Sometimes it happens that an action in a given movie/film is separated by other actions that may not be related to the one you want to show. If this is the case, you can cut the non-related actions and splice the segments of the action of interest. This comes handy when you are limited by class time and would like to show a part of a movie that is otherwise too long.

In just several steps, you will be able to splice segments using iMovie HD

Step 1) Import in iMovie HD the entire movie/film/clip you want to splice. This could be done by dragging and dropping the video file in iMovie HD.

Step 2) Time to create the segment that needs to be cut. Find the beginning of it on the time line. Once you have the beginning point, click the right button on the mouse and select "Split Video Clip at Playhead"

Step 3) Find the end of that segment on the time line. Now similarly to the procedure in step 2, click the right button on the mouse and select "Split Video Clip at Playhead"

Step 4) Now you have a segment that you can remove or cut. To do any of these actions, make a right click with the mouse over the segment.

You can keep on cutting segments that are not crucial to the part you want to show. The video will automatically join ends.

Once you are done, you can export the project. There are different options that offer different quality settings. We would encourage you to use the expert settings, because you can adjust the quality to what you need. If you would like to read more about expert settings, see the blog post dedicated to them (CLICK HERE)

The recently upgraded rack with equipment in Library room 135 now allows you to digitize a VHS tape and burn it straight onto a DVD. This new feature comes handy when you need to show your class a movie or a few clips, but you don't have a VHS player in the classroom. It is also good to use in order to preserve data recorded on VHS. Over time VHS tapes go bad and thus the content on them may be damaged.

In just a few steps you will be able to digitize your VHS recording and burn it onto a DVD.

Step 1) Insert a blank DVD disk in the Panasonic DVD player (#1).
Step 2) Insert the VHS tape in the Toshiba VHS player (#2).
Step 3) Adjust the incoming/outgoing signal from the panel above the Panasonic DVD player. The signal should come from #2 and go to #1.

Step 4) Once you have started to play the VHS tape, you can press the "Record" button on the DVD player. You can do that either on the DVD player or with the remote control. We would encourage you to use the remote control.
Step 5) Once you think you have captured the movie or the scene, you should stop recording by pressing the "Stop" button on the remote control. You may add more scenes later on, providing that you have not finalized the disk.

Step 6) When you have all of the desired scenes on the DVD disk, you have to finalize it. If you do not finalize the disk, it will be unreadable on other DVD devices. To finalize the DVD disk, press the "Functions" button on the remote control. From the menu that will appear on the screen, select "Other Functions". From the newly opened sub-menu you need to select "DVD Management" and this is where you can finalize your disk.

You will also be asked if you want to finalize the disk when you press the eject button. Follow the instructions on the screen if you want to finalize it. If you do not wish to finalize it, press the eject button a second time.

Your finalized disk can play on classroom computers and DVD players. If you experience difficulties with digitizing or playing your finalized DVD disks, please contact any of the STA office assistants. We would be glad to help you out and look at problematic disks.

Photo Story 3 for Windows is a very useful software which enables the user to record his/her voice over a series of slides which are animated by the software according to user given parameters. The pictures can be cropped, rotated or touched-up in a very user friendly interface.

Suppose you want to create a short narration over a series of digital pictures and you would like the pictures to change depending on what you are talking about. If you wouldn't be using Photo Story 3, you would have to record your voice in one software and somehow create a movie of the photographs in the order you need them in another software package and then combine the soundtrack and the movie into one digital video. With Photo Story 3, this entire process becomes really easy because the narration recording and the picture synchronization is made within the software. Photo Story 3 also enables the user to add simple transitions between the pictures and add a different background track (.wma, mp3 or wav) rather than having to record your voice. The downside of Photo Story 3 is that it is only available as a Windows application and it can only export movies in .wmv format.

Let's go through the process of creating a digital video with some pictures and a background track.
Follow these steps for creating the video:
1. Open Photo Story 3. You should see something like this:

2. Select Begin a new story and click Next
3. For the next window, click Import Pictures...
4. Browse to the folder location of your pictures, select the pictures you need and click OK 
You should see something similar to the image below:


11. b. To add background music, click on the Select Music button and choose your track. You can only use mp3, wav or wma. Click Open to use the track you selected and click Next to save your story.

Creating a slideshow with voiceover is a fairly straightforward task with a Mac. All you need are the pre-installed software iMovie and iPhoto as well as a microphone.

First of all import your photos in Iphoto. It is suggested that you import all the photos in one batch and give it an easy to remember name.

Open iPhoto.
Go to File --> Import to Library-->Select photos and import them
You can edit any of the photos if they need a bit of touching up. It is suggested that you pay special emphasis to the orientation of the pictures. Don't forget to save any of the changes you make!

