MindBite Insight #8 (Basic Lighting)

This information on basic lighting is for those out there who want to take your videos or MindBites to the next level. There are items you probably have around your house that can help the lighting in your video look better. If you don’t have these items around, a trip to the local hardware store will get you what you need for a reasonable price. Cheap is good. Even one 75 watt light from a hardware store can make a difference, especially, if you are showing a process or detail of an object. This is what you need:

• Extension cord, power strip,
• 1-3 Lights with Clips (3 lights if you want to try 3 point lighting, however, 1 light is better than nothing!). These lights need bulbs with wattage ranging from 75 watts-150 watts
• 300 watt dimmer
• hand clamp
• white card board, white foam board or white poster board, 3′x4′ in size or there abouts
• Colored gels-a transparent, colored sheet of think plastic-like material used to color light. This item is not at hardware stores, but can be purchased online for relatively cheap from any lighting manufacturer or equipment rental company.
• Clothes pins for clipping gels to lights

Mounting the lights will depend on your area, and what is near your subject. For example, if you are near a door way, then clip the light on the door or door frame. A table or window sill works too. If there are no ledges or surfaces on which to clip the lights, then the back of a chair or (my favorite) a 5′-6′ ladder works well. The ladder has many purposes, it can be used as a light stand or for clamping a white board/bounce card.

Where to position your lights?

If you follow this basic 3 point lighting scheme, your video will look more on the pro side than ever before. This diagram below can give you a basic idea. It’s a good practice to get your subject, or yourself far away from the background as possible. This is important because it helps to separate what you are filming from the background, giving the shot more depth. Do your best, I know this can sometimes be impossible due to the limitation of shooting space.

White Balance?

White Balance (WB) can get pretty complex and I won’t go too deep into it because most cameras have a built in white balance. However, doing it manually usually gets better results. Basically, White Balancing is setting the way the camera processes the Red, Green and Blue (RGB) or primary colors in your scene so that all the different color tones between RGB are accurate. So blue looks blue and red looks red and all the other colors are adjusted to their true tone as what the naked eye would see. I suggest that you play around it until you are comfortable with doing it and even compare it to the camera’s auto white balance.

How to set the WB?

After your lights and camera are set up:

• Turn off any light with a colored gel because the color will throw off your white balance and colors will not appear in their true value
• Take a blank white paper or poster board and place it in front of your subject
• Zoom in with the camera to where the white card fills up the entire frame, focus, then push your WB button (this may vary between cameras) usually, cameras have this WB icon that will flash then stop once it’s set:

Once the White Balance is set then you are ready to record!

Check out the new MindBites Insight video on Basic Lighting for more information on lighting materials and techniques.

Tags: Video Lighting Production Authoring | Posted in General, Video Production and Publishing | No Comments »

The Latest PC Editing Programs

Which Do I Need and Which Should I Buy?

Newcomers to digital video creation on PC really have two choices for software editing programs, 1. Go with the free built in Windows Movie Maker (or other free equivalent like pinnacle’s VideoSpin) 2. Purchase one of the many software packages that run around $100. This post addresses the most important question that arises from these two options: Do I need to pay for a program and if so, which should I buy?

The part of the question “Do I need to pay for a program?” can be answered by asking yourself if you feel limited by the capabilities of Movie Maker or whatever free software you use. There is nothing wrong with free as long as you don’t feel the need to do more than what the program offers. If you feel held back by the limitations, by all means spend the money and get a stand-alone editing program. I promise you will not regret the decision.

The answer to “Which should I buy?” used to be a convoluted one, but as of late, two programs, Pinnacle Studio 11 Ultimate and Adobe Premiere Elements 4, have emerged at the top of every list.

The reason Studio 11 and Elements fare so well is because of two very important concepts: Support and Cross-Compatibility. Other PC editors like Roxio Easy Media Creator, Corel Ulead VideoStudio, and Sony Vegas are created by companies whose main target is not video products. Sony is new to the video software marketplace and their editors, though not bad, require a lot of prior technical knowledge and don’t integrate all the video processes (capture, edit, export) very well. Corel is known for their Draw software, and again cannot compete within the video editing landscape that for so long has been dominated by Pinnacle and Adobe. Roxio makes CD burning software for God’s sake!

