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Working with Quicktime Pro 4.0 An Introduction
Because of the bandwidth limitations of producing digital content for the imternet tradeoffs have to be made between size, image quality, and frame rate that don't have to be considered when producing video. Even through QuickTime has improved over the years and the codecs have gotten better, until the bandwidth problem is solved special consideration will have to be given to the creation process from shooting to streaming.
Shooting The Video
The old saying, garbage in, garbage out is true in everything we do, but especially, when you are creating content for the web. It is vital that you layout the whole production before you begin shooting. If you plan the whole production right you will get better compression results in the end.
Your goal is to shoot footage with little camera movement, noise and complex detail. This will allow you the best compression and smallest screen size.
As with everything you produce, shoot a test and run it through the production process. This will allow you to view the end results on a computer so you can check colors and movement. Just because your images look good on tape doesn't mean they will look good when you compress them and reduce the size.
It is also very important to have professional lighting. If you don't have this equipment, find a place to rent it. The cost will pay great dividends in the final product.
EQUIPMENT
Camera
If you are looking to reduce noise then a good quality 3-chip camera is a must. By "little noise" I mean a "clean" video signal. This is achieved by using professional cameras over consumer cameras.
Professional cameras also produce a sharper image with crisper colors that help in the compression process.
Lighting
As mentioned earlier lighting is very important to creating web video or video for CD-ROM. Low light conditions produce a noisy video signal that lacks detail in shadows. It is easier to compress a well-lit video that has images with shadows or dark backgrounds. Also if everyone wears light solid clothing your compression will be better.
Shooting footage that is poorly light with plans to fix it in post production is not good. This is poor shooting no matter what you are producing, lost detail and noise can not be completely corrected.
Movement
The best way to reduce movement in your production is to use a heavy duty professional tripod. Because when your production is being compressed it only records the difference between two frames. The slightest movement in the camera will require more data to compress.
Details
A busy screen will keep your compressor working overtime. You want to keep the movement in your production to a minimum, especially your background. Use a painted or plain backdrop.
If you are shooting outside be careful what backdrop backdrop you choose. Trees have too much detail due to the leaves and the wind often blows causing movement. It is a good idea to us a shallow depth of field to defocus the backdrop.
Also have your subjects wear clothing with plain colors. Clothing with high contrast patterns, strips or checked patterns tend to distort when compressed and resized.
Capturing Video
It is suggested that when you capture your video that you capture it at full screen (640 X 480, 720 X 486). This will require more storage but the benefits are greater than the costs.
Capturing at full screen and scaling down will improve the quality of the image and help reduce noise.
Capture your video at the highest quality image. Simply setting the Quality Setting on high is not enough. You must match the quality setting with the data rate your system can handle (see Understanding the Relationship Between Compression and Data Rate" in this issue for more information).
You should also capture audio at the highest quality, generally 44 kHz, 16 bit, stereo. As with your video test your audio before capturing all of your clips.
In the next issue we will get into editing, preparing your footage for delivery and other third party software packages that will help you deliver the highest quality product with the smallest size.
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