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How to Create a Photoblog

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How to Create a Videoblog

Videoblogs, or vlogs, consist of either video-based posts or a mix of video- and text-based posts. Since vlogging typically requires more production skills than other types of blogs, many videoblogs are produced collaboratively by a group of bloggers. Now that affordable digital cameras and webcams include video capabilities, though, anyone can produce and publish a vlog independently.

Getting Started Videoblogging

Some vlogs consist entirely of links to videos that other people have created. To create a vlog with your own original content, which most vloggers prefer to do, you’ll need some basic video recording and editing equipment:

Webcam, digital camera, or digital video recorder: A digital video recorder is the most flexible, but also the most expensive, device with which to capture video. If you’re just starting out, a digital camera or webcam with video recording capability should suffice.
Video editing software: Once you‘ve recorded your content, you’ll need to edit it to cut out mistakes, add supplementary footage, and sequence your scenes.
Web storage space: You need a place to upload your video files, be it your own website or a third-party service that allows video uploads, such as YouTube or the Internet Archive.
Blogging software: Most blogging services and software packages allow you to embed video files in blog posts. Users then see a still image from the video when they read your blog and can view the video in its entirety after clicking on the still photo.
FTP: Depending on how you store your videos, you may need an FTP program to upload them to your web storage space.

How to Create a Videoblog

Creating your own vlog entails:

Recording a video
Editing and compressing the video
Uploading the video
Posting the video on your blog

How to Record Videos

Use your webcam, digital camera, or digital video camera to record the raw material for the video you’d like to publish. Keep these tips in mind as you record video:

Any order is fine: With video-editing software, you can rearrange scenes in whatever order you choose, so you don’t have to record scenes in sequence.
Be brief: Aim to create a short, 1- to 5-minute final video. Anything longer will probably take up too much disk space and could become tedious for viewers.
Record something visually interesting: Record scenes that benefit from the video medium, such as the scene of an event you mention in your blog or a visual step-by-step guide on how to do something. If your content won’t benefit from being video-based, stick to text and photos.

How to Edit and Compress Videos

Editing video: This is the process of selecting and ordering scenes to create a streamlined finished product. In its most basic form, editing video works much like editing text—you can trim, cut, and paste scenes until you’ve whittled down your material to the content you like and arranged it in the order you prefer.
Compressing video: This is the process of reducing your video files to sizes manageable for publishing and viewing online. Video compression is a standard feature of video editing software.

There are dozens of software programs that facilitate the video editing and compressing process. Apple’s iMovie® and Microsoft’s Movie Maker® are both simple programs that are perfectly suited to beginners. You can find and download them at www.apple.com and www.windows.com, respectively. iMovie costs $79, and Movie Maker is free.

Since the specific guidelines for editing and compressing video differ greatly among software programs, it’s best to refer to your software’s documentation and Help files for specific instructions.

How to Upload Videos

You can upload videos to your own website with FTP, a third-party video storage and sharing service, or the Internet Archive using its Publisher feature.

How to Upload to Your Own Website

If you have a web-hosting plan with free storage space, you can use FTP to transfer video files directly from your computer to a directory on your web site. You can then include a link to the video file in your blog. The video will play when a reader clicks on the link.

How to Use the Internet Archive’s Publisher Feature

The Internet Archive (www.archive.org) maintains a vast database of web pages, including the audio and video files they contain. The Archive offers a feature called CcPublisher, an FTP-like software application that allows you to upload your videos for free to the Internet Archive. You can then include links in your blog to the videos you have stored on the Internet Archive. CcPublisher will also allow you to specify how you want to permit your video to be licensed, or used, by others—a crucial feature for vloggers publishing valuable proprietary content, such as instructional material.

To get started using CcPublisher:

Download and install CcPublisher at http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CcPublisher.
Start up CcPublisher. You should see a graphical window with a white text box and a few buttons.
Drag and drop the video file you want to publish online into the white text box, or click the Browse button to select the file manually. Then click Next.
Choose a file format. You can upload images or videos.
Enter your login information. If you don’t have a free account at archive.org, create one during this step.
Choose a Creative Commons license type. Creative Commons allows you to keep your copyright while letting others copy and distribute your work. Specify the license type you prefer in the Choose Your License dialog box, then click Next.
CcPublisher will upload your file and display the file’s unique URL, or link. It may take up to 24 hours for the link to become active, because it must first be approved by an Internet Archive curator. For now, save the link so you can use it once it activates.
Once the link is active, you can post it into your blog entry. When your readers click on the link, a new browser window will open to play the video (see Link to the Video from Your Blog below).

How to Post Videos on Your Blog

Once your video is accessible online, you can link to it from your blog posts.

Create a Screenshot of Your Video

Unless you’re using a third-party service, such as YouTube, that generates screenshots for you, you want to create a screenshot that links to your video from your blog. To create a screenshot of your video, open it in Windows Movie Maker (for PCs) or QuickTime (for Macs) and pause the video on a frame you’d like to use as your screenshot. Then:

On a PC: Go to the Tools menu and select Options. Click on the Performance tab. Drag the Video Acceleration slider from “Full” to “None” and click the OK button. (Remember to change this back later.) Click Alt+Print Screen. The PC will record an image of your entire screen, including the still shot from your video. Open your photo editing software, create a blank file, and press Ctrl+V to paste the screenshot, then edit and save it.
On a Mac: Press Apple+Shift+4. The arrow on the screen turns into a crosshairs. Holding the same three keys down, use the crosshairs to select the entire QuickTime window, then let go of the keys. A file called Picture 1.png will appear on your desktop. This is the screenshot you took. Open this file in your photo-editing software to edit and save it.

Once you’ve edited the shot to your liking, save it as a .jpeg, .gif, or .png file. Once it’s saved, upload the file and link to it from, or embed it within, your blog.

Link to the Video from Your Blog

Follow the steps below to link to a video from your blog using the screenshot you’ve created.

Sign in to your blog and create a new post.
Use your blog’s photo features to upload your screenshot and insert it into the new post.
Type the text of your entry, including some text that introduces your new video posting, such as “View my newest vlog entry.”
Select your introductory text and click the Link button. Paste the link to your video into the box that pops up.
Repeat step 4, but select the screenshot image this time in order to make the screenshot link to your video.
Publish your post.

Using a Third-Party Video Hosting Service

What Flickr and Fotolog are to the photoblogging community, YouTube (www.youtube.com) is to the vlogging community. YouTube allows anyone to store and share videos up to 10 minutes in length for free.

Once you upload a video, YouTube provides you with a link to the video, which you can email to friends or include in blog posts. It also gives you a link that allows you to embed the video within your blog posts. Embedding video allows the video to play within the context of the rest of your blog without opening a new browser window.

Unlike CcPublisher, YouTube won’t allow you to specify a Creative Commons license, but most casual vloggers probably won’t need to specify a license. All you need to get started is a YouTube account, which you can create quickly and for free at www.youtube.com/signup.

Acknowledgments & Disclaimer