hands
on
As
easy as 1-2-3
Fred Teo
Aug 8, 2001
Making movies is a cinch these days. All
you need is a FireWire Mac and a DV camcorder and you're on!
Professional movie making used to be the domain of art students and movie
moguls. Not anymore. Equipped with a FireWire Mac and a DV (digital video)
camcorder you too can now shoot and professionally edit your very own
blockbuster.
Planning
The first stage of your blockbuster movie is the storyboard. This is a
sketched outline of what is going to happen in your movie, where, how
and so on. You may even discover the need to film one scene from two or
three different angles. Believe me, the more time you spend on the storyboard,
the less time you will waste later in the editing. For a thorough tutorial,
go to Josh Sheppard's storyboard tutorial at www.thestoryboardartist.com
Shooting
Before purchasing your DV camera, check for compatibility with your Mac
at www.apple.com/imovie/shoot.html
Most batteries that come with today's DV camcorders will last between
30 and 60 minutes of continuous shooting. If you have to pause and record
frequently between shots, the battery will drain sooner then expected.
Take an extra battery or an extension lead to connect to a nearby main
supply. Don't forget to bring along extra tapes. Let your little ones
star in your own movie. No fancy crew needed -- just a FireWire Mac to
do the work.
While shooting your movie, record a few seconds before and after the actual
sequence as this will give you more flexibility when you edit later. Always
lock the tape immediately as you may accidentally record over yesterday's
tape.
If sound is important (e.g. for an interview) consider an external microphone
and keep recording even when you change the camera angle or position.
You can always remove the unwanted part of the video and replace it with
other clips or even still photos during the editing phase.
Editing
The simplest software for DV editing is iMovie 2 which is free with all
new Macs. It is so easy to use that some school children are using it
to create videos for their school projects.
Where to start
To begin editing, we first have to capture the movie from the tape. First
plug one end of the FireWire cable to the Mac and the other end to the
DV camcorder. Then switch on the camcorder and remember to put it to the
VCR or VTR mode.
Launch iMovie 2 on the Mac, choose "New Project" and give your
blockbuster a name.
Put iMovie 2 in camera/capture mode by clicking on the camera icon at
the lower left of the movie screen.
Start the capturing process by clicking on the "Capture" button.
iMovie will do its magic, capturing every sequence and organise it as
clips on a shelf. Check out www.apple.com/imovie
for examples.
Watch your space
With digital movies, disc space is a premium. If you have a 60- minute
DV recording, about 13 GB of free hard disk space is needed to store all
the data. If you do not have enough space on your internal hard drive,
trash some files to free up the space or get an extra drive.
After capturing comes the fun part: building your story. I prefer working
with audio first because it is easier to time the footage once the audio
is in place.
Drag the movie clips from the shelf and place them in the clip viewer.
Click on the timeline tab and press command+J keys to extract the audio
track and display it on the timeline. Work on the audio by discarding
the unwanted portion which you can delete. When you are satisfied with
the audio part, lock it by selecting Lock Audio Clip at Playhead in the
Advanced menu.
Now start working on the video. You can add effects, transitions or just
let your imagination run wild. Make sure that the video and audio are
in sync or the sequence will look really odd.
Apple's iMovie website and also the Mac's Help menu will answer most of
your immediate questions.
Output
Export options include QuickTime movies, which can be archived on CDR
or streamed on the Internet, and VCD. I prefer to export as a QuickTime
movie as it has better quality than VCD.
Exporting back
You can also export back to your DV tape. To do this, first insert a blank
DV tape. Switch on the camcorder and put it on the VCR or VTR mode. Connect
the camcorder to the Mac with a FireWire cable. Select File>Export
Movie. Choose the settings you want and click Export. iMovie 2 will transfer
your edited movie into the DV tape.
You can also transfer to a video tape by connecting the RCA Output of
the DV camcorder to the RCA input of the VCR.
For some MUGS (Mac user groups) movies go to our website at www.macuser.org.sg
Export options
The preferred export options, after many trials, are:
* Video Codec: Sorenson Video 3
* Depth: Millions of colours
* Size: 480 x 360
* Frame Rate: 25 (as Singapore is using PAL system)
* Key frame rate: 25
* Date Rate: 95 Kbytes/sec (for a movie of around 90 minutes duration)
* Audio Codec: Qdesign Music 2
* Sample Rate: 44.1 KHz, 16-bit
* Stereo or Mono (depending on the audio content)
Fred Teo is from the Mac Users Group of Singapore. Its website is at www.macuser.org.sg