Chet Davis - Your Technology Tutor

Friday is National Day of Listening... a great time to capture your family history!

This Friday I have a suggestion for you, for us all.  In addition to reheating the left-overs, partaking in the 'Black Friday' sales at obscenely early hours... listen to someone.  Ok, that sounds rather odd -- but Friday is the official 'National Day of Listening'.

Put forth by the non-profit organization 'Story Corps' they recommend and invite you to "set aside one hour to record a conversation with someone important to you. You can interview anyone you choose: an older relative, a friend, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood."

With so many readily accessible technology tools - it is easier than ever to document the life stories of folks who are important to us, whether they are family, friends or community members. My first experience with a life store is when I recorded my grandmother some 20 years ago.  I was amazed at the stories she shared with me (and my video camera)... I had not previously heard of what she shared with me that day.  I now treasure her stories preserved.  I have also interviewed my father on a couple of different occasions and glad for that as he passed away this April.

I like how the Story Corps call this a Day of Listening... kind of takes away some of the 'pressure' on both sides of conducting an interview.  Really that's what a good interview is anyway -- an opportunity for active listening... where we _really_ listen to the stories of another person.

The website has some good materials to get you started on this project... after you click on the 'National Day of Listening on the Study Corps website you can

1. Download the Do-It-Yourself Instruction Guide. This 4-page PDF document takes you though pretty much all you need to know and do to prepare for and conduct your Listening

2. Create a question list using their custom Question Generator. This is really cool - it's a series of about 4 interactive web pages that allow to construct your own questions to ask your 'subject'.  Then you can print it out... there are lots of great questions for you to peel away the years and open up some great memories.

And these resources are free!

You can read more about the Story Corps on the StoryCoprs website

Cool Times We're In - You Can Edit Part of the Digital Revolution (Star Wars too)

  I continue to be amazed to see evidence each month how the revolutions in technology are democratizing the media, what I mean to say is that our access to technology is allowing us as individuals to make our thoughts and ideas, our stories known where just decades ago it was the power-brokers, the politicians and the corporations with lots of dollars who were the ones 'owning the media'. 

Now with affordable camcorders (and video phones) & editing in your laptop and distribution on YouTube and other internet channels most anyone can be an indie film-maker or online Journalist.

I recently learned that the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is stepping up to the plate with a cool options.  The BBC's 'Digital Revolution', is a four part TV series for BBC Two (Channel in the UK) about how the web is changing the world. Due in 2010, it's in production now, and we're offering a range of ways to interact with the program team and the content the BBC produces.

We - you and I can actually get involved by downloading and editing interviews from the series... yes, you and I can download this ongoing, growing collection of rushes (video sequences) from the production, to watch, share, download, and even edit together your own program, documentary on the impact of the internet.  How cool is that! 

There is the provision that we cannot use the footage for commercial purposes but we have access to some key people in the history of the internet (folks like Vint Cerf - considered the father of the internet, Jimmy Wales the Founder of Wikipedia, Araianna Huffington of the Huffington Post and more.  For more information and to download your own interview clips (for editing) see the web pages of the project here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/digitalrevolution/rushes.shtml

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On a similar but way different note - I also learned that a group of Star Wars fans are working independently and together to recreate or remake that icon of our age, Star Wars!

472 people have signed-up to recreate 'Start Wars: A New Hope' .  The organizers have split the movie up into 15-second long scenes and folks are recreating their 15-seconds of movie magic... when completed the whole thing will be stitched together for a great fan-fest.  Cool idea... will be interesting to see when done (or maybe it won't).

You can read more about this project on their website:  http://www.starwarsuncut.com/

YouTube Goes full HD

A number of my friends and colleagues use YouTube as their primary means of distributing/sharing videos online with their friends & family (and several who also share videos with clients and prospective clients -- these are friends who provide professional videography services for weddings, corporate communications, etc.). 

In recent years YouTube was widely known as a great site to find almost any kind of short video from clay-animation to goofy stunts and music videos but amongst video professionals it was also widely panned because of poor video quality.  Since Google purchased YouTube and invested a lot of resources YouTube has become an online video host with a high degree of quality as well as outreach.  I was amazed to learn that YouTube receives some 20 hours of video uploaded to their website every minute - yes, that's every minute!

For video aficionados, YouTube begins another technological feather in their cap with the support for viewing 1080p High Definition videos on their channel in full resolution.

YouTube made the announcement that "YouTube's HD mode will add support for viewing videos in 720p or 1080p, depending on the resolution of the original source, up from our previous maximum output of 720p .

