News And Updates

Want to jump on the youtube bandwagon? Easy as pie. Just grab your digital camera or cell phone camera and upload your digital masterpiece online. Sit back and watch the viewer comments fill up.

But unless your online video is properly edited, there’s a bigger chance of getting a lot of heckles from the viewer comments of Youtube. Want to edit your videos fast but you don’t have the editing software or know-how? Not a problem. Youtube has it’s own editing program thanks to the Youtube Remixer.

The Youtube remixer is a lot like the Photobucket remixer tool. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as both are powered by Adobe. It has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for even beginners to edit their videos before uploading them on Youtube.

photo credit: youtube

The MPEG-4 format for videos overtakes both the MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 in sheer functionality. While the MPEG-1 is capable of delivering full frame and full motion video, it does not translate well on CD. MPEG-2 sought to fix this problem by making broadcast quality resolution, but took up a lot more space.

The MPEG-4 is better on both frontiers, delivering quality resolution and taking up less data, allowing it to be utilized in a wide variety of devices. This format can be used from simple cell phone cameras to high definition satellite broadcast.

Another thing the MPEG-4 does extremely well is in its compression. Its many elements can be compressed separately, so the video doesn’t get muddled by the audio, and 3D elements, text, and other media types can easily be controlled and adjusted. Through the MPEG-4 format, one can reduce data size dramatically without sacrificing audio and video quality.

photo credit: kingston

In video editing as with a lot of other fields, it’s easy to spot a beginner. They are usually the ones who go overboard with everything. In the video editing sense, the beginners are the ones who make the mistake of packing their film with as many crazy editing effects as they can.

Editing effects are nifty tools to make the transitions of your film smoother and more stylized. However, this should not be the highlight of your film. Know that it is the footage—the scenes you capture on your camera—that should be the center of your film. Effects are merely there to add a little punch to your video.

With that said, simple is always better. Professional filmmakers stick to the classic and unobtrusive cut or fade transition. This gives the finished video a cleaner, more serious feel.

photo credit: the random lights

Filming live has its own set of hurdles and challenges as opposed to filming in a controlled, staged environment. When recording something like a wedding, there is no chance to shout cut! or re-do scenes. Once the moment has passed, it won’t be coming back.

When editing live shots, one has to pay special attention to the scenes that need to be cut. An accidental sneeze, or an out-of-place sound can easily ruin the mood and rhythm of the film. When one has no choice but to cut out the ruined footage, how can one go about piecing the film back together?

This is where the B-roll, or the ‘safety footage’ comes in. The B-roll refers to shots that the filmmaker initially has no intention of putting on the finished version of the video. But the B-roll becomes extremely important when patching up scenes that need to be cut. This acts as a video band-aid of sorts. Do this well and no one will be able to spot the mistakes in your video.

photo credit: clarkambulance.com