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DVD Video Producing Exposed! 2/13/2006

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DVD Video Producing Exposed!

Film, Convert, Author, and Publish your own Videos. What every aspiring Film Artist should know.

Author: Rob Boirun for

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Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... 2 Video Editing and Converting: Content and Capture ........................................................ 3

Content and Capture: Video Capture Tools ................................................................... 4 Other capture Tips.......................................................................................................... 5 Video Conversion........................................................................................................... 7 Video Content and Output Medium............................................................................... 9

Video Editing Basics........................................................................................................ 12 Helpful tools while converting and editing.................................................................. 18

Endings..................................................................................................................... 26 Video Content, Media and Sales...................................................................................... 33 Distribution Networks and Sales...................................................................................... 34 Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 35



Video Editing and Converting: Content and Capture

The content you capture depends on your video capture capabilities. A

poor camera creates poor images. You should ALWAYS strive to create

quality images. There are some basic rules of capture that will enhance

your subject matter and create quality images for you to work with:

· Keep your subject in the center of your shot

· Do your best to get clear audio, and eliminate background noise

whenever possible

· Test light before shooting

· Shoot with “clips” in mind, when you shoot try to get long continuous

periods of uninterrupted tape

· USE A DIGITAL CAMERA –with today’s technology there is no

excuse for not using this superior technology

· If your subject is a person, help that person feel comfortable with

filming

Above are some basic tips for filming. Most people would consider these

items “common sense’” but we have all seen grainy poor quality films that

were edited well. Slick editing and converted videos cannot improve a

poorly filmed and poorly staged video.



Content and Capture: Video Capture Tools A quality digital video camera is not hard to find today. You can pick up

one at a modest electronics store, and they have many outstanding

characteristics in 2006. Most digital video cameras have still photos you

can take they often have firewire installed. Firewire is a technology that

allows you to directly convert your videos into computer files that can be

played on your desktop.

Firewire is a very helpful tool that can speed your conversion process and

help you get your files into editing faster. If you do not have a capture

device, you should think about what standard of quality your videos will

have to meet. Videos that sell will have to meet higher standards than

home videos. Videos that sell will also have to meet higher editing and

content standards. Your transitions, screen titles and subscripts will all

have to be professional. PLEASE consider all factors when picking a

camera. Many people think they should purchase a premium-editing



package but somehow the camera just isn’t that important. Please

remember that putting garbage in yields garbage out. Poor quality video

begets a poor quality result. You can’t edit out poor video feeds. Below are

some recommendations for video camera requirements. These

requirements are just a general rule of thumb:

· 2.1 Megapixel CLEARVID™ CMOS Sensor

· Dolby Digital 5.1ch Recording

· 3.5" wide touch panel SwivelScreen™ hybrid LCD display 3

· Professional Quality Carl Zeiss® Vario-Sonnar® T* lens

· DVD format video recording 1 2 with DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW

compatibility

We very strongly prefer Sony camcorders and equipment. Sony includes

many “options” as standard. Sony also produces a sturdy product. Sony

produces a reliable video and still photo camera. It is our recommendation

that you take both cameras under advisement.

View Sony Camcorders

Other capture Tips We also recommend that you use a tripod while performing capture.

Tripods help stabilize the camera and therefore the image as well. Many

new cameras have image stabilization, but a tripod also has a calming and

centering affect on your subject. They help your subject feel “where the

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camera is”. Not roving around gives the picture a sense of stability. If you

want to do shots from different angles, get a second camera. You can do

this modification in the editing room. We will get into editing later, but for

now simply take this point. Two cameras give you maximum flexibility and

it also gives a sense of professionalism. If you don’t want your videos to

look like “bob’s day at the beach”, film from 2 separate perspectives and

splice back and forth as necessary. You output will look quite spiffy.

Screenshot from Camcorder (You can see snow on the glass of the car)

Whenever possible, you should attempt to film in realistic environments.

When 2 feeds are not possible, 1 single quality video feed is a must. A



poor quality camera without stabilization or good lens filter can’t be used

effectively outside. Shots of the outdoors should be minimized when

working with poor equipment. I would go in-depth to explain what poor

equipment is but I believe the moment you see the output of any of your

work to the television and it looks grainy, you know your camera produces

exceptionally poor quality video. I don’t think we need to give you

parameters for this measurement.

Video Conversion Once you get that high quality video you MUST get it on your computer to

modify it, clip it, etc. If your camera does not have a Firewire interface, it

must use an A/V interface or Audio/Visual interface. This would allow the

capture of your camera’s output by a VCR or other recording device.