As resolution of consumer cameras increases, we want to make sure YouTube is the best home on the web to showcase your content. For viewers with big monitors and a fast computer, try switching to 1080p to get the most out of the full-screen experience.

And for my friends who have uploaded high-resolution videos previously to their YouTube channel - the team at YouTube is thinking of you as well --  "And those of you who have already uploaded in 1080p, don't worry. We're in the process of re-encoding your videos so we can show them the way you intended."

To gather the full sense of this new development - you can view sample screen shots from a video in four different resolutions: 360p, 480p, 720p and 1080p on the YouTube official blog

NOTE: For my readers who are new to High-Definition video, the 'p' stands for Progressive. 
The TV we grew up on was 'i' or Interlace TV.  Each frame of video was composed of two fields (or 1/2 frames) that split up the full screen into a series of odd and even lines.  This helped prevent flicker in early TV.  With improved technology many of the newer camcorders allow the operator to shoot in progressive mode and the newer HD TVs allow us to view programming in progressive mode. 

For more information on the Interlace and Progressive technology (and the debate between the benefits of each) I recommend the following web pages: InsideGeek Canada:  Interlaced vs. Progressive (Streaming 7-minute video that provides a good base of knowledge on the topic). TechDigs.net - Pro:  Progressive vs. Interlaced. What's the difference?  A blog entry with some good information o the subject.

5 Simple Tips for Creating Better Titles for Your Videos

Last month I shared some thoughts on the importance of audio.  Today I share five simple tips to creating better titles for your video projects.  Titles are interesting components in your videos... they're not necessarily a terribly important part of the subject but they can really either add to or detract from your finished piece.

And if you think of how titles are used in the movies/films - they are often the first thing that the audience sees and the last.  That's why many feature films have a separate crew/group that produces just the titles for a film.  

Here now are my five simple suggestions that will improve your video titles:

 1. A common mistake by novice producers is to create the text/graphics that run all the way near the edge of the frame. With TV/video you should leave an imaginary border around the edge of the frame.

Put your graphics into what is known as the 'essential area' (also known as the Safe Title area) of the TV screen. If your titles run too far off any side of the screen they may be cut-off in others monitors (there is a variation between TVs)

Here is an example of what happens when the titles do not       conform to the safe title are (titles are prepared too far near each side)

 2. A video screen is no the place to display significant amount of text. Keep it abbreviated, highlighting the important information.  Remember - most folks are not watching television because they love to read lots of text.

3. As a rule of thumb, text should be kept on screen long enough so you can read through it 3 times fast. This gives the slow readers enough time to digest the material, but is still quick enough not to bore fast readers. A lot of beginners videos I see the sub-title (someone's name or place name - also called a 'lower-third') runs on for minutes. This distracts from the other elements taking place.

4. It is generally advised to avoid using the color red in text. This is especially true of consumer video formats (VHS, 8mm) as red tends to 'bleed' or run together and words in red will be difficult to read. Also, high contrast colors between your background and your text is generally recommended (if you have varying background where you titles are superimposed upon - it can be useful to use a contrasting color as the edge or outline of your title).

5. Use a print style or font that is clean and simple... the elaborate styles will become difficult to read, especially with generational signal loss. So avoid heavy serif-ed fonts and elaborate fonts like Old English or Germanic fonts. For fonts that really help embellish your topic/subject, check out the free font collections like the ones at www.DaFont.com (see related post below)

*Oh, yes let me add one other strong suggestion... before rendering/creating or finalizing your titles, it is a great idea to have another person in your office/family read through the credits while you play them in preview. This may prevent any glaring spelling or grammar errors.

Related Posts: Fonts for Better Video Titles

Question: When Can Your Video Become a Postage Stamp ?

Answer:  When you incorrectly mix aspect ratio.

Yesterday I shared some info and thoughts about the different aspect ratios of video/TV, the 4:3 and the 16:9 (or wide-screen).  Now on most contemporary TVs (and in conjunction with modern DVD players) you can playback a video in it's original aspect ratio using one of the many viewing options (Aspect or 1:1, Stretch, Zoom, etc).  My favorite and recommendation to others is to view your movies/videos in their original aspect ratio -- and if that means a different aspect ratio than your monitor you will have matte (black borders) added either at the top and bottom or left and right sides (see yesterday's post for more on this topic: Video Aspect Ratios: Understanding Pillarboxing & Letterboxing )

Today our topic is what happens if someone processes/edits a video, employing aspect ration correction but then that video is played incorrectly -- here is an explanation and some illustrations that detail the undesirable effects that could occur...

