FAC video album

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Tips on good video

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Tips on shooting good video

Videos on the FAC video album should be no longer than three minutes, unless they capture a live performance that may be longer. The clips should tell a story or emphasize some of the main goals of FAC. Here are a few guidelines:

1) Shoot video of people dancing so the viewer sees them from the front, not the back. Focus on the interaction between people, not the footwork. The views should always be in smooth motion, panning slowly to give the user a feel for what it was like to be at the event.

2) Try to capture events that will replay well on the small screen of internet video. Internet video has many limitations when compared to larger video formats, but has an authentic immediacy and can reach a wide audience.

3) The audio component is as important as the visuals for capturing dance events. Try to capture content that will serve as effective opening and closing sequences both visually and musically. Think of images that will give context and depth to a video, such as momentary closeups of musicians, their instruments, or some particular interaction between people on the dance floor.

4) Videos must be edited judiciously. In general, the ratio of captured video to final video content is 20 to 1. Clips should be captioned to identify where they took place, what the event was, and who was involved.

5) Final aspect ratio of videos on this album are 480 px x 380 px. Anything larger is slow to stream and exposes the image compromises of small-format video. Video can be in any format, but is encoded for display in Adobe Flash Player 8.