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Video has come a long, long ways in the last few years in terms of web friendly video. High definition video cameras can now record video as progressive footage, meaning there is no need to de-interlace the footage prior to viewing it on a computer monitor. By nature, high definition (or HD) footage is also convenient for computer monitors since it uses square pixels, thereby eliminating headaches associated with pixel aspect ratios. By having similar characteristics to that of a computer monitor, HD video is ideal for the web.

But what if you’re not shooting in HD? What if you’re shooting DV footage? How do you make DV footage look good on the web? Let’s talk about DV footage first.  Native DV records at 720×480 non-square pixels. DV footage is also interlaced meaning that each “frame” of video is actually made up of two fields (each containing half of the information) that are combined together to create an image. Computer monitors on the other hand, use square pixels and display video progressively (or non-interlaced.) So as you can see, DV footage, in nature, clashes with the web.

How to get DV footage to look good on the web

Now let’s talk about how we get our DV footage to look good on computers and (more importantly) the web. There are two major adjustments that need to be made to the video. Remember that no matter how little the alteration is, you’re going to lose some quality. The amount you lose depends immensely on the methods you use when altering your video.

First, we need to de-interlace the video.

As I said before, computer monitors display video progressively. What this means is that each “frame” of video is one image, unlike interlaced video that is broken up into two separate fields. So what we have to do is make the video progressive or “de-interlace” the video. This will eliminate those annoying “saw teeth” or jaggy edges you see on footage that wasn’t de-interlaced.

Most NLE (or non-linear editors) contain built in de-interlacing methods or filters. In most cases, the software will either blend the fields together or interpolate (eliminate half the lines and use the average of the two lines to fill in the missing data.) There are also a large variety of third party plug-ins and filters available for specifically de-interlacing video footage. 

For example, Virtualdub, a free video utility, contains several advanced de-interlacing filters that can provide very nice results. For myself, lately I’ve been using a plug-in for Adobe After Effects called Topaz Enhance to do my de-interlacing. It’s made by Topaz Labs and is by far the best I’ve used. A free 30 day trial is available. 

Second, we need to change the pixel aspect ratio.

Since DV footage natively records in non-square pixels, we need to change it to match the square pixel ratio that computer monitors use. Without doing this, the footage will look stretched and disproportional. There are several ways this can be achieved.

For myself, I use Adobe After Effects. I like to import the footage and change the interpretation to “square pixels.” Then I’ll move the footage into a new composition and render it out at 640×480. This tends to work very well and is quite easy to do, especially if I’m already de-interlacing the footage.

Many NLEs will also contain presets for doing this. For example, Sony Vegas contains a specific video size preset for “640×480 square pixels.” [Note: 640x480 is the resolution at which DV footage will look correct when using square pixels.]

Again, remember that when applying these changes you’re going to lose some quality. Therefore, be sure to experiment a bit and figure out which method works best for you.

So now you’ve got yourself some footage that was once native DV and is now 640×480, using square pixels and de-interlaced. What are you waiting for? Upload that!

It’s amazing how far technology has come in the world of video. Post production software has come so far that just about any shot can be corrected, fixed or enhanced in some way, and look pretty darn good. However, this doesn’t mean post production should be relied on as a “fix-all” solution. The concept of “garbage in equals garbage out” is one that nearly every serious videographer is familiar with. If your original shot is crummy, chances are your final product isn’t going to look much better.

Getting that perfect shot right the first time, out in the field, is always going to be better than trying to fix your mistakes later in post production. Plus, it’s going to save you boatloads of time and frustration. Trust me, you’re better off spending more time getting your camera settings correct, than spending hours upon hours in front of a computer monitor, pulling your hair out and wishing you had paid more attention to those zebra stripes!

Now, generally speaking, getting things perfect the first time is something we all aim for. And usually (if you know what you’re doing, and take your time) it’s really not difficult to get the shot you want.  But with that said, sooner or later it’s going to happen – it happens to every videographer at some point. You set your iris, white balance, adjust your focus and shoot your footage. Things look great in your viewfinder and/or LCD display, but when you dump your footage onto your editing suite and review it, things look nothing like what you expected; particularly, the color looks way off. This is one of those few instances where color correction can really shine.

Let’s take a look at some footage I shot a couple months ago.

As you can see, there is an overall orange/warm tone to the footage, even though the subject was well lit and the camera was properly white balanced. More than likely, this color “offset” was caused by the nature of the set (which consisted of tan/gold painted walls) combined with some spill off from the lights. The viewfinder and color LCD screen on my camera does not pick this up.

To correct this, I’m going to bring this footage into my editing software and use its color correction tools to compensate for the color offset.