Below the arrow points to the A/V interface, not the AV cable.

We are going to start using terms to describe Audio & Visual tools. You

can get more information on these terms by clicking here:



http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/rtp/glossary.htm

This is an on-line dictionary of terms in case you get lost or confused.

In this portion of the book we will describe the camera and its interface.

The camera above has 2 interfaces. These are typically the AV cable

interface and the sound interface. Here the AV stands for “Active Video”

and this cable carries the video portion of the message. This cable is

usually yellow. The Audio output from the camera is usually for left and

right speakers and this cable is usually a paired cable. This pair is usually

red for left speaker and white for right speaker. Normally both camera

outputs can be used as an input for a VCR or other recording device. The

cable itself is a male cable on both ends. Male means the cable “pulls into”

a port or jack on the camera and a port or jack on the VCR or recording

device. These cables usually function as a “standard” pair on analog

cameras. Analog cameras are non-digital cameras. We refer to them as

the older type of camera that you will see in Best Buy without the digital

designation. These cameras produce lower quality output, and the image

is not digitized into individual pixels. The digitization of images creates

sharper images as the number of pixels increase, the sharpness of the

image approaches perfection. Linking up during the conversion process

requires image conversion from a digital image to a VCD, DVD, WMA, or

MPEG format. Many cameras produce this effect today with no conversion

WHATSOEVER. You can purchase a brand new camera at Bestbuy, come

http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/rtp/glossary.htm



home and connect the cable from the cable jack to your computer’s USB

port. Then you can export your files from your camera to your PC directly

into DVD format! There is nothing to buy. If you go out to your local

electronics store 7 out of 10 new digital cameras now come with this

capability. Later in the text, we will review software for file type

conversions. They are self-explanatory. But many cameras today come

with this capability directly added through USB interface.

Video Content and Output Medium



Video content is to be focused at the onset. Your content and your final

medium should be decided before shooting. Your choices for the final

medium are:

· DVD

· Videotape

· MP3

· MPEG

These are typical formats for a final medium. We will go over each medium

and its advantages and disadvantages.

DVD – is a very common medium chosen for home movies. It is

completely digital so the clarity of your signal’s recording will be visible to

your audience without compromise.

Videotape (VHS) – is often used on analog players. Videotape is recorded

on metal oxide tapes, which can blur your recordings and cause

imprecision when played back on a VCR’s heads. A lot of information

gathered from your premium digital video camera maybe lost. Videotape is

considered almost obsolete, and VCR sales are in steep decline.

Videotapes still functions as a medium for film, and are not completely

obsolete. If you are migrating films/videos forward, you should convert any

important medium you have on VHS to DVD.



MP4 – MPEG-4 is designed to deliver DVD-quality video (MPEG-2) at

lower data rates and smaller file sizes. And the same folks who created the

popular .mp3 file format — a.k.a. MPEG-1 layer III — developed the new

Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, providing much more efficient

compression than MP3 with a quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD

audio.

MPEG-4 is ready to stream incredible-quality audio and video today in

QuickTime. With the free QuickTime Player or browser plug-in, you can

play back any compliant MPEG-4 file. Upgrade to QuickTime Pro, and you

can author your own MPEG-4 content. QuickTime Streaming Server and

Darwin Streaming Server are also available to stream .mp4 files. And with

QuickTime Broadcaster, you can produce live events in MPEG-4, making

the QuickTime workflow (Broadcaster to Server to Player) the industry’s

best and most cost-effective end-to-end, standards-based architecture.

www.apple.com

MP4 can also be used on the Sony PSP and IPod Video.

There are numerous Video Converters available that will take your existing

video and convert it to MP4 format with ease. There are a review on a few

here:

http://www.apple.com/



http://www.burnworld.com/software/video-converters/ipod.htm

http://www.burnworld.com/software/dvd-to-psp/index.htm

MPEG – is an older video format. MPEG has been around for more than

10 years. MPEG used to be the most popular video conversion format, but

the format is large, bulky and inefficiency. MPEG files still form more than

50-60% of all internet-based videos on the internet. MPEG is still an

important medium for videos. You should see MPEG as a legacy format. It

is very similar to the role videotapes play in the world of media. MPEG

data is a legacy format. It is not going away anytime soon.

Video Editing Basics Video Editing is the process of building a “story” out of video clips. We

have reviewed the process of filming and clip building. Please remember

that it always helps to have multiple clips of the same sequence so when

you are putting them together, you can substitute if something is not quite

right about a particular sequence. Sometimes reshooting a sequence that

seems “perfect” is advisable. There maybe sound problems or items in the

background that you may not want to capture that could be in one clip but

not easily visible in another. Your “story” should be put together on a

“storyboard”. I build my storyboards on paper; some artists build their

boards on actual posters attached to walls. Your clip storyboard will be

built within your software and will probably resemble the sequence of clips












below. This is what building your storyboard with paper clips would

probably look like:

If you were to build your storyboard, item by item, and clip by clip, it would

tell a story just like the one above. It is advisable that you have some idea

of what this story should be beforehand. It will make building your story

easier, and speed production. Unfortunately if you made the board above,

you still have to build one with your desktop software. Your final product

that is burned to DVD or setup in MP4 will have to follow the logical

sequence of events you see above. There are some very strong



advantages to building a physical storyboard. One of these advantages is

that it helps in filming. Another is that it can be used to direct

cinematography. The direction for the filming of clips is always helpful in

angle shots and perspective. These boards can even help orient the actors

to the perspective that they will be filmed, and reduce questions. If your

production is large, these types of tools are a must. Now, let’s take a look

at another storyboard: (See next page)



This type of storyboard is a hand-drawn one. This is more than likely what

you will use. Most people doing small productions will do a drawn

storyboard BEFORE filming. Once you get your clips on your computer,

you can use your storyboard to make sure you have captured your

perspectives properly, and review your setup. Later, you can match

backwards to this as you create your film.

Your story will be arranged in a layout that shows different phases of your

story. Each video clip will be arranged showing the first shot of each

scene. It is your job to review each clip and decide which clip remains in

each sequence. It is to your advantage to have multiple clips at first. In the



software you can review each clip and decide what to keep. Once you

have the clips that form your primary sequence of events, you will need to

decide upon how to transition between scenes.

Transitioning between scenes is critical. Because each clip must be a self-

contained item, the more complete your “clips” are, the greater flexibility

you will enjoy as an editor. Take for instance the story above. In the scene

with the first arrow, the kids are a chemistry conference. In the next scene,

the children are signing up for prizes. If the shooting of the second

sequence does NOT reference items from the previous sequence, the two

clips could be reversed in your storyboarding and FINAL product. To most

people, this does not seem like a big deal. But if you are dealing with time



constraints on your final product, it could make all the difference. Shooting

clips of various lengths is helpful in creating product flexibility. Video

products that are too long are not very helpful. Your creativity can get the

best of you at times but it is very helpful to remember that your overall

running time should not exceed 2 hours. Films more than 2 hours generally

get poorer reviews and create tension with audiences. Listed below are

some great rules of thumb for editing and building video sequences:

1. Create a drawn storyboard before filming.

2. Create a multiple clips of the same sequence so when you build your

digital storyboard you have options while creating your storyline.

3. Use multiple inputs while filming. (Whenever possible shoot from

multiple perspectives)

4. Create your digital storyboard with self-contained video clips when

possible. These are clips that do not make reference to upcoming or

following events. Shooting in this fashion will allow you to change

events, modify storyboard sequences, and even drop clips without

any harm to the storyline.

5. You should use professional video editing software. Today this

software is not as expensive as it used to be, but tools like Director,

and Adobe Encore can easily run $1000. Quality digital cameras can

also run $1000-$12,000. The only question is how large is the

operation you want to finance, and what is your final product to be. If



you want to shoot little videos for the home, then a $300 camera and

$350 software is an appropriate solution.

Helpful tools while converting and editing Please remember that any solution involves a solid combination of:

1. Quality Camera Equipment

2. Quality Filming Techniques

3. Quality Editing Techniques

4. Quality Media Creation (Video encoding)

We have elaborated earlier in the text about camera techniques and

filming, below we will give you specific examples of recommended

packages for each of these toolset. Listed below are some quality Video

Conversion Packages:

Apollo DVD Creator

MPEG Converted

Foto 2Video Converter 1.85

Easy Audio Editor 7.3

Video EditPro

RM to AVI

WMA to MP3 Encoder

PowerVideoMaker Professional

Xeru Image Converter

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Focus MP3 Recorder

Hero Video Converter

You may well have noticed that video conversion packages come in many

specific types of converters. Well, above we listed many common video

formats your files could take after import from your camera. These

converters can converted them to WMA, AVI, MPEG, and a host of other

formats. We did not mention all these formats because a few a becoming

obsolete and we want to focus your attention on what is hot right now.

Listed below are some powerful video editing software packages:

ZS4 Video Editing Software

Eve Easy Video Editing

Vegas 4.0 (Very Popular)

ACD Video Magic

Adobe Encore DVD 1.5

Ulead DVD Moviefactory

Texture Maker 2.8.1

Video Edit Magic 4.12

Exsate Video Express 2.2

Adobe Premier Pro 1.5

Colorful Movie Editor 4.0

Scene Composer Razor 1.5

StudioLine Photo Classic 3.2



Honestech Video Editor 7.0

Ultra Video Splitter 3.5.6

Anvsoft Video to 3GP Converter

PSP Movie Creator

Now I am sure looking at this list many, many new possibilities should

have gone through your mind. A good example would be, what about

creating movies and videos for formats like the PSP? The PSP is an

emerging format and videos would be GREAT for this particular format.

Sony plans to turn this platform into the wave of the future. The PSP in

2006-2007 is not to be regarded as a game platform, but a media stage.

Sony is pushing this concept so hard that they are thinking of renaming it.

Sony may rename the PSP (Portable Sony Playstation) to PMP (Personal

Media Playstation). The rumors about this are unsubstantiated, but it would

give would be directors a major jump if they had videos and movies in this

format already.

For a commercial production your distribution network or some distribution

mechanism must be in place. Most artists only think of the production

process, but there are MANY challenges associated with a commercial

grade production that go beyond mere filming, editing and encoding. I

would encourage a good plan that entails all portions of the video

production for launching a commercial enterprise. Let’s step back to our

clips and take a look at the sequence of the story and go through




everything we have accomplished in this particular example: (We are using

Adobe PhotoElements Premiere to edit our video clips)

In Scene 1, the children are getting ready to go the chemistry conference.

This scene has the teacher talking to them and giving instructions. She

administers a preparatory examination with background information about

the conference. The children are excited and they talk in a lively manner.

Most beginning and ending scenes are not replaceable. They set the mood

for the entire sequence of events, and often have introductions or

epilogues. These scenes generate feelings in your audience. There should

be interest generated in opening scenes. Your audience will decide within



60 seconds whether or not to watch your film based on the following

factors:

(Lack of clarity)

1. Clarity- If you video is below standard as a video, it will not be

reviewed



2. Subject matter – If your audience does not want to see your

subject, it doesn’t matter how well it is shot or put together.

3. Transitions – If your clips are strung together haphazardly without a

smooth transition, your product looks like a disjointed jumble of

scenes. Poor transitions make your video look like low budget trash.

Smooth transitions show elegance, concentration and

professionalism.



(Enlarged video clip with text insert)

4. Text – Low budget movies/videos have poor or no text insertions.

Professional text insertions showing who each character is, shows

your professionalism. There is nothing worse than actors appearing

on your video while the audience is confused about the speaker’s

identity.

It is in your best interest to show the clips in your story in a predetermined

fashion, and in every scene show the audience who is speaking. The

audience can then decide what is going on, and adjust to the video. Each

transition in Adobe Photo Elements requires we complete each clip before

proceeding to the next item. A good test is to arrange the clips in



chronological order, insert your text, then make sure at all times you know

who is speaking. Next, show your test storyboard to someone not familiar

to your video. That person should have a clear idea of what is going on,

and who is speaking at all times. It is customary to only hold the text at the

bottom of the screen for a while, and not through your entire clip. This is a

personal choice based on how long you will see that character, and

whether or not your film is a documentary, drama, or some other type of

video/film art. Odds are if your stranger can follow what you have put

together without a lot of help or questions. You probably have a well-edited

piece.



Endings

How you end your piece is just as important as how you begin. The

beginning of any piece should gain the watcher’s interest right away. The

ending must make the watcher want to see more. Storylines with a

beginning, a complication and resolution have survived the time-tested

video/film paradigm. I strongly recommend you follow a similar format.

Take a look at your clips and make sure that EVERY complication you

brought to the audience is resolved. One of the most common points of

customer dissatisfaction with a video or movie is that it does not tell the

story completely. Failure to resolve issues can make an audience angry.