Now open iMovie.
Create a new project by going to File--> Create a New Project

Now click on the small camera icon on the right hand side of the screen. iPhoto will open up and you can search for any photos imported to iMovie. The photos you recently uploaded will be present in the Last Import folder.



Now select one photo and then drag and drop it into the Project Window. The Project Window looks like a series of empty paper cutouts.

Once your images are in the Project Window, you can double click on any image and edit minor details like the length of time the image will be displayed.

 

When you click on any image thumbnail in the Project Window, follow this up by clicking on the Crop icon, another window should now display an enlarged version of the photo.

Minor Editing is allowed by iMovie. They are namely

Fit:
This fits the entire photo as into the slideshow, no camera panning.

Crop:
Allows you to crop the photo

Ken Burns:


This option allows you to pan over the image. If your image is over the maximum resolution of the video, you can perform a "Ken Burns" effect. This essentially pans the camera across the picture. The Green Rectangle shows the starting view and the red rectangle shows the view the image ends with. The yellow direction arrow shows you the direction across which the camera will pan during the slide show. You can preview effects by hitting on the play button on the top right corner.

Rotate:
You can easily rotate images with the rotate icons on the top of the screen

Once you are satisfied with the photo layout. You can begin the voice over process by hitting the microphone icon.

You can also select the audio input method if you have an external microphone with you. If not, iMovie automatically selects the built in microphone.

Once you are done. Just click on the Edit Project tab and this will take you to the Project library.

Now just right click on the project, hit Export Movie...--> Choose settings and your movie will be created.

The scratch disk is a folder in your hard drive where final cut express saves all your projects, audio/video files as well as renders files. The scratch disk is where all media files used and rendered by Final Cut is saved by default. Final Cut is preset so that the scratch disk is located on the same drive final cut is installed in. Raw video files are a huge resource hog, and can consume many gigs of space as well as significant processor and RAM use during video rendering and compressing. Hence, it is recommended that you either install Final Cut in a disk drive separate from the one the Operating System is located in (so that the Scratch disk is automatically created on the same drive) or else you manually move the scratch disk to another location.

Most video enthusiasts prefer to use external memory storage for video editing purposes. The benefits of doing this are listed below.

System performace is faster if an external hard drive is used
It is easier to transport and edit files on different computer with an external hard drive
External hard drives allow you to exponentially increase the amount of space you have available (Hard drives with more than 1 Tb memory are the norm these days).  

The procedure to setting up an external hard drive as a scratch disk is as follows:

• Insert your external hard drive accordingly (Firewire or USB)
• Open Final Cut Express
• System Settings-->Locate and add External Hard Drive -->Set

• Video Capture, Audio Capture, Video Render, and Audio Render: Check these boxes to specify the types of files to be stored on each disk. Specify more than one disk for increased storage space. When the current disk runs out of space, Final Cut Express automatically switches to the next specified disk for storing capture files or to the disk with the most space available for storing render files.
• Clear: Click to remove a disk from the list of available disks.
• Set: Click to choose a disk or a folder on a hard disk. You can specify up to 12 disks.
• Waveform Cache: Click the Set button to specify a folder or disk to store waveform cache files (graphical representations of audio signals). The default location is the Final Cut Express Documents folder on your scratch disk.
• Thumbnail Cache: Click the Set button to specify a folder or disk to store thumbnail cache files. The default location is the Final Cut Express Documents folder on your scratch disk. You specify the size of this cache on the Memory & Cache tab.

• Autosave Vault: Click the Set button to specify a folder or disk to store FCE's automatic backup copies of your project files. The default location is the Final Cut Express Documents folder on your scratch disk. For more information on the Autosave Vault, see Chapter 4, "Projects, Sequences, and Clips."
• Minimum Allowable Free Space on Scratch Disks: Enter a limit value. When disk space falls below this minimum, a disk will no longer be used as a scratch disk, and files will be stored on the next disk in the list.
• Limit Capture/Export File Segment Size To: Enter a limit value. The default value is 2 GB. Final Cut Express allows the capture and export of single files larger than 2 GB, but if you plan to move your files to another system that has a file size limitation, or if you share media files over a network, you should enable this option. Files that are larger than your specified limit will be spanned (written as separate, but linked, files).
• Limit Capture Now To: Enter a limit value. The default limit is 30 minutes

Final Cut is a comprehensive audio and video editing software developed by Apple that is widely used to make and edit videos. One of the core features of Final Cut is the ability to make non-linear edits. This essentially means you have the ability to jump to different parts of the video and make multiple edits simultaneously. It is a break from linear editing process that was much more rigid in structure and provided very little flexibility. An added consideration is the fact that Final Cut only works on Macs and depending on the version of Final Cut, some are optimized for use only with the latest intel processors.

