MentalX

Downtempo Documentaries

For as long as I have been working at HerbergerOnline, we have always used audio lectures for our courses. The majority of the classes the utilized audio when I joined the crew were music-based: Bealtes, Pop Rock, Elivs, and the like. It wasn’t until later that we considered expanding the audio lectures into the realm of Art. The biggest problem with art is that you really need to see what piece of art the instructor for the lecture to have impact. My solution was basically to create a digital slideshow, or Downtempo Documentary as I like to call them.

When I started my research into the technological options, I first started with Flash, as I figured it give me the best chance to create something scalable that could changed or updated by simply editing a txt or XML file. While I did create a working model using cue points, I realized it would never be able to offer me the portability that I desired for my users. In other words, the end-user wouldn’t be able to load this thing up on an Ipod and take it for a ride. HerbergerOnline has been built on several ideals, one of them being that an online class (especially one that needs to function on a large scale) should never be tied to a time or location. This flexibility to learn whenever and wherever is part of our success as a whole. With this in mind, I dumped the Flash model and decided to take a more traditional media approach in order to export the videos as both .mov and .mp4 files.

The process for production breaks down like this: The instructor records the audio lectures on an Edirol R-4 with a Rode NTK microphone. During the recording process, the instructor makes a verbal notes indicating where a slide needs to be changed. The audio files are pulled from the R-4 in WAV format and edited in DSP Quattro or Logic Pro (I generally use Quattro for this process as it is much quicker at redrawing the waveform — Logic is pathetically slow at this). During the editing process I create documentation of insert points for each denoted slide change. Generally we receive the images in an easy to follow Powerpoint. Once the audio has all been edited, they are brought into Logic to be bounced to an aif file with effects applied. The audio is now ready for use.

The powerpoints are then painstakingly converted to nice looking 480 x 360 slide in Photoshop and batch-exported as jpgs. These are then imported into Final Cut Pro and paired with the audio. The finished product is exported from Final Cut Pro to a Quicktime .mov file. These are then exported through Quicktime with the appropriate compression: I use H.264 compression, quality of Medium, 15fps (automatic key frames), IMA 4:1 / 44.1 / mono for audio. This seems to be perfect, and (depending on the number of key frames needed) will generate an 8-9 minute .mov file that is always less than 15MB. The original .mov files are next exported as .mp4 files for Ipod playback. These are very good quality and readable if you keep you font size at 10pt or above depending on the font you choose to use.

Lastly, pdf files are made from jpg images using InDesign, and the audio files are compressed to MP3s using Cleaner 6. This is to allow the content to reach everybody even if Quicktime is not installed or working properly.

So, there is a general overview of these movies. They have gotten rave reviews over they last year or two and in my honest opinion are a fantastic learning tool that we use in several of our classes. You can find an example of a these on my site at: http://www.mentalx.com/interaction_02.php