Back to jenniferproctor.com

48:064: Alternative Forms
September 7, 2006

From Final Cut to the Web

Compressing Your Video for the web:

1.        In Final Cut, go to Export—Quicktime Movie. Name your file, select your destination folder, and click OK.

2.        Open Quicktime Pro. Open your newly exported video file.

3.        Go to File—Export, name your file and choose your destination folder, and now, under “Export,” choose Movie to MPEG-4

4.       Now, we’ll choose our video compression options. So, before you export this file, click Options from the Export window. A window will pop up that looks like this:

In general, these are the settings you’ll want to use. Note in particular that “H.264” is selected for Video Format—this will ensure a high quality, small sized file that is compatible with iPods. You might need to change the Image Size, depending on the size of your original file (cell phone cameras typically record at 176 x 144, for example), but these settings will work well for regular DV movies.

5.       Let’s also check our Audio settings, so in this window, click the Audio tab. The window looks like this:

Again, these are the settings that you’ll generally use. Note the “AAC-LC” setting under Audio Format. Again, this makes your audio compatible for many platforms, including the iPod.

Once you’ve verified that all your settings are correct, click OK and then Save. Your video will be compressed and exported as an MP4 file.

Make a Thumbnail

Now that our video is formatted, we need to get our blog post ready. First, we want to make sure we have a thumbnail image of our video that we can place on our blog to entice people to watch the movie. To create a thumbnail, follow these steps.

1.        Open your newly formatted MP4 file, and scrub through it until you find a frame that you like. On a Mac, take a picture of it by holding down Command-Shift-4. This activates a framing tool, which you can place around your Quicktime window. Once you’ve framed it, the picture will automatically take and it will be saved as a pdf file on the desktop called “Picture 1.”

2.        Open Preview from the Applications menu, open “Picture 1” and go to File—Export, choose your destination folder, and save it as a JPEG with a new name. Now we have our thumbnail picture.

3.        Save your video file and thumbnail picture to your portable media and head toward Internet access.

Upload the Video

1.        Log in to Blip.tv and click the “Upload” tab. Enter a title for your post and any description you want to go with it. Point Blip to your video and thumbnail files. Click “Upload to Internet Archive” if you choose to cross-post there (recommended). Choose your copyright license, add tags, determine a category, and click Post the File. You’re on your way.

2.        While Blip is uploading your file, you can log in to Blogger and start preparing your post. Prepare your post as usual, but now you’ll add the following step. Upload your image thumbnail to Blogger, formatting it as you like in the Upload window. Now you’ll have a post with your thumbnail as an image.

3.        When Blip is done uploading, click on your video title, and from there, click on the “Share” button. This will open a window with several tabs. Click on the “Permalinks” tab. Highlight and copy the URL for your video, like this:

4.        Back in Blogger, click on your image and click the Add Link button. Insert your Permalink there. Preview and Publish your post. Test everything to make sure it works.

5.        Bask in the awesomeness that is your vlog post.

More tips and tutorials at http://freevlog.org.