If you are serious about video-making, go with Adobe Elements 4 or Pinnacle Studio 11 Ultimate. It is worth the investment and the wonderful support, and frequent updates insure your software will not become outdated a few months after your purchase.

Another good reason to go with one of these two? MindBites will be providing feedback and instructional videos for these platforms to further your enablement as an author. You can already find two Premiere Elements videos (Beginners Guide, Intro to Animation), and one on Pinnacle Studio 11 is soon to come.

Tags: Corel, Movie Maker, Peremiere Elements, Pinnacle, Roxio, Studio 11, Ulead, VideoSpin | Posted in Video Production and Publishing | 1 Comment »

Tread Lightly: Using Music in your Lesson

There is nothing I despise more than being dragged down into the legalese of copyright infringement, when all I want is to work and create unimpeded. Unfortunately, we reside in a world surrounded by red tape, and one must tread lightly and with severe caution, lest you find yourself lost amidst a mine field.

Infringement of music rights is something of a hot topic right now, what with peer-to-peer sharing and illegal album downloads at an all-time high (a recent study suggests that 58% of all music obtained in the U.S. is done illegally). Now, the reason we’ve decided to take up the reigns and discuss copyright infringement is because we’ve received several questions, usually about music, of such a nature that indicates many MindBiters are mistaken as to what is allowable regarding the use of other people’s material: How much of a song can I use? Is only popular music under copyright? If a work is really old, is it free to use? Can I record myself playing a “Coldplay” song and be safe from infringement?

Well, I hate to burst everyone’s bubble but essentially ALL MUSIC RECORDINGS ARE COPYRIGHTED, and use of a song, any piece of a song, no matter how long or short, must be cleared by its owners to be in accordance with the law. Yep, it’s lame, but true. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: copyright, music | Posted in Video Production and Publishing | No Comments »

VideoSpin: Free PC Video Editing by Pinnacle

Pinnacle Systems recently released a free PC editing program called VideoSpin, requiring only a 148-megabyte download from www.videospin.com. I decided to give the program a try to see what the implications were for MindBites users and those looking for cost-effective ways to edit on the PC. Unfortunately, my heart is not set on VideoSpin, and all-in-all it doesn’t change the landscape of free PC editing in any fundamental way.

I will start with what is good about VideoSpin and then mention my critiques. The program has almost no learning curve. Its interface is simple and linear. You have mainly two modes: Edit and Make Movie. All the editing, adding sound effects, transitions, titles, and so on is done in Edit mode, and then Make Movie is used to export your final product.

There is a nice volume bar that you can easily key-frame and move around, making fading audio in and out very simple. The program also renders transitions as you place them, which alleviates the problem of thinking you did something wrong when your un-rendered video plays choppy. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: DiVX, editing, Movie Maker, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Pinncale, Studio 11, VideoSpin | Posted in Video Production and Publishing | 1 Comment »

How to Make a Homemade Green Screen

So, you wanna add some special effects to your awesome instructional video on how to fly like superman? You could go all out and create your own self-standing back drop with PVC piping and muslin fabric that will set you back fifty bucks, still a far-cry from the industry standard. But in this article, we are doing it up college-style, a.k.a. with a budget under five dollars, and the only materials we need are green poster board, duct tape, and a light source, all found in your local drug store.

BACKDROP SETUP

1. First, how big is your subject’s action? Are you walking, standing or sitting? Is it a full-body action or just a shot from the waist up? Once you know your subject’s actions you can fill the background with the necessary amount of green poster to match.

2. Set up your poster board against a wall. Place duct tape behind the poster to keep it in place. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Green Screen, Homemade | Posted in Video Production and Publishing | No Comments »

The RODE Scholar (A Microphone Review)

Mazal Tov! We at MindBites are proud to announce that we have a wonderful new addition to our ever-expanding equipment family. It just arrived a few days ago in a cocoon of shrink wrap and packaging tape, and we couldn’t be more pleased. I can hardly put the little bugger down.

