Talk:How to assure good quality of video recordings

Please add points for discussion here.

Yorick 04:51, 12 January 2009 (CET)

Recording Tip

Traditionally recordings at OOoCon are dealt as an afterthought. This lack of attention give a bad experience for the rest of the community. Since atendants cant be at all the talks and non-attendants can only see the recordings both type end up with a poor experience. Some important things to plan ahead before recording:

• Set - Green screens, different area for slides than speaker
• Lightning - good lightining on the speaker
• Equipment - HD Digital cameras with good lenses
• Production - Combine digital slides with the speaker
• Distribution - Media accesibility is important
  • Youtube does allow producers unlimited time but you need to request it.
  • Tubemogul is a distribution service that allow you to distribute your videos horizontally.
  • Additional DVD should be sold internationally at sites like Lulu.com.

--JZA 05:21, 12 January 2009 (CET)

From a production point of view I don't think it's a good idea having slides as the focus point of the Video. There is no reason why presentations can't be made available as a flash file or a PDF presentation if there is need to see the slides. The point of the video is hearing the speaker, the slides are simply an adjunct to that speech. If the viewer is required to read and listen at the same time, one or the other will be missed. If the slides are absolutely necessary then it is a bad presentation. I'll cover what makes a good presentation on the speakers page.

Green screens are an extra cost that do not by default make the presentation video any better and there are a number of disadvantages both from a technical viewpoint and budgetary.

• For the green screen to be effective it would either have to be very big or the speaker would not be able to move.
• A greenscreen requires very even lighting and the lighting has to be set in such a way that there are no shadows or hotspots. This would require special cyc lighting and the speaker to be at least two metres away from the screen and hence the size problem unless you use very long lenses, with the attendant loss of quality.
• For the local audience it's large distraction.
• Green screens are designed for studio environments not classrooms or Lecture theatres.
• The cost/benefit analysis doesn't add up.

Lighting is definitely important, that can be a venue problem. Too much light and the projector gets overpowered. Too little and the speaker is in the dark. Close area lighting is the answer, but that isn't always possible in Classroom type facilities. Purpose built lecture theatres are generally better.

Cameras are important as well and again that is covered in the "Media Team" Howto. HD digital cameras are in fact a compromise. It is better to direct feed to an edit suite or to a computer. On Camera storage should not be a requirement and in fact only used as a last resort. Cameras should have DV-out or RAW output facility.

I'm with you on the distribution and post production

Yorick 00:01, 13 January 2009 (CET)