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Topics for Class Ten:
Review Assignments from
Last Class
More with Audio
Working with Video
Assignments for Next
Class:
* Reading Assignments
*
Blog Assignment
* Hands-On Assignment 10
Review Assignments from
Last Class
Hands-On Assignment:
In this week's class, we explored the use of the
Goldwave Digital Audio Editor to edit and mix audio files.
The hands-on assignment for this week is to download and use
Goldwave, Audacity or any other digital audio editing
program of your choice, to try to create an edited audio
file that has one person talking with music mixed in at the
proper volume level so that music does not drown out the
narration.
Remember, that if you need to, you can check out a
microphone or portable digital voice recorder from the CITE
Lab with which you can record audio for this assignment.
When you have completed the audio editing, you should save
the file as a .WMA or .MP3 file (you will need to download
and install the LAME encoder first if you're using Goldwave
in order to save files in MP3 format.)
Then go to the Sound Upload website at:
http://www.soundupload.com/ and upload your edited audio
file and then retrieve the link to the file (it will be
emailed to you) and post the link on your personal blog (see
Blog Assignment 9a below). If you prefer, you may use
another method to put your audio file online as long as you
can add a link or an embedded audio player (such as adding
MP3s with BoomP3, located at:
http://boomp3.com/ to your blog posting.
Blog Assignment 9a:
Post the link to your edited audio file from this week's
hands-on assignment (or an embedded audio player) on your
personal blog.
Blog Assignment 9b:
Post a comment on the course discussion blog related the
Class 9 hands-on assignment about editing and mixing audio
files and/or uploading the audio file to an online site that
provides a hyperlink or an embedded audio player for your
blog.
More with Audio
Settings for
Digital Audio Clips in Goldwave
There may be times
when you need to decide what settings to use when
saving digital audio files in Goldwave or other
digital audio editors.
To save an audio file with the
recommended settings, go to the File menu and choose Save Selection as...
To save an audio file in the
MP3 format, u se
the Save as type pull-down men and choose MP3.
Under the Attributes pull-down
menu, you will see a number of choices. The larger
numbers generally indicate higher audio quality but
they also will result in larger file sizes.
For voice only audio, 64 or 96 KBPS is a good place
to start, although if your audio contains music, you
should use a higher bit rate, such as 128, 160 or
192 KBPS. 44100 HZ is also recommended.
You can also save digital
audio in the Windows Media Audio (WMA) as shown
below.
And you should use the same
general settings as those for MP3 files described
above.
Downloading Video
Clips from YouTube
Got to YouTube.com (http://www.youtube.com)
and
find the video you want to download.
On
the right side of the YouTube page, you will see the URL of
the video .
Copy the URL of the video you wish to save.
Go to the Media Converter website (http://www.mediaconverter.org/)
and check the button labeled: Convert a video directly from
various portals.
Paste in the URL that you copied. And then click on the Next
Step button.
At this point, you can choose what video format you would
like to use when the clip is downloaded. You should note
that YouTube, like many websites that present videos use the
Flash video format (.flv), which is common for videos that
are displayed online but not saved to your computer. If you
plan to edit the video clip, you should select a format that
your video editing software supports, such as .avi and .wmv
for Windows or .mov for Macintosh.
The Media Converter tool also allows you to make changes to
the audio and video quality settings, although you may
simply bypass this step and go to the next screen.
The conversion will then take place and an indicator bar
will appear letting you know how much of the file has been
processed.
When the video has been converted, you will see a button
that says “Download Now” and the video will be saved to your
computer when you click it.
Depending on which Web browser application you are using,
you may be asked whether you would like to save the video
clip or open it with a video player application.
Once the clip is saved, you can repeat this process to
download additional video clips.
Adding
Video to
Digital Stories
There are some basic
facts that should be reviewed before we investigate using
video in the digital stories that are being created in this
course:
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Microsoft Photo
Story 3 does not support video files. This means you
cannot add a video clip to the timeline in Photo Story.
