Video

It’s a Turkish Video Slider!

January 11, 2016 By Jackie Van Nice 2 Comments

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This week’s challenge is to create an interaction to play video in e-learning courses, so I opened up the video archives and went to work.

The Idea

Since I’ve barely had time to review the video we took on a recent trip to Turkey, it seemed like a good chance to take a look and grab a few snippets for this demo.

The Design

Last year I made a photo slider using stills I took on another trip to Turkey we took a few years ago. Since that interaction was already completely themed for Turkey and included the same towns, it was the perfect launching point for this one.

I made the story size a bit wider to allow more horizontal room for the video, updated the location names, then pretty much inserted the video, trimmed it a bit, and adjusted the volume as needed. Et voilà! A Turkish video slider.

Ready to Travel?

You can see my video slider in all of its random glory – including Dan hassling ice cream vendors on the street – right here. Enjoy!

Interactive Video: An Intimate Conversation with Bert

August 26, 2015 By Jackie Van Nice 13 Comments

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This week’s challenge is to create an interactive video conversation, and there was only one guy I wanted to have a sit-down with.

Bert’s Challenge Debut

The Idea

I thought chatting with Bert, who made his challenge debut in a video entry last year, might help his fans get to know him a bit better. What would coffee with Bert be like?

The Design

The Shoot

My goal was to keep this quick and simple. We propped Bert up in front of a background image of a cafe on a computer monitor, and Bert (aka Dan Sweigert) popped his iPhone on a tripod so we could capture both audio and video. I added some lighting and we knocked it out. I asked my scribbled questions and Bert answered on the fly.

The Edits

I was determined to only do video edits I could accomplish in Storyline to keep it simple. The result is the straightforward cuts you’d expect without the bells and whistles of having used an outside video editor.

The Bonus Material

The Interaction

I wanted one slide with a menu of questions you click to hear Bert’s answers. When you do, his video answer appears on a slide layer. The ambient sound of a restaurant is steadily looping underneath on the master slide.

I also added an outtake slide (the “Bonus Material”), and used a separate master slide with no audio on it so you could get that satisfyingly unedited effect.

The Result

I don’t know if you really want to have coffee with this guy, but he’s waiting at the cafe right now just hoping you’ll spend a little time with him, and you can enjoy your triple espresso with him right here. Have fun, you two!

Video Backgrounds to Enhance E-Learning

August 16, 2015 By Jackie Van Nice 3 Comments

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This week’s challenge is to show how video backgrounds can be used to make elearning more engaging. Thanks to some free assets, it was a quick way to have some fun this week.

The Idea

As challenged, I wanted to design e-learning start screens, but make them more engaging using simple video backgrounds to lure learners in.

The Design

I started by browsing some of the free video assets David Anderson linked to, and found these videos at Coverr. I was looking for something that would loop well and that I was inspired to play with. After that it was a matter of coming up with course topics and visual and audio design elements to fit.

Entry #1 – Busking

I’m sure there are countless reasons someone would be outdoors playing with a yoyo, but it made me think of street performers and buskers. I added a font that looked rather string-like and buttons designed to mimic the color, shape, animation, and position of the yoyo. I also added a bluesy acoustic bit of music from audionautix to complete the scene.

Entry #2 – Inspired Color Palettes

To me, the most stunning part of this video was the gorgeous natural palette that had developed on this railing at the beach, so that became my theme. The button shapes mimic the clouds in the sky, and I looped an audio track of ocean waves beneath the video. Of course, the most important part was to integrate the natural palette on the railing into my own color scheme, and you’ll see it in the text colors. The sans-serif font is Century Gothic and the serif font is Centaur.

See (and Hear) Them in Action!

Ready to see if video backgrounds make these courses seem a little more appealing? You can decide right here:

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Shooting Your Own E-Learning Background Images

August 16, 2014 By Jackie Van Nice 8 Comments

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This Articulate challenge is to create your own background images. The idea is to plan your shots, shoot photos, then manipulate them to work in your project.

The Project

I wanted to share a software training piece I’d created at the eLearning Guild’s SolutionFest, but had to change both the branding and the industry before I could. That involved a lot of new development, including new background images and some video. Time for a photo shoot!

My Shot List

I scouted out a nearby business park and showed up with my shot list in hand. I’ll only share a couple of them in this post, but the shots I wanted and got were:

From the parking lot looking back at the office building with my vehicle in plain view in the center.
From the office building looking out to the parking lot with a field in the background.
Looking down the alley of office park building back doors, plus some closer shots of the doors.
A stop sign at the end of the alleyway.
A video focused on the stop sign, then quickly panning down the alley and back.

Image Manipulation

For the still images I cropped and manipulated them to match the style of the rest of the course, which I’d designed to de-emphasize the background to make it easier to focus on the content. Since I developed this in Articulate Studio ’09 it was quick and easy to use the PowerPoint image formatting options. I used a tan color and the “pastels smooth” artistic effect.

Shot #1: From Parking Lot to Building

For this shot I cropped the image so that the vehicle was easily visible between the characters so I could add the company logo to the door.

Shot #1: Original

Shot #1: Used in the Course

Shot #2: From Office to Parking Lot and Field

I wanted this shot to be very simple, with just a hint of parking lot stripes and nothing else to act as a distraction.

Shot #2: Original

Shot #2: Used in the Course

See The Whole Thing!

If you’d like to see the entire demo as I showed it at SolutionFest, which used all of the other shots on my list, you can view it right here. If you’d like to learn more about how I designed this project, all of the details are right here!

The Downside of Leaving the House: A Video Diary

July 17, 2014 By Jackie Van Nice 28 Comments

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This week’s Articulate challenge is to create a training video with your smart phone. In my defense, I’ll point out that only the phone was required to be smart.

What Happened

I had the innocent idea of showing how people like me who spend all their time in home offices breathing in more highlighter fumes than fresh air – (which may explain a lot, now that I think about it) – can bust out. I planned to shoot on nearby Hilton Head Island.

When I mentioned this to Dan, in the interest of getting his help filming the drive, he immediately said “and it’s the perfect chance to use this guy!” What happened after that is kind of a blur.

Video Lessons Learned

I used my iPhone with no additional apps and made edits on the desktop in Pinnacle Studio 17 before popping it into Storyline. I learned:

Lighting is never easy.
Shooting in direct sunlight makes seeing the viewfinder nearly impossible.
Shooting in gale-force winds while sand is being whipped at the device will lead to unusable audio, among other things.

The Storyline Piece

Framing the story felt much harder than framing the heinous video for some reason. I ended up liking the time-lapse drive to the island and the layout I designed to view the different video clips. I’d like to use those ideas in other projects.

My favorite part might be the souvenir photo at the end since it sums up the absurdity quite nicely.

If You Must

If you really want to see this, you can check it out right here.

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