Multimedia Educational Resources

The internet has become a terrific source of quality education for many fields of interest and multimedia is no exception. The purpose of this section of the SIG website is to provide a good selection of websites and/or videos that are informative and pertinent to the SIG. This list is a “moving target” and will periodically change as new information becomes available, or better videos are discovered which update or better cover a subject. Suggestions are always welcome for a video to add to this list!

Comment by the Editor

“I notice a pattern here – a lot of this educational material is about video editing.”  Well, sure! If you’re going to take your raw content, including photographs and/or video, add some music and/or narrative, and turn it all into a multimedia presentation, the end result is that you’re creating a video. How “complicated” that video becomes is entirely up to you. Most members of the SIG progress until they reach a comfort level, and then stay at that level. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this! Quality videos come at all “levels” and a good basic level video that is carefully crafted is — at least in my mind — far superior to a fancy wizz-bang video with lots of bells and whistles that is sloppily done. Come to a SIG meeting with your video and we’ll do our best to help you produce a video you can be proud of!                                                     — Editor

General Educational Resources We Recommend

• CreativeLive  This is a terrific resource and at the basic level, it is free! You sign up, log in, and watch free classes live by real experts in their field. You can also purchase copies of classes that have already been given, which gives you access to the supporting materials. This requires some investment in time on your part because the classes, being live, follow their own schedule. By subscribing to CreativeLive, you’ll get notifications of what classes are coming up. Check out their website to see much more information.
• Lynda.com. Another great resource and like CreativeLive, there are numerous courses available on a wide variety of subjects. (Paid subscription.)
• Vimeo Video School. Vimeo has  a lot of quality instructional videos covering all aspects of video production by amateurs or professionals. All these materials are free.
• YouTube. When you dive into YouTube for video education, you are really going to have to be willing to dig through a lot of dross and dreck in order to find the quality offerings, so don’t settle for amateur stuff. For example, if you find yourself struggling to understand some bizarre Balkan accent, just don’t! Turn that guy off and go to a different resource!  To get you started, try some of the resources listed here — click on one of these and it will take you to their channel on YouTube:
  • “Filmmaker IQ” (One of the best resources and professionally done.) Not so much on the specifics of various softwares, but overall background and education on the wider subject of filmmaking.
  • “DSLRguide” (also available in a blog at: http://dslrguide.tv/) Yes, he looks too young to be believable, but he is sharp, knowledgeable, and entertaining. He provides a wide range of content on all aspects of amateur filmmaking.
  • “This Guy Edits” As you get into creating your own videos and want to start really expanding your skills, you’ll find yourself looking for instructional materials like this. Can be somewhat advanced for people new to the subject.
• Larry Jordan is a 40-year industry pro who also happens to be a great teacher.  He has a lot of free materials as well as classes you pay for, but since he works with both Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro (and it’s adjuncts like Adobe Audition), there is lots to choose from. Larry has also started to move into Resolve, so there may be more to look at there as well. He also publishes a free newsletter and frequently provides free quality webinars on topics. Check him out! 
• Jason Yadlovski has a photography blog and posts a lot of videos on YouTube dealing with all aspects of DaVinci Resolve. We have added his link to this list because of his high technical skills and his (enthusiastic) ability to communicate his knowledge in a very understandable manner. If you are considering Resolve as your video editor, this is the guy to start with. (Jason also covers many other subjects that you'll find useful, such as audio.) Another aspect that stands him apart is that if you have a question on one of his videos, just ask that question in the comments section and you'll get an answer -- usually in less than 24 hours!
• PremiumBeat.com (Lots and lots of instructional material on this blog, and usually pretty good quality presentations.)
• If you have purchased video editing software, do NOT forget to check out their web site to see if they offer any training materials! Why flounder around on the web looking for good stuff on your software when it is readily available from the company that sold it to you? For example, Adobe has a lot of very helpful on-line videos covering many aspects of their software.
• A compilation on Shutterstock.com of these and other learning resources, with a short description of each, titled “10 Websites to Learn the Basics of Video Editing.”

Multimedia SIG Educational Resource Files

• Intro to Multimedia  (.odt version *)This is the outline for the BIG Camera Course Multimedia session, last presented on 2/16/2021. Recommend downloading this and printing a copy prior to the class. (This same outline -- slightly updated -- is being used for the 2022 sessions.) This outline has a lot of information in it and the class will mainly consist of discussion and watching example videos rather than going through the outline point-by-point. In other words, students are expected to have read the outline and be familiar with it. Bring your questions to class!
• Multimedia Definitions  A compilation of terms commonly and not-so-commonly used in multimedia. 
• Shot Composition  A single-page handout with brief definitions of Camera Angles, Rules of Framing, and Shot Types used in filmmaking.

    * .odt is compatible with open source word processing software (LibreOffice).

Other Resources

• Greyscale Chart (.pdf version) Useful for fine-tuning your monitor settings.
• Color Balance Chart (.jpg) Useful for fine-tuning color balance.
• Xerox Color Adjustment page (.tif) Useful for fine-tuning color balance.

Zoom Resources

• Share Screen Instructions. This is a succinct, easy-to-follow set of instructions on how to share your screen during a Zoom session, contributed by Kevin May.
• Zoom Features Tutorials. Quite a collection of tutorials on all things "Zoom", collected by Grace Pitzer.
• Zoom Hybrid Meeting Diagram. Contains a diagram and instructions on how to set up a Zoom Hybrid meeting, which is a live audience in combination with a remote audience.
  
• How to Play Your Video In Zoom (PC Version). Ever stumble around trying to remember how to show your video using the Share function in a Zoom meeting? Here's a short video on how to do that using VLC Media Player.