The program only supports still images. Even
though, the final file that Photo Story creates is a .WMV
file, which stands for Windows Media VIDEO, it only uses
still images.
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The .WP3 project
file created in Photo Story 3 can only be opened in
Photo Story 3. Video editing software programs, such as
Windows Movie Maker or Adobe Premiere, cannot open .WP3
files.
-
The .WMV file that
is created with Photo Story 3 can be opened in another
program (such as Windows Movie Maker or Adobe Premiere),
but editing items in the middle of this file can be
tricky. It's not too difficult to add video at the
beginning or end of the story but if you try to edit in
the middle, this can cause disruptions with the motion,
transitions, and especially any audio you have included
in the Photo Story file.
-
Other software
programs may be used to create digital stories that
contain video clips, bypassing the use of Photo Story.
Video editing programs include Windows Movie Maker and
Adobe Premiere for PC only and iMovie for the Apple
computers only, and many others.
Software Options for
Adding Video to a Digital Story
Windows Movie Maker
Use a video editing
program such as Windows Movie Maker, to add a video
introduction, middle or ending to the story created in Photo
Story.
One way to do this is to split your digital story into more
than one part and import the first .wmv file into Windows
Movie Maker, add the video clip in the middle, and then add
the second part of the .wmv file into Windows Movie Maker
after the video clip, as shown below:
Adobe Photoshop Elements
Adobe Photoshop
Elements, versions 4, 5, and 6 contain a slide show creation
module that works very much like Photo Story 3,
allowing you to create slide shows that can contain zooms
and pans, recorded narration, added text and transitions
such as fade in and out. However, unlike Photo Story 3,
Photoshop Elements also allows you to add video clips to the
slide show, not just still images.
Adobe Photoshop Elements does support the use of video
clips as well as still images. However, there is one huge
problem you may encounter when using this program: the
project file cannot be saved easily as with Photo Story 3's
.WP3 file. What this means is that it's not easy to begin
working on a digital story on one computer, saving the
project file and then transporting it to another computer to
continue working on the story. However, if you are able to
confine your work with Photoshop Elements to the same
computer, such as a home desktop or laptop, this program may
be a good choice for creating digital stories that contain
video clips.
Click here for a tutorial on using Photoshop Elements to
create a digital story with video.
Additional Resources
Using Windows Movie Maker 2 to Present Still
Photos
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/expert/northrup_02december02.mspx
Pan and Zoom in the Photoshop Elements 4 Slideshow Editor
http://photography.consumerelectronicsnet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=35371
Tell a Story with your Photos in a Custom Slide Show
http://www.adobe.com/tips/phsel3slideshow/index.html
Creating Slide Show Extravaganzas
http://www.adobe.com/education/digkids/training/pse4_vid/slideshow.html
Adobe Digital Storytelling Site
http://www.adobe.com/education/digkids/storytelling/index.html
Assignments for Next
Class:
Reading Assignments:
Review the Additional Resources for this week.
Hands-On Assignment 10:
Use one of the
following online submission websites to submit your Engines
of Our Ingenuity midterm files, including both the .wp3
project file, if you used Photo Story 3, and the final video
file (.wmv or .mov), so that I can be notified by email at
brobin@uh.edu and
download the files.
YouSendIt
http://www.yousendit.com/
SendThisFile
http://www.sendthisfile.com/?rc=largefile&gclid=CJ7fk9mD5pQCFQIBxwodzGx9Rw
zUpload
http://www.zupload.com/
FileFactory
http://www.filefactory.com/
Spread-It
http://www.spread-it.com/
RapidUpload
http://www.rapidupload.com/
Blog Assignment 10:
Using the Media Converter website described above or any
similar resource, see if you can download a video clip from
YouTube and save it to your computer. Then post a comment on
the course discussion blog in which you indicate if you were
successfully able to download the clip or if not, what
problems you experienced. In addition, please briefly
discuss your feelings about using video clips in digital
stories that you are currently creating or ones you might
create in the future.
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