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PUT YOUR VIDEO ONLINE ... just do it !

If your video is less than 15 minutes long and less than 2Gb (though the maximum file size is not clearly listed) ...

1
  • Go to www.youtube.com.
  • Click "sign up" and open a free account.
  • Click "upload" to go to the upload page.
2
  • Click "Upload Video" and point to the movie file on your computer.
3
  • As uploading starts edit the title and description details.
  • Wait while it uploads, which may take hours ... but you only have to do that once!
4
  • When it is ready, click "Edit", choose the options and thumbnail image you want.
  • Note the URL and tell your friends to watch online!

It really is that simple. Just be careful about copyright.

If your film is more than 15 minutes long or bigger than 2Gb, you can upgrade free of charge - see details in the Video Hosts table below.

Share your vision

Put your films online for the world to discover and get them embedded in webpages - your own, the club's or even here on the IAC website. A film which catches the public eye can be seen by an immense audience around the globe. How else would your work be enjoyed in Japan, Honolulu, Australia, Canada, Timbuktu, Ukraine and Iceland?

For dedicated film enthusiasts the biggest benefit is that your films can be showcased easily on websites like this one, without demanding new skills from the webmaster or costing a fortune in "bandwidth" surcharges.

Our picture (right) shows a page on this website with an embedded video. It is one of the Making Of ... series.

In this case it is all about Michael Gough's film After the Bus Had Gone.  Take a look ...

Part of a web page with an embedded video.

How is it done?

Upload the video to a specialised video host like YouTube. Once there you are given some code for "embedding". Copy that and paste it into a web page. Voila ! It works like an oblong hole in the page, through which people see the video ... though it is actually running on YouTube or other video host. Social networking sites like Facebook have built-in linking systems for such videos.

Copyright

You must have the necessary rights for the music and any footage you did not take yourself.

All major video hosts use automatic music recognition software. That checks your video and flags up any apparent use of copyright music. Some sites issue a warning, most remove your video immediately. YouTube may remove the sound and offer you a chance to choose from its own library of alternative free music tracks.

YouTube has an agreement with the main UK music companies and rights holders, which means fewer problems if UK film makers upload films with copyright music. If there is a query, quoting your IAC copyright licence details is often enough to resolve it and get the video back online.  (Details of the IAC copyright licence scheme: here.)

Video Hosts

There are scores of websites which will host your video free of charge. Those most commonly used by British film makers are:


YouTube Basic: films up to 15 minutes / files less than 2GB Anyone whose YouTube account is in good standing - i.e. no copyright complaints against it - can increase this to "unlimited", which seems to be up to 11 hours. Click the link at the foot of your Upload page marked "increase your limit" and follow the instructions. The maximum file size then rises from 2GB to 128GB. This is a free option.

Vimeo Basic: file size up to ½GB a week "Vimeo Plus" offers 5GB a week for about £50 a year. "Vimeo Pro" allows up to 20Gb a week for about £159 a year.

DailyMotion films up to 60 minutes / files less than 4GB "MotionMaker" scheme - is free, allows unlimited length, but each movie is subject to approval by their staff.

They all accept many video formats but prefer MP4 (MPEG - 4) in H.264.  Internet connections bring files to you (downloading) much faster than sending them out from you (uploading). This means it can take hours to send a movie up to a video host. Exact times depend on how fast your internet connection is and how busy the web happens to be. All video hosts process the movies - making them into smaller files. Upload the best quality you can as close as possible to their maximum file size.

Many editing programs will generate output in the preferred MP4 (H.264) format. If yours does not, Canopus ProCoder will do a great job, but it costs a lot. Or ...

HANDBRAKE

 Handbrake is a free compressor that is simple to use and yet allows for detailed techie settings if you require them. Visit http://handbrake.fr to download a version for Windows, Mac or Linux. (Make sure you do not get distracted by advertisements for other similar tools which appear on the download page.)

Screen shot of Handbrake. Once it is on your computer, start the program. At top left click the Source button and a file manager appears. Navigate to the folder with your film/s in it. The program immediately scans the file and lists all the video titles it find there.

On the right the source file was "canal-bulgarian" and clicking on the arrow in the field called Title lets you choose any of the titles in that folder. These usually appear as numbered items with their running time in brackets ... it is easy to choose the one with the length that matches your film.
Screen shot from Handbrake program.

Go to the field marked Destination, click the Browse button and navigate to the folder where you want the amended film to be stored.

Make sure that the Output Settings specifies MP4 - and click the Start button at the top of the program window. You can usually leave everything else alone ...

Check the size of the finished file and if it is within the limit allowed by your video host start to upload it.  If it is still too big you may need to explore the options within Handbrake. To explore the possibilities, hover your cursor over most buttons and fields to see a pop-up message explaining briefly what they do. The Help button is helpful! There is also a useful set of user discussions available through the Handbrake website.
Screen shot of Handbrake program.


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Page updated on 17 March 2015
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