PapaJohn's Newsletter #28 - Movie
Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - Nov 28, 2004
Sharing Videos
Online
An email from a subscriber asked:
"A topic that would be of interest to me is how to incorporate
this work into online personal websites/blogs or
hosted sites that present stills and
video.
best way to save, best sizes
etc..........things to consider in selecting the material that presents best
on these kinds of web sites
I would like one place to share with
friends and family but want to only make one slide-show/movie that I can
also use at home on my DVD players and PC's"
Yes... a great topic, but in just one newsletter
I can only touch on the highlights of. I wish I had a magic formula or
setting, a 'one size fits all' answer. I don't, which makes it an
even better topic as there's more to explore. I'll start by rampling around
a bit... let me know at the end which item(s) need to be gone into in more
depth.
Take your home pictures, videos and music/audio, mix them
together into stories and movies, and distribute them to relatives and
friends. Everyone understands the concept. But, as Ross Perot
says 'the devil is in the details'... and we have lots of details to
learn.
Many websites and posts show or discuss examples
of success, but there are many people frustrated by the issues
involved. Here's a sample.
It's a learning curve for all of us... what hardware and
software to use, and how best to distribute our videos? As the waves of
mulitmedia development keep rolling out, we have more choices
every month, and more learning to do. The right answer today may not be
appropriate next month.
In the past month I've added Photo Story 3 and a
Creative Zen Portable Media Center to my software and hardware
toolboxes, both of which are changing the way I approach video editing and
distribution. Who knows what I'll get next month that will take me down a
different path?
In this newsletter I'll overview the topic of
distribution, focusing more about online choices rather than
burning discs or outputting to digital tapes... or to my Zen.
... before getting into it, a
few notes about some things going on...
Notices
• The new branch of
the website
for Photo Story 3 is now complete... with all 7 of
the planned pages. In next week's newsletter, I'll review what I've learned
about it over the first month since its release.
• My saved stories from PS3 go onto the Zen fine...
• The Editor-in-Chief of MaximumPC was very pleased with the
6-page (maybe less or more) tutorial that will be in the Winter special, on
bookstands Dec 7th. It's distribution is only in the USA. Doing the
article was an enjoyable experience, similar to doing this weekly
newsletter. I'll
be pursuing more things like
it.
....on to the topic of the
week
Summary
... start each project by thinking about
who your audience is
and
how will you get your movie to
them?
• If
a DVD disc is needed to play it on a TV, then
round up your source files in the highest quality:
DV-AVI for video and 800x600 or higher pictures
• It'll
be easy for them to view, but more
difficult for you to make and distribute.
• If
online viewing is suitable, then you should round up
appropriately sized source files. DV-AVI size is overkill,
and high quality 320x240 WMV files are fine.
They are
easy to make and distribute, and easy for them to view.
Maybe seek a middle road, something that works best for
they and you.
Most of the time, saving and distributing various
ways
is actually the best for your audience... even if
inconvenient for you.
Here's what I'll cover in this newsletter
• Capturing and Prepping Pictures - file
sizes, resizing, formats. I use jpg files for my web pictures, sized such that
600 pixels is the largest dimension, and compressed at 80% quality for
smaller files. It's rare for one of my jpg images to run more than 100K in
file
size.
The
smaller the graphics files, the quicker the
page downloads.
