All About Making Videos Info Blog

What websites will give you free information about making your videos and what software is available for free to get your project going?

Video Making Software
Microsoft Movie Maker
VirtualDub
ZS4 Video Making Software

Guides to Making Your Video
Make DVDs out of Video files Guide
Guide to Home Video Making

Video Editing Techniques

About Video Editing
About Windows Movie Maker

Online Video Editing and Creation Website:
MotionBox
JayCut

We will add more as we gather information. Future Blog Posts will be about our own projects and how we did them.

Cheers and Happy Holidays!
jolenemac8
webmistress

You have edited your movie and it is what you want now what do I need to do? Once you are satisfied with how your movie looks and sounds then all you have to decide is what format you want to move it to. Whether you want it burned to a DVD or even a Video CD (depending on the size and whether your player will play the disk). Video CDs only hold about 20 to 30 minutes of video and can only be played on players that accept the VCD format. DVDs on the other hand can handle up to 2 hours of video and can be played on any of today’s DVD players.

There are a variety of different software packages that can handle making a DVD or VCD and are usually included on your PC or Apple Machine that has a DVD Burner. You should buy a package or spindle of DVDs to practice with and to make copies of your finished products. Remember to label your DVD with the name of the movie and date so you can distinguish it from the others you have made. A Permanent Marker is best for this type of thing. You can buy DVD labels that stick to your disk but they require a printer and ink. You will also need a cover for your DVD such as a plastic CD Case or DVD box. Nothing fancy is needed just something to keep your disk from being scratched.

To get your video up on a website you have to have a software package that will compress the video into internet acceptable format. Facebook, myspace and youtube all have their own requirements for uploading a video you will need to check with them on the file type they require and the file size limits.

Now if you want to upload a video to your own domain you will probably need to convert you movie to what is called Flash Movie. There is some inexpensive software that convert most video files into a flash movie and produce the files you need to include when uploading it to a page. More on that in another post.

Cheers!
jolenemac8
webmistress

What are some of the things you need to keep in mind when editing your video?

Some of the basic things you need to know about editing video is to:

1. Back up you data often!
2. Be Patient with yourself and your computer.
3. Turn Off any unnecessary programs on your computer. Anything that you do not immediately need. Resources are Finite on all PCs and when making Movies that are even more so.
4. Copy Everything into one Folder with the Name of your project and put a shortcut on your desktop
5. Create folders for pictures, videos, music and finished movie; then copy each of these items into the appropriate folders.
6. Some Software requires that you import your video, pictures and music into the program library for use on the story board and that will take a few minutes so WAIT until it is completed.
7. Name your project after loading up you elements and make sure you save it into your project folder. (that is if you are using your computer for editing and not online editing services….loading up your files for editing on a website will take some time as well…be patient!)
8. Practice on smaller projects before you begin on larger ones.
9. Every program you use requires certain things be done in a certain order so check your Software Guides.
10. When All Else Fails use Goggle or Yahoo Search Engines to research any problems that arise.

These are 10 Pointers to Keep in Mind when you begin your Editing Project. The Main thing is to review all your pictures and video before you begin and then with pen and paper sketch out what you want where and a brief outline of what your story might be. Have fun and REMEMBER KEEP TRYING!

Cheers!
jolenemac8
webmistress

What are the basic elements for making any video sight, sound, perspective and a story. When you are creating a video even if it is just a slideshow of you pictures you really need to have good quality tunes, high impact pictures or video and a story to tell. Starting with a grouping of pictures is a good way to learn how to do create a simple video. Practice with the transitions, put words on each picture, Create a Title Page and and Ending Credits page.

The Elements of your Movie are pictures, video files, music, and a storyline. You really need to put all of you files into a single folder so that you can find them quickly. Once you have the raw materials all you have to do is review it, decide where each one will go, upload them to the software package and then put them on the storyboard. It is all up to you what your movie will look like so play with it and take your time until you get it the way you want it.

Cheers!
jolenemac8
webmistress

There are at least 2 possibly 3 software packages that you will need to have on your computer in order for your home video to make it to either DVD or online. There is software that is required to take your video from your camcorder (or whatever device you used to take the video) and edit it. Then there is the software to convert it from the final edited version to either a DVD or video you can upload online. Each of these require different types of things to happen to your movie in order for others to enjoy it.

