Getting full screen video ready for distribution on the web requires a considerable amount of compression. The size of the image is reduced, as well as the frame rate of the video. These tips will help you get a higher level of quality out of your compressed video.
- Keep camera motion to a minimum. The less motion in the image, the easier
it is to compress, and the better the picture. Don't use scenes that have
fast camera pans or zooms. A solid background or one that is out of focus or
diffused will look better than a background with a lot of detail.
- Don't use slow dissolves- they are harder to compress and the tradeoff is
lower quality...the frames of video during the transition will look
blockier.
- Close-up shots will look better than a lot of wide shots. Because the
video image is scaled down, fine details in the original video image will be
lost.
- Avoid a lot of fast edits. On each scene change, a keyframe is made by
the compression software and the file size goes up and/or the quality of the
video may go down.
In most cases your video demo reel is already done, so pick stories that use
the principles mentioned above for best results. And as you shoot new
stories, keep these tips in mind if you will later want to put that video on
the web.
Don't send in a VHS tape recorded in EP mode...the audio is very hissy due to the slower speed, and the video quality is poorer than SP mode.
Make sure that there is a lot of "you" in the video...cut down soundbytes and make your 2 minutes count!
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