How David Makes Videos

From comments on my ALA Midwinter 2007: It Can Be Confusing post, Nancy Dowd asks:

“David, What great quality video – what kind of camera did you use? Any hints on how you posted the video?”

Cool question, and thanks! Here’s what I do:

• I currently use a Sanyo Xacti HD1A camcorder (here’s a great review of the Xacti). It takes mpeg-4 video and saves it on an SD card, rather than the usual Mini DV cassette.
• When I shot the video, I did it in little chunks, as I was walking to the session.
• Next comes downloading the clips to my PC – I can either use the software that came with the Xacti or I can take out the SD card, plug in a USB SD card reader, and upload the clips that way.

Then the real fun begins!

• I wanted to edit the video in Windows Movie Maker, so I first had to turn the mpeg-4 video files into AVI files. I did this with the MP4Cam2AVI Easy Converter
• Then, I dropped the files into Windows Movie Maker and edited away.
• Once I was satisfied with my final movie, I saved the movie as an AVI file
• Then I opened the AVI file in Quicktime Pro and saved it as a much smaller quicktime formatted movie
• Finally, I uploaded the movie into my account at blip.tv (and also my youtube account).

And a few video-taking tips, too:

• Film more footage than you need – good for editing later.
• Always film a little more before and after each clip – that way you don’t end up clipping off your words (like I do sometimes).
• Edit your video. Then edit again. Then cut half of that. Web video should be SHORT (mine clocked in at just over 1 minute).

So there you go!

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