Video tutorials


Case Study - Producing Video Case Studies

kathryn.jpgFirewall vendor WatchGuard Technologies uses video aggressively in their marketing efforts, and produces some of the most focused and highest quality case studies that I've seen, though the presentation of these videos on their web site could definitely be improved. In this "peer review" video, I review their case study of the Burlington Public Library, which you can watch here on YouTube.

I detail what the producers of the video did right production-wise, and what went wrong on their web site. Click the link above to view the video; I hope you find it useful.

Color and Brightness Correction in Final Cut Pro

Of all the skills necessary to successfully edit video, one of the most important is brightness and color correction. To understand how to adjust brightness and color optimally, you have to know how to read a waveform monitor.

In this tutorial, first we'll learn how to enter Final Cut Pro's color correction mode and read the waveform monitor. Then we'll learn how to diagnose and correct a range of brightness and color related problems Using Final cut Pro's Color Corrector effect. Click over to the main article to view the tutorial.

Sorenson Squeeze 6

Sorenson Media recently released Squeeze 6.

If you click to the full article, you can view a screencam that I created for Millimeter magazine. In a couple of weeks, I'll post a written article comparing encoding quality and performance of Squeeze 6 with previous versions and other products in its class.


Darth Vader endorses the StreamingMedia Sourcebook

I write for StreamingMedia Magazine, and one of their most useful issues is the StreamingMedia Sourcebook, a double issue with lots of "year in review" and "what to expect in the upcoming year" type articles. In this video, editor Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen chats with Darth Vader about the upcoming editorial calendar. Not surprisingly, Darth had some fairly rigid ideas about what he wanted to see in the magazine going forward.

It's a fun little video, and produced in a video conferencing tool called Oovoo. One of the key benefits of Oovoo is that you can record both sides of the conversation for later playback, which is what you're seeing in the video embedded on YouTube. StreamingMedia magazine used to run audio-only podcast interviews; now they're transitioning over to Oovoo.

Darth Vader (publisher Joel Unikow), who uploaded the video, assured me that the initial start-up stuttering was unusual, and the other Oovoo videos that I've seen have been very good quality. Click over to the full article to view the video.

Apple Compressor 3.5 Screencam

Apple recently released the New Final Cut Studio, and I was fortunate enough to have an advance copy. This screencam details the new features in Compressor 3.5. Click here if you'd like to view a screencam detailing the new features in Final Cut Pro 7. For more information on Final Cut Studio, you can read my first-looks review for Millimeter here.For a review of the new features in Compressor, check out my review in Streaming Media Magazine, here

Final Cut Pro 7 details and Screencam

Apple recently released Final Cut Pro 7 and I was fortunate enough to have an advance copy, from which I've produced the feature overview screencam that you'll see if you click this link. For more information on Final Cut Studio, you can read my first-looks review for Millimeter here.

Producing H.264 files for Flash distribution with Telestream Episode Pro

This video tutorial details how to use Telestream Episode Pro to produce H.264 video files for Flash distribution.

Video tutorial: producing H.264 video for Flash Distribution with Apple Compressor

This video tutorial details how to use Apple Compressor to produce H.264 video files for Flash distribution.

Video tutorial: Understanding the critical H.264 encoding options

This short (under 10-minute) PowerPoint-based tutorial details how to configure the most important H.264 encoding parameters (profiles, levels, entropy encoding and b-frames), discusses why H.264 encoding quality varies by encoding tool and identifies which tools produce the best quality.

Video tutorial: producing H.264 video for Flash Distribution with Sorenson Squeeze

This is the second in a series of video tutorials on producing H.264, in this case detailing how to do so using Sorenson Squeeze.