Podcasting Tasks

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Basic Project Information

Type: Podcasting (video)
Time Estimate: Entirely variable.

Cost and Services Provided

Costs

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Services Provided

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Main Project Steps

Planning

The first step is deciding what the podcast will be on. Typically the podcast is going to take the form of some sort of tutorial, or how to guide. At this point the only podcasts we make are done within, Media Services itself, but this may change in the future. Make sure what you plan to do:

Has not been done before
Is relevant
1. i.e. not "How to take golfcart for joyrides"

Setup

After deciding what the podcast will be about, it helps to make some sort of a small plan of what the video will show, and how you're going to go about doing it. This seems like a small thing, but if you make sure you know what you're doing before you start, you will save yourself a vast amount of time.

At this point make sure you have everything you need for the podcast available. For instance, if you need access to sealed storage, make sure there will be a supervisor around when you need to get in.

Filming

Once all preparations have been completed, you are (hopefully) ready to begin filming. At the time of this writing, filming will be best done with one of the JVC Everio HDD cameras. They work well, and are easy to use. They may not be the most stunning quality, but after all you're filming a podcast, not a documentary. So, exactly what you want.

At the time this was written, Media Services owns two JVC Everio kits. They are barcoded KIT20016 and KIT20017.

Tips:

Use. The. Tripod. Seriously, whenever you can, use the tripod. No one likes a shaky camera.
Shoot multiple takes. This is a big one. Always try and shoot at least 2 takes of each thing. Almost always more, but at least two. You'll thank yourself later during the editing process.

Editing

Once you have filmed all those great takes, you're ready to edit them together into something resembling a podcast. The first step will be to get the video off the camera. Fortunately, if you used the JVC, this is super easy. Since you filmed to a harddrive inside the camera, all you need to do is hook the camera up to the computer via USB or Firewire.

For this process, make sure you use the Video Production Computer. This is the only one that has the power to do what you need to do efficiently. It also has some previous work on it that will help you.

On the Video Production Computer, you'll be using the iMovie software. There's more powerful software on there, but unless you really know what you're doing, you shouldn't worry about it, because you don't need it. Once again, podcast, not documentary.

First, you should create a new project. This is done by going, File --> New project. Name your project something logical, making sure to label it as a podcast. After that, you'll need to import your footage from the JVC Everio. Do this by going to File --> Import from Camera. Select the camera (though it should be selected automagically), and then you will be presented with a screen showing all the footage on the camera, divided up into little segments. These are your takes. The footage you just filmed will be down at the very bottom. Deselect everything, and then select the stuff you want to import. Then import it.

Once you have your footage imported, you can get down to the nitty gritty of editing. This part can be a little time consuming, but overall not very difficult. If you have too much trouble figuring out how to edit a podcast in iMovie, then this may not be the best project for you. That shouldn't be a problem though.