Video Common Issues

Things to consider about video . .

• The length of the video is a major consideration.
  Videos of more than 5 minutes in length have technical and logistical issues not encountered in shorter video projects. And, a video novice can expect to spend 3 hours/minute of final project length editing original video. 
  
• Camera settings are critical to success when shooting original video.
  They can have effects on your project that are nearly impossible to fix with the computer.  Be certain to ask about setting, audio bit rate, white balance, and special effects when you borrow a camera from the MPC.
• Special storage arrangements must be made in advance of any editing. Video requires 3.6 mb/sec hard drive storage.  As an example, five minutes of raw unedited video requires over 1 GB of storage space.  Edits to the video, compression formats, and delivery can require up to three times the storage space necessary for the amount of raw video being manipulated. Video should be stored, or copied to, a Firewire Harddrive or an MPC video storage account at the end of each editing session.
• File management is critical to the editing process. Digital video is composed of multiple files that must remain in a specific relationship. 
• Digital video must be properly prepared and compressed for the intended delivery before it can be used in a presentation. 

Consult an MPC instructional technologist, mpc@hamilton.edu, to develop a video workflow that will meet your project needs. 

Storage

Capturing and editing video requires large amounts of high-speed digital storage – much more space and speed than the student storage server (SSS) and even some computer hard drives can provide. Video storage, whether a firewire harddrive or MPC video storage account, is determined by characteristics of the intended video project.  Longer video projects or multiple projects within the semester are usually better handled by firewire harddrive storage.  Short single video projects are often handled through specially set up MPC storage accounts.  These accounts are provided in planned support efforts and should be used while working in the MPC or Burke 001.  Accounts for students working in groups are set up differently from those for individual projects.

File Management

An understanding of video file structure and how to manage files between storage area and authoring area is one of our most frequently encountered “gotchas”.  Because the MPC is a public lab facility, the "Scratch disk" on MPC computers is intended as an editing area but not as a storage area.  Projects left on the scratch disk are not backed up and can be deleted by anyone who sits down at that computer.  While actually editing video, the video project folder should be on the Scratch disk. Working from the Scatch disk ensures that pieces of your project will not be lost in transit ("dropped frames") between an external drive/network account and the computer. Students must attend storage account appointments and understand their video project file structure to successfully complete video projects using our public lab resources. 
 

Delivery

The desired output (delivery/display) method has a significant effect upon the number of steps included in the overall assignment design.  There are also technical considerations associated with compression formats that may be dependent upon the characteristics of the footage being used.  And, the actual time it takes for the files to be converted to the desired output format can be up to three times the actual duration of the final video. A 3 minute video can take 9 minutes to export/compress and another 9 minutes to burn to disc.  Allowing time for a trial presentation run on a lectern system is advised.

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