I produce lots screencams, and some customers ask for a live greenscreen video intro in front of the screencam. "What's the harm," they ask? "It's only 30 seconds of video, how long will that take to shoot?" Well, if you're like me and you don't have a dedicated studio and staff for such productions, they can take awhile.

If fact, this week I had to shoot two video intros, and it took 3 hours to produce them. So, just to have ammunition for higher fees next time, I figured I would detail the gear I had to setup and configure to get the job done. As an incentive (har, har), those who stick around to read the story will also get a look at the final video.

Streaming viewers will tolerate some video degradation but expect audio to be near perfect. There are two techniques you can use to make sure that your audio loud, clear and robust. Normalization increases volume as much as possible without introducing distortion into the file, while compression makes the signal as robust as possible. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to apply normalization in Adobe Audition and Adobe Premiere Pro, and how to apply compression in Adobe Audition.

I produced a DVD in 2008 called Critical Skills for Streaming Producers, in conjunction with Streaming Media Magazine. The product is now out of date and off the market, but some of the videos included with the tutorial still have some real value. In particular, the five videos relating to lighting for streaming are a bit quaint, but still pretty useful.

So, I've decided to present them for free on the Streaming Learning Center. You'll have to work through a ten-second advertisement for my new book for each video, but hopefully, you'll find it a small price to pay for the knowledge in the video. Click over to the main story to see a short summary of each video and the actual videos, presented in play list format courtesy of Sorenson 360. You'll also find worksheets for setting up flat and three-point lighting that should also be helpful, as well as a worksheet on shooting skills that covers setting exposure with zebra stripes.

One of my favorite features in Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 is the return of Adobe Audition. In this tutorial, I detail the round trip editing workflow between Premiere Pro and Audition.

Click over to the main article to view the tutorial.

I produced a video for EventDV on new features in Adobe Media Encoder CS5.5. Here's the official description:

Video production and compression expert Jan Ozer takes a look inside Adobe Media Encoder CS5.5, exploring new features such as new presets and project drag-and-drop from After Effects and Premiere Pro and explaining how to use new features such as Watch folders that make encoding for multiple bitrates more efficient and easier to manage.

Click over to the main article to watch the video.

There are two tools that I have on every computer that will run them; MediaInfo on all my Mac and Windows workstations, and Bitrate Viewer, which is Windows only and is installed on every Windows computer that I own. The first provides file-based information like data rate, resolution, codec, bits per pixel and encoding details like Profile and Level for H.264. The second shows a frame graph of the video file so I can diagnose problems like mid-stream interruptions.

In this video file, you'll learn why you need these programs and where to get them. Click over to the article to watch the tutorial.

Adobe Flash Catalyst is my "go-to" tool for creating and uploading simple Flash Players to the web, and if you own Adobe CS5, you already have the tool. Click over to the article to view a short tutorial on how simple it is to create Flash Players with Adobe Flash Catalyst.

Here's a video tutorial comparing the performance, quality and H.264 controls afforded by Adobe Media Encoder
Apple Compressor, Microsoft Expression Encoder, Sorenson Squeeze and Telestream Episode Pro. In seven minutes, you'll know which tool is fastest, which produces the highest quality and which gives you the most control over H.264 encoding.

Click over to the main article to view the tutorial.

This is a video that I produced for OnlineVideo.net on the subject. Here's the description.

In this video evaluation, Jan Ozer looks at and evaluates five popular WebM encoders:

• Miro Video Encoder
• Firefogg
• Wildform Flix WebM
• Telestream Episode Pro
• Sorenson Squeeze 7

You’ll learn why some are quite good and others aren’t worth your time. Ozer shows video samples of each so you can judge for yourself.

Click over to the article to view.