UCL

PRODUCING YOUR OWN VIDEO CONTENT AT UCLGetting started(Equipment

(Filming(Post-production

Understand what you want

Camera, audio & lights

Mini-tutorials

Editing to achieve from a video

Exporting & uploading

Planning your shoot

1) Getting started

i. Before you start producing video, ask yourself a few basic questions:

Who is your target audience?

Is video the best format, or is your message better suited to an audio podcast or a written article? Will enough people watch this to justify the resources required?

What is the output for your video streamed, embedded or downloaded?

Evaluation how will you measure the success of your video? Target audiences

Many departments nowadays feel they should have some sort of multimedia to spice up their webpages. The problem is, not all of these departments have thought through how to engage their target audiencese.g. prospective students, prospective researchers or the general public through multimedia. UCLs Scandinavian Studies Department provide a good example of how to use a unique, quirky video to appeal to prospective students.Formats

Not all messages you may want to get across are suitable for video. Messages that are more corporate, hard sell or for internal UCL audiences are usually better suited for audio podcasts or text pieces on a website. Producing video requires much greater resources than text. You must ask yourself whether video is worth the effort required.

Outputs

UCL has different official channels for various types of video.

YouTube: UCLTV is UCLs official channel, though several departments have their own channels. From YouTube, you can embed the videos onto blogs and your department websites

YouTube audience: mixed ages and demographics, often international, and those looking for short and snappy videos; the ideal length for videos on YouTube is about 3-5 minutes iTunesU: for longer videos, mainly lectures, to be downloaded

iTunesU audience: often internal and those who want full-length lectures

Streaming (housed on Multimedias streaming server): you can enter the video ID into your webpage and it will be embedded as a streaming video

Streaming audience: this is the best format to embed videos for a specialised audience or for more institutional message-heavy videos, like About UCL, where you need a more professional, slick look than YouTube

eNewsletters: increasingly departments are using eNewsletters with links from multimedia embedded in them; see UCL Alumni Network for an exampleEvaluationThere are various ways to measure the success of your video. Videos on YouTube can give you viewer statistics, including demographics and where your video is being viewed, as well as attract comments and Like rankings. If embedded on a UCL page, you can measure page clicks and time viewers spend on the page via Google analytics. You can also assemble a focus group of your sample target audience to give you feedback and ensure that your video achieves its aims.ii. What to film:

Research abroad we are Londons Global University, after all. UCL Communications have HD-quality CreativeVado cameras (like FlipCams) that we can lend you. These are small, compact cameras that can take still photos or video. Take a look at how they have been used by UCL students travelling to China.

Students doing fun & imaginative projects, either course-related or extracurricular

Examples: Biology fieldtrip to Spain; project from Bartlett School; Sikh Society festival Stories that a significant amount of your target audience would be interested in

Example: Remembering UCL after the War, used for alumni audience

Groundbreaking events/research

Example: Peter Tatchell lecture, filmed with iPhone on tripod

iii. Planning a shoot

Scripting and shot lists

Even for very short talking-head videos, it is helpful for everyone involved if the producer or project manager to puts together a brief on the project and then a script for the shoot with questions for the interviewee and a list of shots to film.

Script example

This is a script for a short video. There were two crew (director and assistant producer) and one interviewee. The script was useful for establishing date/time of shoot, contact info and an equipment checklist before setting off. Once we were there, we had lists of interview questions and shots we wanted to use as cut-away material.

For your shoot, you can download a template of the above form here.

Consent and release forms

Ensure all contributors have given their consent to be filmed. If you are filming with school children or anyone else who is not a student or staff member at UCL, UCL Communications can provide you with Release Forms. If youre filming in a public space, a filming notice is also useful.

iv. Training and internal resources

If you want tips on shooting simple talking heads, take a look at the mini-tutorials below in section 3. You can also always contact Rob Eagle in UCL Communications for further advice. If you or your department want to start shooting more elaborate videos, then think of training courses. There are film-making courses at UCL, run by InSight and Social Anthropology course instructor Michael Yorke.

If you think that filming something yourself sounds like too much to take on, consider UCLs internal resources:

If you think your project or story would be suitable for UCL News, contact UCL Communications to discuss the possibilities of film, audio-slideshows or a written text piece.

