Video localization/translation: Best practices and tips for the source.

When shooting and editing video that might potentially end up being translated, take into consideration some factors that will end up making the process a lot easier.

1. Popular tools: there are thousands of tools out there for video editing. Use one of the popular, professional ones!
The vendors will have to know the tool and have a copy of it. It will be easier if you can edit your video in one of these, so when you pass the project files, it will be just a matter of click and open.
These are some of the most popular video editors:

• Apple Final Cut Pro
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Sony Vegas
• Adobe After Effects (Composition software)
• Avid

2. Project files and assets: regardless of the tool used, always keep a copy of the project files and its assets in an organized way.
I.e., if we have on-screen text, keep the layered source files (.PSD, .AI, etc). If your graphics or illustrations are not layered, the vendors will have to re-create them and that will add a lot to the final cost.
Have also the backgrounds, music tracks, fonts, effects, etc, in folders named accordingly.

3. Raw, uncompressed: whether you kept or not your project files, make sure you always keep a raw, uncompressed version of the final, edited video.
The vendors will eventually have to compress the video. If you compress an already compressed copy of it, you will be degrading the quality.

4. Well spoken: When shooting the original, make sure your talent is pausing and being clear.
Whether you are dubbing, replacing the voice tracks, or subtitling, you need to fit the audio or the subtitles in a limited amount of frames, that the audience needs to be able to hear without sounding like “chipmunks”, or read without having to speed thru it.
Remember that there are languages where it will take 1.5 to 2 times to say the same thing as i.e., the English.

5. Dubbing or subtitling? The decision is not just only about the cost. The media on which you are distributing your product will make an impact.
I.e. in a movie that is 720×480 pixels, it will be a lot easier to read subtitles, than in one that is 320×240.

6. Subtitling: before you send out a video for subtitling, there are certain things you have to understand:

• Close Caption: these are the white text under black bars that you usually see in regular TV. This type of subtitles are the most expensive ones and won’t work for media distributed over the internet. It will only work on, surprise, TVs.
• Burned-in subtitles: these are the ones that are always on the video. They can’t be turned off.
• Standalone subtitles: these are, most of the times, text files that are packed along the video, and that need to be turned on by the user. Even if they can be turned on and off, its usability is not the greatest for multimedia projects, because of the different multimedia players in the market.
• DVD subtitles: these can only be created with DVD mastering software. They will only work with DVD movies and can be turned on and off.

7. The storyboard: It will always be easier for the vendors to localize your movie if they have an storyboard of it.
An storyboard, in this case, is an script that also has references to on-screen text, movie cuts and transitions, talent changes, comments, etc.
If that storyboard also points to which assets were used, then a lot better!
I.e. with a storyboard, the vendor can determine how much recording is needed by the female character in the movie, vs. how much is needed for male #1.

8. When screen shots are used: when the video is a tutorial or training, and screenshots of software are used and need to be localized, you will have to provide a list of the software used and the environments created.
If the software has not been released yet, be prepared to provide more than 1 license of that software in the localized language, and 1 license in the source language for reference, and road-maps.
Road-maps are guides, so the vendors can recreate, step by step, what you did in the source video.
If the video is about hardware, then be prepared to supply a prototype, released unit, or emulator so the vendors can take the screenshots.

9. Delivery specs: so what do you want as your end product?
If there are preferences on fonts and colors, pass them up. What type of subtitles you want? What compression you need? Which codec to use? What is the movie size desired? What is the audio compression? What is the file format?

Backing up AVCHD video onto DVDs and playing them on a Blu-ray player.

Here is a great tutorial by the guys at elurauser.com on how to burn your AVCHD videos to a DVD, and then play them back on your Blu-ray player in true HD. Try it! Very easy and useful for those having small videos (less than 8GB). Check it out here.

Video Copilot: Energy (68)

Andrew Kramer bring us thru his site, VideoCopilot.net, an amazing tutorial on how to generate the energy effect, as seen in a lot of movies.

Take the tutorial here: http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials.html?id=109