I will be filming a 2 day conference for a local charity later this month, first experience with something like this. It is a total of 13 hours over two days, with several speakers and PowerPoint's. They want a lightly edited DVD(s) of the event for distribution to several hundred members who are unable to attend the event. I advised it will be a long watch and multiple discs if they want the whole event covered.

How would you handle this type of event? Should I set up in a position to view the podium and screen at the same time, and just film slides as they appear, or should I overlay or cut to actual PowerPoint slides in the final video?

I think a single camera would suffice, but I am bringing 2, and will either operate one at a time, to ensure I don't miss anything during tape swaps, as I will not be able to stop the presentations. Or I will stagger the tape loading in each one, and film the whole event with 2 angles (not sure if that will be very beneficial in this scenario)

If I do end up with 8 hours of edited footage, which is where I estimate it will be, as they do not want any spoken words cut, how many discs should I author to? I think they are prepared to accept a small quality loss from a lower bit rate, but what do you think would be acceptable?

Finally, I don't really have the resources to make 2-300 copies if the thing ends up on 3 or 4 discs, any recommendations on a firm that can duplicate that type of setup for a reasonable price?

Thanks,

-Chris

That is going to be huuuuge.
Webcast anyone?
Perhaps edit the thing down into segments by presenter and build .wmv files at about 1.5 to 3 megs per minute and distribute on cd-rom? This way you'll have all the sessions without sending each non-attendee 4 dvds. Also, every presenter and many delegates will also want a copy.
Perhaps include the ppt presentations on the disc. dvd-rom ...
For dvd 720x480 playback you could make a condensed version...

if it's powerpoint heavy, i would consider packing the actual powerpoint presentations in the dvd (or cd-rom, whatever format you end up using), regardless of how you edit the video.

check out a macworld keynote presentation for some inspiration. love 'em or hate 'em, apple makes the best conference keynote videos. here's a webcast of their latest one:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/specialevent05/

i know you won't have access to any cranes, and your presenter may not have as much charisma as steve jobs, but it's good reference to see how they transition between speaker and slide.

hope this helps.

as far as cost-effective dvd/cd-rom duplication, check out www.discmakers.com

I would probably look at schedule and ask them to tweak it to allow a few minutes for planned tape changes at the right times. I would also shoot both cams at once if I could, and maybe hire someone cheap to babysit the second camera and change tapes if needed. Double audio (wireless lav & sound system tap, each into a different camera). And get as many PP sets as you can, for later inclusion in the video as screen cpatures rather than trying to tape the screen.

But it all depends on the budget, and how much time you can spend piecing and editing from two cams + PP.

I like the idea of a CD-ROM instead of DVD, I think I will talk to them about that.

There is something wrong with my QT player, and I could not see video when I looked at the link, I will try and get a new version or something, I have not experienced that on a .mov before.

The budget is small, and for the most part, I am donating my time to the Charity for a tax receipt, and billing close to costs only(tape stock, accommodations, etc..) so I do not really want to spend 100 hours editing. It is for a huge charity organization, so I think the exposure and credit will be good for me too. Kinda makes me feel good too...

I do plan on using a lav and a sound system tap for audio, and I also have someone to look after camera 2 if need be.

Thanks for the feedback so far, anything else?

I do have all the PP's already for the event, so I can author to CD, or include in the edit as required.

I did a presentation for a friend of mine and decided to to use two cameras. I had one on him and one on the screen. I used both right next to each other and it was very easy to babysit them. Editing in your case would turn into a little chore but once you get the two in sync you switch between them as if you were there and moving your head and eyes between them. It is something without a doubt I would do again, very simple in terms of what we do.

If you're interested in DVD duplication or replication try vertexxa. www.vertexxa.ca my boss recently did business with them, I'm not sure they're prices, but he was satisfied with the results. I think his project was also for a charity.

Most of these presentations could be small by not using most of the video but rather use the power point screens and the audio and then throw some video in here and there

problem is that in order to do this you'd have to hook into the presentation PC and then do post editing as well

good thing is that the slides would be pretty good.

Editing in your case would turn into a little chore but once you get the two in sync you switch between them as if you were there and moving your head and eyes between them. It is something without a doubt I would do again, very simple in terms of what we do.

Excalibur and vegas make that pretty easy. That is what I thought of doing, but was not sure how the video of the screen would turn out.

Most of these presentations could be small by not using most of the video but rather use the power point screens and the audio and then throw some video in here and there

problem is that in order to do this you'd have to hook into the presentation PC and then do post editing as well

good thing is that the slides would be pretty good.


You mean record from the actual PP presentation on site? Would there be a benefit to that over obtaining the actual slides?

Excalibur and vegas make that pretty easy. That is what I thought of doing, but was not sure how the video of the screen would turn out.
Not to bad. It was the only thing in frame so all you do set it and forget it. I don't think I have a copy around here, do you want me to try to find it and post it?

You mean record from the actual PP presentation on site? Would there be a benefit to that over obtaining the actual slides?

not sure but mostly because you'd have the timing correct as well and it might be easier to syncronize if you take a video of the presenter only without the screen in view

Dont know how Microsoft records theirs but theirs work pretty well

I wonder if you could simply run something like Macromedia Captivate which would record anything that goes on on screen not just powerpoint. It creates flash files that could easily be converted.

not sure but mostly because you'd have the timing correct as well and it might be easier to syncronize if you take a video of the presenter only without the screen in view

Dont know how Microsoft records theirs but theirs work pretty well

I wonder if you could simply run something like Macromedia Captivate which would record anything that goes on on screen not just powerpoint. It creates flash files that could easily be converted.
I suppose I could plug into a video output on the projector, I think most have one. Then I run into the , hope I don't run out of tape at a key moment thing again...

Not to bad. It was the only thing in frame so all you do set it and forget it. I don't think I have a copy around here, do you want me to try to find it and post it?
If you can find the time, sure I would like to see what you did.

May not be today, but I'll see if I can track it down in the next couple.

you don't need what's on the projector if all they are doing is showing pp slides. just get the actual pp presentation and make stills for use in fcp.

http://dreamcatchervideography.com/downloads/seminar_web.wmv Well it was right where I left it on the computer. I don't remember it looking so bad and he was very happy with it so I don't know. I took about 4 min of it from the very begining and in total it was about 45 min long with a Q and A at the end. It's 13 megs.

you can use the free Microsoft producer.
It lets you produce presentation of audio+video+powerpoint slides +eventual web pages.
you just need to click on the mouse to indicate slide changes.
additionally it create a content table, so people can jump to a slide.
it takes no skill to use and the output is a web content you can store on a CD.
expect about 100mb per hours for decent small size video.