Video Editing : Feel the Power! (page 2)

Another area for careful consideration when preparing video to run inside a presentation is to determine what compression setting or transitions are best. The easiest way is simply trial and error. Just take a sample of your video and compress it with an alternate codec or compression setting, then import the result into your presentation program and see what happens. If it runs OK, check on the file size, and if you've saved space without hurting your communications goals, you're good to go.

In the world of presentations, nothing is worse than a technical problem bringing your fabulous and dynamic show to a screeching halt. It happens. And, all too often, it happens when video is involved. The antidote is to make sure your presentations are lean and mean and to test (and re-test) them, - preferably on the actual systems where the audience will see them. Do that and you'll earn a reputation as a reliable and in-demand presentation professional.

Bill Davis writes, shoots, edits, and does voiceover work for a variety of corporate and industrial clients in addition to putting on a fantastic live show.

When it comes to building effective digital slide programs, video isn't the only asset where effective management counts. I've seen otherwise smooth running presentations brought to their electronic knees by improperly prepared sounds, pictures and even such elemental things as font conflicts.

The point is that in any computer presentation, there's almost always a limit on the system resources available. So, if you plan to use pictures in your presentation slides, don't import high-res photos that need to be resized. Instead, use your photo editing application to create a properly sized version for the show.

The same is true with audio. If a particular audio file doesn't need to be sampled at 24-bit, 96kHz stereo, use a lower-quality version. Most conference sound systems are monophonic anyhow, so make sure you mix for that.

There are a few ways you can get video into your presentations once it is properly encoded. One way is to create simple hyperlinks to the media files. This is perhaps the easiest way, but, like browsing the Web, when you click on a linked media file, it opens in the media player outside of your presentation software. This means that you'll be clicking back and forth between applications during the show.

Another method is to place the video right into the slide as a visual element. The advantage here is that you don't have to switch around as you present. The disadvantage is that the video will not play full screen, has no playback controls and will start playing the moment the slide is visible. In PowerPoint, you add video by going to the Insert menu, selecting the Movies and Sounds item and then selecting Movie from File. There will be a delay while the software opens the video, but once it is in, you will be able to work with the video the same way you do any other element in the slide.

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