A few weeks ago, I reviewed the Flip Camcorder and was really impressed with the easiness of being able to simple record video clips, then "flip" out the USB and connect to the PC. The build in Flip Camcorder software made it extremely easy to edit individual movie clips, cut, add music and then save to your computer or directly upload to YouTube to share online.
I had several requests to try the Flip out with a MAC.
I went to our backyard and recorded two short video clips. The first Problem was evident immediately. My MacBook is thinner than the Flip Camcorder, which makes it impossible to plug it into the USB ports that are located on the side of the MacBook. I had to place the MacBook on my lap and support the Flip Camcorder with my knees. This seemed to be a very unstable connection, since the laptop stopped recognizing the Flip several times.
I finally was able to keep a steady hand/knee and downloaded the Flip For Mac software that came with the camcorder. From the included "Read me Text" :
To use the Flip Video Program with your Macintosh computer:
- Connect the Flip Video Camcorder to an available USB port on your Macintosh.
- Double-click the "FLIPVIDEO" icon on your Desktop. A window should appear that displays the contents of your camcorder.
- Double-click the "Mac Users" folder.
- Double click the "Install Flip Video for Mac" icon. This will open a new folder called "Flip Video Program for Mac", which contains the program files.
- Drag the "Flip Video Program for Mac" folder to your Desktop.
- Double-click the folder to open it, and double-click the "Flip Video for Mac" icon to start the Flip Video Program.
- When the Flip Video Program is started for the first time, a window will appear requesting your acceptance of the license agreement, and the automatic installation of video compatibility software that allows your computer to play your videos. Click the "I Agree" button and wait for the installation to complete. Upon completion, follow the instructions to exit the program and restart it.
- You are now ready to use the Flip Video Program to play back, save, share, edit and make movies of your videos. Please note that the camcorder must remain connected to your computer for you to use the program with your videos.
The next time you want to use the program, you may simply connect your camcorder and then launch the program you have already installed by double-clicking the "Flip Video for Mac" icon. You do not need to install the program each time you want to use it.
After going through all the steps, the software installed easily. I was able to open up the program and immediately saw my two video clips in the window.
Clicked on Make a Movie, where I knew (from playing with it on the PC) I would be able to add the clips together, clip the beginning or end of the clips, add music, etc. I selected both clips, then "Begin".
Unfortunately, once I arrived on the next screen, it seemed pretty empty to me, compared to the PC version. No editing, no music, no combining the clips, merely a "Back" button. Maybe I missed something crucial, but what was very intuitive on the PC, seemed a problem on the MAC.
So I used the "Back" button, since I could do not much else and chose to save the movie to my computer. That went without a hitch. The program created a "My Flip Video Library" folder under my Documents.
Next problem was that it saved the clips as an .avi file. iMovie will not open the .avi file. When I tried to open it through my Quicktime player, it showed only a white screen. So, I went back to the "Read Me Text"
NOTE for Users Running Macintosh Computers with Intel Core Processors: In order to play back videos within the QuickTime Player on Macintosh computers with Intel Core processors, you may need to adjust the QuickTime Player:
- From the Finder menu, choose Go > Applications to open the Applications window. Click once on "QuickTime Player" to select it.
- From the Finder menu, choose File > Get Info or type Command-I to open "QuickTime Player Info".
- In the "General" section, select the checkbox named "Open using Rosetta".
- Close "QuickTime Player Info".
Now, when you double-click the QuickTime Player, it will open with Rosetta and should play back your videos successfully. If you are still having trouble playing back your videos, you may need to install a commercially available Universal video codec, such as DivX Community Codec (www.divx.com). If you install a Universal video code such as DivX, you may then need to go back to "QuickTime Player Info" as above, and deselect the checkbox named "Open using Rosetta".
I followed the instructions, but got stuck, when trying to find the "QuickTime Player Info". Maybe it s not my night tonight, but that option was simply not there. When using the Command-I function I got the Apple Quicktime Inspector. Under Preferences I found a general tab, but nowhere a checkbox with "Open using Rosetta" So I am pretty much stuck.
I guess I could go use a conversion program, such as Zamzar.com to convert the . avi to a .mov file and then edit in iMovie…. BUT it was supposed to be intuitive, easy and FAST.
