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Steps in Making a Video Mashup |
Questions or Suggestions? Email wic1@pobox.upenn.edu or stop by Vitale Digital Media Lab
1. Look at sample mashups for inspiration, and come up with an idea of your own
Many mashup videos are humorous movie trailer parodies. You may also want to consider mashing up a music video, political message, news story, instructional video, or product advertisement. You can even incorporate original footage that you shoot yourself. Look at examples for content as well as for technical ideas. Some examples are listed below:
2. Find the existing content you want to mashup
- Select the movie(s) or other video content that you want to mashup.
- Use the Library Video Catalog, YouTube or other video sources to collect your materials. You can look at local video rental stores like Video Library, TLA and Blockbuster, and of course online services like Netflix. You can use TV footage taped on a VCR. A Reference Librarian may be able to help you locate hard-to-find films.
- You can shoot your own footage with a videocamera. The Vitale Digital Media Lab lends videocameras. You can use also use many cell-phones and point-and-shoot cameras to record video and sound.
3. Collect and digitize the segments you want to work with
- Preview the movies first and note the time stamps of the clips you want to use. Don't import an entire film. You will save yourself a lot of editing time (and hard drive space!) if you import only the clips you plan to use in your final video.
- Digitize your clips from DVD or VHS in the Vitale Digital Media Lab during operating hours.
- Our online tutorial shows how to download YouTube content and add it to your video. Please note that YouTube video is low resolution. Some of the websites listed below will offer higher resolution material.
4. Edit your mashup video
- Popular video-editing tools are iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, Final Cut Pro, and Vegas
- iMovie (Mac only) and Windows Movie Maker (Windows only) are significantly easier to learn and use than the other two examples, and chances are that one of them is already installed on your personal computer.
- Once you have digitized your content, you can edit the video on your personal laptop or on a public computer. In the Weigle Information Commons, all PCs have Windows Movie Maker and all Macs have iMovie and Final Cut Pro.
- The Weigle Information Commons offers regular workshops on video topics including iMovie.
- Choose and arrange your clips, and remove sections that you don't need .
5. Add music, effects and titles
- Digitize and convert music from various formats in the Vitale Digital Media Lab during operating hours.
- iTunes and MP3 clips can be added to your video and edited using Audacity or GarageBand.
- Editing and adding audio can also be done on your personal laptop or on a public computer. In the Weigle Information Commons, all PCs and Macs have Audacity and all Macs have GarageBand and Soundtrack Pro.
- Don't forget the credits! Opening and closing credits, not to mention vaptions in the middle of a film, can greatly add to your video's impact. List in the credits music and video you used that is not your own, just as you would in the bibliography of a term paper.
6. Tips and Advice
- Editing video is not a quick process. It can require a lot of time and planning, and it will probably require more than one sitting to complete. Be sure to leave yourself as much time as possible for the task, and don't wait until the last minute. (don't say we didn't warn you!)
- Your video won't fit on a USB flash drive. Buy a portable hard drive. They've become cheaper than many text books, and they'll last you for your entire college career.
- Websites with examples, raw material and ideas:
We thank Peter Decherney and Louise Krasniewicz for their contributions to this page.
updated June 2008
current version @ http://wic.library.upenn.edu/multimedia/tutorials/mashup.html