The RODE Videomic is one heck of a toy. It’s a unidirectional, condenser microphone that packs quite a punch for it’s going price. You’ll find it at most places for just under $150, though discount sites like B&H Photo and Video may have some killer deals that out-do the suggested retail value. Now obviously, it’s not the best microphone I’ve ever used, but I’ve had my lucky little appendages on some honkers in my day, most of which go for thousands of dollars, easy. Since the RODE costs less than a night out at the opera, you can bet that it is top in its class.

The fact that the Videomic is unidirectional means that it silences unwanted noises that approach from the sides, generally picking up only sound sources directly in front of the receiver and, to a lesser extent, those behind it as well (this allows for the operator’s voice to be heard on tape in interview type scenarios). This is important for clear and focused sound, as opposed to what one might obtain with an omnidirectional mic.

It requires a single 9-volt battery which provides over 100 hours of operation. It’s a large beast, the microphone itself being just over 8 inches without the mounting system. As you may have noticed from the accompanying pics, it more or less dwarfs the camera it’s attached to. However, though it’s size is somewhat daunting when compared with other on-camera microphones, it’s very light and doesn’t impede or even much effect handheld recording.

Its sound quality is very good, obtaining an even vocal equalization that is neither too high nor too low. The OFF/ON switch can be pushed to a third position that engages the bass roll-off feature, which will quiet and even mute certain low frequency drone ambiance like refrigerator hum and nearby freeway noise. It connects to the camera via a 1/4″ jack, similar to what you will see on headphones. This will be an issue if your camera has only XLR inputs, but for most consumer and prosumer camcorders, this connection will work fine for on-camera microphone mounting (if the mic was further away, say twenty feet or more, than a 1/4″ cable connection would begin to produce an unpleasant hum noticeable on tape).

My favorite feature of the mic is that it comes with an accompanying shock mount. The whole set-up fits snugly onto the camera’s hot-shoe and employs little elastic bands that diffuse motion waves from small impacts and unsteady hand operation, all of which can negatively affect the recorded audio. This makes handheld recording much more effective as the operator can focus less on disturbing the mic and more on recording quality images.

All in all, I enjoy this mic very much. It wipes the floor with the other microphones in our MindBites arsenal, and I had been fairly happy with those prior to the arrival of the RODE. I recommend it to anyone who is looking to up the ante on their video productions without splurging for the truly professional and grotesquely exorbitant microphones.

Tags: Mics, Product Review, Rode | Posted in Video Production and Publishing | No Comments »

Building Your Own Inexpensive Home Editing Suite

As a beginning video editor just learning the ropes, it may seem impractical to build up your own editing suite in your home or apartment. I agree if you are comfortable doing your limited-scale editing on your home PC or Mac. However, if you decide to get more advanced and find yourself limited by the hardware you have, it might be time to upgrade to a home editing system that can cater to your more professional needs.

I would like to share with the reader some tips for creating a home editing suite, as I have done in my apartment, and hopefully show that for not a lot of money and time you can increase efficiency of your editing system.

First off, the obvious question: Mac or PC? The obvious answer: If you have a solid chunk of change you are going to put into your system and are comfortable with Final Cut Studio and other Mac software, by all means go for Mac. The new Mac desktops have super fast Intel processors in dual-core and quad-core arrangements. Splurge on the system, buy two 17’’ or 19’’ monitors, and you are set. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: dual-monitors, DV deck, Editing suite, MAC, Mini DV, PC, RAM | Posted in Life and Learning, Video Production and Publishing | No Comments »

The MindBite Insight (Episode #7 - Spicing up your Video)

We’ve received several requests from anxious MindBiters recently, requesting an Insight that delves into adding add-ons to add additional adornments to make one’s video adequate. Yep, you heard me.