Maybe it is user error on my part…
So, I plugged the Flip camcorder into my desktop PC and a couple of minutes later, the clips were downloaded from the camcorder to the Flip software, put together, music added and saved as a .wmv file to my computer.
Another few moments later, I uploaded to my Flickr account and then embedded the code into this post. The entire process did not take more than 5 minutes on the PC.
Day 15: Give a Comment Award
At Scott McLeod’s suggestion , for today’s task, you’re going to give out a "Comment Award" to your favorite commenter (or commenters), recognizing them for their contributions to conversation in the blogosphere. You decide the parameters for your award–is it the quality of their comments? Or the questions they ask? Sometimes we value commenters because they challenge us to think or because they can be counted on to create community with other commenters. Whatever your reasons for making the award, today’s your day to recognize the commenters you love the most. Check out Scott’s blog for a Fantastic Commenter badge . Be sure to tag your post with "comment08." If you’re not currently blogging, consider emailing a commenter you enjoy on someone else’s blog. We all like some recognition!
This award is given to one of my co-teachers at my school:Katie Bennett . The reason why I am awarding her the honor, is that she JUMPED IN! She jumped into the conversation. Maybe scared, maybe worried, maybe with "blog/comment fright", but she did it!
Katie has started reading more and more blogs on her own time. She sometimes comes to school and "comments" face to face with me about something she read. Both of us are amazed and instantly charged when we find out that we read the same blog post, about a same project or can finish each other’s sentences by quoting the same blogger who wrote about it.
Now Katie needed to take the same step, away from f2f commenting and onto the bloggersphere.
She did it. She jumped in. The first step is most of the times the hardest. That is why she deserves the FANTASTIC COMMENTER Award.
As of today, May 18th, she has also started her own blog:
Please go and visit her, as she starts out on her journey as a blogger and commenter.
Day 18: Analyze the Comments on Your Own Blog
Today’s activity is from Christy Tucker .In this task, you will conduct another self-audit on your blog. This time, the focus is on which posts generate conversations. If you can determine what made those past posts good conversation starters, maybe you can incorporate those features into future posts.
- Which of your posts have generated the most comments?
- Which has generated the best conversation? (The last question is about quantity; this one is about quality.)
- Are there any patterns to the commenting on your own blog? Do certain types of posts generate more comments than others?
- If you do see a pattern or commonality between posts that generate good comments, what can you do to increase those qualities in other posts?
After you write your post, be sure to tag it with "comment08."
Which of your posts have generated the most comments?
Which has generated the best conversation? (The last question is about quantity; this one is about quality.)
Are there any patterns to the commenting on your own blog? Do certain types of posts generate more comments than others?
If you do see a pattern or commonality between posts that generate good comments, what can you do to increase those qualities in other posts?
Windows Movie Maker is a program that already comes pre-installed on your Windows XP or Windows Vista computer.
Creating a movie in this program involves three basic steps:
Get started by clicking Start > Programs and then locating the MovieMaker icon 
Double-click to launch the program.
You will want to use Windows Movie Maker if you have video clips on your camcorder, digital camera or from another source and want to edit or combine clips into one movie and prepare them to be published or distributed on the web. Movie Maker should also be your choice of program, if you want to combine video and digital images into one project.
Creating a movie in Movie Maker is divided into 3 Steps for you:
Click on the drop down menu in the Task Pane to get started
Be sure that your digital video camera is connected to your computer and turned on before choosing “Capture from video device”, if you want to directly import from a video device.
If you already have downloaded video clips to your computer choose “Import video”.
Choose the other links respectively if you want to import pictures, audio or music that is already located on your computer.
Browse for the folder your files are located in and click on the file to select it. If you want to select more than one file hold down the CRTL button as you click to add more files. If you wish to select all files in a folder, click on one file, then click CTRL and the letter A key.
Movie Maker allows you to import the following file extensions:
If your media is not in one of the above file extension, you will need to convert your file with another program or conversion site, such as zamzar.com.
It is a good time to start saving your Movie Maker project file after importing all your media (movie, images and audio). The project file allows you to go back later to add, delete or edit anything in your movie.