Postage Stamp

One of the undesirable possible effects is called window-boxing or the postage stamp effect.This occurs when an image appears centered in a television screen, with the black matte (borders) on all four sides of the image. This diagram will show the resulting effect.

First - we have a 4:3 (standard) video

• At far left with have the original 4:3 video
• In the center image, the 4:3 video has the pillarbox effect added to correctly view on a 16:9 monitor
• In the right image, the pillar-boxed video (16:9) now has letterbox effect added to view on a 4:3 monitor but with the previously added Pillar-box effect we now have a window-box or postage stamp effect.

 This next row shows a 16:9 (wide-screen) video with similar results

• At far left with have the original 16:9 video
• In the center image, the 16:9 video has the letter-box effect added to correctly view on a 4:3 monitor
• In the right image, the letter-boxed video (now 4:3) now has pillar-box effect added to view on a 16:9 monitor but with the previously added letter-box effect we now have a window-box or postage stamp effect.
  

Ultimately, you want your audience to use the version that fits the aspect ratio of their TV - if they are using wide-screen, hopefully they will access a wide-screen original and not the letter-boxed version.  And your audience viewing on a 4:3 monitor should access your standard aspect ratio work from the original (not pillar-boxed) version.

Video Aspect Ratios --- Understanding Pillarboxing & Letterboxing

It is important to be aware of the potential pitfalls when editing and displaying various aspect ratios. 

First, I should share what the aspect ratio is -- this is the ratio that your video image/program fills on the TV monitor.  For years we only had the 4:3 aspect ratio* when creating video (film/theater works with yet a different aspect ratio).  But in recent years with the introduction of first, wide-screen video and the now consuming craze of HD (High Definition), both of which use the 16:9 aspect ratio  - it is important to understand this concept.

It is unlikely that you will find video cameras, new ones at least that shoot only 4:3.  Most if not all new camcorders/video cameras shoot Wide-screen SD (Standard Definition) if not HD (High Definition).  I am a strong proponent of shooting in wide-screen.  Here is a comparison between the two aspect ratios:

The light violet represents a 4:3 15" TV monitor and the light green represents a 16:9 19" TV monitor.

At first I was a little reluctant to embrace the Wide-screen but then I got more into it and now fully believe it is _the_ way to go with your video, whether you are shooing for profit or for pleasure.  For one, the wide-screen format more closely matches the human field of vision (the human field of vision is more rectangular than the square-ish representation presented by the older 4:3 aspect ratio). 

So - the challenge is, what if you have a 4:3 program and play it on a 16:9 or Wide-screen monitor or vice versa.  I believe (and this is preference here, not gospel) the best viewing option is to set your monitor for for borders.  These borders keep the program (video) in the original aspect ratio and then 'place' it on the monitor with the borders to fill in the space that the video does not otherwise occupy. 

If you have a 4:3 aspect ratio video and display it on a 16:9 TV/monitor - with the mattes (black borders) activated you will add what is called 'Pillar-boxes' (like two pillars on each side of the video).

And if you playback a 16:9 (Wide screen) program on a 4:3 monitor - if/when you have the option to preserve the aspect ratio, to keep it wide-screen you would be adding mattes (black borders) at the top and bottom (since 16:9 is wider than it is tall).  This is called 'Letter-boxing' and many of us are more familiar with this as we are used to seeing hollywood films on our TV in the wide screen format with these black mattes (borders) at top and bottom of the screen.

.  The ability to add the mattes is usually done by the DVD player - if your player is not performing the operation to your preference, you sometimes need to adjust the player settings (in the DVD player menu).

I know a number of people who used to share that these black borders would drive them nuts when watching a movie or show on their TV.  I much prefer this to the other options of zoom (where your TV zooms into the center of the program to avoid any borders, but eliminating a portion of the outer scene) or the stretch, where a program is stretched to fit the TV (yikes, looks like a fun-house mirror).

Then there is the issue of when a producer, in the editing process, adds letterbox or pillar-box effects and then plays it on the incorrect monitor... there is some undesirable effects which I will present tomorrow.

* In my research for today's post I found it interesting that the 4:3 aspect ratio was first standardized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences after the development of optical sound on film. The early TV engineers modeled their 'box' after this aspect ratio and tapped into a catalog of films that would play satisfactorily on TV (films from the 1940s & 1950s).  The film industry, however, moved to the cinematic wide-screen aspect ratios when their movie going attendance dropped with the rise of TV, as a means of separating and distinguishing them from this other growing media.