Final Cut is sold in two different forms



Final Cut Studio ($999)
This is the full version of Final Cut and is mostly used for high end professional film and video editing. Media Composer and Final Cut Studio are the primary software tools used to edit and create professional movies and music videos. Almost 50% of all major video production (movies, documentaries and music videos) is done by Final Cut Studio.


Final Cut Express ($199)
And finally Express is the consumer version of Final Cut so to speak. It is practically the bare bones version of Final Cut that performs the basic functions of Final Cut with a few extras. It retains multiple video tracks, viewer and canvas viewer format and most customizing tools from cropping images to adding special effects. In short, it is a very capable software that can fulfill most general consumer needs for basic video projects. The major omittances are related to specific format issues that are mostly only needed for major film production and complex editing.

The limitations of Final Cut Express are highlighted below:

Limited Video Support
Final Cut Express will only support HDV video. Final Cut Pro on the other hand will support all HD formats. If you are shooting on a HDV camera at 1080i or 720p, MiniDV, DVCAM, or DVCPRO camcorder then you will be supported under Final Cut Express. DVCPRO HD, DVCPRO50, SD and HD card camcorder users as well as those shooting at 24fps will have to use Final Cut Pro HD.

Keyframes
In Final Cut Express HD you can only keyframe motion effects, not filters. Among video editors this is one of the most complained about disadvantages of Final Cut Express over Final Cut Pro.

Video Capture and Timecode
Final Cut Express HD will not display your timecode, nor allow you to batch capture or export video. Professional video editors will often want to batch record all of their clips at once onto the computer, with Final Cut Express each clip will have to be imported separately which can be time consuming for someone doing a large volume of video work.

Color Correction
In Final Cut Express you can not correct color using the three way color corrector. You can also not adjust the luminance or chrominance of your video or thin or soften your colors using Final Cut pro Express.

After Effects
One main draw of Final Cut Pro is its ability to work with Adobe After Effects Plug-Ins, Final Cut Express HD does not support After Effects plug-ins.

Mapping Keyboard Shortcuts
With Final Cut Express you can not custom map your keyboard 

Sometimes it is crucial that professors have snapshots from assigned movies. Through snapshots, professors are enabled to talk more about particular scenes or have their students identify important characteristics of different scenes. This blog will inform you how to take snapshots using different players on both operating systems supported by Trinity College.

VLC is an open-source, free of charge, multimedia player. Most Trinity College computers have VLC player installed, but if the one you are using does not, you could easily obtain it from the Internet.

Take snapshots with VLC Player

First off, we will find out how to take snapshots on a Windows OS platform.
Step 1) Play your movie (DVD, MPEG, DivX, etc.)
Step 2) Pause the movie at the scene you would like to take a snapshot of
Step 3) To take a snapshot, click on the camera button, which is the last one at the bottom row
Step 4) Your snapshot is automatically saved to "My Documents>My Pictures"

Now, let's find out how to take snapshots with VLC Player on a Mac OS platform.
Step 1) Play your movie
Step 2) Pause the movie at the scene you would like to take a snapshot of
Step 3) To take a snapshot, go to the "Video" tab, located in the top part of the screen, and click on "Snapshot".
Step 4) Your snapshot is automatically saved to your Desktop

We, from STA, strongly encourage the use of VLC, due its simplicity and high quality. However, there are other ways through which you can take snapshots.

More ways to take snapshots, using a Windows OS platform:
Step 1) Start Windows Movie Maker
Step 2) Load your video and find the scene you would like to have a snapshot of
Step 3) Click on the camera button which is shown below by the red rectangle
Step 4) Once you have clicked on the camera button, you will be asked where you would like to have the snapshots saved

 

More ways to take snapshots, using a Mac OS platform:
Step 1) Start iMovie HD
Step 2) Load your video and find the scene you would like to have a snapshot of
Step 3) Pause at the particular scene and go to "File > Save Frame"
Step 4) You will be asked where you would like to have the snapshots saved

Below is an example of a snapshot, taken with VLC Player:

This tutorial will explain the process of embedding a video file in PowerPoint 2007. In this case, by embedding I mean incorporating the video file in the PowerPoint presentation such that when you movie the presentation itself you still get to play the video. In other words, the video file is not just linked, it becomes part of the presentation file.

Suppose you just captured some scenes from a VHS tape or a DVD using iMovie HD and you want to export the scenes to a movie file that you will later upload to a streaming server. You might be thinking what settings to choose so that your movie has a good quality while maintaining a small enough file size suitable for uploading on the internet.

You should use these export settings in iMovie HD in order to save to a movie format:
1. Select the file that you want to export.
2. Click on the Share menu and select QuickTime from the list. You should see something similar to Figure 1 after selecting QuickTime:

3. From the Compress movie for category select Expert Settings. Figure 2 represents the Expert Settings menu: