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Video tips
Movie files can really make your story come to life. They can be attached to stories in the same way images can. But remember to keep your movies short and small - they can take a very long time to download. There are many different ways of capturing and editing your video, some simple, some not so simple. You choose!
Flash Blogging
Flash Blogging is available as a feature through the Making the News website and allows you to record a 'talking head' using a simple web camera, microphone and accessing the MTN server.
Links: Flash Blogging
What video formats can I use?
QuickTime movies (files ending .MOV), Windows Media movies (files ending .WMV) & Flashblog movies can all be used within MTN.
What codecs can I use to compress my video?
When compressing the files, you should use commonly-accepted CODECs like CinePak (good), Sorensen 3 (better) and H.263 (best). H.264 should not be used as only QuickTime 7 can play it back, and this is not yet widely in use on Windows machines.
What file properties should I use?
Remember that file sizes need to be kept fairly small, so:
- limit your window sizes to no more than 320x240
- frame rate no higher than 15fps
- durations to less than 3 minutes
Editing video
There are various types of software available to edit movies and output them in the appropriate format. Some of these are simple to use like Windows Movie Maker and other like Adobe Premier take a long time to master, if ever.
Windows Movie Maker
A free video-editing tool included with Microsoft Windows XP. Easy for anyone to use. e.g. Create your own movie using a digital video camera, Windows XP and Movie Maker.
Links: Take part - How to use Movie Maker 2 - Digital Storytelling
Plug-ins
QuickTime
In order to play back QuickTime movies, you need Apple's QuickTime software installed. It comes as standard on all Macs, but is not so common on Windows computers. To download the QuickTime installer, visit The Apple QuickTime website.
Windows Media Player
The
latest version of Windows Media Player can be obtained from the
Microsoft Downloads website. A player is available for Macs.