I just tried to watch some presentation videos from Wikimania.
Some had very weak sound, some had no sound in the first minutes,
some only played the first minute and then stopped. I don't think
the Wikimania videos are unique in having such problems. Video is
new to Commons, and the expert contributors are more familiar with
still images.
How can we learn to make better videos? Are there some good
instructions? Perhaps a free instruction video (Wikibooks, but a
video instead of a book) on how to produce good videos is what we
need. In fact, the English Wikibooks has a title on "Video
Production", http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Video_Production but it
doesn't have a clear focus (pun not intended). It starts out with
discussing satellite TV and has long sections on file formats in
different operating systems.
There is a help page on Commons for converting video to the Ogg
Theora format, but that is only the last step in a long chain.
Given that video is new, how can we find and rate videos, nominate
"good/featured videos", and give advice on how to improve quality?
Is the Commons village pump enough for this? Commons has a
separate graphics village pump. Do we also need a separate video
village pump?
Current digital video cameras use hard disks or memory cards,
instead of tape cassettes. Many new models cost less than 300
euro (or dollars), some as little as 120 euro (memory card perhaps
not included). Some have a special "Youtube mode", and I guess
that kind of usage is what drives the price down. What models are
good, and what should one watch out for?
We can find free still photos on Flickr and copy them to Commons.
Is there somewhere we can find free videos and copy them? Yes, at
the Internet Archive. Somewhere else?
--
Lars Aronsson (lars(a)aronsson.se)
Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se
Dear esteemed WLM participants and organizers,
We're happy to announce that the WLM 2023 landing page is ready:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2023/Organi…
We anticipate the amazing impressions captured with your camera and
invite you to visit the WLM 2023 pages at
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2023 for
further information on how to participate in and/or organize the WLM
Campaign in your region.
Looking forward to your submissions from 1st September - 31st October
2023 to expand the collection of more than 3,000,000 pictures
documenting monuments and heritage from all over the world in the last
twelve iterations of Wiki Loves Monuments.
Kind regards,
Manfred / the team of Wiki Loves Monuments international