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Video

Videos

Embedding

Every video club should have movies on its website.

A-V Groups should consider making low-resolution videos from their sequences to give a flavour of their work. (Individual AV stills might also be shown on the site to indicate the normal high-resolution image quality.)

The process was once tricky and could cause problems with the internet supplier you use. Now it is just a matter of putting the movie onto YouTube or one of the many other video hosting websites and embedding it on yours.

There are scores of websites which will host your video, most of them free. Some have optional subcription deals which let you upload more or get better quality. Some have advertising linked to the videos,

Those most commonly used by British film makers are:

YouTube
Accepts films up to 15 minutes & files up to 2Gb
Most popular host in the world. No other service offered for non-commercial users.
Vimeo
Accepts files up to ½Gb a week
Offers higher quality picture but viewers need fast broadband. "Vimeo Plus" offers 5Gb a week for $60  (about £40) a year.
DailyMotion
Accepts films up to 20 minutes & files up to 2Gb
Allows longer films than YouTube. "MotionMaker" - is free, allows unlimited length, but each movie is subject to approval by their staff.
MotionBox
Accepts files up to 300Mb per video
Worth considering for long movies - but at a price. "Premium" service offers virtually unlimited file size $50 (about £33) a year.

if you apply compression to a video it reduces image quality but lets you send longer movies to those sites. As a rough guide 2Gb is enough for just under 9 minutes of uncompressed Standard Definition video.

Embedding a video means opening a hole on your web-page through which a video can be seen. The movie is actually running on a video hosting site such as YouTube. The process is easy to organise and avoids the risk of upsetting your ISP (Internet Service Provider) by sending too much information to and fro.

Send a video to a hosting site. Detailed notes on the process can be found on the IAC website here. In short:

If your movie is SD and less than 9 minutes long sign up for a free account at www.youtube.com. Click "upload" to go to the upload page. Click "Upload Video" and point to the movie file on your computer. As uploading starts edit the title and description details. Wait - perhaps an hour or more. When the video is ready for showing, click "Edit", choose the options and thumbnail image you want.

When the film is shown on YouTube click the "Embed" button. You choose the size to display and the colours of any frame round it. As you do that a window shows web code which changes to match your decisions. Copy and paste that code into your web page's code* at the right spot. And it is done.

*Most web creating tools show what your web page will show rather than the code behind that display. Use a menu option or click a button to display the code. Embedding codes have to be pasted into the code view at the place you want the video to appear.

Most video hosts accept a variety of file types. Each lists its preferred file formats and those change frequently as their behind-the-scenes processing changes. Many sites - including YouTube - accept HD but may require special settings to be used. Check their upload instructions and FAQs. (Frequently Asked Questions).

To fit a video into their size limits, you may have to compress it. Notes on using a free tool for video compression purpose can be found on the IAC website here.


Sample Youtube image with large arrow in middle of picture.Same picture without the YouTube arrows.Many people find the standard image from an embedded video with it huge arrow in the centre rather ugly. You could use a simple still from the film which links to a separate page with the movie embedded in it. This requires one more click from the viewer but avoids the ugly arrow until the last minute. To see this cute kid in action visit our UNICA 2010 report here.
A practical side effect is that you can list many movies on one page. This can be achieved using a photo gallery tool or by a table on a web page. They look neat and the page loads much more quickly than if it had to connect to video hosts many times. For example see our Bijou BIAFF 2010  page.

The Weebly Way

Tips on: placing videos in Weebly | using the gallery tool in Weebly

Weebly offers a way  for absolute beginners to create good websites
easily and without cost. Our series on how to use it begins here.

Right arrow. Go to Getting Pictures Right arrow. Go to Getting & Using Pictures
Right arrow. Go to Processing Pictures

Website Makeover Guides - Introduction

What Should the Content Be? | Navigation | Planning Navigation | Anchors & Links | Words | Getting Pictures | Getting & Using Pictures
Processing Pictures | Video | Presentation Pictures | Colours | Layout Principles | Layout Schemes | Fonts | What is SEO?
Search Engine Factors | Check Your Search Ranking | Stay Legal | Website Health Check | Website No Goes more to come ...

A Beginner's Guide to Creating a Club Website with Weebly

Don't Panic! | Signing up to Weebly | Making your first (elegant) page | Adding more pages and navigation
Adding pictures and words | Creating a complex Coming Soon Page | Adding Forms, Emails, Maps and Videos.

IAC Competition to find the Best Club Website 2011


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Page updated on 19 January 2011
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