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Making, Editing, and Uploading Videos

Making Videos

You need to have a device that can capture digital movies—this could be a camcorder, digital camera, webcam or even your cell phone! You copy the movies to your computer, and then you can either upload them as-is or edit them with software such as iMovie or Windows Movie Maker to add titles and special effects.

Digital Cameras

If you have a digital camera, you can switch between stills and video, like this:

camera controls

Most of the digital cameras record in either .AVI, .MOV or .MPG formats, and the video shot with them can be uploaded directly from the device or after being copied to your computer. (See your camera’s owner’s manual for instructions to copy files from your camera to your computer.)

Webcam

You can record videos using the software that came with the camera, and then upload it to IDEA, with or without editing first.

Digital Camcorders

If you already have a digital camcorder that captures in MiniDV, HDV, Digital8 or any of the DVD formats, then you're ready to start shooting your videos. Your camcorder will need some kind of direct connection to your computer, either to the USB or FireWire ports or by inserting the DVD you've recorded. (See your camcorder’s owner’s manual for instructions to copy files from your camcorder to your computer.) Once you've downloaded the video from the camcorder, you can upload it to IDEA’s website.

Analog Camcorders

If you have an analog camcorder that uses VHS, VHS-C, SVHS-C, 8mm, or Hi8 tape, you can still get your videos onto the IDEA website. It will require an extra step and some additional equipment since these camcorders are not usually equipped with computer connections. You will need to digitize the video with a converter box or special software, which will convert the analog signal from the camcorder to a digital signal that the computer can understand. After the video has been digitized, you can upload it.

Editing Videos

Most computers come with some sort of video editing application already installed, such as Apple iMovie or Microsoft Movie Maker. Using these programs, you can easily edit your videos, add soundtracks, change the file type, compress the file size, etc. There are also more advanced editing programs available for download online.

Uploading Videos

Once you are happy with your masterpiece, you need to save the video in a format that IDEA accepts. We recommend that you save your videos as either QuickTime .MOV, Windows .AVI, .MPG, or .WMV files—these are the most common formats and they work well within our system. We specifically recommend the MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format at 320x240 resolution with MP3 audio. Resizing your video to these specifications before uploading will help your clips look better on IDEA and other video sharing websites where your videos will be promoted.


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