Video Project

• Integrating animation, sound, and text information in a complex project.
• One of the most popular and effective uses of multimedia for all sorts of applications.
• Video clip: recorded with an external camera and transferred on the computer, or directly produced using software.
• Video editing: projects combining video and audio clips, creating transitions and superpositions, special effects, etc.

Video Standards

• Analog formats: NTSC, Pal, Secam
• NTSC - National Television Standard Committee. America (N & S), Australia.
• PAL - Phase Alternating Line, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, Australia, S America
• Secam - Sequentiel Couleur a Memoire- France, Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa
• These are gradually being replaced with digital formats:
• DTV (Digital Television), and
• ATSC DTV which can encode several (4-5) standard channels or 1 HD (high definition) channel.
• Region Free format.

Video Systems by Region

Video Acquisition

• Direct acquisition: some cameras record directly in mpeg format. Transfer = file copy.
• Digital video camera: stores the video in digital format, can be easily transferred to a computer using a FireWire connection (faster than USB) and specialized recording (capture) software (like DVgate).
• Analog format: needs special equipment to convert to digital format (for example, a digital camera can take input from an analog VCR).

Video Editing Software

• Free software: Windows: Windows Movie Maker, VirtualDub, Virtual Edit; Mac: iMovie
• Professional: Adobe Premiere and Adobe AfterEffects, Final Cut, Sony Vegas Studio, Magix Movie Edit, Pinnacle Studio, Avid Express etc.
• DVD writing software: Ulead Video Studio, MyDVD Studio, Roxio DVD, DVD Movie Factory, WinDVD Creator, iDVD.
• http://video-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Video Editing

• Basic idea: creating a Project with a Timeline or Storyboard, containing one or more video/audio superimposed tracks.
• Individual clips are imported in the project. Parts of them can be added to the timeline in sequence.
• Transitions can be added between various clips in the timeline.
• Special effects can be added to individual clips.

Titles

• Plain fonts and sans serif are recommended, bold and large enough to be easily read.
• Use a good contrast in color and lightness between the text and the background.
• Use drop shadow to make the text more easily visible.
• Let the text on screen long enough to be read.
• Keep the important titles and graphics in the "safe area" of the screen.
• Avoid too much text on the screen at one - you can always use several pages instead.