In an earlier post I mentioned that I was trying out the Kodak Zi6 as a replacement for my Flip mini camcorder that was dropped and doesn't work anymore. Before my Flip crashed I loved using it. I still like using the Flip and last summer I encouraged our library to purchase one for student use. This week was the first time students could check it out. A young lady used it to interview a man from Zimbabwe. The video interview will go in a group PowerPoint presentation. The Flip is still number one with me in ease of use. When she checked it out, I went over the basic controls and told her to ask for me when she came back with her video.
When the young lady came back, I walked her through the steps of using the USB adaptor to plug the Flip into the computer's USB port. Basically, you plug it in and the software for editing and saving your video pops up on the screen. An easy application for uploading, editing and saving your video appears. Once we loaded her video we watched it together then saved it to her flash drive.
As we viewed the video I pointed out the positive film techniques she used to make the video. She did a good job. Lighting came through soft white curtains for back light, overhead lights were on for fill light, and a desk lamp, slightly in front of the man lit the face in 3/4 light (This is the most flattering light for men.)
The Flip recorded the video and the sound well. The draw back from the Flip's sound recording is the background noise. Background noise gets picked up at the same level as the sound your trying to record. So... in her video we have the sound of a train traveling in the background for a few minutes and a baby crying softly from another room. I point this out so others will be sure to check for and listen for any background noise that might be picked up while filming. When you can, try to turn off these background noises (fans, televisions, radio). Be sure to close the doors and windows to the room too to block out lawnmowers, passing trains and passing conversations.
Over all, it was still an informative video interview. The video uploaded quickly and it was easy to save first to the computer then the student's flash drive. To put it in her PowerPoint, she just needs to open a slide, click insert media and there it is. Just a reminder for everyone, the video file must be saved in a folder with the PowerPoint. This keeps the files together so that you don't accidentally leave the video file on another computer. It won't show in your PowerPoint if it isn't there.
