Wednesday 19 November 2008

Flip video cameras

I posted a while back about YouTube for Duffers, in which I highlighted how to make some easy videos using a Nikon Coolpix, some shareware and Windows Movie Maker.

However, the arrival of the FLIP video camera makes life a little easier for us all. The help and support site is pretty good, but to be honest this is video production for complete duffers. There is a great review on YouTube from ComputerWorld. The Flip comes with in-house editing software, but TBH my approach is to ignore this, as it doesn't let you do much, and go straight for this approach.
  1. have a single focus for each video, within a larger theme;
  2. capture video handheld or using tripod;
  3. plug the Flip camera into my PC using its USB arm;
  4. open-up the folder structure using My Computer;
  5. import .avi files to Windows Movie Maker, by dragging and dropping;
  6. edit videos, spliced with simple transitions;
  7. embed user-feedback along the way;
  8. embed photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 7600 as appropriate;
  9. add extra audio recorded with Plantronics DSP500 headset and audacity [producing mp3 files] as appropriate, by dragging and dropping;
  10. login to YouTube [you need an account but you can create one with your google account]; and
  11. upload from your homepage and wait for the video to load.
This book launch video took 30 minutes to record 10 minutes of footage, 30 minutes to edit and seconds to upload. Give it a go - it's great fun!

Video resources:

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