From ned at nedbatchelder.com  Fri May 18 13:35:11 2012
From: ned at nedbatchelder.com (Ned Batchelder)
Date: Fri, 18 May 2012 07:35:11 -0400
Subject: [group-organizers] Videoing meetings?
Message-ID: <4FB633EF.6080703@nedbatchelder.com>

Can anyone share tips/hints or even just pedestrian techniques for 
videoing meetings?  In Boston, we've had middling success with it.  It 
feels like it should be easier.

--Ned.

From whykay at gmail.com  Fri May 18 14:06:11 2012
From: whykay at gmail.com (Vicky Twomey-Lee)
Date: Fri, 18 May 2012 13:06:11 +0100
Subject: [group-organizers] Videoing meetings?
In-Reply-To: <4FB633EF.6080703@nedbatchelder.com>
References: <4FB633EF.6080703@nedbatchelder.com>
Message-ID: <CA+2gdZG10V-6gHCcR5Oy2jLGPkpD4DCQ4n4uOpFp+h__iEA5ZQ@mail.gmail.com>

Hi Ned,

I/we use a normal HD digicam and tripods are your best friend.

I find getting a good quality one is worth it as you can move pivot it
smoothly. It's not essential.

We have mixed outcomes with mics, we have a zoom mic, but needs for the
speaker to remain where he is standing or sit. We end up not using any. We
are considering clip on mics, haven't tried them yet.
Having a separate audio recorder helps, all you need is to do a bit of
post-production, which you need to do anyway before uploading the final
video.

Since you have the slides, you can focus on the speaker, letting him/her
know how where the boundaries are so they don't walk off camera. If you
know there is a demo during the presentation, then you will need to be
prepared to pan and zoom to what's being demoed, especially if it's
something done in a terminal (more often than not). That's why smooth
panning is important, less noise from the sqeaky adjustments. :-)

Make sure the speaker has their editor and terminal fonts in really big
fonts and good contrast. More comfy for the audience and makes life easier
for post-production.

Best case, have 2 cameras, one on the speaker, the other on the slides &
demo and with post-production you can pull them together like those fancy
google talks.

And one last thing, don't bother cleaning up background noises, you can do
the bare minimum in post-production, and people won't know the difference.
I just worry about syncing and getting it within the upload limit on Vimeo.
;-)

Hope that helps? I'm not pro or anything, just things we come across from
videoing talks in the past.

Cheers,

/// Vicky Lee (Python Ireland)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ http://irishbornchinese.com ~~
~~       http://www.python.ie     ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 12:35 PM, Ned Batchelder <ned at nedbatchelder.com>wrote:

> Can anyone share tips/hints or even just pedestrian techniques for
> videoing meetings?  In Boston, we've had middling success with it.  It
> feels like it should be easier.
>
> --Ned.
> ______________________________**_________________
> Group-Organizers mailing list
> Group-Organizers at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/**mailman/listinfo/group-**organizers<http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/group-organizers>
>
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From ned at nedbatchelder.com  Fri May 18 18:59:25 2012
From: ned at nedbatchelder.com (Ned Batchelder)
Date: Fri, 18 May 2012 12:59:25 -0400
Subject: [group-organizers] Videoing meetings?
In-Reply-To: <CA+2gdZG10V-6gHCcR5Oy2jLGPkpD4DCQ4n4uOpFp+h__iEA5ZQ@mail.gmail.com>
References: <4FB633EF.6080703@nedbatchelder.com>
	<CA+2gdZG10V-6gHCcR5Oy2jLGPkpD4DCQ4n4uOpFp+h__iEA5ZQ@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4FB67FED.2020501@nedbatchelder.com>

Vicky, thanks for all this.  What model digicam are you using, and what 
are you using for post-production?  How much time do you spend on 
post-production?

--Ned.

On 5/18/2012 8:06 AM, Vicky Twomey-Lee wrote:
> Hi Ned,
>
> I/we use a normal HD digicam and tripods are your best friend.
>
> I find getting a good quality one is worth it as you can move pivot it 
> smoothly. It's not essential.
>
> We have mixed outcomes with mics, we have a zoom mic, but needs for 
> the speaker to remain where he is standing or sit. We end up not using 
> any. We are considering clip on mics, haven't tried them yet.
> Having a separate audio recorder helps, all you need is to do a bit of 
> post-production, which you need to do anyway before uploading the 
> final video.
>
> Since you have the slides, you can focus on the speaker, letting 
> him/her know how where the boundaries are so they don't walk off 
> camera. If you know there is a demo during the presentation, then you 
> will need to be prepared to pan and zoom to what's being demoed, 
> especially if it's something done in a terminal (more often than not). 
> That's why smooth panning is important, less noise from the sqeaky 
> adjustments. :-)
>
> Make sure the speaker has their editor and terminal fonts in really 
> big fonts and good contrast. More comfy for the audience and makes 
> life easier for post-production.
>
> Best case, have 2 cameras, one on the speaker, the other on the slides 
> & demo and with post-production you can pull them together like those 
> fancy google talks.
>
> And one last thing, don't bother cleaning up background noises, you 
> can do the bare minimum in post-production, and people won't know the 
> difference. I just worry about syncing and getting it within the 
> upload limit on Vimeo. ;-)
>
> Hope that helps? I'm not pro or anything, just things we come across 
> from videoing talks in the past.
>
> Cheers,
>
> /// Vicky Lee (Python Ireland)
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~~ http://irishbornchinese.com ~~
> ~~ http://www.python.ie     ~~
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
> On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 12:35 PM, Ned Batchelder 
> <ned at nedbatchelder.com <mailto:ned at nedbatchelder.com>> wrote:
>
>     Can anyone share tips/hints or even just pedestrian techniques for
>     videoing meetings?  In Boston, we've had middling success with it.
>      It feels like it should be easier.
>
>     --Ned.
>     _______________________________________________
>     Group-Organizers mailing list
>     Group-Organizers at python.org <mailto:Group-Organizers at python.org>
>     http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/group-organizers
>
>
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From whykay at gmail.com  Sat May 19 00:12:38 2012
From: whykay at gmail.com (Vicky Twomey-Lee)
Date: Fri, 18 May 2012 23:12:38 +0100
Subject: [group-organizers] Videoing meetings?
In-Reply-To: <4FB67FED.2020501@nedbatchelder.com>
References: <4FB633EF.6080703@nedbatchelder.com>
	<CA+2gdZG10V-6gHCcR5Oy2jLGPkpD4DCQ4n4uOpFp+h__iEA5ZQ@mail.gmail.com>
	<4FB67FED.2020501@nedbatchelder.com>
Message-ID: <CA+2gdZE_xeL89dbuvr55-2a8LLc-Z9a3doqR0UA3V2JURCc4=Q@mail.gmail.com>

