On Tuesday, December 7th, we met with Bob Heim and Lisa Zelig of Boston Digital Editing for a crash course in video production. In Part I, Bob

Our recent meeting on the basics of video production has helped me to learn a little about and the kinds of video projects the various departments of BU will be producing in the short term. Based on what we discussed, I think I can make several equipment recommendations.

I realize that the Flip Camera, for better or worse, is the primary camera used by the majority of the personnel. The main concern of mine regarding this camera is the acquisition of sound, specifically the quality. The camera, in its current form, does not allow for the connection of an external microphone. That being the case, I recommend that all recordings with the Flip camera follow some basic guidelines.

1. Record in an environment where the audio can be controlled, indoors if possible.
2. Make sure the interview subject in no more than 4 – 8 feet from the camera.
3. The interviewer should be aware that his/her questions are going to be MUCH louder than the interview subject. (Obviously if the interviewer is the one holding the camera…)

If budgets allow, I would recommend camera such as these:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/662839REG/Aiptek_ZHD11K_CS_Action_HD_GVS_1080p_HD.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/697080-REG/Aiptek_EHD11X.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/671645-REG/Canon_4355B001_VIXIA_HF_M30_Dual.html

These cameras are all very inexpensive and provide a jack for an external mic. The last one has a headphone jack so that you can monitor what the audio sounds like as it is being recorded. These are by no means the best cameras on the market, but they are MUCH better than the Flip Camera for what BU will be using them for.

If one of these cameras, or something similar, is purchased, then I would recommend this external wireless microphone:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/618745-REG/Sennheiser_EW_122P_G3_B_EW122_p_G3_Camera_Mount.html

This isn’t the cheapest, but I have found to be the most reliable for the money.

As for lighting, I think you can either continue to utilize the ambient light during your interviews or contact to learn about compact light kits:

Name: William Mintzer
Company: Rule
Email: Click to view e-mail address.
Phone: 508-361-9633

Mr. Mintzer can also help you with recommendations for cameras, tripods, etc.

Editing your videos presents an entirely different set of challenges. Like I said at the presentation, to be truly good at something, you have to do it all of the time. This is especially true of editing. If editing is daunting to you, please call either Nancy Marrs or myself to assist you in the editing of your projects. Otherwise, you can try your hand at iMovie, Adobe Premiere or Final Cut. They all have a learning curve, but are relatively intuitive, so the basics can be learned pretty quickly…

I hope this helps and feel free to contact me with any questions!

Bob Heim
Boston Digital Editing
617-319-3434 / Click to view e-mail address.

Photo courtesy Reinis Traidas on Flickr.

UPDATE: Nancy Marrs of BU Productions also has recommended the Kodak Zi8 as a Flip-like video camera alternative.

Video Content, Flip Cameras & Video Editing

Lauren Davalla and Kira Jastive of Public Relations presented a handful of videos, produced by the department using Flip video cameras and shared using BUniverse and the BU Now blog. Public Relations is now using Flip video to respond to breaking news and build a library of content around evergreen topics. One video interview with Cutler Cleveland on the oil spill was later repurposed in a BU Today story. Kira and Lauren emphasized one of the main benefits of creating your own video content: it can be repurposed across many social channels (blogs, Facebook, BUniverse, Twitter) and help to promote experts outside of the university.

Jean Connaughton (CFA) explained that she had been playing with an HD Flip video camera at the Tanglewood Institute, and said that Flip video is a good way to share an event without having to rely on an external crew — a new way to showcase events that would otherwise go uncovered. The group also discussed the quality and options available when comparing Flip-type quickcams to more expensive digital video cameras (optical versus digital zoom, software for editing, etc.)

Kim Cornuelle of BU Today offered her suggestions on video editing: the staff uses Final Cut or Avid for videos and iMovie for slideshows. They also use a conversion tool, MPEG Streamclip, to convert videos for iMovie. She offered that while videos edited using Windows Movie Maker and iMovie will not be as clean looking as Final Cut videos, they’re a fine (much more affordable) standby.

To conclude the discussion on video, Mary Tunney offered to look into scheduling a workshop with a freelance video editor to go over filming and editing techniques. She will have more details on this in the fall.

QR Codes

Susan Lebovits of Sustainability presented briefly on her investigation of QR Codes with an outside vendor. She explained them as a type of barcode that can be added to posters or other print media, and then scanned by smartphones to bring users to specific websites. They are looking to try the technology in the fall for Sustainability promotions. Specific websites/tools discussed included ScanLife and Stickybits.

WordPress Upgrades & Facebook Integration

Scott Dasse of New Media came by to answer questions related to WordPress. Many groups are migrating their websites over to WordPress in the near future. Scott explained that many “shiny” widgets (such as Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr stream tools) are not currently able to be added directly to sites because they require editing of the theme, while others can simply be embedded right into a WordPress “text” widget. He emphasized that many of these “shiny” tools will actually hold up load time of the page, which is why they have not yet allowed them. As a workaround, they could investigate building something custom in WordPress (as part of the theme) that would be allowed for general use.

CFA said they use social media (mainly Facebook) often to announce changes to events, which is easier to update than the website itself. SMG also asked about inclusion of the “Like” button, which Scott said made sense to include. He also mentioned that a gallery widget is in the works, and should be available soon. Corinne Steinbrenner pointed us to the Collegian current issue on the CGS website, and their use of AddThis on individual stories (example). The tool can be directly added to the story without the need for a widget request.

Upcoming Events

Mary opened up the floor for event announcements which might require some coordination from the Social Media Communicators. We’ve compiled the list, including applicable hashtags and web addresses, and placed them in the “Communicators” section of the blog (Kerberos login required). If you are a Social Media Communicator and are unable to access this section, please send a request to jemack@bu.edu.

(Image courtesy Damon Duncan on Flickr.)