Additional info on the history of aspect ratios can be found here: Aspect Ratios - Wikipedia

DVD... Disc Capacity as it relates to video projects.

That mainstream video delivery media... that shiny disc we know as DVD - is the acronym for Digital Video Disc.  Some of the folks who created DVD technology tried to make popular the name Digital Versatile Disc as they wanted their technology to be seen for more than just video.

As mentioned in yesterday's article - So, how much data can I fit on that disc? - the single layer DVD has a stated capacity of 4.7 BG (which in reality only will hold some 4.38 GB). In a conversation with a colleague today, he asked "so -- what does that translate into in terms of video time or length of your program?" 

Well, there are many variables here so that is difficulty to answer accurately... let's explore this a little. And the following conversation, when I discuss time/length all concerns SD- Standard Definition video, HD video on Blu-ray discs is another matter altogether for another day.

Single-Layer DVDs

A very over-simplified answer is that a single layer DVD should hold just under 2-hours of video. Now let's mention a couple of the variables - the addition of motion menus (where you have full motion video or animation for the main menu and/or chapter menus does consume some of the capacity and then to fit more data (longer video program) onto the DVD you have options in most of the video editing and DVD authoring software that allows you to adjust the compression setting for both the video and the audio.

If you are working on a video editing application and/or DVD authoring application with individual variable settings for bit-rate, etc.  you may wish to consider employing a Bit Budget Calculator to precisely calculate the projected size of your project so you can make the best settings for your given project. 

There is a bit-budget calculator online - at Kenstone.net that is apparently highly regarded.  But frankly, after I downloaded and opened it, it made me yearn for the simply authoring options in Casablanca Arabesk or Apple's iDVD software.

The long and the short of it is this, the simply answer is plan to get around 1-hour and 50-minutes at the default (normal) setting/s. If you edit with the Casablanca Digital Video Editor, check out this article that specifies the time for each of the settings in DVD Arabesk software

Dual-Layer DVDs

Now dual layer DVDs allow a little less than double the capacity of the single layer DVD discussed above -- however there are a couple of factors to consider here:

• Dual-layer DVD cost between two and three times the price of single layer DVD media
• Dual layer DVD suffer from a slightly lower success rate than single-layer duplication (according to my friends at CAM Audio, Inc. who run all my DVD duplication jobs)
• Lastly, it can be tricky to set the switch point where the laser playing back the DVD switches from one layer to the next (this layer change is invisible on some players, but it can cause the video to freeze for a fraction of a second or up to 4 seconds on other players).
• Older DVD players have difficulty playing back dual-layer DVDs

For now, the video producers I affiliate with are of the opinion that it is better to go with a single layer DVD than a dual-layer disc.

A great website to learn more about DVDs (than you likely even every thought of) is this one:

DVDs De-Mystified: DVD Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers)  The site is maintained by Jim Taylor is SVP and Chief Technologist at Sonic Solutions. Jim is the author of DVD Demystified and Blu-ray Disc Demystified, the best-selling book series published by McGraw-Hill (available through Amazon).com

So, how much data can I fit on that disc* ?

Whether you are working with a computer for productivity, for photography or video editing -- you are likely going to use a disc* for importing materials and also for exporting the finished program. This may change in the coming months and years as new forms of solid state media are becoming all the rage.

But since discs are still the common form of storing, transferring and distributing data, media and programs I thought I would pass along the following information as to how much data you can fit onto one of the common disc formats:

• CD = 700 MB (MegaBytes)
  
• DVD = 4.7 GB (GigaBytes)
• DVD-DL (Dual Layer) = 8.5 GB (GigaBytes)
  
• Blu-ray = 25 GB (GigaBytes)
  
• Blu-ray DL = 50 GB (GigaBytes)

This growth in size capacity is clearly illustrated in the following chart -- it is amazing how much data difference there is between the CD and the Dual Layer Blu-ray disc.  Same looking silver disc... wow!

By the way - not all discs are created equal.  The discs you can get on sale at the local warehouse store is not something I recommend you use.  You spend hours working on a project, it is worth your investment to work with a higher quality disc... this is particularly true and important when producing DVDs.  There are cheap discs that you and I can purchase that have low or no quality control.  They may result in DVD failure -- I have spoken with colleagues over the years who have experienced this.  Stick with a quality, industrial brand name product. 

