Editing & Post Production for Online Video

October 16, 2007

First, you’ve got to get your footage into your computer in order to format it for uploading to the Internet. In most cases, you can just connect your camcorder directly to your computer and transfer the footage right into your editing program (usually via a “firewire” connector). Then, get your video Internet-ready with the editing/movie software that came with your computer, such as iMovie on the Mac or Windows Movie Maker for the PC. For a more professional product, you could upgrade to Final Cut Pro for the Mac or Adobe Premiere for the PC.

Once you’ve edited your video, it still needs to be encoded and compressed to make it “Internet-friendly.” Video files can be enormous, but compression software shrinks the video file size so it plays more smoothly on the Web. Remember to save or export your file to an online-compatible size, which is 320 X 240 resolution; and compress it so it’s under 20MB, if possible.

Be sure to save your video file in a format that most video sites accept, such as a Quicktime movie (.mov), a Windows movie (.wmv) or Flash (.flv) file. QuickTime Pro (for Windows or Mac) is ideal for compressing your video and transferring it to whatever file format you prefer (Windows, Flash, MPEG). If you think you’re going to be creating a lot of videos and uploading them to the Web, then the QuickTime software is the best $30 bucks you’ll ever spend!

Lou Bortone is an award-winning television producer who specializes in helping solopreneurs create video for the Internet. E-mail lou@theonlinevideoguy.com or visit http://www.theonlinevideoguy.com.

Posted by Online Video Guy | Filed Under Online Video Tips