Here’s what it looks like:

This is the color correction tool found in Sony Vegas, which is what I use to edit my footage. Most editing programs (such as Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, Avid, etc) use a similar set of tools. There are three color wheels here, one for low tones, one for mid tones, and one for high tones. Low tones are generally the darker colors such as darks grays and blacks, while high tones are the brighter colors such as whites and bright yellows. Mid tones are pretty much everything in between.

Since the low tones really aren’t the problem here, I’m going to begin by adjusting the mid tones, which will affect the overall tone of the footage along with most of the skin tone of the subject. I’m going to move the adjuster towards the light blue, which is opposite of the light orange. This will help counter the orange-ish hue of the footage and balance it out.

Here’s what the adjustment looks like.

Not bad, but we can do better! The skin tones still need some slight adjusting, primarily around the areas of the forehead where there are a couple minor hotspots created from the lights.

For this, I’m going to adjust the high tones wheel, bringing the adjuster (again) towards the light blue.

This looks pretty good. But the shot does look a little flat.

To enhance this, I’m going to adjust the brightness and contrast.

I’m going to start by turning the brightness down slightly. Then I’ll increase the contrast just a little to separate the subject from the background. This will give the shot a slightly more three-dimensional look and add a nice final touch.

Here’s what we end up with.

Pretty slick, huh?

As you can see, you don’t need to make huge adjustments to create good results. Once again, I wouldn’t recommend relying on color correction to save your butt. It can be very useful when you don’t have much control over the tone of the shot (such as in this case), but even then you should do everything you can to get the shot as perfect as can be before dipping into post production tools. Remember, garbage in equals garbage out (in most cases.) I tend to use color correction as a last resort since it’s never 100% reliable and can be quite time consuming. This particular shot was a rare case, and I’d say on average, I  use color correction as a “fix” maybe one out of every 10-15 shoots. Most of the time I’ll use color correction merely to enhance a shot and/or give it a certain tone or “feel.” Experiment with the tools you have at your disposal. Learn what each one does and what you can and can’t get away with. Knowing the boundaries is going to really be beneficial both on and offsite and will save you a ton of time. Good luck and happy shooting!

Physical Dimensions

Bitrates aren’t the only factor involved with determining quality and file size. The physical dimensions of your outputted video have a direct relationship with the file size. Read that again. This means that a video displayed at 640×480 is going to be much larger in file size than a video displayed at 320×240. Also, a video at 640×480 will require a higher bitrate than a video at 320×240.  This brings up something new to think about. What dimensions should your video be displayed at?  Again, this comes down to a lot of trial and error.

Let’s look at two extreme examples:

1)    A video containing highlights from a football game, recorded in DV (720×480.)
2)    a software tutorial screen captured at 1024×768

First, let’s analyze the football video. We know there’s going to be a ton of movement and motion graphics highlighting the plays. Therefore a high bitrate will be needed. Also, since there will be graphics to highlight the players along with a commentary, displaying the video at large dimensions probably isn’t necessary and by lowering them, we can help decrease the file size. I’d probably aim for 400×300 or 320×240 using square pixels and a bitrate somewhere around 600-900kbps as a starting point.

Second, let’s look at our tutorial video. We’ve got a 15 minute tutorial on using Microsoft Excel containing lots of highly detailed graphics and small text. Since the ability to read the small text and graphics is crucial, shrinking the dimensions of the video isn’t a practical method for keeping the file size down. Our best choice is going to be the bitrate. As a software tutorial, the video contains very minimal movement. Other than some mouse movements, typing and a few scrolls, there isn’t any real motion involved.  I’d start with a bitrate around 900-1000kbps as a starting point and go from there.

So that’s a couple of the extreme scenarios you might face. Regardless of the video content and dimensions, I always try to keep my videos under 5mb per minute. For broadband users, this seems to be very tolerable. Again, play around with the settings and get to know the relationships they have with each other.

Other Tricks

The bitrates and dimensions of your video are your bread and butter for determining the quality and file size of your video. There really isn’t any special tool out there that’s going to magically give your video better quality with a smaller file size. If you’re willing to spend a bunch of bucks, you can buy fancier encoders that can contain some better codecs, but it’s usually very hit or miss. Instead, when I’m stuck with a large video file, I like to trick my audience into thinking it’s a smaller file size. What I mean by this is there are some methods that can be used to make it less painful for your audience to wait while your video downloads.

Before I get into these, keep in mind that I’m speaking about a video that’s embedded in a flash player on a webpage. This does not apply to videos that are downloaded onto the user’s hard drive.

• More than Less - This one is kind of a no-brainer. If you’ve got a very long video, say a tutorial, demonstration or presentation, break it up into sections. If it’s a 60 minute video, try breaking it up into six 10 minute segments or chapters. Most people have an easier time with multiple shorter segments, than one long video. Plus, they will be more inclined to sit through it and can easily jump through the video since it’s in convenient sections.

