Content Development
> Presentation Layout
Splash Intro
The first thing your audience will see is a brief animated intro. This will incorporate your logo, an iconic photo, or any other element you wish to feature. This will last only a few seconds before moving on to the first screen of your presentation.
Menu Screen
Following the splash Intro, you may opt to include a menu screen for your presentation. This can serve as an overview of the topics you are presenting. You may also include a longer-form video on this screen (longer than the 30-second videos available inside the presentation). Choosing not to include a menu screen will not hinder your audience. Section headers will be available throughout the piece, allowing your audience to easily navigate the presentation.
Presentation Screens
We suggest you keep your text short and snappy. Catchy titles, taglines, and one-liners say it best in multimedia. Let your photos, audios, and videos tell the story!
The content of your presentation will be divided up into screens. These screens will contain the information and marketing material you wish to present. A good rule of thumb is to limit the text on each screen to 40 words or less. Including more than 40 words makes the screen difficult to read.
Our designers and developers will work to incorporate your content into an effective multimedia experience.
Our presentations are generally divided into three to five topic areas. Your audience can move between these areas using section tabs visible throughout the presentation. We also generally utilize “next” and “previous” buttons so that your audience can move through the presentation in a linear fashion.
Each screen consists of any combination of text, images, audio, and video that you need to tell your story. This content will be specified by you.
> Photos/Graphics
Your photos are some of the most prominent elements in your presentation. The photos you provide for your presentation can significantly affect how students perceive your school, so aim for a wide variety of high-quality images. Your viewbook can be an excellent source for your photo ideas.
Guidelines:
- Select photos that reflect the message of each screen.
- Be sure to choose clear, sharp images focus on interesting subjects, students, classrooms, unusual architecture, and athletic events, for example.
- TIFF, EPS, or JPEG formats are preferred. The resolution should be 300 dpi. Please see the material submission section for instructions.
- Please send us copies, rather than originals, of all your materials, because we will not be able to return them.
- Make sure you have the rights to use all the images you supply.
> Audio/Video
Audio and video clips should be short—no longer than 30 seconds each. Try to emphasize only one point in each clip so that your message really stands out. Please submit the highest quality source material available to you so that the final, presented version looks clean and crisp.
Don't forget to write one- to four-word titles for each clip. Indicate all of your audio and video clip specifications in your Screen Content Worksheet. Also, please send us copies, rather than originals, of all your materials because we will not be able to return them.
Taking Audio or Video from Existing Sources
Video Tape
You may have an existing admissions video or other material that contains video or audio footage. This is a great source for the audio and video clips in your presentation. Once you identify the source, we need you to tell us the starting and stopping (in and out) times to use. Please indicate these in the form of hours/minutes/seconds. Reset the timer to 00:00:00 at the beginning of the tape. We suggest using a stopwatch to time your clips if your equipment does not display this information. Also, please also supply a written description of each clip.
Photo Slideshows
You may use a series of photographs in place of actual video footage. We call these slideshow movies. All you need to do is supply eight to ten photos for each movie. Horizontal photos work best. Number the photos if you want them to appear in a particular order. Audio voiceover and/or background music can be added to slideshow movies.
Multimedia CD-ROM or Online Video Formats
While we can usually pull materials from other multimedia or Web sources, we can’t guarantee the highest quality as, more often than not, these audio/video clips are already compressed. We can take a look at the possibilities for compressed clips on a case-by-case basis.
Tips on Choosing Audio and Video Clips
- Using short, meaningful pieces and emphasizing one point per clip has far more impact than a clip packed with information. The audio and video clips selected should be no more than 30 seconds in length.
- It is preferable for the clip to be self-contained (no editing between the different pieces on the same or different tapes).
- A new, high-quality videotape is recommended for the video clips. A videotape that has been dubbed several times will contain visible noise in the picture.
- Keep in mind that the video clip will play back at a size much smaller than your average television screen. Follow these tips for the best quality video clips:
- Highly detailed images (such as a crowd at a football game) may display poorly.
- A great deal of motion and visual complexity may display poorly.
- Still and "head" shots (interviews) work well.
- High-contrast images work well.
- Shots that fill the entire screen work well.
- If you don’t have a lot of video footage, you can submit a series of eight to ten photos, and we will create a slideshow for you. Horizontal photos work best for slideshow movies.
- Give detailed instructions when labeling clips. Do not assume that we know who a speaker is or which building is which. See the labeling materials section for an explanation of our labeling system.
Tips on Recording Audio Clips
- Introduce variety into your presentation by using voice talent of both genders and of different ethnicities or cultures.
- We recommend that you limit the script for the clip to 45 words to stay within the 30-second time constraint.
- Use an audio slate on the cassette preceding each clip that states the screen number on which the clip should appear.
- Use a stopwatch to time your clips precisely.
- It's always a good idea to record two takes for each clip.
- If it's available, please send us a copy of the written script for your audio clips.
Preferred Media Formats for Submitting Your Clips
Audio:
- Regular cassette—Chrome cassettes are preferred.
- VHS, S-VHS, or 8mm videotapes—Past clients have sat in front of a video camera to record voiceovers using the built-in microphone. Additionally, we can use the audio portion of any videotape you might already have.
- "Digitally"— Submit recorded audio clips in a WAV, AIFF, mp3, or any similar computer file format on a CD-R (recordable CD), ZIP, or over FTP/e-mail. Audio quality has to be at least 22.050 khz, 16-bit stereo sound. RealAudio and other streaming media formats are often problematic and are not recommended.
- CD or CD-R—A variation on the above option. You can burn an audio CD-R of the sound files, and we can extract that information off the CD with minimal loss. Likewise, we can pull tracks off professionally burned audio CDs.
Video (all NTSC unless otherwise noted):
- VHS, VHS-C, or S-VHS (Super VHS)—Please leave a few seconds of footage before and after the segment you wish to use.
- DVC Pro, Mini-DV, or DVCAM—Large or small cassette size is accepted for DVC Pro and DVCAM. These are the highest quality formats we accept, next to submitting a digital file.
- Hi-8—8mm video
- "Digitally"—Submit the footage you wish to use in QuickTime format on CD-R (recordable CD), ZIP, or in some cases FTP/e-mail.
- For the highest flexibility, we ask that the movie playback size be at least 320 x 240 pixels.
- A quick word about "codecs" to use when submitting digitally on ZIP or
CD-R—if possible, submit the highest quality image or audio, using a "lossless" codec. Examples of "lossless" codecs include Animation and Photojpeg. The audio should be 22.050 khz 16-bit stereo or higher. - If you need to get a clip to Hobsons over the Internet via FTP or e-mail, a high-quality Sorenson codec can be used, as well as an audio sampling rate of at least 22.050 khz 16-bit stereo.
- Please avoid proprietary or specialized codecs such as from AVID or Pinnacle Systems, unless a plug-in/extension can be provided
Photos (for slideshow movies):
- See the photos/graphics section.
- For questions regarding formats not listed, please call Craig Rahtz (800) 927-8439 ext. 6038.
Need Background Music?
If your audio and video clips don't already have a soundtrack, you may want to consider having us add some music to them. We have a variety of music selections listed below from which you can choose. Or if you prefer, you can send in your own original copyrighted music, which we will mix for you (make sure not to send music for which you have not secured reproduction rights). Music selections can be included behind an audio clip, as the background in your video clip, or along with a voice-over in your video or audio. Think about how music creates a mood and how that mood represents your school. In addition, you can keep one musical theme throughout your presentation or mix it up a bit.