The project file is NOT the final movie file you need in order to upload or share your movie with others or online. You will save your movie after you are done editing your project file.
Arrange your media clips by dragging and dropping them on the Storyboard or in the timeline in the order you wish them to appear in your movie.
You can directly record your narration into Movie Maker, by connecting a microphone to your computer and clicking on the microphone icon. This will switch you to the timeline view automatically. In order to switch between Storyboard and Timeline view manually just click on the icon “Show Storyboard” or “Show Timeline” respectively.
Once you are in Timeline view, click on the microphone icon
Make sure that “Microphone” is selected as your Audio Input Source, and then choose if you want to limit narration to the available free space on the audio track and start by clicking on the “Start Narration” button.
You can also add a track taken from a CD as your background music.
Insert the CD into your CD drive. Open Windows Movie Player or iTunes to convert (rip) the selected track to an .mp3 file. Once the files is saved as an MP3 file on your computer, simply import as a music file and drag and drop into your timeline onto the audio track.
Once you have all media imported and added to your timeline you can start editing your movie. By clicking on the drop down menu in the Task Pane, you will be able to add effects and transitions make title and credit slides or choose to make and AutoMovie.
Click on any effect and then drag and drop it onto a thumbnail of an image or video clip.
To delete an effect on selected clip simply right click on the filled in star and choose “Delete Effect”.
Get started by choosing from several different video effects to add to any of your images or clips that are in your timeline. Experiment and see how each one of the following effects will enhance and support the message your movie.
After you have applied video effects on all or selected clips, move on to applying transitions between each clip to make your movie flow instead of choppy between new images or video clips. Movie Maker has a nice selection of transitions to choose from.
Add transitions between all your slides, then move on to adding a Titles or Credits. Choose one of the following:
The title slide at the beginning of the movie is a nice way of introducing what this movie will be about and as the word “title” indicates can also contain the ‘TITLE” of the movie.
Change the text font and the background color to customize the look.
Choose from many title animations. The animation you see in the screen shot above is “Moving Title- Layered”
When you have completed changing the font, size, animation and background color, click on “Done, add title to movie”.
By clicking on the option of “Add title before (or after) the selected clip on Storyboard” you can add a similar slide than the title slide to indicate a new chapter, a new twist, another location, etc. in your movie. Compare a function of these slides to the ones used in old silent film movies.
If you want to add a text overlay to a particular slide, choose the option “Add title on selected clip on storyboard”
That will allow you to add explanations, introductions, subtitles or other information directly onto the clip. You can achieve some fun and interesting additions to your movie with these functions.
You should end your movie, by inserting credits. This is where you can add references, thank you’s, copyrights information, sources used, or contact information.
A popular animation is “Credits: Scroll, Up Stacked” to imitate credits at the end of a theatre movie.
To sum up what you have done so far:
The final step in editing your movie is to adjust the time frame each clip is displayed. You have arranged the clips already in order you want them played, but you might want to adjust how long each clip is being displayed. You will need to be in the Timeline display in order to adjust the settings.
There is a default time setting for each clip and transition that you add, in order to change this setting, go to Tools > Options > and change the assigned time for picture and transition duration.
So far you have saved the movie project files (in regular intervals) while you were working. You should make a last final save of the project, in case you ever wanted to come back and edit it.
Now your movie is ready to be saved as a movie file that you will be able to share, upload to your website or blog, e-mail, burn onto a CD or keep as a portfolio item file on your computer. Click on the drop down menu in the Task Pane.
I suggest saving your movie file ALWAYS to the computer. Once it is saved there, you can then either burn it to a CD or upload it to the web. Like this you will always have a back up copy.
Click “Next” to choose the settings to best match the outcome you want to achieve. If you want present the movie on a projector you want to save it in high quality (large). If you are planning on uploading to the web, you can save it as high quality (small).
This is a Movie Maker Project file
This is a movie file
I am very excited!
My article "Unterwegs mit Teddybaer und Technik /On the Road with Teddy Bear and Technology" was published this week in Germany’s Social Studies Magazine "Weltwissen ". The entire edition is dedicated to Egypt Studies.
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