Candlelight Creations (CC) began offering music videos to Winterfest Online when vidding was not as popular as it is today. Many fans are now trying their hands at making BATB music videos. Since CC's vids were so warmly welcomed, perhaps the experience that lead to those beautiful videos may be useful to beginners. So with the help of Candlelight Creations, Winterfest Online has put together for you this FAQ.
1. What are the general steps for making music videos? For me, there are four basic steps for creating a music video. Each step can be broken down even more. 1. Choosing a song. The song is the engine that drives your video. 2. Deciding if your video will be a slide show, a series of video clips or a combination of both. 3. Collecting the media to illustrate your song choice. 4. Putting the media to the music.
2. If I want to make another kind of video. Will this FAQ help me? Up to a point, yes. It is our intent here to look at the basics for creating a music video: taking a song and choosing photos, screen captures, graphics, video clips or any other kind of visual media and putting them to the music. Some of the steps involved may apply to what you want to do. Use what you can; skip the rest. There are as many kinds and ways of making videos as can be imagined! We wholeheartedly encourage you to let your imagination run wild!
3. What software do you use to make videos? I have used three different software programs. Windows Photo Story 3, Windows Movie Maker, and Sony Vegas. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.
4. If I want to try my hand at making a music video, what is a good way to start? I began by making simple slideshows using Photo Story 3 and WMM. All you need is a song and some screen captures which are readily available on various BATB websites, such as CABB. Or if you have the BATB DVDs you might prefer the option of capturing your own screen shots. Recently I was told about this little free program, MWSnap. http://www.download.com/MWSnap/3000-2347_4-10544482.html Works like a charm. After you have your screen captures, you can play around with the FX features and the transitions. Once you are familiar with the software, you can move on to using video clips.
5. How long does it take to make a music video? There are many factors that determine how long it takes to make a video, including your experience level, how much natural affinity you have for the process, how long the vid is, how much of a perfectionist you are, how many times WMM crashes, and how much time you spend cursing WMM before you learn to save more often. I have put a video together in about 10 hours and others have taken well over 200 hours. Your mileage may vary.
6. Video clips generally come with their own audio. How do you get a song to play over them? In WMM, you can mute the audio track that comes with the video clip. Then you can just add the song you have chosen to the audio/music track. Sony Vegas allows you to simply delete the audio track.
7. Is it hard to get the images synchronized to the music? Sometimes. Photo Story 3 does not have a visual audio track so after you get all the photos into the “filmstrip” and you have imported the song, you have to go back and adjust the timing of the pictures to the beat of the music. WMM and Sony Vegas both have visual audio tracks so you can “see” the music. When it comes to timing the photos and clips, that is a big advantage. Good timing definitely adds to the enjoyment of a video.
8. Do you have any "tricks" for finding that certain scene that you know exists but you can't quite remember where? I spend A LOT of time looking for a certain scene because I can't remember exactly where it is. I do have a notebook with most of the episode scenes outlined. I'm up to A Kingdom by the Sea. That helps a little. But it is hard to write down all the little details, a certain look, a door closing, an outside scene... And of course what I am generally looking for is IN the details. I also have a friend who has a mind like a steel trap when it comes to BATB. She's been a help more than once.
9. Do songs just call to you when you hear them on the radio or whatever? Do you ever go and hunt for one with certain lyrics? There are songs that I hear and I know they will make a good video. Others I need to work at but generally there is enough there to work with. So far I've never hunted for one with certain lyrics.
There are songs that just scream to be made, ie The Fear. It was soooo Vincent that it was almost spooky. Many songs have an element of Beauty and the Beast to them but for me they need something more. If the song has lyrics, I have to be able to illustrate the story, the idea or the feeling in some way.
Instrumentals are in some ways easier and in other ways more difficult. There is no story line to consider. I can just have fun using the melody for a slide show or capturing a feeling. They can be more difficult because there is no outline and it is up to me to create something from the ground up to be enjoyable and interesting.
One thing is very necessary for the songs I choose. I have to LOVE the song because by the time I'm done making the video, I've probably heard it in bits and pieces 500 times or more.
10. Any other tips or suggestions you'd like to offer? Yes. Include credits at the end of your vid: the song title and artist, an acknowledgment of your video or slide material, and your own name or pseudonym. You can even include the song lyrics if you like.
11. Let's move on to technical questions. Do you need a lot of disc space? Having enough space on your hard drive is important and so is having enough RAM. Speed is also a factor. Here are the system requirements for WMM 2.1: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx
12. About how much space does each second of video take up? It varies depending on what format you use. Using AoA DVD Ripper, a 10 second AVI file is just over 4MB. So you can see that you want to keep your selections as short and precise as possible. I generally, though not always, render my clips and the final video to a WMV format which compresseses them. So a 35 second avi file, which is 14.3 MB, becomes a 3.95 MB WMV file. There is one drawback to compressing your video clips. You do lose some clarity.
