MEWS Services

How can the Video Consultants help you?

Here's a short synopsis of some of the services we offer in the MEWS. Drop by for help during consulting hours.

This video was created by the MEWS video consultants using Adobe Premiere.

Video Consultation Hours During Exams

Regular consultant hours will end for the term at 10pm on Tuesday, December 10, 2013. We are offering some additional opportunities during exams to obtain help finishing your projects.

If you need help outside of these hours, please send an email to our Video Consultant list.

Research Guides -- Your Online Research Friend

Ever felt like you have no resources for your assignment or project? Don't know where to go for royalty-free videos and images? The MHC Research Guides are here to help you!

From academic research to creative commons pictures, Research Guides can help you  find many different resources .

To start, access the Research Guides website from the LITS main website.

From there, you will reach the main page for research guides. There, not only will you see topics distributed according to academic subjects like Humanities and Social Science, but you can also view how-to topics (such as citing, finding images, etc) that can help you with your research. If you wish to see research guides for specific courses from specific semesters, you can click on one of the links under  "Previous Course Guides".

After clicking the topic you wish to explore, you will arrive at that topic's main research guide page. This page is built specifically to help you with research on the chosen topic. Different types of  resources are listed under the tabs. If you need further help from a librarian for your research, you can contact the LITS liaison whose contact information is displayed in the main page.

Happy researching!

Why Isn’t My Computer Using My External Microphone!?

Whether you are using an external microphone for communicating through programs like Skype, G-Chat, or a video game, or you are wanting to record some audio into a program like Audacity or GarageBand, you probably want your external microphone and computer to get along. If they don’t, here are some basic troubleshooting techniques that might keep you sane.

1)    Make sure your computer has recognized your microphone

Mac                                                                

a)     Click on “system preference” located in the apple menu at the top-left corner of your screen

b)    Click on “sound” in the “hardware” menu

c)     Make sure that your external microphone appears in the “Input” list

d)    Make sure that your external microphone is selected in that list.

***If you do not see your external microphone, try unplugging and re-connecting all of the wires associated with your microphone****

            PC

a) Open the start menu, Select Devices and Printers

b) If you do not see your microphone in the Devices Menu or in the Unspecified Menu, try unplugging your external microphone from the computer, making sure that wire is plugged firmly into the external microphone and re-plugging it

2)    Make sure that the program you are using is accommodating your external microphone

This is done by going to the preferences for your specific program (this varies from program to program) and making sure that your external microphone is selected as the audio output option.

For example, in Skype: Open the Audio Settings of Skype by going to the Skype preferences menu under tools > options > audio settings

Most external microphones can be plugged directly into your USB port or headphone. Some require interface boxes (this is more common among higher-end studio recording microphones. If this were the case, your microphone would not plug anywhere into your computer. You would probably know if this were the case).

These steps work most of the time. If they do not, you can also try re-booting your computer or reflecting on whether your external microphone is functional and whether your computer is capable of recognizing external microphones.

As always, don't hesitate to come into the MEWS consultant help hours if you are still having difficulties and we can aid you in person!

Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 Video Transitions!

Are you cringing because the switch between two of your clips are just so rocky?  Never fear, transitions are here!!!

Here's how you use them:

1. Go into "Effects" in the project pane (bottom left hand box) and open "Video Transitions" folder.

2. Open the folder with the name of desired transition type.

3. Drag desired transition and fit it in the line between the clips requiring a transition
                                                          -OR-
    Select all the clips you want to have this transition between by using shift or clicking/dragging with  
    the mouse and going to "sequence" in the bar at the top of the page.  Select "Apply Default
    Transitions to Selection".

NOTE: The transition with the yellow bordered square to the left of the title is the default transition.  You can set the default transition by right clicking the desired transition and selecting "Set Selected as Default Transition".

4. To adjust the duration/speed of the transition use the gray squares on either side of the gray bar at the bottom of the timeline and drag left or right to visually enlarge the project material.  Use the long gray bar to scroll until you find the transition.  Click the transition and drag right to extend it/slow it down and drag left to shorten it/speed it up.

5. You can also control how much of each clip is seen at the start and end of a transition by clicking the transition and dragging the little pentagons on the bars under Square A and B that appear in the source monitor.

6. You can control whether the transition is primarily in the first or second clip by double clicking the transition and hitting +1 or +5 to move it more toward the second clip and -1 or -5 to move it more toward the first one.  Use the middle button with the black and white rectangle to set it back to its default position.

Hope this helps!  Remember, if you need help, our consultants will be happy to help you!

Adobe Premiere CS6: Features to Get Excited About!

Daunted at the thought of learning a new video editing software? Never fear! 

Premiere CS6 looks just like Final Cut Pro. In fact, the core editing commands are almost completely the same! 

Here is a complete list of the Premiere key commands.

And here is a list of just a few cool features that are new in Premiere:

• You can bring projects from Final Cut or iMovie into Premiere, including transitions and layers!
• Premiere supports every footage format, and enables you to mix and match different types on your timeline!
• It even lets you export in any format!
• There is no limit to the amount of effects you can put on a clip! (in FCP there was - it's called auto-nesting) 
• J-K-L TRIMMING !!!
• Your footage bins are much more organized with thumbnails of each file. You can drag your mouse over these thumbnails to scrub through each clip! 
• You can even mark In & Out points on your thumbnails, allowing you to make rough cuts faster!
• The audio mixing feature allows you to have a great amount of control over your sound, in ways that FCP or iMovie never did. It shows you the peaks and valleys of your audio clips, and lets you isolate and edit different clips at once. 
• Premiere's appearance is completely customizable! (from Preferences, you can change the color of any part of the interface.)