Media Services UCLs in-house AV production team can film or webcast lectures, panel discussions, talking heads or events and produce a promo video for your department; can also assist will all technical issues, including digital media conversion and creating DVDs; check their website for rates

Student Film Soc the UCLU Film Soc, like UCLU Photo Soc, can film your event for a fairly affordable rate

2) Equipment

If you have any questions about what kind of equipment is appropriate for your video, contact Rob Eagle in UCL Communications. Heres a brief overview of your options for kit and where to go to purchase or hire it.

i. Camera types

Flipcam or mobile phone these can be great for talking heads, vox pops, video diary-style videos or even lectures. UCL Communications and Media Relations have been using very simple Creative Vado cameras for talking-head video on blogs and YouTube. example> UCLs Cheltenham Science Festival blog; Peter Tatchell lecture Small HD video cameras (under 1000) ideal for talking heads and simple videos

Lightweight professional cameras (2000 and up) for more professional and documentary-style videos

ii. Sound equipment

Not matter the kind of camera you use, make sure you that you can record clear sound. Nine times out of ten, you will need to use a lapel mic for an interviewee or a directional mic to record a specific person in a crowded, noisy room. And always use headphones to monitor sound.

What you will need:

Lapel mic (recommended) either affordable lapel mic or higher-spec radio mic Directional mic (optional) like a Rode mic Headphones (highly recommended) any brand, just to be sure that your sound is decent

iii. Tripod

Unless youre going for a shaky, handheld aesthetic, use a tripod. Any will do, although one with a spirit level bubble is best.

iv. Lighting

Big studio lights are expensive, so improvise with whatever lighting you have. Open all blinds (those that will not harshly backlight your interviewee) and turn on any desk lamps available. Alternatively, consider using a top light on or beside the camera. See mini-tutorial in Section 3 below for how to light.

v. Where to loan, hire or purchase equipment

UCLs Audiovisual Centre have some equipment that you can borrow. They have camcorders, microphones, laptops and DVD players, amongst other equipment.

For certain projects that fall within a UCL Communications / UCL News remit, we can also lend equipment for short periods of time. Contact us if you have any questions about this.

Your first port of call for purchasing equipment should be UCLs AV official suppliers via Procurement. If these vendors do not have what all you need, then there is also ASK Electronics on Tottenham Court Road and PEC for more professional level equipment. If you would rather hire, consider these places: PEC, DV Camera Hire, Calumet

3) Mini-tutorials for filmingi. Step-by-step guide to filming vox pops, talking head interviews and vodcasts

Online mini-tutorial: A guide to filming vox pops, talking heads and video podcasts1. Prepare and print off Shooting script and Out on a shoot checklist The key with any shoot is to prepare for it. To make life easier for yourself, fill out the shooting script template with contact information, key interview questions and a list of other cut-away shots to film. Then print off the Out on a shoot checklist to make sure you dont forget steps along the way.2. Set up camera If you want a more formal feeling, mount the camera on a tripod. If you are going for an off-the-cuff talking head, then hold the camera steadily as possible. Next, bring your interviewee away from any walls, as this gives the image a bit more depth. You should also take your interviewee away from a bright window, so s/he is not backlit. Most academics offices can be quite cramped and dull, so try to set up something interesting but not too distracting in the background.3. Framing Usually you dont want your interviewee to be too low or centred in the frame. Ideally, place her off centre, with her eyes about a third down from the top and a third in from the side. See examples below.

-Interviewee too centred

-Interviewees eyes 1/3 down from top

-Face too far down

and 1/3 over from right/left edge

4. Lights Turn on all available lights and open blinds. You dont want your speaker looking like he works in a dark cave, even if he actually does.

5. Sound Close all windows and doors and turn off any whirring computers. Then attach a microphone to your camera. The in-built mics on most cameras are poor quality. So use a tie-clip mic or a decent mic on top of the camera. People often forget about sound with videos for the web. Good sound is more important than many people realise.

ii. Short features (mini-documentary style)

In our experience, giving students and staff cameras to film their projects or research abroad has resulted in some successful videos with a heartfelt and direct appeal. For examples, look at the video of students who went to China on a study exchange and another video of students who went to the 2009 climate change conference in Copenhagen.

