| Stream Right |
| Page 2 of 3 |
|
A light kit, like the Lowel Basically 3 kit ($759) can dramatically improve video for the web.
Don't forget audio. Nothing is worse than a webcast with bad audio.
Programs like Cleaner 5 are great for compressing your video for streaming. |
Flouresent lights and webcasting suck… indirect lighting and webcasting is just as bad. If you want your images to pop, to really stand out, you need to invest in some lights. A simple light kit can help create some contrast in your image. When I say contrast, I am really talking about separating your subject from your background. For example, an acquatence of mine has been doing some live webcasts from his studio. He is using a black backdrop to help separate his subjects, and make them stand out more. This would be fine, but he doesn't know too much about lighting, so he is just using available light in the room. During the webcast, most of the light for the subject is coming from the computer monitor. This casts a blue glow on everything, and only causes the subject to be washed out and not look very good.
By using a key light to light the subject, and a back light to separate the subject from the background, a nice pleasing image can be achieved. By having your subject stand out, the audience knows what they are looking at and where their attention should be focused.
Don't forget the Audio
It is bad enough when you have a crumby image, it is even worse when you have bad audio. It is odd, in all the years I have been doing video production, an audience is "generally" forgiving if you have poor quality video, but they will complain up a storm if the audio is bad (don't believe me? See what happens the next time the audio goes bad at your local movie theatre). If you can't get your subject to wear a lavalier microphone, at least try to get the mic as close as possible to them. A shotgun mic positioned at the other end of a very large conference room is not going to be as good as a shotgun mic placed just out of camera view next to the subject.
Also, avoid those mini mic or desk mics that come pre packaged with your computer. Those microphones are there for just one reason; to make executives look high tech. These mics have horrible dynamic ranges and only pic up sound that is a foot or less away from the diaphram. If you have one of these, toss it out. An $80 dynamic mic from Guitar Center will do far more than any computer mic will.
Remember target audience when compressing
Unfortunately a majority of the world is still stuck in the 56k or slower realm of the Internet. While it would be great for everyone to be able to have a DSL, Cable Modem or faster connection, it just isn't possible at this time. For this reason think of how the following will affect your end product; image size (try to shoot for 320x240), frames per second (15ps or higher is best), and streaming mode. When using Cleaner 5, it gives you a sample of what your video and audio will look and sound like at different frame rates, sizes and connect speeds.
Also consider if your webcast will be available to download, or if the viewer has to watch the streaming version. If the file is available to download, size will definately be an issue. At 56k it takes between 7 and 14 minutes to download a 1Mb file, considering that even a short clip (15 seconds) at 320x240 and 15fps could easily be larger than 2Mb, chances are that unless you content is fantastic, the viewer will not want to wait 4 hours to download your movie file.
Prev 1 2 3 Next
Related sites: • AV Video • Broadcast Newsroom • Creative Mac • Digital Producer • Digital Webcast • DV Format • Film and Video Magazine • The WWUG
Related forums:
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
