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Video from Text and Pictures: a Short How-to Guide

Written by: Deon Reynders

Article Overview: It makes sense to convert articles to videos as well. However, some people simply do not like to appear on a video. Relax, there are alternatives. This article will show you how to convert still pictures (and text) to videos.

Video from Text and Pictures: a Short How-to Guide

Some people are gifted article writers. They produce new articles at the rate of one per day. But let us assume that you can manage only one per week. Now that is fine, since you can 'spin' the content and submit it all over with an automatic submission software, hence you still get a reasonable 'coverage' out of the exercise. You can also post it on sites such as Hubpages and Scribd, with very little extra effort. Once you're on a roll it does not take long.

Now wouldn't it be nice if you could take that same content and turn it into a video as well? After all, you have already done all the hard work! For some folks it's easy to switch on the video camera and record a two-minute video. However, what do you do if you don't like appearing in front of a video camera?

Let's do it without a video camera! The simplest approach is to use custom-made software for this job. Software products that I have experimented with include MemoriesOnWeb and Online Video Story. However, if you really want control over the process, then I suggest you use a proper video editing suite such as AVS Video Editor, Pinnacle Studio, Corel MovieMaker or Sony Vegas. I happen to use Pinnacle Studio, but there are also products by AVS, Sony and Corel, to name but a few vendors.

Here's how you go about it.

- Take your article and cut it down to about one sentence per paragraph. I prefer no fewer than 5-8 sentences, but no more than 15 sentences in total. Limit your sentences to a few words each. The shorter, the better.

- Create a PowerPoint slideshow. Copy and paste your sentences, in sequence, onto plain backgrounds. Keep it simple, white on black is easier to read than the fancy stuff; I use white Arial 44pt bold on black. Don't forget to put a URL and a call to action on the last slide. When done, 'Save As' individual JPEG files (just confirm when prompted) so that you end up with slide1.jpg, slide2.jpg and so on.

- Now you need some JPG pictures to place between the text slides. Use your own, or check out MorgueFile or Stock.xchng for royalty-free pictures. You can also use Google to search for pictures, just watch out for copyright issues. Store them in the same folder as the text files. Ideally you should name them pic1.jpg, pic2.jpg, etc.

- Run your video editor, and drag the text and picture files onto the story line, in the correct sequence. Following that, adjust the length of each clip against the time line to suit your own taste. Play the video to see if you like it, and adjust the duration of each clip time-wise. We are almost done!

- Pick a nice transition effect and drag it on to each junction between text and image. Don't waste time here, any transition will do.

- Finally; the music. My video editor (Pinnacle Studio Plus 12) has a music library built-in. As an alternative you could look for royalty-free music online. Start with Jamendo. Do not use tracks off CDs as you could be sued for copyright infringement. You need to copy and past, or drag, the music clip onto the sound track, then cut off any surplus, and add fade-in and fade-out at the ends. This should take about 60 seconds.

Done!

Only one more hurdle needs to be crossed. You still have to render the video, i.e. produce the 'output'. I usually take the easy route out and ask for a Flash (FLV) format. Then I make some tea while the video is being built. And that is it!

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Article Tags: article writers, automatic submission software, corel, few words, hubpages, moviemaker, nbsp, new articles, paragraph, pinnacle studio, plain backgrounds, powerpoint slideshow, scribd, sentences, software products, sony vegas, video camera, video editing suite, video editor, video story
Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com



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