This is a draft script for a new video class. I am sharing it here to solicit peer review feedback. Please send feedback to CarlIcann (at) gmail.com. Thank You.
Introduction to Machinima and Virtual World TV
…
This is a quick introduction to video broadcasting and machinima
for new people interested in making their first videos and Internet TV in
virtual worlds.
In the next few minutes we’ll get you up and running, and
producing live on-line broadcasts from virtual worlds, playing them back on
your own Internet TV station, then taking multiple videos and editing them with
titles, transitions, and music into finished machinima productions.
…
The first step is to set up free accounts on Livestream and YouTube.
From the Livestream.com home page, click the Join Livestream button, and you can
login with your Facebook account.
From the home page, click Learn More, then on the left click Encoder (Procaster).
Download and
install Procaster from this page.
Procaster is great video capture software, which runs on
Windows and Macs.
Then click Sign up
now on the left, and the big Sign up
now button.
After you fill out the form, and email verify your account, go
to the My Account > Channels page.
From here you can Launch
New Channels and control existing channels.
…
Login to your virtual world, such as Second Life, and get
ready to make a live broadcast recording.
Launch livestream procaster on your computer and login to livestream
using it.
Before you GO LIVE, click Preferences.
On the VIDEO tab,
notice that our default output resolution is 512 by 288 pixels,
And near the top is a settings button to adjust frame rates,
set the compression slider to low or least, it’s less crashy.
…
Go to the DESKTOP
tab. Uncheck the boxes: Show mouse
and Highlight mouse.
In the middle is the Choose
Location button, which determines where video files will be stored on your
computer.
Click SAVE.
…
Now bring your virtual world to the foreground and click GO LIVE.
First let’s set up procaster so that it won’t be crashy.
Close the procaster chat window, if it’s in the way.
Along the bottom are Procaster buttons.
Click SCREEN
instead of CAMERA. Now we can capture video from the virtual world.
Click the ZOOM IN
button several times, until you see a green rectangle.
Point your mouse near the corner of the green rectangle;
click drag to resize the box.
Set the vertical resolution at, for example, 288 pixels, and
the horizontal resolution at 512 pixels.
Now click drag where it says 288 or 512 and move the green
rectangle where you want it.
You can use the MIXER
button next to STOP,
to control your Built-in
Microphone, and the virtual world sounds using the Speaker’s audio controls.
Most of us want to mute our built-in microphone by default,
but you can enable it to do voice over narration.
To finish this setup, click STOP then DELETE RECORDING
and Yes.
…
Now you are ready to broadcast and capture virtual world
videos.
Keep your video clips modest… to start… 3 or 4 minutes
maximum.
Teleport to an event on a Machinima Friendly region such as
the SL Botanical Gardens or any Governor Linden land, and start making videos.
In other regions, check the Covenant in About Land for any
limitations on machinima, but that’s very rare.
According to Linden Labs policy, you should ask the
permission of all plainly recognizable avatars in your machinima productions.
For that reason, I recommend that you disable all avatar
name tags in your SL viewer Preferences,
on the General tab.
…
Now, I’ll show you a few more tricks using livestream from
your Internet Browser.
On the My Account
> Channels page, you will find the controls for your Internet TV
channel.
Click the STUDIO
button for your channel.
…
On the Broadcast Live tab, click Pick Storyboard under Sources.
Click the arrow by Recordings, now you see a list of your
videos.
Click one of the Open
buttons on a listed video.
Click Cue… wait a
few seconds… then click Transition to
cued clip.
Click the Back
button, bottom left, to cue another video.
Along the bottom, you will see the Overlays tab to add titles and images to your broadcast.
Final point about livestream, is the Control Autopilot tab along the top.
You can use Autopilot to play your videos automatically.
…
Now that we’ve captured some videos, you can edit them into
a machinima productions.
You have many video editor options such as the free Windows
Movie Maker.
But if you are brand new to video editing, l recommend that you
start with the YouTube editor.
Use your Internet browser to go to youtube.com/editor and
you are ready to edit.
There you can Upload
videos, including the ones we just created with Procaster on your computer hard
disk.
YouTube’s editor is nice because it is easy to learn and has
built-in libraries of free music and stock video clips.
Use your video editor to add text titles, mix music, insert
video clips, crop your clips, and insert video transitions.
If you need more help, search google for “youtube editor
tutorial” to find numerous lessons.
…
So let’s wrap this learning experience up.
In a few minutes, I’ve shown you how to capture virtual
world videos, broadcast them, add titles, and start using a video editor to
produce machinima.
We did this with only 1 avatar and 2 easy-to-use tools, livestream
and YouTube.
…
Livestream and YouTube are a great way to get started making
virtual world broadcasts and machinima.
Now that you are up and running as the world’s newest
machinima director, you may want to add more tools to your bag of tricks… over
time.
In fact, there are a numerous free and commercial tools
supporting video production.
Check the Second Life wiki at wiki.secondlife.com for the
topic “machinima” and you will find them.
…
It’s easy to get lost in this sea of standalone tools, so take
it easy.
I tried and failed several times to get started making
machinima with those tools, until I stumbled upon what I’m telling you now
about livestream and youtube.
…
So take care… I’ll post links to useful tutorials and other
resources on my blog.
Enjoy your machinima and virtual life!
