Tom’s Revision Podcast

I have attempted to create a basic video podcast containing revision tips and information about mindmaps, here it is:

Right, now that you have (I hope) watched it I just want to go into a little detail about how I made it and how you can do the same using Langtree Shout, video upload sites (YouTube is often considered ubiquitous in this field but there are many alternatives which often have unique features and moreover are not blocked in UK schools).

Firstly, for making the video I used the built in Webcam and stereo mic on my laptop – whilst alone the mic provides good sound quality, when recording video at the same time this is degraded as noise creeps in and video and audio go out of sync. In short if you have to option use a stand alone video recorder or if your camera is good enough use that – I will probably be using my camera if I make any more. I did not do much editing for the video but what I did was with Kdenlive, an excellent video editor for Linux (if you are using Windows you will have to make do with Movie Maker). The music is a free track from the Smashing Pumpkins, you can find loads of free (and thus redistributable) music on jamendo.org; sadly due to the state of copyright law you are not just able to use any old track ripped off CD.

Next need to export it into a web ready format (not .wmv or .dv, .mp4, or .mov ) you can upload it to any video sharing site such as vimeo or blip.tv (this is the one I used) – they are both great services and will allow you to easily upload and share you video. The upload may take a while depending on your connection speed.

Now your video is uploaded and viewable by the world (depending on the sharing settings you determine), you just need to copy & paste the embedding code into the HTML view the post editor your blog or type {{vimeo>Video ID}} for vimeo and {{blip.tv>Video ID}} for blip.tv on the Wiki.

Happy recording