Critical Skills for Streaming Producers
Critical Skills for Streaming Producers, by streaming veteran Jan Ozer, is overall, a great tool for the moderate to entry level beginner in the world of Online Video Streaming. Think of it as the DVD version of Producing Online Videos for Dummies, or if you are more comfortable with the college lingo, Producing Videos Online 101.
Now, when I say beginners, I am not referring to those who were previously in the pet store industry who suddenly decided to try their hand at this. Many terms and theories are thrown around such as codecs, soft focus, compression, etc that would sound like gibberish to someone not familiar with these terms. But for those who are, and just have not put them into practice yet, this DVD is a great tool. For those who are experts in this field, this DVD would be considered redundant or perhaps elementary, or maybe a good “refresher course” back to the basics.
What is great about this DVD is it does not just offer hypotheticals in hard to understand theories spouted out by know-it-alls. But rather, the concepts are explained in simple English quite comprehensively, and in true video fashion, supported with visuals to help you understand. For example, in Chapter 2, the narrator discusses Designing your Set. The examples he gives are about choosing a background, and then goes into detail, telling and SHOWING you why some backgrounds work, and why some do not. By paying attention, you can avoid simple yet common mistakes.
Chapter 1 is basically a vocab refresher, and a series of examples of how when videos get compressed and streamed, a lot of detail can get lost. That is why slow movement picks up better than fast movement, solid colors retain details why heavy patterns contain many artifacts, and so on.
Chapter 3 talks specifically about lighting your subject (or the background) so that it not only looks good, but you can distinguish your subject from the background. Often someone’s black sweater may make them blend in with the black background, but lighting can help alleviate that problem. What is even more helpful is that the DVD does not just focus on bigger issues like lighting, but it also concentrates on minor things that people tend to overlook. But these minor things can make a huge difference. For example, did you know that your subject should try to have their hair combed back neatly as opposed so leaving it curly or frizzy? This is because curly hair has a lot more texture and it is hard for all the detail to show up properly. And jewelry is another example. The DVD talks about why some jewelry is perfectly fine to wear on camera, and other pieces are just a hassle.
Chapter 5 is great because it moves on to post-production where you “clean up” the audio and video. The DVD walks you through basic and simple steps on how to correct audio glitches, color problems, and more using basic editing programs. Of course the video does not cover all audio/visual problems, I guess that lesson is coming in the next installment of this DVD: Critical Skills for The Advanced Post Production Editor!???
With 11 chapters in total, I do not intend to analyze each one. But I will conclude by saying that the DVD, all in all is a great beginners lesson in Streaming Online Videos, or a refresher course for those who have experience, but may want, well, a refresher! I give it 1.5 thumbs up!
Heather Freudenthal is a ScribeMedia.Org Associate Producer. She is a firm believer in using duck-tape to solve any problem.
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