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.

The problem is, these 3 new videos are beyond the 2-4 minute time frame.  The reason is, I slowed down this time so that my pan and zoom effects don’t look  jerky, as they did in the previous versions.  I think these are an improvement. My voice still doesn’t sound natural.  I had to turn off the click sounds, because something in Camtasia slows things down so that I have to click more than once to get something to work! I almost wish I’d bought the Adobe Captivate for the same price.  Then, I could have edited the footage in Premiere. Live and learn! 

On one computer, I am editing my movie files;

on the other, I’m making text slides and transferring them later via my flash drive.

With my DVD project, I am editing the sound with Audition’s hiss reduction feature.  I’m just following the directions in the Help menu, which are suprisingly easy to follow.  I don’t know understand the process, but the sound is coming out less “tinny.”

I figured out a quick way to make the 297 text slides for my high frequency word video.  First, I transformed the 5×8 flashcard doc in Word into a numbered list.  This list matches the order in the video.  Next, as I resave each new word by editing the same Photoshop doc, it will automatically resave it as edited 1, 2, 3 etc.  Hopefully, the numbers should all match up with the numbers in my list.  If I need to double check the order, I can reference the list.

SOLUTION: I want to thank God–and Mr. Temple, of course–that I was able to IM Mr. Temple last night so he could lead me, step by step, in converting my 16:9 footage to 4×3.  I am grateful that, even though Mr. Temple was in Indiana, he was willing to take the time to help me out! The video rendering was taking so long, I decided to hit the sack and check on it in the morning.

OBSTACLE:  The audio was missing after I rendered the video.  I thought I’d checked something to include audio. (It was in the switches submenu.) Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right thing.  I clicked on everything I could think of to try to find how to make sure the audio would export.  I tried to preview the audio to see if it was enabled, but I got an error message saying there wasn’t enough memory to render it.  I went to BestBuy and bought a bigger external hard drive, because my current one had only 9 and some gigs left.  That wasn’t it.  I still got the same error message about memory.

SOLUTION: Prayer.  I should have started there first. Praise the Lord!  I had a book on After Effects that I’d purchased a long time ago (with unrealistic intentions).   

 Thank You, Jesus,  the Lord led me where in my After Effects book as to what to click to get the option to export the audio.  I would never have figured it out without the book.  It might be easier to figure out the control panel of a B-52.

The book told me to go to the Output Module, and gave a picture of where it was on the bottom screen. Hurray!  It’s mixed in with a number of other render settings, like all the signs at Home Depot.  When I clicked on it, the popup menu finally appeared.  That is where I saw that the Export Audio box was not checked. The video is now rendering.  I guess you can say that I’m taking a “rendering break.” I’m going to work on projects for my 524 class. 

Now, I’m stuck with the fact that the text is blurry.  It looks like I forgot to wear my contacts.   I think perhasp the reason is that I did not set the resolution correctly when I recorded the videos.  Either that, or the 15fps frame rate Camtasia uses is making it blurry?  When I stop the video at any point, the text comes into clear focus…

I’m going to try reworking the Premiere Pro videos and sending them to Camtasia so that the sound and audio sync.  Maybe it has something to do with the frame rate.  I’m thinking I can try adjusting the frame rate to 15 fps?  Or, I might have to chuck the video intros and endings altogether.  I’m still left with how to do the narration, which I left out so that I could do it in Premiere.  I’m not sure how to add narration after the fact in Camtasia. There must be a way.

I’m beginning to hate this project!  I have to move onto my DVD project, which I might end up producing as widescreen, if I can’t figure out how to change it to 4:3 ratio in Premiere Pro. 

It feels like two steps forward, three steps back!

 My other project is much more exciting. I just have to figure out how to convert the widescreen footage to regular t.v. footage. I found the directions on the internet, but they seem to be missing some key details.  (Or, I need to keep re-reading them in hopes of better understanding them!) I’m feeling much more positive about the second video.  It’s something I’ve done before, and it only involves Adobe software!

I ordered from JourneyEd because I wanted the educational discount.  Also, they already have on file the information verifying that I am a teacher.  When I placed my order, I paid $17.50  for 2nd day mail service.  When I still hadn’t received the product days later, I called JourneyEd to find out what was taking so long.  Their customer service said that it could take more than a week before my product was shipped, because it was coming directly from TechSmith, which makes Camtasia.  I asked why I was paying JourneyEd $17.50 for 2 day shipping when they weren’t even the ones shipping my product.  I cancelled my order with them. 

Surprisingly, when I went to TechSmith’s website, I discovered that I could purchase the educational version directly from them, and for the same price of $179!  The best part was that, as soon as I placed my order, they e-mailed me the key to unlock my trial version.  For just $8 more, they are sending me the box version as well.  Ironically, I did not have to produce any proof that I am an educator.  All I had to click was that I qualify for the discount!

 So, if you want to purchase Camtasia Studio 4, my recommendation is that you buy it directly from TechSmith.