Creating a Video Podcast on a Macintosh


For this tutorial, I'm using iMovie HD 6 partly because of its ubiquitous nature in the Macintosh community, but also because it's an awesome piece of software that is both easy to use and extremely powerful. iMovie really is the standard for entry-level video editing software, and working with it is always a treat.

1. Connect the Equipment

To connect a digital video camera to a computer, you need either of two connectors: a USB 2.0 connector or an IEEE 1394 FireWire connector. Both of these connectors are high-bandwidth connections, meaning that they can handle the large amount of information that must stream from the camcorder into the computer. An old-fashioned USB 1.1 connector simply isn't fast enough, so you must have either USB 2.0 or FireWire. In this case, I'm using a FireWire connection from my Sony digital Handycam (Figure 4.59) to my dual-processor Macintosh G5, which has a FireWire and USB 2.0 connector right on the front (Figure 4.60).

Figure 4.59. A Sony digital camcorder (in this case, a DCR-TRV350).


Figure 4.60. A nice shiny Macintosh with jacks on the front.


To connect the camcorder and the computer, you need the correct cable, which can be purchased separately but often comes with the camcorder. In this case, it's an IEEE 1394 cable (Figure 4.61). Start by connecting one end of the cable to the camcorder (Figure 4.62) and the other end to the computer (Figure 4.63).

Figure 4.61. An IEEE 1394 cable.


Figure 4.62. Connect the IEEE 1394 cable to the camcorder.


Figure 4.63. Connect the other end of the IEEE 1394 cable to the computer's FireWire jack. (Some computers have this jack on the back.)


2. Start the Software and Turn on the Camcorder

Next, you need to open iMovie (Figure 4.64) and power up your camcorder into VCR mode (Figure 4.65). As soon as iMovie starts, it will "see" and take control of the camcorder.

Figure 4.64. Open iMovie.


Figure 4.65. Set your camcorder to VCR mode.


3. Import the Video into iMovie

To import video into iMovie, you need to flick the switch in the iMovie window from edit mode to camera mode (Figure 4.66). After you do this, the view screen turns blue, and you have a nice little Import button at the bottom center of the screen (Figure 4.67).

Figure 4.66. Switch the switch to camera mode.


Figure 4.67. Click the Import button to start importing video from the camcorder to iMovie.


When the video is importing, you can start and stop it at your leisure, controlling the camcorder completely from within iMovie, or you can let the video flow into iMovie on its own. Either way, the video flows into iMovie and appears as clips in the palette on the right side of the window (Figure 4.68).

Figure 4.68. The clips accrue in the palette area on the right side of the iMovie window.


4. Import Pictures

If you want to import pictures into your video creation, you can do so directly from iPhoto by clicking the Media button below the clips palette (Figure 4.69). The Media Browser opens. Click the Photos button at the top, and a selection of photos from your iPhoto library appears (Figure 4.70).

Figure 4.69. Click the Media button below the clips palette.


Figure 4.70. When you click the Photos button, your entire iPhoto library becomes available to you.


Click a photo, and it appears in the main window (Figure 4.71) along with a transparent Photo Settings dialog box (Figure 4.72) that allows you to apply the Ken Burns Effect to the photo. After you apply the effect (or not), you can drop the photograph into the timeline exactly where you want it (Figure 4.73). In this way, you can create some truly spectacular slide shows with zooming pictures that have real emotional power.

Figure 4.71. The photo you select appears in the main window.


Figure 4.72. Photo Settings is a powerful feature that allows you to use and control the Ken Burns Effect on all your photographs.


Figure 4.73. Drop the photos into the timeline to create a cool slide show.


The Ken Burns Effect

Ken Burns is a famous American documentary filmmaker, perhaps best known for his The Civil War documentary. Because there is no film footage from the Civil War, Burns used still photographs of the day and gave them life by slowly zooming in and out of photographs. He also panned from one image in a photograph to another, giving what would otherwise be a dull medium some much-needed motion. This style of panning and zooming in photographs has become known as the Ken Burns Effect, and Apple has included it in its iMovie software. The result is that photographic slide shows have new emotional depth and interest. The effect is really quite dramatic and has to be seen to be fully appreciated.


5. Import Audio

As with importing photographs, you can import audio files by clicking the Audio button (Figure 4.74), which sits right beside the Photo button in the Media Browser.

Figure 4.74. Audio files are also available from the Media Browser.


When it comes to audio, you can import songs you've created in GarageBand or audio portions of a podcast that you've already created and placed in iTunes. You can also import any audio file in your iTunes library (Figure 4.75). When the audio file is imported, it appears in one of the two supplementary audio tracks in the timeline below the video clips (Figure 4.76).

Figure 4.75. The entire iTunes library is at your disposal.


Figure 4.76. There are two extra audio streams that you can place audio files in.



You can also record a new audio track right in iMovie as you watch the video. The Microphone control and Record button appear at the bottom of the Media Browser.


6. Edit Individual Segments

If you want to trim individual segments or clips of video, you can do it simply by clicking the video clip (whether in the palette or the timeline) and then using the cutting tool at the bottom of the main window (Figure 4.77) to trim the portion of the clip you want to eliminate. You can also split clips at the playhead (Figure 4.78) if you want to divide a large clip into smaller components.

Figure 4.77. You can cut clips in the main window to trim them as you see fit. Use the little arrows along the bottom of the screen. The yellow line at the bottom shows what part of the clip is selected.