It's an oldish Sony HD digicam, you can get much better ones for the same
price nowadays, it's older model of one of the ones listed on the site:-
http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=10151&langId=-1&catalogId=10551&categoryId=8198552921644772500

We have the one that stores footage in the harddisk on the camera.

I use to use Final Cut Express as I didn't want to pay for Final Cut Pro
back few years ago, then it was iMovie (upgrading to various versions as
they came out, the latest version is fine to use. But I now use Final Cut
Pro as it's more affordable.

It's really down to you on how comfortable you are with the apps. I use FCP
because I used it when I learnt to use it in college a few years back.

iMovie is just as handy and has improved a lot and the new FCP is just like
iMovie, but few more bells and whistles.

It depends, if it's a 30 minute talk, I just give it a title and ending
credits, add clearer slides to the video footage, the rendering still takes
a long time. I would get it done in less than half a day and have it
uploaded to vimeo. If it's longer, I just leave it rendering while I wander
off and do something else. Again it depends on how well you capture the
footage, maybe sound is not that great and you need to sync the separate
audio you captured, that takes a little more time, but it's easy to do.
Sometimes you need to add slides to hide the cuts or dodgey clips.

You will get a feel after a couple of videos and you will be outputting
videos without a bother in the world and you do get quicker although the
rendering doesn't (unless you have a power horse of a machine). :-)

Oh, and lighting is always important, unless it's really bright in the
room, you should be able to have the lights on when talk is being
presented. Experiment, especially if you are in different venues.

Keeping it simple is best.

Good luck, and have fun!

Cheers,

/// Vicky

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ http://irishbornchinese.com ~~
~~       http://www.python.ie     ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 5:59 PM, Ned Batchelder <ned at nedbatchelder.com>wrote:

>  Vicky, thanks for all this.  What model digicam are you using, and what
> are you using for post-production?  How much time do you spend on
> post-production?
>
> --Ned.
>
>
> On 5/18/2012 8:06 AM, Vicky Twomey-Lee wrote:
>
> Hi Ned,
>
>  I/we use a normal HD digicam and tripods are your best friend.
>
>  I find getting a good quality one is worth it as you can move pivot it
> smoothly. It's not essential.
>
>  We have mixed outcomes with mics, we have a zoom mic, but needs for the
> speaker to remain where he is standing or sit. We end up not using any. We
> are considering clip on mics, haven't tried them yet.
> Having a separate audio recorder helps, all you need is to do a bit of
> post-production, which you need to do anyway before uploading the final
> video.
>
>  Since you have the slides, you can focus on the speaker, letting him/her
> know how where the boundaries are so they don't walk off camera. If you
> know there is a demo during the presentation, then you will need to be
> prepared to pan and zoom to what's being demoed, especially if it's
> something done in a terminal (more often than not). That's why smooth
> panning is important, less noise from the sqeaky adjustments. :-)
>
>  Make sure the speaker has their editor and terminal fonts in really big
> fonts and good contrast. More comfy for the audience and makes life easier
> for post-production.
>
>  Best case, have 2 cameras, one on the speaker, the other on the slides &
> demo and with post-production you can pull them together like those fancy
> google talks.
>
>  And one last thing, don't bother cleaning up background noises, you can
> do the bare minimum in post-production, and people won't know the
> difference. I just worry about syncing and getting it within the upload
> limit on Vimeo. ;-)
>
>  Hope that helps? I'm not pro or anything, just things we come across
> from videoing talks in the past.
>
>  Cheers,
>
>  /// Vicky Lee (Python Ireland)
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~~ http://irishbornchinese.com ~~
> ~~       http://www.python.ie     ~~
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
> On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 12:35 PM, Ned Batchelder <ned at nedbatchelder.com>wrote:
>
>> Can anyone share tips/hints or even just pedestrian techniques for
>> videoing meetings?  In Boston, we've had middling success with it.  It
>> feels like it should be easier.
>>
>> --Ned.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Group-Organizers mailing list
>> Group-Organizers at python.org
>> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/group-organizers
>>
>
>
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