Video
When it comes to making money on your website, video is a great tool to have in your marketing arsenal. But how do you do it? It’s easy; thank goodness for us non-techies who want a piece of the pie.
Here are the steps:
1. Plan, shoot, edit and output your video.
2. Compress video (reduce its file size)
3. Upload your video to your website, or to a 2nd party server
The issue with video is that it can be a huge file, depending on how long it is, if there’s an audio track, and any special effects that are used. Most shared hosting plans will not enable video hosting because it takes up too much bandwidth and will put a strain on the server. So your options are to reduce (compress) your video from its native format (.avi, .mp4) or host it on a video sharing server like YouTube or Amazon S3.
Here are the absolute basics of what you’ll need:
- a digital camcorder, mini-DV format
- firewire cable (IEEE 1394)
- a current PC with multimedia components built in (Apple, Dell, Gateway, etc).
- a desktop microphone
- broadband internet connection
Here are some other things that are helpful:
- lighting equipment (not too expensive)
- video cam (cheap way to record yourself)
- specialty editing software
Of course, depending on what kind of video you have in mind, you’ll need the necessary props and talent (actors).
Most computers coming out are suited for multimedia applications, so if you bought one recently, it can probably get the job done. Here are the specific features your computer needs to have in order to produce video:
- fast hard drive, 7200 RPM and at least 250 GB capacity
- fast processor: Pentium 4 and above
- video capture card (Firewire IEEE 1394 port)
- video editing software
Most PCs will have Microsoft MovieMaker already installed, a cheap video editing software that is very user friendly. That’s all you need, really.
If you want to get fancy, you’ll need to purchase higher end video editors like Adobe Premier, Avid, or Final Cut Pro (Apple). These programs will allow you to create cool special effects like picture in picture, animation, and graphic elements.
NOTE: If your main goal is to make money, trust me, a simple editor like MovieMaker is good enough. Start with this first, then if you feel like it, move up to the premium editors.
Shooting the Video:
The art of shooting video is beyond the scope of this website, but I’ll shave it down to a tee:
First of all, spend time conceptualizing your video: what do you want it to accomplish? How long is it going to be, 3 minutes or 15 minutes? Is it a commercial for your business? Who is going to be in it, and where will it be shot? Any props needed? Make arrangements to have everything together on the day of the shoot.
Next, storyboard your video. A storyboard is like a comics layout, a series of boxes where you sketch the scene for each shot and write notes at the bottom (who is in it, what props are needed, script, etc.). Storyboarding is basically structuring your video in manageable chunks.
Next, shoot the video. Do not zoom in and zoom out, and do not “firehose”– panning the camera left to right and back. Keep the subject in focus. If you aren’t using a tripod, tuck your elbows close to your body to minimize shaking. Check the storyboard to see if it’s a close up (head and shoulders of subject), a medium close up (the subject’s whole body and the space around her), or a wide shot (captures the whole area from a distance). Stop recording if an error is made, and start the scene over, letting 3 seconds roll before resuming the action (helps with editing).
Editing the Video
After you have all your raw footage, you will connect your camcorder to your computer using a firewire cable. Set your camcorder to Play, and the editing software should pop up.
Editing digital video is easy and fun. What you’ll be doing is “capturing” the video from your camcorder to your computer hard drive using the video editing software. Most editing software is quite user friendly and intuitive, so don’t worry. The software captures all the raw clips and makes thumbnails of them, which helps you identify the scene for individual editing. The software has tools to cut, delete, and insert. You will cut out extra movements, errors and other unwanted raw footage. As each clip is edited, you’ll drag it to the timeline, one after the other, end on end. You’ll use the editor to insert transitions like fades and wipes (optional; cuts alone can do the job) and titles (beginning title and closing credits).
Outputting the Video
Once your entire video is edited to your liking, you will “render”, or output your video to a movie format. The more special effects/ audio/ footage you have, the longer it will take the computer to crunch the files into the final video format. This is why you need a computer that can handle videography. It will be a big file stored on your computer hard drive.
Publishing your Video
If your video isn’t too long (about 20 minutes or less), you can get a cheap video to flash converter, convert your video to a much smaller flash format (easy to do, just a couple of mouse clicks), insert the generated code into your website, and upload to your web host server. There will be a loss in quality of your video whenever you compress it; but not too terrible. That’s why, if you plan to compress your video for viewing online, keep it short, use mostly close up shots or medium close ups to capture detail, and do not use fancy transitions and special effects. Output the format to no bigger than 300 pixels wide. Remember, the bigger your file, the longer it will take for your web page to load. People have little patience these days and will click away from your site if they have to wait too long.
You can also upload your video to YouTube. With YouTube, you can generate code that will embed the video into your website (i.e., the visitor will not be taken away to YouTube’s site–very nice). You can also choose the size of your video and the viewer skin color (the frame that surrounds your video including control buttons).
If you have a video that needs to be as high quality as possible, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) is a good solution. It is a part of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Basically, you sign up for an account and use the AWS interface to upload your video. Think of it as a utility company, but instead of providing water and electricity, it is providing bandwidth and storage. You get billed each month based on your usage (data transfer and storage).
Making a Video of Your Computer Screen
If you want to make a video of what you’re doing on your computer screen, TechSmith produts Camtasia Studio and Jing are excellent solutions. They churn out really professional looking videos. Very useful if you have a website that relies on teaching how to do things on the computer; i.e., how to make a website, how to use a particular software application, and so on. Or, you can make a PowerPoint presentation, run it on autoplay and make a video of it.