• The Preload - This one’s my favorite and I use this “trick” all the time. Most flash/player encoding programs have an option to use a “preload movie.” What this does is adds a little graphical progress bar to display as your video loads. Generally, you can set the amount of video to load prior to playing it. For example, when I have a longer video or one that’s very large in size, I’ll set the preload to something like “5%.” This means that when a viewer clicks play (or if the video automatically is set to start), they’ll first see a logo or graphic with a progress bar, stating that the video is loading, and when the video has downloaded/loaded 5%, the video will begin playing. The big benefit here is that now there is a little cushion of video already downloaded so the viewer should be able to watch the entire video smoothly without the play bar catching up and causing the video to halt. I mean, let’s face it. About the most annoying thing that can happen while watching a video is having it stop playing because more of it needs to download! This gives you that insurance without losing your audience.

Last Notes

Some of you may be wondering what specific software and settings I use. Well, while I can’t get too specific (since each project differs), I can give some general settings I use on average. Most of my projects are natively recorded in DV (720×480) and brought into my suite as DV AVI files. My projects are edited in the same format and then rendered out as 640×480 QuickTime .mov files (using square pixels) using the “animation” (or sometimes “photo jpeg”) codec. From here the QuickTime (.mov) file is brought into my flash/player encoding software. I use a program called Camtasia Studio. It’s a program I use for screen capturing and recording tutorials, but it also contains a very nice set of tools for creating and encoding flash videos and players. This is where I set the bitrates and dimensions of my videos as well as the preload (if I decide to use one.)  As an example, a recent project I did resulted in a video that was just over two minutes. The video contains lots of detailed motion graphics with text so I only shrunk the dimensions to 500×375 and set a video bitrate at 900kbps with an audio bitrate of 64kbps. I set a preload of 2%. The result was a high quality product video under 15MB. It’s still a little larger than I’d like, but the size was unavoidable due to the detailed graphics and text, which is why the small preload in front comes in handy. That’s just one example, but hopefully it helps!

As always, I hope these blogs provide some insights and useful information. Again, it’s going to take a lot of trial and error to get familiar with how these settings work. I encourage you to experiment and play with each setting until you know it inside and out. I’d recommend taking several short, 10 seconds clips of various content and toying with the settings. Trust me, you’ll save yourself tons of time in the long run (and make your videos look better too!) Good luck!

When it comes to video, one of the biggest concerns is the quality. It’s a struggle every videographer faces; and rightfully so. The quality of the video can determine whether or not the message of your video is conveyed. If the quality is too low and your video is pixilated, jittery and full of glitches, how can your audience understand what your video is about? On the other hand, the quality of the video may be the best in the world, but if your two minute video is 50mb in file size, you’re going to lose your impatient audience that doesn’t want to wait for the video to download. What it all comes down to is the relationship between quality & file size, and finding that sweet spot in between. Simply put, it’s a game of “what can I get away with?” Let’s dig into this a bit more and get a little technical.

Compression/Format/CODEC
The first thing to decide is what format do you want to output your video in? For example, do you want to create a QuickTime (.mov) file for people to download or would you rather produce a flash video that’s embedded on a webpage? The codec [compressor/decompressor] determines the type of compression used. For example, a QuickTime file using the lossless “animation” codec will produce top notch quality but with an extremely large file size. Whereas a QuickTime file using the “H.264” codec will provide a decent level of quality with a much smaller file size since the “H.264” codec is aimed at web videos and the “animation” codec is aimed towards animation artists and high quality motion graphics. It’s important to explore all the formats and codecs that exist to discover which combination best suits your video. For the sake of this article, I’m going to deal with video designed to be played within a flash player that’s embedded on webpage.

Note: Currently there are two popular types of video formats being widely used with flash players; flash (.flv) and MPEG-4 (.mp4). For the purpose of this article, I’ll be using the MPEG-4 (.mp4) format as it provides a better compression (in my opinion.) The MPEG-4 file will be used inside a flash player that will be embedded on a webpage.

Bitrates = Quality Control
Think of the bitrate of your video as the quality control. A higher bitrate means a higher quality. Simple enough, right? Well not exactly. While bitrate determines the quality of your video, it is also dependent on the contents of your video. Videos with lots of fast motion and animated graphics require higher bitrates in order to maintain high quality whereas videos with little movement can get away with a much lower bitrate. This is due to the amount of detailed movement occurring in the video. For example, a music video containing several animated motion graphics, special effects and CGI is going to require a much higher bitrate than say a documentary containing mostly talking heads and interviews. The key is to analyze your video and experiment with the bitrate settings. Since each video is different, there really is no set rate that will work well for all videos. The same goes for audio bitrates. In my experience, unless the soundtrack contains a vast array of musicality that you want to emphasize, there’s no reason to use anything higher than 96kbps. Most of the time the videos I produce will contain a voiceover track with soft background music, and I can usually get away with using a bitrate of 64kbps without noticing a quality loss. Everything here boils down to trial and error. You’ll have to play with the settings and get a feel for the balance between quality and size. Familiarizing yourself with bitrates will save your neck in the long run (not to mention lots of time and headaches!)

