Your $200 home-based video studio (Marc’s children eaten by a dinosaur)

by marc on January 2, 2012

Update 1/2/2012

Marc’s review of the Kodak Zi8 camera, with comparison tracks of audio sources and tips on audio editing inside Sony Vegas.  Enjoy.

 

 Ok it’s video production season at WP Academy.TV…

…and my dining room is now fully-converted to a video production studio, to the chagrin of my wife.

A few updates to my original article below:

  • The Kodak Zi8 (replaced by Zi10 now) external microphone jack is very noisy, so I have upgraded to a Canon Vixia HF10 (about $300 used) which is an AVCHD camcorder (records to Flash media in AVCHD, which is a highly compressed video format).  However the Kodak Zi8 (and its little brother the Kodak Zi10 Playtouch) do make adequate web video from the internal mic , after Audacity noise removal (see below).
  • You could also try the  Audio Technica ATR-3350 Microphone ($23) which is a very good low-cost mic, however due to problems with Zi8 the improvement is marginal (check video above).
  • I purchased a 4 x 45W Compact Fluorescent lighting kit from Cowboy Studio ($100), but actually only need 2 of the lights (plus chandelier) for night-time.  I am likely to shoot by daylight however with (perhaps) artificial light supplementation,  I prefer daylight and the camera works better generally in daylight.
  • Here is how to remove noise in Sony Vegas: right-click on audio track and “Open in audio editor” (after configuring Audacity as your audio editor).  In Audacity, highlight a short noise portion and then Effects > Noise Removal > Get sample, and then highlight whole track and Effects > Noise removal.  Save as .wav file.  Back in Sony Vegas, right-click on Audio > Remove from Group, then right-click > Delete, then Add Media to your clip bin and then add the .wav to any sound track.
  • Also I don’t do green-screen any more, it’s too much work and not necessary for the homey-feel I want to convey.  Instead I am experimenting with different backdrops, what you see is simple grey felt ($10 at cheap fabric store).   To see really high-quality video look at Amy Porterfield on Facebook.  Perfect (indoor) lighting and backdrop, very natural and authentic delivery, plus of course she is pretty nice to look at.  I aspire to quality just one notch below that, which is good enough for me provided I can get good technical quality and delivery.
  • My tips for professional home-studio videos: NO HYPE just high-content presentation, natural delivery and high technical quality, and under 60 seconds.  Smiling is good and is generally my Achilles heel.

How to produce videos such as the WordPress Academy introduction video

Notes

  1. For lighting, choose a room in the house with good natural daylight ideally coming from several directions.  The camera is very light-sensitive so you should avoid direct sunlight in the room.  If you over-expose your videos will look washed-out.  Best time to shoot is early morning or late afternoon.  Alternatively, shoot outdoors.
  2. “Green-screening” allows you to put a background on the video.  I chose one from Free stock photography sites and used a process called “Chroma Keyer” described in this video.  (It’s a bit technical, it’s also fine to shoot with a nice cloth background or home / office environment and avoid green-screen)
  3. The current video has pixellation (artifacts), low-cost camera will always do this with green-screen but the Kodak ZI8 is much better than the camera used in this video.  Make sure you shoot in the highest resolution  (1920 x 1080 for the ZI8).
  4. Produce web presentations at 1280 x 720 resolution (HD), “talks” could be produced at 640 x 480 as the resolution is less important.
  5. Related article: Camtasia Tutorial (how to mix screen shares with video, and Camtasia can also do very nice Picture in Picture or PIP)

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