" files
• easy and no need for USB and Bluetooth chain of pain
• qik.com, flixwagon.com, bambuser.com, comvu.com

!

Live from Laptop

• higher resolution than cellphone
• can use mixer and DV and HD cams
• also typically can't get original
• easy and no need for USB and Bluetooth chain of pain
• advanced: use program like camtwist to combine slides and speaker and stream combined feed
• ustream.tv, mogulus.com, blogtv (allows 2 cameras at one), live.yahoo.com

Non Live to Videosharing Websites

• full spectrum of video cameras: point and shoot digital camera up to pro camera can be used -> optional editing -> upload to website
• blip.tv - advantage - original file and creative commons
• youtube.com - advantage - traffic and popularity
• google video - unlimited size videos

Before you shoot/during the shoot

this segment will go through things you should do before you go out and shoot your video podcast to save yourself time during the shoot and in the editing room

*pick a topic and have a plan. You don’t have to plot out everything you’ll do or write out a script, but having a bunch of points to bring up or goals to accomplish will help focus your shoot.

*bring fully charged batteries, tripod, maybe lights, enough tapes....it’s completely common sense but people, including pros, always forget. Remove the lens ca...another one people forget.

*make sure you get good sound...sound often gets glossed over and it shouldn’t. There are plenty of options other than the microphone on the camcorder, from shotgun mics (I’ll bring in my R0DE) to wireless (I can probably bring that too) to a $25 mic from Radio Shack that gets the job done (again, I have one kicking around.)

*Locations......pick them ahead of time and don’t go to that many. You ideally want your video podcast to be pretty short, so just like in indy filmmaking, minimalism is a virtue. No-one expects you to recreate Lawrence of Arabia.

*When shooting, don’t shoot a pile of footage you don’t need....that will just mean more stuff to plow through in the editing room. Shoot it with an eye as to what you’ll need in the final edit. Make sure if you’re white balancing outside not to take the camera inside without white balancing again, and vice versa.

*If you have the option, go for manual controls over automatic. If you have more control, the image will look better.

*Make sure you’re shooting in a format you can edit later. HDV and DV can be edited..new AVCHD cameras can do it, but it’s sometimes dicey and needs a powerful computer, even though AVCHD cameras are aimed at consumers who may not have a good enough setup.

*On the internet, close ups are good, not so much motion is good, long shots lose meaning, and lots of movement still deteriorates into artifacts.

A Picture is worth a 1000 words

Point and Shoot Videoblogging

Mobile Live Videoblogging aka streaming

Higher Quality Videoblogging

Meet the presenters

From the audience

Session Recording and "Live blog" (in double quotes because it's my first time and I'm still learning the ins-and-outs)