So this week’s Insight explores a range of topics: Titles, Transitions, and Sound Effects, to be specific. We gloss over some important rules you should be aware of as you go about sprucing up your video and give tips and tricks we use to make our projects look just that much more professional. We don’t suggest that you spend all of your precious time attempting to create CGI’s with artificial intelligence who will introduce your lesson, but a little decoration never hurt.

Tags: Sound Effects, Titles, Transitions, Webisode | Posted in MindBites News and Notes, Video Production and Publishing | No Comments »

Mic Check!

There’s nothing I enjoy more than the sound of my own voice. Ahh, the soothing baritone, the melodic timbre. And the love I hold for my seraphic vocalizations is only increased by one thing, amplification!

That’s right, we’re talking microphones today. You’ve all seen them. You are acquainted with their shape and function. You may have even mentally transformed the handle of your hairbrush into one for a brief, bathroom rendition of “I Will Survive”. But how well do you understand the complexity of the microphone’s inner-workings or, more importantly, the different makes and models? I’m going to go ahead and guess not well, so I’ll attempt to educate.

(**Note - This is a cursory explanation, the science of microphones is a detailed and complex discipline, of which I know only the superficial details.)

There are basically two different categories of mics: dynamic and condenser. The subcategories for these two branch off into several winding directions, but the main distinction between the classifications are that condenser mics require electronic power while dynamic mics do not. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Mics, Sound | Posted in Video Production and Publishing | No Comments »

Using Craigslist to Market your Lessons

As an author of MindBites lessons, I realize how important it is to reach out to the community to let people know that my lessons exist. One way that I have found to be extremely effective is Craigslist, which is a free online classified service. I have noticed that other successful authors have used Craigslist to market their MindBites, and they are definitely getting some traffic to their lessons.

Mark Peterson, a great MindBites author who is an exercise equipment repair specialist, uses Craigslist to promote his services locally as well as his MindBites lessons. Here is an example of his posting:

Do you know if you’re buying good exercise equipment ? - $90

Reply to: sale-558281354@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-01-31, 10:01AM CST
Know your machine before you buy.
Don’t get taken on over used and unmaintained exercise equipment.
Do you know how to tell if you’re buying a good treadmill?

E-mail today for a professional inspection.
23-Year veteran service tech Mark Peterson can show you the details.

Craigslist has some interesting rules that apply to posting ads. The product that you are offering has to be tangible, and sometimes ads for digital videos are flagged and removed from the community, if the wording is not phrased right.

Here are the rules that relate to posting MindBites lessons on Craigslist:

1. If you post non-local or otherwise irrelevant content, repeatedly post the same or similar content, or impose a disproportionately large load on the infrastructure, your posting will be removed.

2. If you post the same item or service in more than one classified category or forum or in more than one metropolitan area, it will be flagged for removal.

3. You can post the same or similar content in the same city every 48 hours, but you must remove the old posting before putting up a new one.

MindBites authors have figured out the best way to word their postings and I would follow these simple tips:

1. If you offer a service in your local city, post under services offered and include a description of the service that you offer and include a link to your MindBites lesson.

2. If you are an instructor, teacher, or local expert, post under services offered, lessons, and tutoring with a description of what you teach with a simple link to your lesson.

3. If you would like to post your lesson in more than one city, it is best to use different titles, slightly different descriptions and possibly a different email address as Craigslist prohibits multiple postings on the same topic and in more than one city.

To learn how to submit a posting on Craiglist, the simple instructions can be found here.

To take your Craigslist postings to the next level, I would recommend using an online service called VFlyer. Their tag line is “The Marketing Platform for Online Sellers”. This service allows people to create virtual flyers that are very slick. Here is an example of the flyer that I recently made through this service as a way to attract new MindBites authors.

VFlyer is extremely easy to use and has step-by-step instructions on how to create these virtual masterpieces. Once you have created the flyer, it is a simple copy and paste to get it on Craigslist. In fact, the basic service is free to use and allows you to have 5 flyers in their system. The part that I like best is that for a small monthly fee, you can embed videos in these flyers, which is what I plan to do next.

Tags: author tools, Craigslist, promoting your lesson, VFlyer | Posted in Video Production and Publishing | No Comments »