
Welcome to this week’s Friday Round up!
I am a little rushed this week so if you could just fill in your own preamble to the main body of this post, that would be great.
YouTube Editing… sort of.
Every time I see a new article somewhere on YouTube’s editing capabilities I get a little excited.
I always think that using the term “YouTube Editing” one would be suggesting that on YouTube you can edit your videos! Right?
Unfortunately every time I go over and take a look at it I see the same pathetic tools being offered.
Essentially Youtube editing consists of being able to upload a video file (not really editing), name it (perhaps that could be called editing?), cut off the ends (OK that’s editing), cut out some bits in the middle (more editing) and add music… but only from their repository of music tracks.
Anyway if you want to make use of these tools this link goes to e good tutorials on how to do it.
And Also Google Editing!
And while we are on that subject:
Google have recently introduced more features to G+ for dealing with both still images and video. It’s a little bit better than meh, but not much.
Google+: Beautiful movies, made Auto Awesomely
The Death of the DSLR?
Its an old trick in the world of blogging to take a development in some area of life and use that development to announce the “Death” of something!
However in this case it actually may be true.
Only a few years ago there really was no choice for purchasing a video device. You either got a dedicated camcorder or you used a still camera with video capability.
If you chose the latter then you had just condemned yourself to hours of really bad footage and even more hours wrestling with that crappy footage in editing software that had no idea how to deal with it.
Suddenly the still cams came to the fore and were competing with the camcorders in terms of quality and editing convenience.
Then almost overnight (well it seemed that way) we had camcorders, handheld devices like GoPro’s, smart phones and still image cams all vying for your attention.
Right now considerations of quality and editing ease are out the window and the choice for the consumer is vast.
Sadly while all this has been happening the old DSLR have quite literally gone nowhere in their development with regards to the needs of consumers and it looks like they may be headed for the scrapheap .
Chroma Key Tutorial
As usual from PDToots an excellent video tutorial on using the green screen capabilities of CyberLink PowerDirector simply and effectively.
Chroma Keyed Pointer – PowerDirector Tutorial
Video File Import Settings
The world of video editing has always been a major pain in the butt when it comes to settings.
Settings for you camcorder or recording device, settings for your file preferences, settings for your editing projects and settings for your output formats.
In fact sometimes it just seems endless. For example if you use a goPro to record footage, before you even get that footage into an editing suite you have to decide between four different types of resolution and three different types of FOV (Field of View)!
To at least lessen the pain this is a great article from the guys at Magix specifically on GoPro capture and importing followed by another on importing in general.
Although the articles are directed at users of Magix Video Pro X the rules and concepts being discussed are universal and well worth taking the time to read.
- Video Pro X & GoPro #1: The right way to capture and import footage
Does YouTube Think You Have Been Naughty or Nice!
OK I have to confess the reason I have included this article in this weeks roundup is that I actually had no idea hat that meant! I always used to see that notification on YouTube and think, “OK!” The truth is that if it ever said “not OK” I would have had no idea what it really meant!
- YouTube: What Does Keep Your Account In Good Standing Really Mean?
Guaranteed Viral Videos at the Flick of a Switch… OK, Not Really
A great many of the readers of this site come here to simply improve the results they are getting with whatever video editing software they are using.
However a number of you also have dreams of perhaps making it big time on YouTube or some other content sharing platform.
One of the most frequent questions you will see on sites and forums devoted to creating an online presence is, “How to make a video (or anything for that matter) go viral?”
In the article below you will find some great ideas and resource for the type of things that do make videos go viral but always keep in mind that you just can’t underestimate the value of sheer dumb luck when it comes to these matter!
Awesome Vimeo Tips
There are some great video shooting and video editing tutorials over at the Vimeo site.
I particularly like this one, not because I want to get that technical but because it really pushes one particular point close to my heart.
One of the main reasons people have trouble editing their video into something that is watchable by others is that by the time they get to editing they find they don’t really have the footage they need.
Often in life we are just out and about and events unfold before us.
In this situation really all we can do is shoot and soot some more hoping we get what we need.
However more often we at least have some idea of where we are going and roughly what will be happening.
In these cases it really is a great idea to prepare by imagining what the story of the project will be and what shots we will need to tell that story.
Shooting in Low Light
Low light conditions have always presented a problem for the average person trying to shoot reasonable looking video. It is even worse when you consider that the definition of low light is actually what you and I would call a well lit room! Although having a good knowledge of your equipment and how to make manual adjustments can’t be beaten for compensating there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of good footage.
Leave a Reply