Newbie question about learning

[Tundra Trout]

Hi.I'm fairly new here.I joined last winter and have been reading as much as I can digest,but it's pretty overwhelming.
I have a camcorder and I want to produce a few amateur videos about snowboarding.My girlfriend and I like to head up to Vermont and extreme snowboard in the winter,schedules allowing.I thought of making a "how to" video of the basics,but I don't know where to start.What do I do once I get the footage?Is there any set of guides here that I can follow?


Thank you!

[redwudz]

For the videotaping end of it, I would suggest a course at a local college or adult education center. Proper planning, technique and equipment are critical for having a tape that you can make something from.

For the rest, I use WinDV to transfer over FireWire to the computer. Have lots of hard drive space available. DV is about 13GB per hour. Start with a simple editing program, Windows Movie Maker is one you probably already have. Output as DV, then encode and author. As your skills and knowledge grow, then move up to more advanced programs. I still use VirtualDub for most DV edits. Very basic, but many options and guides available. Others can suggest higher end programs. The programs aren't as important as learning the proper procedures.

Most of our guides are for specific programs or processes.

Sorry, fairly basic, but that's a complex question.

[gadgetguy]

Well, I would start by deciding what I want to say and show and put it in story board fashion. Sometimes I keep the story board in my head, but if you're going to be working with other people, then it's best to draw it out so everyone knows what you're trying to accomplish. Once you have the story board, everything else comes pretty naturally.
You'll go out and shoot specific scenes and actions to demonstrate what you want to say, you'll probably want to shoot the same scenes several times to make sure you get the right look (and results), and to give you options for things that you may not have noticed while shooting, but show up during editing.
Then you bring the footage back and capsfer it into your computer for editing. You haven't told us anything about what equipment or software you have, but basically you mix, match, cut, trim, resize, apply transitions, etc. to make the video look like you want. Some tools are better than others for certain situations, but your knowledge and experience with the tools you have are more important.
As a training video, you'll probably be doing mostly voiceover for instruction but you'll want to include audio from the original footage to keep the right "feel". Probably some appropriate background music, as well. Once you have the video and audio edited up the way you want it, then you have to encode it to the format that best suits your destination. Web streaming, DVD, VCD, download, etc. all use different encoding methods/tools.

There are guides that cover the technical aspects of each of the various steps involved, but I don't know of any that would address your question because it's too general. What works for one video won't necessarily work or be required for the next.

[Tundra Trout]

Thank you.That's a place to start.


I'll give it more thought and do a little more reading.Maybe look at some videos that are out there already and get some ideas from that.I want it unique,so I will need some clear direction to go in.


I appreciate your help!!

[jman98]

I'm not really a camcorder guy but I do have a couple of general suggestions for you as a newbie.
1) You learn a lot by just doing. Try to use what you can from various guides. It takes time, but with experience you will get better.
2) I highly commend you for reading the forums since you joined. It's a great way to learn. I'm one of the veterans around here but I still learn new stuff all the time from the various members. I strongly encourage people to read the forums because it really can't be beat for gaining experience.