Always be mindful of the points above: framing, lighting and sound. Additionally, if you are filming someone doing something exciting, consider filming from a variety of distances so that you have wide shots, mid shots and close-ups to edit together.

If you want to start doing more sophisticated videos, consider film-making courses at UCL, run by InSight and Social Anthropology. 4) Post-production

i. Editing

If you just want to upload a simple single-shot video but edit the beginning or end, YouTube has a rudimentary editing function, YouTube Video Editor. If you have a Mac, then it already comes with iMovie perfect for a short video. If you have a PC, use Windows Movie Maker, or you can purchase editing software through UCLs ISD Software Database. You will need decent computer RAM and possibly an external hard-drive for storage. Speak with ISD for advice on ideal computer specs.

Online tutorials on editing videos

If youve never edited a video before, check out some helpful editing tutorials on YouTube.

Cutaway (or B roll) footage of UCL campus and students

Contact Rob Eagle in UCL Communications if you would like to add to your video general shots of the UCL campus, researchers in labs, the libraries or student societies. Music

As recorded music is copyright-protected, its advisable to purchase tracks from a royalty-free music library or look at one of the free music libraries below. For all of our videos, we use Audio Network, which offers tracks at an educational-use discount for 79p per track + VAT. See their Rates page for details.

http://www.publicdomain4u.com/ copyright-expired music, including blues and jazz http://www.musopen.com/ mostly classical, in the public domain and can be accessed for free http://www.opsound.org/index.php music samples and links to websites of artists http://www.sectionz.com/cc.asp electronic music tracks, Creative Commons-licensedii. UCL branding

Fonts and text in your video

In line with UCL branding best practice, we use the following styles for text in videos:

Font: either Arial or Garamond

Titles: Professor (not Prof) and Dr (not Dr.)

Departments: UCL Geography (not UCL Department of Geography)

Here is a screen shot of how an academics

title and department should lookBranding and logos for video

In UCL Communications videos, we use a small watermark UCL logo at the top of the video screen and a UCL logo card at the end of each video. These are not mandatory for your videos, but are recommended for videos that represent institutional messages. We can provide you with these. UCL logo for end of video UCL watermark

Further information on UCL branding - see Corporate Identity site for guidelinesiii. Exporting video

This is a technically complex final stage of post-production. Settings depend on where you are uploading video to:

YouTube see their uploading settings page iTunesU or UCLs streaming server contact Maurice Brown in UCL Multimedia for best settings

DVD export video as Quicktime or WMV file; we recommend using Toast software for creating DVDsOut on a shoot checklist (for filming short interview videos

Before you go:

Double-check equipment, including batteries fully charged and enough free memory on the camera

Confirm time and place of filming with everyone involved

Fill out shooting script and shot list so that you know what to ask and film

On the shoot:

Interviews

Setting bring the interviewee away from wall or window with something interesting but not distracting in background

Lighting turn on all available lights; make sure interviewee is not backlit

Framing place interviewee off-centre (either right or left) in the picture

See examples:

Sound make sure all windows and doors are shut, radios/TVs and mobile phones off (not just on silent) and, if possible, turn off whirring computers; IMPORTANT: do a sound check!

Cut-aways and other material Get shots of interviewee hard at work, whatever that may be

Close-ups of hands and face

Wide shots of interviewee in office or lab etc

Get shots of buildings outdoors and indoors, including corridors and signs, preferably with a tripod

Record any other sounds (like water or music) or shots (like animals or flowers) that you might be able to use as a cut-away

Shoting Script Template

(Name of project) shooting script

(date)

NameRoleContact numbersEmail

Director/cameraMobile:

Office number:

Project manager

Mobile:

Office number:

IntervieweeMobile:

Office number:

Equipment:

Camera, batteries and memory storage

Microphone

Tripod

Interview:

(name)(location address)

Interview questions

Interview questions

Interview questions

Shot list:

- General shots of people, building or facilities?

- Close-ups?

Background information:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/_(department website)

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