Figure 4.78. You can split clips whenever the playhead is located by choosing Edit > Split Video Clip at Playhead.


7. Place Video Segments in the Timeline Area

Now that everything is recorded, drag and drop the video clips into the timeline as you see fit (Figure 4.79). In iMovie, you can intersperse photos and video clips as much as you want, but be warned that you usually have to do this carefully to make it work well.

Figure 4.79. Drop your clips into the timeline.


When the segments are in the timeline, you can adjust the zoom (bottom-left corner) to look at just the portion of the video you want to see (Figure 4.80).

Figure 4.80. Zoom in or out as you see fit.


8. Add Text and Digital Effects

If you want to gussy up the video with professional-looking transitions and digital effects, now is the time to do it. If you're going to be adding digital effects and text to particular video clips, you must do this before you put the transitions in place. To add a digital effect, follow the directions in Figures 4.81, 4.82, and 4.83.

Figure 4.81. Click the Editing button below the clips palette.


Figure 4.82. Click the Video FX button at the top of the Editing window.


Figure 4.83. Click the effect you want, and a control set comes up. As you tinker with the video effect, a real-time preview of the effect on the selected video clip appears in the large window. If you want to keep the effect, click the Apply button in the bottom-right corner.


After you've added all the digital/visual effects that you want, it's time to add any text that you might want to use in the video. This can include credits, titles, or even music video-type headers that simply tell the audience who is being interviewed.

In the same Editing window, click the Titles button (Figure 4.84) to get to the Titles area. There are plenty of great options that you can fool with in the Titles area. You need to select the specific title option you want, then type in your text, then pick up the actual title icon and drag it to the timeline where you want the text/title to be inserted. So, once the text is written, select the title icon and then drag the title you want to the clip where you want to insert it or to the place you want to insert it, if you're dealing with credits on a black background (Figure 4.85).

Figure 4.84. Click the Titles button.


Figure 4.85. As you type the text you want to use, it's previewed in the main window dynamically. To insert the title, drag the title name (in this case, Clip Image) into the place on the timeline where you want it to go; the title will be inserted there.


9. Insert Transitions

In my opinion, video transitions are what make the presentation look really professional. A transition is simply how the video flows or changes from one video clip to another. There are hundreds of ways to do this, and iMovie offers many ways to do this. My version of iMovie has the complete Slick series of transitions from GeeThree, so I have the ability to do some pretty special transitions. This section (Figure 4.86 through Figure 4.89) walks you through the process of inserting transitions between video clips.

Figure 4.86. Click the Transitions button at the top of the Editing window.


Figure 4.87. Set the playhead between the clips you want to transition between; then select the transition you want to see by clicking it in the Transitions window.


Figure 4.88. Preview the transition. The preview happens automatically when you click the transition icon (in the Transitions window) that you are interested in. It's a cool feature; you simply click the transition you want, and the preview occurs automatically. In this way, you can preview many transitions quickly.


Figure 4.89. Drag the transition down to the place where you want it to go, and the computer will work on inserting it.


10. Adjust Audio Levels

When all the video clips are in place, and the transitions and titles are in place, you need only drop in any needed audio and adjust the audio levels. You can adjust the audio levels simply by clicking the stream (be it video or audio) in the timeline (Figure 4.90), grabbing the line that runs through the clip, and then dragging the line to whatever level you desire (Figure 4.91).

Figure 4.90. Click the feed on which you want to adjust the volume.


Figure 4.91. Drag the little line up or down to adjust the volume. You can adjust the volume in minute and gradual ways by using this system.


Note that the line that runs through each clip can be grabbed anywhere, and each time you click the line, a new point (a dot) appears on the line. In this way, you can make points between which audio can be skewed up or down gradually or sharply. You can have as much or as little control of the audio of a stream as you want. If you want the audio of a stream to be set globally, grab the line right at the beginning of the clip (on the far left) and pull it down; the result is that the audio level for that entire clip goes down with it.

When all the levels are just how you want them, the video podcast is complete (Figure 4.92).

Figure 4.92. If you want to get into the nitty-gritty of a particular clip, you can click the Audio FX button in the Editing window. In the Audio FX pane, you can add audio effects such as reverb, delay, and pitch changes, and even use a graphic equalizer to refine the sound of a particular clip.


11. Save the Movie and Export It

To finish, you need to save your movie and then export it in a format that can be used for vodcasting. Figure 4.93 through Figure 4.99 show you how to wrap up the process.

Figure 4.93. Save the project first (choose File > Save Project).


Figure 4.94. Choose File > Export.


Figure 4.95. In the next window, choose Expert Settings from the Compress Movie For drop-down menu; then click the Share button.


Figure 4.96. From the Export drop-down menu in the next window, choose the level of export you want; then start the process by clicking the Save button.


Figure 4.97. If you want to send the video podcast directly to iWeb, click the iWeb icon.


Figure 4.98. If you're sending to iWeb, select Share for Video Podcast and click the Share button.


Figure 4.99. At this point, the video is compressed; then it's moved to iWeb automatically!



For a tutorial on publishing a video podcast, check out Chapter 5. There, you can find everything you need to know about publishing your podcasts, be they audio or video.





Secrets of Podcasting, Second Edition. Audio and Video Blogging for the Masses
Secrets of Podcasting, Second Edition: Audio Blogging for the Masses (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 0321438434
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 89

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