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Making video graphics that are readable for multiple screen sizes.
I work for a local government media department. Our videos are aired on tv and then uploaded to the web. As many businesses are doing, we want to make our videos available the groing number of mobile devices.
Typically sized lower thirds and other graphics look fine for viewing on a “normal” sized tv monitor. But they are just about impossible to read when watching that same video on a mobile device.
Any thoughts as how to deal with this issue?
I think this will become a big issue for any of us with product destined for multiscreen viewingKevin Ryan
Editor/Graphics
The Government Channel
City of Charlotte
Charlotte, NC -
3 Replies
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Hi Kevin –
You’ve just run into one of the major stumbling blocks of multiple device/format delivery. There are a couple of ways to go, neither of which is simple. Let me preface this with the first rule: find out as many of the delivery formats before you start the project, if you can. This will give you the chance to plan. If you know your smallest device plays back at 640 x 360, create a project in which you lay down some sample screens, making them readable. And leave a little leeway for people with not so great eyesight. This will give you a benchmark, and you’ll know that everything will read fine when it’s sized up. This is, of course, if you want to just do a single version and apply it to all delivery formats.
Another possibility (which is more work), is to do different versions of the graphics for, say, DVD playback and web delivery. On the web, you have more room for your graphics, since there is no title safe to worry about. If you edit a clean version of the production, you can then drop the video into your graphics templates – I would do this in After Effects myself, but I’m sure you could nest it in Premiere.
Another possibility is to make sure that any important graphics are read in the voice-over. This makes the smaller text not as important if it’s tough to read. If you have bullets, have the bullets read. Lower thirds aren’t so simple – they have to be readable. Lots to think about, as I said.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
I have been thinking about the idea of using something like overlay Ads
found on web site videos as a way of making lower thirds and graphics readable.
The idea would be to produce the video without any graphics and then use this overlay function to create fresh graphics for each sized screen. I only just learned about the overlay function that is used in web advertising. I guess it would be part of the html.
It would be nice to be able to add cues and the information in metadata to create the self generating graphics appropriately sized for the screen it was appearing on.Kevin Ryan
Editor/Graphics
The Government Channel
City of Charlotte
Charlotte, NC -
I’m guessing that would be something which would be created in Flash or Flash Catalyst. It might even have to be a customized ActionScipt programming project. I’ll bet if you can view source on one of those Flash clips with the popup ads, there might be clues as to the engine that’s creating them.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com
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