Note: Most video encoding applications give users the option to use either a constant bitrate (CBR) or variable bitrate (VBR.) A constant bitrate is a set bitrate used throughout the entire video whereas a variable bitrate allows the user to set a maximum and minimum bitrate in which the application assigns to parts of the video depending on the movement and detail. While both options contain pros and cons, for the nature of this article, I’ll be dealing with constant bitrates (CBR.)

Bitrates and compression aren’t the only factors involved with determining quality. In my next blog, Part Two: Physical Dimensions and other Tricks, I’ll discuss a few other key factors that effect quality and file size.  Until then, I encourage you to experiment and play around with these settings. You’ll save yourself tons of time in the long run and make your videos look better too! Good Luck!

If I had been told 10 years ago that I’d be making web videos full time, I would’ve wondered what planet I was on. Heck, even five or six years ago I would’ve thought the idea was nuts. Video file sizes were extremely large, download speeds were marginal at best and quality was subpar. Video on the web just wasn’t practical. And then something amazing happened. Flash video was born, YouTube was introduced and video exploded on the internet. Now fast forward a few years and video is everywhere on the net. People are going to CNN.com to watch the news, or on hulu.com catching an episode of their favorite TV show. I watched Barack Obama’s inauguration live from my computer. Ga-zillions of video feeds are floating around through emails and instant messages. Video is taking over the internet.

In the world of video, this “booming” is enormous. For indie filmmakers, it means that for the first time, anyone can pick up a camera, shoot a movie and broadcast it to millions of viewers without ever leaving their computer.  In the corporate realm, the realm that I work in, it means that businesses are able to not only post a professional website about their company, but also a professional video explaining who they are and what they do. This has become such a trend that now it’s almost expected of businesses to have something visual for users to see. Think about it; when was the last time you saw a link that said, “Click here to watch”?

Coming from someone who has been making professional videos for over five years, I’ve noticed several general trends, or characteristics (if you will) in video that have bloomed with the internet. In my opinion, these traits are what make or break a web video and are the fundamentals for producing a solid video that will get your message across. Here we go.

1. Think MTV on steroids.
In today’s fast food, instant gratification society, the attention span of viewers is shorter than ever before. And it’s even shorter on the internet. Think about it. How quickly do you surf through websites? Incorporate that into video. Viewers lose interest extremely quickly and you need to dazzle them long even to get your message across. One of the most effective ways to do this is to think of MTV on steroids. First, think of MTV or VH1. Think of them in terms of editing. Everything you see is very fast paced, quick cuts, lots of motion graphics, lots of information happening on the screen all at once. This technique is very effective and really grabs the attention of viewers, even the ones that weren’t initially interested. This is the technique you want to grasp, but you need to take it up a notch for the internet, especially if your video is over 30 seconds.

2.    One minute, two minute, three minute, gone.
As I mentioned previously, the attention spans of internet users is extremely short. You can’t expect someone to sit through a 20 minute corporate video. It just isn’t practical. The concept to grasp here, is to think about a typical TV commercial. Most commercials average around 15 to 60 seconds. The key is to try to get your message squeezed into as little time as possible. If you think you have a good four minute video, cut it down to two minutes. If you have a good 60-second promo, cut it down to 30 seconds. Always try to keep it as short as possible. The shorter the video, the more likely you’ll keep your target audience through the entire video. I cringe every time I’m handed a script for a video that I know is going to run over four minutes.

3.    Know the technical.
This is something that is often overlooked. Although YouTube and other various video sharing sites have made it easy to upload a video, quality still tends to be an issue with video. You need to become an expert with various codecs – what produces good results and what doesn’t. Getting to know the best compression settings is crucial. You could have the best video in the world, but if viewers can’t make it out due to compression artifacts, you’re going to lose your audience quickly. This knowledge is even more important if you’re creating a video that will be posted as a standalone video on a website. Currently, I’d recommend familiarizing yourself with flash video (FLV) and MPEG-4 video (MP4). These two formats seem to be the most popular formats in web video. Get to know the relationship between quality and file size. You don’t want poor quality, but you also don’t want viewers to have to wait for your video to load.  So play with the settings and become a master. It could make or break your video.

These are just three general tips of mine based off what I’ve seen in the industry. I can’t promise you an award winning video, but I can assure you that if you are aware of these aspects and work to incorporate them into your video, you’ll definitely become more proficient in delivering your message and keeping your audience (and you’ll make a better video too!) Good luck!