First, you will need software to edit the movie and software to convert you movie to either a dvd, viewable on computer or to be uploaded to the internet. Some products may do everything in one go and others are just pieces of the puzzle. If you have a DIGITAL camera or camcorder you can upload the raw footage directly to your computer with the copy and paste function. If you camcorder is tape-based then you will have to either pay someone to put it on a disk for you OR you will need to use one of those DVD recorders and burn your raw movie onto a DVD. You will need to know what format your movie is in as well. Knowing the difference between a “.mov” file or a “.mpeg” or even a “.avi” is crucial when looking at the types of software that can handle these specific files.

Movie file types by file extension.

If you have setup Windows to hide the file extension of known types you will need to right click on the file and select properties to see the file extension.

AVI – Audio/Video Interleave
MPG,MPEG,M1V,MP2,MP3,MPA,MPE,MPV2 – Moving Pictures Experts Group
ASF, WMA, WMV – Microsoft Windows Media
IVF – Intel Video Technology now Ligos
RM, RA, RAM – Real player Networks
MOV, QT – Apple QuickTime

MOVIE MAKING SOFTWARE:

Windows Movie Maker 2.1 Download
Updated: August 25, 2004

Windows Movie Maker 2.1 makes home movies amazingly fun. With Movie Maker 2.1, you can create, edit, and share your home movies right on your computer. Build your movie with a few simple drag-and-drops. Delete bad shots and include only the best scenes. Then share your movie via the Web, e-mail, or CD. Using third-party software you can even take movies you’ve made and turn them into DVDs. You can also save your movie back to the video tape in your camera to play back on a TV or on the camera itself.

The minimum requirements in hardware that you will need to make your video include: a camcorder and a computer. If you have a digital camcorder or digital camera that takes video then creating a video is fairly simple. The hard part is recording what you want and in the quality that you want it. Now a days most digital cameras can record a movie and even some of the children’s video cameras make be a simple thing to begin with. The digital cameras start at around $40 for low-end children’s cameras up to a $1000 for one with all the bells and whistles.

You will need a computer to upload the video for editing. Now there are lots of computers in a variety of styles and operating systems. From Regular PCs with Windows to Linux PCs and finally Apple Computers with Mac OS. Yes, Apple Computers are probably one of the best when working with video formats and Linux PCs are probably one of the cheapest but hardest to learn. I don’t know anything about Apple computers or their software you will have to go somewhere else for that information. I know only a little about the different kinds of Linux Operating Systems and all of their FREE software stuff. What I do know about is the Windows Operating Systems. Whether you decide on a Dell, Hewlett Packard, Sony or Generic PC the main considerations are hard drive space, RAM, video cards and processor speed. Some of the older models are OK for creating your videos but they don’t have a very good Video Card, or enough RAM when processing your movie. Hard Drive space is always a factor when dealing with video clips you can never have too much.

Cheers
jolenemac8
webmistress

We have updated the blog with some new information as well as a bookstore for those who would like to purchase a book, video or software to help you along the way to making great home digital movies. Take a look at the Privacy Page and the About page for updates for our subscribers.

We look forward to our subscribers commenting on posts, signing the Guestbook and making suggestions for improvements we can add to make this blog more user friendly as well as informative. The feedburner thing works as well, so give it a try to receive updates directly into whatever reader you use for updates on the blogs you participate with.

Next month we hope to begin adding links, videos and how-tos as we come across them. We will be reviewing software as well. So if you have a link, how-to video or software that you use and would recommend send it in and we will post your review, link or how-to. Any video cameras you want to review would be appreciated as well.

Cheers
Jolenemac8

Hello, and welcome to our new blog about making videos.  This blog is just for those who make home videos or would like to learn.  We will be gathering information about how to make videos, resources for learning more for free, also software and equipment needed to make your very own videos.

We invite others who make videos and would like to lend a hand to become contributors to the blog.  All Newbies are also encouraged to ask questions and help others with any information or resources that you have found to be helpful.  There are lots of information out there and we hope to cut through the bad advice from the good.

Any comments or posts will be need to be approved before they are posted to make sure that they comform to our policies.  To get more information about that you can check our Privacy Policy Page.  We want to maintain this website as a family website so all comments are rated “G” and all website links will be checked to make sure they are related to the information and do not have any viruses.

We encourage our subscribers to post their examples but at this time we cannot hold any videos on our server.  So, you will need to post a link to your video in your comment for other subscribers to look at.  We will also be gathering information on where our subscribers can hold their videos and share with others.  FREE resources are always appreciated.

Cheers

Jolenemacinjax

Administrator