I work pretty much exclusively with Taiyo Yuden DVDs and choose to purchase them through the good folks at CAM Audio, Inc. in Dallas, Texas.  They have quality product at reasonable prices (you purchase the discs in spools of 50 or 100).  You can download a catalog from CAM Audio here -- and you can visit them on the web at www.CamAudio.com or you can call them at 866-364-1317. They sponsor another website I produce but I choose to purchase all my product from them... good folks!

* The difference between disc and disk.

Discs

A disc refers to optical media, such as an audio CD, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, or DVD-Video disc. All discs are removable, meaning when you un-mount or eject the disc from your desktop or Finder , it physically comes out of your computer.

Disks

A disk refers to magnetic media, such the disk in your computer's hard drive, an external hard drive. Disks are always rewritable unless intentionally locked or write-protected. Disks are usually sealed inside a metal or plastic casing (often, a disk and its enclosing mechanism are collectively known as a "hard drive").

Thanks to this Apple Support Article for the difference between the c and k

Would you like a side of audio with your video?

It's been said that the image delivers the information, the sound - the emotion. 

And if you doubt that, watch a sequence from one of your favorite movies/films with the sound down.  The sound has such a dominant impact on our feelings, our perception of a movie.  And so for those of us who create our own videos it is very important to keep this in mind. 

Something common among many beginning videographers is the lack of attention to the sound portion of their video production.  We somehow get the idea that the picture is the most important part of the experience for the viewer.

Sometimes as humans, we don't realize how much we depend on our sense of hearing.  Think for a moment about the fact that your sense of hearing is 'on duty' 24 hours a day, whereas our sense of sight is 'shut down' during your sleeping hours.

It is important that we video-makers understand that the sound track for our video projects should receive special attention.  You might think of the sound information as the 'audio space'. 

In addition to dialog or narration, music and sound effects tell the viewer what is happening.  Good quality audio track can enhance and often 'make' a good video, whereas a poor quality sound track can detract from an otherwise good project. 

The late Don Hewitt *(Producer of CBS' '60 Minutes) shared how it is your ear as much as your eye that keeps viewers in front of a television set. Hewitt stresses the importance of having good audio in his 'pieces' (story-segments)

So today I encourage you (and remind myself) to renew efforts to provide our audience with quality, complimentary audio and your results will be all the more pleasing, and the impact of your videos will be even more effective. Over the next few days I will share some suggestions to help you on this path.

Fonts for better Video Titles

I believe one of the things that leaves a lasting impression on your audience when crafting a video project is creative titles... not only titles that are appropriately placed but using fonts that fit the project.  For years I used a video editor that had a set group of fonts and I did my best to select a font from that relatively small number of fonts.  A friend turned me on to a website that has a ton of fonts that I have begun to use in my videos and I love the new look is has enabled!

   The website is www.DaFont.com - at the main page on their website you will    see the    featured (newest) fonts and then you can seek fonts by category.  For   example, if you are producing a video for children at school, go to the 'Script'  column and click on 'School'. You  will see 3 pages of fonts that fit this category.  Scroll down to the see the preview of the fonts... I like the font named 'Little Days' on page one.

  If you're producing a video for an upcoming holiday - like Halloween - go to the 'Holidays' column and click on 'Halloween' You are presented with several really cool looking fonts with a definite Halloween feel.  Click on one of these fonts and you are taken to the page where you will then see all the characters in that font set.  

Back on the main page of DaFont.com - click in the Dingbats column, these are fonts where the keys on your keyboard don't usually produce letters/numbers but instead a picture or graphic.  Click on 'Ancient' in the Dingbats and then the 'Mexican Ornaments' font.  This would enhance your family's travel video to Mexico.

Be advised that these fonts are made available with the font artist contact information - most every font on this site is provided free for private use.  If you wish to use any of these fonts in a commercial (paid) video project you are advised to contact the artist for permission and/or license arrangements.

To use these fonts in your computer software video editing program - follow the instructions on the front page of DaFont.com.  If you need further assistance - click on the Help link that provides greater details.   The beauty of these fonts is that you can use them not only in your video editor program but in all the other applications on your computer like your Word Processing and your Presentation (PowerPoint, Keynote) software. 

If you are editing on a stand-alone editor like Casablanca, you will need the Smart Edit 8+ or Bogart 2 Operating System and can download the fonts first to your PC and then onto your editor via either CD or USB Flash Drive.