Basic Digital Media & Making Videos

Series Summary

Digital media is the next big thing. The great thing is that technology is finally trickling its way down to the amateur hobbyists, the art school drop out, the film school graduate, or the mother of three. Digital video cameras make it easy for you and your friends to create dramatic indie films, documentaries, or home movies. Computer editing software is as close as your desktop and fingertips, giving you the same applications the professional are using right at home. You can even make animation and DVD menus! Get on board and make your professional quality digital videos and media from home.

In this free video series, expert digital media instructor Glen Cornish shows you how to make professional digital video with your home computer. You learn about digital video cameras, lighting equipment, mics and audio, editing software and more. Glen gives you expert tips for getting rid of the echo on your audio, using the white balance like a pro, video formats for professional distribution, and much more. It is all here, folks, so come on in and make digital movie magic!

Video Transcript

"Hi. My name is Glen Cornish. I am here to present to you how to make a professional video. In today's world anybody can purchase a camcorder, a laptop, and the appropriate software to make a video. But a professional video, that's a whole another can of worms. The reason I say that is because there is basics that you need to know to make your videos have that professional quality. I started back in the days where you had a super VHS camcorder and a separate video deck and you had to do it linear, and by hand. I'm really grateful, really grateful for the digital revolution that's taken place. Those basics still apply. Basics like lighting, sound, and basic video composition is really important. Let me give you a little background about me before we get started. As I told you, I started back in the super vhs, 3/4" days. Essentially, I worked my up to the point to where I helped the J.Paul Getty Museum start their audio visual department with one of the first computer systems, at the time, to bring video and computers together. That was the video toaster. From there, I moved up to northern California and began making commercials for a company, at the time, called TCI Cablevision. That was all through the whole Sacramento region. Then I went to work for KABC Studios, which is a Sacramento affiliate. From there it went crazy. I went to UC Davis, Stanford Digital Media Academy and all around the country training people on digital video. So what you are going to get here today is about eleven years of tips and tricks of how to get your videos to look really professional without loosing your hair. There's a lot of technical elements that we have to cover. So let's talk about the tools that we need."