You can avert this condition by watching each of your final clips separately

and making a list of complications. In your resolution phase of the story,

you can simply check off each complication, as it is resolved. This is a

simple way of checking off that your video clears up every complication as

well as finding things like an item moved between clips or something like

that. Little quirks like this happen all the time, even in Hollywood. In the

story below, the last scene for emphasis is in black and white. Black-and-

white makes a statement in our color driven world. Usually black-and-white

is used in video sequences to emphasize dreams, toil, or purpose. Black

and white is used in the closing sequence to emphasize toil. The students



worked very hard on this video and this last sequence closes out the

storyboard, resolves all complications and makes this emphatic point.

This point should be well taken; the black-and white video sequence looks

odd compared to the other color sequences. That is the point indeed.

Content Conversion for Viewing

Lastly when a well-constructed video sequence is created, edited and the

storyline is proven, the video sequence most be converted to the final

output format. We will use Nero burning ROM to create a DVD product.

Nero will allow you to make a DVD with menus for the player so users can

select the scenes that they want. Nero will also allow you to build a

professional multi-selection DVD menu JUST LIKE PROFESSIONAL



MENUS. So not only can you do scene selections, you can do custom

menus that like to particular scenes or change screen modes or sound

options. Below is a shot of NERO burning ROM in start-up mode:

You can select miniDVD mode or the other Video CD modes. All modes

can produce a high quality output video that can be played on your DVD

player. From here, you click “New”.



In this screen, audio and visual files come up. You will choose them from

the extreme right, and drag and drop them for DVD burn. When the files

show in the pane on the left, they are added to the compilation and their

running time is added to the total run-time of the DVD. The result of adding

a track to a DVD or VCD compilation is available below:



You can clearly see the duration of the clip shows as well as the

compilation name. This is a sample of video clip, and not an entire movie.

By the time you get to this phase, you will want to have edited your

compilation and the file should be in one of Nero’s accepted formats:

DVD, MPEG, SVD, WMA or other video formats. You can check the

product specifications for the other formats but the ones above are the

most highly recommended formats. A good rule of thumb to use here is

that the total compilation should be added for the “Play movie option”.

Individual scenes can also be added as a scene selection option. How you

arrange your DVD is entirely up to you, but you have the option of laying

out your DVD one scene at a time in chronological order as well. The DVD



player will just play each scene in sequential order. Since this is true, if you

use Nero you don’t actually have to “edit” your video/film. Theoretically you

could take this tool, shoot your video and arrange each scene sequentially

on the DVD and burn it to a DVD. The final result would be a DVD that

opens a collection of scenes, where the user chooses the top left-hand

scene and the movie begins. If you did that, you could congratulate

yourself as “low budget” Harry. That is what low budget filmmakers do.

They produce barely edited videos this way. There is no text, introductions

or anything else. Their “movies” are just low budget clips assembled on a

DVD burning software compilation board. This is a simpler way to “get

what you want”. Unfortunately if you want to succeed in making higher

quality films, you need to put in more time and effort than that. Quality

editing with text, smooth transitions between clips, and quality video does

not come without hard work, time and effort.



Clicking the fiery disk icon above burns this compilation. This will create

your DVD, and the resulting disk will become your source disk for all

copies that follow. Please be warned. Source disks should not be made

from OTHER copies. A copy of a copy degrades your quality. Always

create a source disk in this manner. The quality of your product is

important.

On this screen, you will click “Burn”, and your DVD will start the burning

process. The DVD will pop out of your computer and a dialog box will pop-

up saying “Done”. YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR DVD!



Video Content, Media and Sales Subject matter and video content must be considered as a critical factor.

These factors are just as important as delivery method, file size and

content. Media selection for music and video is critical. The delivery

method and COPYRIGHTING are also critical. If you seek to preserve

copyrights, it is imperative. Distribution of media to countries that do not

respect copyrights is also a consideration. Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua,

and Paraguay do not respect copyrights. The content of your message

should fit certain parameters in relation to your audience. You MUST know

your audience. Your message should be age appropriate, your media



should fit the title given to it, and your filming should highlight its subject

matter.

Distribution Networks and Sales Should you ever decide to sell your video compilation, you should seek out

reputable video distribution networks to market your video through. It is

imperative that you understand that sales are a “one-at-a-time” affair, and

you have to earn every sale. Once you understand this you will be



equipped to open the door to your video empire. People buy from those

they “know”. Your goal is to “know” everybody and their brother.

Conclusion We have reviewed getting a quality image, bringing that image over as a

video clip, building a good storyboard, turning the storyboard into a series

of video clips, and assembling a compilation. After that we reviewed how to

put that compilation out as a DVD burned to disk, then sell and distribute it.

These are the basic skills any editor can use to film, build and produce a

commercial grade video compilation.

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