Online Videos - Making your footage ready for Youtube.The truth of the matter is that a large proportion of the videos that go on Youtube are low quality. You only have to look at video's such as this or this to understand what I mean. Analysis of these indicates that the quality issues are low on 2 facets:-
I've already put together an article about how you can make sure your video footage is the best it can be now I want to give you some ideas about shooting and preparing your footage specifically for Youtube. The thing to remember when preparing for Youtube is that you are limited to both file size and length. As a result everything you do for Youtube will be a compromise between having enough detail to see what you're doing and having a small enough file size to make it worth watching. Your upload limit is 100MB for a 10 minute film. Given that normal digital footage from a camcorder is recorded at much greater rates than that (I have a 10 minute DV film that takes up about 2GB, for example), you are on a losing stance to start with. The key is to take advantage of the Youtube limitations to make your video the best it can be. Why does Youtube have problems?But before we go any further let's recap on what happens when preparing a video and reducing its file size:
 This isn't what I mean by 'Digital Compression". (Photo courtesy of Spacepleb released under a Creative Commons attribution licence) What can we do about it?So knowing this let's look at how we can go about preparing your Youtube video and make it look as good as it can be.1) Start with the highest quality you can. If your video footage is going to be reduced in quality it needs to start from an excellent base. If you're trying to use some old Hi8 or VHS tape that you found in the attic the chances are it's not going to be appropriate. You need standard definition (SD) digital video as a minimum. High definition is preferable! And it should be the original footage, it shouldn't be something you've taken from another project you've worked on and have thereby already compressed. Recapture from the camera if you can't find your original. 2) When preparing for filming make sure you don't have much movement. It stands to reason that if your file is going to be compressed using the 'differences' algorithm, then any large differences are going to increase file size. If you can keep movement to a minimum this will benefit you. This also applies to things such as the background. If you have a shot of someone talking and they are against a 'busy' background, any slight move of the camera will register the whole background as being changed needing a large write to disk to save the information. Shoot against a plain background. Unlike these guys here:  Photo
Courtesy of Jurvetson
(Released under a Creative Commons Attribution License)
3) Make it well lit. One other problem with digital video is that when the video starts to get too dark it introduces 'noise' into the dark areas. (Actually the noise is always there but it becomes more noticeable in the dark areas). So keep your scene well lit and it will hide the noise more effectively than if it has those big dark areas on the screen. 4) Don't use too many effects. By this I mean don't add fades or dissolves unless absolutely necessary. These all go towards the 'movement' theme I talked about in point 2. Straight cuts from one shot to another are best.
SummaryThe art of Youtube is not complex. Just remember the following items:- Not too much movement - Not too long - Simple - too complicated gets lost - Well lit Why not subscribe to our blog or our eZine? Return from Online Videos to Free video editing
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