Cutting for a Podcast

[Peter Wiggins]

Cut in your native codec and then export for ipod.
Keep an eye on graphics for size so they are readable on an ipod &
also think about screen ratio.

Suggest you do a test including loading onto an ipod to show the client.

Peter

Free Motion Templates

peterwiggins.com

[Jerry Hofmann]

Compressor 2 has an iPod preset that should work OK… is that what you need?

Jerry

[David Rowan]

I put together five podcasts now for my TV station. Here are some things to consider:

Most of what you edit for a podcast is just like editing anything else thats a short, self-contained presentation. In terms of design remember that when people watch a video clip in a website (like using flash) there is supporting information all around the video clip on the web page, but with a podcast they might be watching it on an iPod or in iTunes, and any supporting material or branding logos or what have you need to be contained in the video.

In terms of the actual edit you just want to keep in mind that the screen on an iPod is rather small (but surprisingly sharp). The clincher is, most people do not watch video podcasts on their iPods, they watch them on their computer screens where they are downloading them. So you have to accomodate the small windows, but don’t count on that to hide “flaws” that might show up when full screen.

You can encode for iPod/iTunes right from Final Cut, Just export–>Quicktime Conversion—>iPod. With the latest upgrades the results are pretty impressive. (I now use this for client demos, I load the clips in my iPod and plug the iPod into their TV and use the TV output to show them their projects)

Before I upload the video to the server I run it through iTunes and edit the “info”. In iTunes I can do things like set the poster graphic and fill in the author/album/etc info. Some of this gets lost or changed when its downloaded as a podcast, but some of it stays. For instance I always replace the poster frame with a title graphic, these look nicer when the end-user looks at their lists of podcasts in iTunes.

The real trick is maintaining the server and the RSS feed (its the RSS that makes a bunch of video clips into a “podcast”). I don’t know if this will end up being your responsibility or not. Getting your RSS just right takes some trial and error. I recomend checking your RSS feed by loading it in an RSS checking program. This can also teach you a lot about how to format the RSS (aka: XML) data.

Watch a lot of other video podcasts. See what other people are doing, so you can do it better. There are many business that want to jump into this, and the people making the decisions don’t use, watch or enjoy podcasts, so they have no idea what sort of content or form will actually work.

most importantly…subscribe to my podcasts!. Every subscriber in iTunes moves me up the lists where I can get more noticed. So just go to the iTunes store and serach for “KUTV”, from there you can subscribe to all five of them. The Blooper archive is the podcast I think people here will enjoy the most.

Let me know if I can help with any more specific questions.

DWR

[Peter Wiggins]

This is what I use for all the RSS/XML stuff for Podcasts

https://www.potionfactory.com/podcastmaker/

well recommended, preview stuff in itunes etc.

Peter

Free Motion Templates

peterwiggins.com

[Martin Baker]

Same here, Podcast Maker is great.

Beware of doing an Export to iPod from either FCP or QuickTime Player if your sequence uses non-square pixels (i.e. 99% of us). The aspect ratio gets messed up. Personally I use Compressor and it works great.

Martin
Digital Heaven, London UK
Unique plug-ins and tools for Apple Pro Apps
NEW! DH_RetroTV and DH_Dream plug-ins for FCP
NEW! Hot Tips video podcast for FCP

[David Rowan]

I must be doing something wrong, because my export from FCP is turning out right.

I’ve been doing the export right from FCP and the aspect ratio seems to be fine. I realize that the iPod video is now 640X480, and the DV that i work in is 720X480, but it doesn’t seem to be squishing up the video, rather, it keeps the ratio correct and adds a little black at the top and bottom (on the iPod screen, in iTunes its just, well, normal).

BTW, I love the digital heaven stuff.

DWR

[Martin Baker]

Thanks David.

If you do an Export to iPod from an NTSC DV 4:3 sequence then you end up with a m4v that is 640×426 rather than the 640×480 it should be. When played on an iPod, this will result in black bars at the top and bottom of the image which is wrong – a 4:3 image should fill the screen completely. Unfortunately this happens because the Export to iPod doesn’t understand the concept of non-square pixels.

Martin
Digital Heaven, London UK
Unique plug-ins and tools for Apple Pro Apps
NEW! DH_RetroTV and DH_Dream plug-ins for FCP
NEW! Hot Tips video podcast for FCP