Welcome Back!

 The RISE video consultants are back to help you with your multimedia projects. Check the schedule of staffed hours and  drop by the MEWS to ask a question. 

Want More than Drop-in Help?

Make an appointment with a MEWS consultant during our regularly scheduled hours. Select a Consultant Appointment slot in the Google calendar linked below:

Video Consultant Appointments

If none of these times will meet your needs, we will be glad to make an appointment. Please send an email with some times you can meet to the email address posted in the MEWS Teaching Space.

Importing videos into iMovie

Before you can start editing video clips on iMovie, they have to be imported. Importing means bringing videos into iMovie. This article gives you brief instructions on how to import video clips into iMovie.

Connect the camera to the Mac, with the memory card inside the camera. You will need the cable provided with your camera to do this. Set the camera to playback or VTR mode; this is the same mode you use to view photos/videos on the camera. Some cameras may need you to make additional selection to indicate whether you are connecting to a computer or to some other recording device. Read your camera instructions for more information.

Open iMovie and click on the File option. Choose Import and then Movies.

 

This dialog box appears.

It allows you to choose where you want to save the footage. It is convenient because it shows how much footage can be stored on each one of your hard drives. You can add these clips to any existing event, or you can create a new event. You also have the option to split days into events, so if you have recorded footage over separate days, it will have its own event based on the date. You get to choose how you want to keep the imported video, either Large or Full (original) size.  The last option here is the choice of whether you want to Copy Files or Move Files. By choosing Copy Files, you retain the original files intact after copying them into iMovie, and by choosing Move Files, you delete the original files after copying them into iMovie. Once you have decided on the settings, click Import.

Import window opens up.

All the clips recorded on the camera appear right here. You can selectively check the ones you want to import or uncheck the ones you don’t want to import.  A quick way to uncheck all the clips is to hold down Option while clicking the check box of the clips you want to keep. This unchecks everything else.

iMovie offers you the option to analyze video while you import it. You can analyze the video for Stabilization and People, using the Analyze Video option in the Import window. Stabilization feature allows iMovie to take shaky footages and smoothen it out; People feature is for iMovie to go through the footage and detect the presence of people. This can be useful if you want to find just the footages that have people in it, later. If you select any of these options, just be aware that it will add significant amount of time to your import.  Once you have made your selection, you can click Import Checked.

Here are few other resources you might find useful to learn more about this.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ph2153

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoOMkrf7-w4

EDIROL RECORDER QUICKSTART GUIDE

Copying tracks onto your computer

1. Use the USB cable provided with the recorder to connect it to your computer. The

recorder’s USB port is located behind a door in the bottom of the recorder:

2. If the Recorder isn’t on already, power it on.

3. If you are a Mac user: A drive icon labeled No Name will appear on the desktop.

Double-click on it to open and you’ll see all of the tracks you’ve recorded.

If you are a PC user: A message bubble will appear in the Windows Task tray

(lower right hand corner of the Desktop) saying that Windows has detected new

hardware then, after a moment, that the new hardware has been installed.

Eventually a window displaying the contents of the recorder will appear.

In both cases note: Aside from your tracks which will be named similar to

R09_0001.MP3, R09_0002.MP3, etc.

4. Click and drag your tracks onto your computer Desktop or into a folder.

5. Once you’re finished copying tracks onto your computer, you’ll want to disconnect it

from your computer.

If you are a Mac user: Drag the No Name disk icon to the Trash to eject it.

If you are a PC user: Double click on the “Safely remove hardware icon” in the

Windows task tray (green arrow located toward the lower right hand corner of the

Desktop). A window will open showing “USB mass storage device” item. Click on

the Stop button. In the next window click on the OK button.

In both cases: Disconnect the USB cable from the computer and recorder.

Clearing the memory on the recorder

1. Push the menu button and use the down arrow to highlight “8 SD Card,” (please refer

to steps 4 through 6 in the “Check the recorder settings,” portion described above.

2. Use navigation arrows and control panel to select “2 Format,” and confirm “Yes,” that

you want to delete all the material in the memory.

Saving iMovie Project to an External Hard Drive

Before saving your iMovie project, please make sure that your external hard drive is compatible. Your external hard drive must be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). iMovie doesn’t support network-attached storage (mapped network drive or Google Drive) or external flash memory drives.

Saving a project to a hard disk:

1. First connect the external hard disk to your computer, and the grayish icon will appear in your event library.

2. Go to Project Library


Note: Project library button is located at the top left corner 

Select the project you have created. If you need to move the project, hold down the Command key as you drag the project to the icon of your external hard drive, and then choose “Move project” or “Move project and Events. If you need to copy the project, simply drag your project to the icon of the hard disk (in the Event Library) to your external hard drive.

“Copy Project/ or Move project” means that project in its new location rather than physically copying project’s video and other media (such as photos) onto the other disk. This will NOT allow you to work on your project from another Mac. It creates only a copy of the project file, no clips, images, etc. that are part of your project. This is not usually useful for protecting/backing up your work. 

“Copy Projects and Events/ or Move Projects and Events” means that the source video and other media you added to the project are copied to the new location/ hard drive. If you select Move, instead of Copy, these files will be deleted from their original location. Moving or Copying Project and Events will allow you to work on your project from another Mac. 

Note: Move vs. Copy?

Copying the file will not delete your projects from original location while moving will delete your projects from original location.

Make sure you select Move Projects and Events!

Please remember that computers at MEWS are frozen, which means that they automatically delete any saved files on the computer!


Click here for more in depth explanation :)