Preproduction


Capturing


Basic Editing


Effects


Output


Terms & Tools

Stage 2: Capturing
What It Is | Tools | Example | Tips

What Capturing Is

To capture is to bring media (audio, video, or image) into one's computer, in the form a media file. In many cases, this means converting data from analog to digital form, but you can also capture data from your computer screen. For example, you might record the manipulation of a 3D model on your screen.

Tools for Capturing

Movie, image, and basic audio capture can be done with Media Recorder. Media Recorder can choose appropriate audio and video recording parameters for you, such as compression schemes, but you can also specify parameters as desired.

If you want to use a more powerful sound editing tool, you can also record sound directly into Sound Track. Sound Track has a feature that helps you synchronize your recordings to your movie.

To capture audio from a CD in your CD-ROM drive use CD Player.

Recording Examples:

  • If you want to make a movie that demonstrates a software program, you can capture the demonstration directly from the screen, using Media Recorder. Media Recorder can capture audio as it records from the screen, so you can include narration in the demonstration.

  • Media Recorder can capture media from a camcorder, microphone, or VCR connected to your workstation.

  • If you have a camera attached to your system, you can use Media Recorder to capture live video.

Example: Kam's Capturing Story

Captures the Video

With a friend's help, he videotapes the scenes he planned in preproduction, then:

  • He connects his VCR video outputs to his workstation inputs (the Media Recorder Help menu contains information on how to do this under "Recording Video"). This way, he is able to view the movie over his workstation in Media Recorder, make a time log of shots that he wants in his movie (noted on the VCR counter), and selectively capture those shots with Media Recorder. For example:
05:27 Good overview shot
09:45 Best take of adding hot water
11:22 Good stir! Use this one.
Note: He uses Media Recorder to capture the video without the sound. Since lip-synching wasn't an issue for his movie, he knew it would be easier to edit the movie and the sound separately. He didn't have to worry about any sound/movie synchronization getting lost in the editing process.
  • Before capturing the audio, he goes forward to editing the video track so that he will have it trimmed down to its actual length before he starts adding audio.

Captures the Audio

After the movie has been edited to its final length and he knows how long the audio track can be, Kam creates a Sound Track audio composition containing three different tracks, which he labels Narration, Sounds, Background Music.

  • Narration

    He uses the microphone connected to his system to record a voice-over into Sound Track while watching the movie.

  • Sounds

    He identifies the other sounds he wanted in his movie, such as:

    • ramen breaking
    • ramen pouring into a container
    • hot water spraying from the espresso machine
    • steam hissing from the espresso steamer

    Because the sounds came out well on the videotape, he uses Sound Track to selectively capture audio clips of the hot water and the steam sounds from the videotape. Other sounds he re-creates and records into Sound Track, using a microphone.

  • Background Music

    He has some music he composed himself, which he records into the Background Music track.

Tips

  • Compressing and lowering media quality is easy, but improving basic quality once material is captured is virtually impossible. Therefore, always capture at the highest quality level, frame size, and frame rate that you think you might use. For example, if you are creating a movie for more than one kind of output, such as for the Web and for videotape, capture and edit the movie at the higher quality level and frame size (for videotape), then use Movie Maker's "Export As..." function to create a copy of the movie in a smaller, compressed form for the Web (see the Output section for more information).

  • When creating a narrative (voice-over), it's easiest to improvise a "scratch recording" as you watch the movie play (using Sound Track's movie synchronization feature). Then, write down the script as you play back the scratch recording. Use the script to record your final narrative track.

  • Higher sample rates, sample widths, and frame rates create better sound and movie quality, but they take up more disk space. For Kam's output purpose (a Web page), his movie was recorded at a 22.05 kHz sampling rate, 16-bit sample width, and a 15fps frame rate. These rates worked well, but if he had wanted to put a longer movie on the Web, he might have tried lowering the sample and frame rate even more, to economize the file size.

  • In the Media Recorder Help menu, under "Customizing Record Settings," you'll find an informational table on the uses and characteristics of various compression schemes, which you can print out.
    
    

on to Stage 3: Basic Editing


Copyright © 1998 by Silicon Graphics, Inc.