13. Do you keep a library of your favorite video clips? If you do, how many are in it and how much space do they take up? I have a folder for each video I've created. Inside that folder is all the media that I used for making the final product. Because I crop my clips so closely, rarely do I have the exact clip I need for another vid. My smallest video folder is for Fun with Screen Captures at 6.24MB and the largest is for The Fear at 1.08G. I have over 8G in my video folders.
14. Let's talk software. Tell me about Windows Photo Story 3. Photo Story 3 is a great software for making slide shows. It’s simple and very easy to use. A little experimentation and you’ll have it mastered - no, really!
Some advantages to this program: 1. Great panning and zooming of photos. 2. Timing is very flexible. You can change photos every .01 seconds! 3. Nice variety of transitions. 4. Simple to use. 5. Free.
Disadvantages: 1. Can't use video clips. 2. Limited effects and title variations. 3. No visual audio track
16. Any tips on where I might learn more about it? This website has a very nice in-depth beginner’s tutorial. http://www.windowsphotostory.com/
17. Cool! Now on to that next software you mentioned, Windows Movie Maker. WMM is also a nice program. It can handle both photos and video clips. Before I go any further, I must mention this: When working in WMM... Save early, safe often! For some reason, WMM likes to freeze up at the worst possible moments and you'll lose all your work since your last save. (I’ve heard this from many other vidders and they all have the same problem so I know it’s not just me. ) So that is the catch phrase for this software: SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!
Advantages of Windows Movie Maker 1. If you have Windows XP, you most likely have this software on your computer. 2. Fairly easy to use. 3. Handles both photos and video clips. 4. Can edit video clips after they are inserted in the timeline. 5. Visual audio track 6. Nice variety of effects and transitions 7. More title and credit options than Photo Story 3
Disadvantages 1. Program freezes up, although the new 2.1 version may have fixed that problem. 2. Limited panning and zooming feature. 3. Timing is not as flexible as Photo Story 3.
19. Ok. Now what about Sony Vegas? Among the many video editing software packages out there, Sony Vegas 6 Movie Studio + DVD was recommended by a number of vidders whose work I greatly admired. It is not the most user friendly and I still have much to learn but I have been very pleased with the editing options this software offers. Others I have heard of are Adobe Premiere, Magix Movie Edit Pro and Roxio Easy Media Creator.
20. Where do I get Sony Vegas? There is a new version of Sony Vegas Movie Studio out since I bought mine two years ago. I haven't looked but I'm fairly sure various electronic stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City and others would carry some version. Otherwise here is the Sony online site: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/products/vegasfamily.asp
22. Do you have to rip a DVD in order to make a vid of it? Do you have to rip the whole thing? You have to rip a DVD unless you'd rather rip from VHS (in which case you need a capture device). Or unless you're making a slide show vid - no ripping necessary for that. With the right software, you can rip just the section you need from the DVD. There are a number of software programs that will allow you to rip video from a DVD.
23. What ripping software do you use? I use a trial version of AOA DVD Ripper which I downloaded about 2 years ago. It's still available here. http://www.aoamedia.com/dvd_ripper.htm The trial version allows up to 10 minutes of video to be ripped and doesn't seem to expire. I find it extremely easy to use. The full version is $34.95. Other ripping software I have heard good things about are DVD Decrypter and ImTooRipper.
25. What about ImTooRipper? I haven't used it, but its web site says it can rip just a section. It has a Buy Now link ($45) as well as a Free Download. It appears the free version can rip a 5-minute section. Not sure of the other differences. http://www.imtoo.com/
26. Is it illegal to make music videos? There seems to be some disagreement about whether ripping DVDs is illegal. The MPAA thinks it's illegal, but the US laws known as "Fair Use" say that you can make copies for your own use of copyrighted works that you have purchased. Of course, usually when we make music videos, the whole point is to share them with others, so by doing that, yes, we enter illegal territory. The same considerations apply if you're using copyrighted music in your vid. Fannish violations such as music videos are widely ignored by the powers that be, but we can of course make no guarantees of that. Let your own personal code of ethics be your guide.
27. How do I submit my video to Winterfest Online? If the file you created isn't too big to email, say under 20MB, send it to us at wintercandlemakers2@yahoo.com. If you don't know whether it's too big to email, give it a try. If it's too big, you'll likely receive a message to that effect. In any case, we acknowledge all submissions received at that email address, so if you don't hear from us within a week or so, you can assume we didn't receive it – or you can always email us and ask us if we received it. If your file is too big for email, we suggest using a file sharing service. We've used the following ones:
28. Can't I just upload my video to youtube? Well, of course you can - just not if you want it to be part of Winterfest. Contributions to Winterfest are required to be unposted/unpublished at the time of Winterfest. There are actually ways of doing that with youtube, but it's extra administrative overhead that we just don't have the resources to deal with. Sorry. But you can certainly upload your vid to youtube after it debuts at Winterfest.
