I’ve reached the finish line!
MY DVD PROJECT:
I finished my DVD this morning. I didn’t realize it would take so long to type out and edit in 297 titles that appear in 30 clips! I thought that, as I resaved each Photoshop file, it would save it as -edited plus a new number. Somehow, that only worked when it was a nuisance. I couldn’t figure out how to get the menu buttons to go back to the menu when that part of the video is finished playing. Although it would have been easier to produce my DVD in a program such as Pinnacle Studio, I’m glad for the opportunity to learn more about how to make one from scratch.
MY WEB SERIES PROJECT:
I re-recorded all but video 1, which already had narration. I found that I could not successfully import the videos into Premiere Pro where I’d planned to do the narration, what with all of the compatibility problems and my lack of knowledge. I wasted time trying to transport the Camtasia videos over and over with different specifications and codecs, only to reach a dead end. I thought it would take less time to re-record the videos again than to try to add narration in Camtasia. The options are to add narration to a clip or to the entire project. That would be very difficult. Even so, I think my second time doing the same videos was an improvement on the first ones. Unfortunately, some of the videos were a little longer. I realized the first time around that, if I go too fast, the pan and zoom effects will give a person vertigo. I wanted to give more time when switching from one side of the screen to another, or from a zoom-out to a zoom-in. For my last video, I took out the part on custom animations. I want this for the teachers at my school, but I think it would be best as a fifth video in the series. With it as part of the 4th video, the total time exceeded 11 minutes! Also, if someone already knows how to do slide transitions, he or she doesn’t have to go through all of that to learn about custom animations.
One thing I found very frustrating about Camtasia is the inability–as far as I can tell–to pre-render the videos to see if the sound and video will be in sync once they are rendered. This is because, when I’m playing the video back in the Camtasia timeline, the video shown in the monitor lags behind or ahead of the sound. I had to render the videos over and over just to see if the pan and zoom effects were timed correctly. I ended up removing callouts because they don’t show up when the timeline indicates they will. It’s like shooting in the dark.
What has been really frustrating is the stinkin’ pop-up from Trend Anti-virus that won’t disappear when clicked. It gets stuck in the lower right hand corner and of course covers the end of the timeline!
All said, I’ve really learned a lot in this process.
