Getting Started With Video and Animation for STC Summit 2014

Cynthia Chin-Lee and Mary Martyak

Why are we here?
 Video is everywhere
 Innovate, or be left behind
 Chinese proverb:
“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember;
involve me and I'll understand.”
2#stc14, How to Get Started With Video and Animation

Animation Example
Installing a DIMM

Video (live action) Example
Automating Server Management

A Journey: Producing Video and
Animations
 Here is a story…
 About how a doc team delivered their first video and
animation as part of their customer documentation.
Based on…
 The Hero With a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell (1949)
 The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, by Christopher Vogler (2007)

The Ordinary World
Team is aware that something is missing or there is an
opportunity to do something new.

What Is vs. What Could Be….
 What do I want to convey…concepts, instructions, or
entertainment?
 Will it give me a competitive advantage?
 Will it be easier to follow and more interesting?
 Help the customer to understand how a product works?
 Help to maintain the product and reduce service calls?
 Will I be able to update content quickly via the web?
#stc14, How to Get Started With Video and Animation 7

Call to Action
A unique idea is spawned, but 0ur world becomes
unbalanced.

Choosing Animation or Video
 Things to think about
 When you don’t have access to the
real product
 Software tools available
 Cost effectiveness of resources
(staff vs contract)

Refusal of the Call
Change is hard.

Justify the Project
 Why should we do this?
 Enhance (not replace) the documentation
 Ongoing demand for alternatives to standard docs
 Customers don’t like to wade through a lot of
documentation
 Demos increase awareness of products
 Fill the gap between marketing materials and product
documentation
 Customer and employee training can share best
practices
 Get feedback from customers and employees

Find Allies
 Find allies from other groups who support the
project:
 Service
 Marketing
 Product mgt
 Customer training
 Employee training

Meeting With the Mentor
I need a mentor with experience, valuable insights,
and magical tools.

Who Can Help Us?
 Where to look for mentors
 Attend an STC conference
 Look for other groups at your company who are
using multimedia
 Look on the web

Develop a Project Proposal
 Develop a video project proposal. Include:
 Purpose, benefits for viewers
 ROI
 Audience definition
 Concept and task overviews
 Accessibility and localization requirements
 Required hardware and software
 Budget
 Project schedule
 Contributors
Sample Video Project Proposal

16
Page 1
Objectives
Proof of
Concept
HW/SW Resources
and Budget
#stc14, How to Get Started With Video and Animation

17
Page 2
Staff and
Roles
Mentors
Video
Procedures
Schedule

Video Editing Software
 iMovie (Mac) $15
 Windows
Moviemaker (free)
 Techsmith
Camtasia ($299)
 Adobe Captivate
($899)
 Avid Media
Composer ($999)

Crossing the Threshold
I’m committed to this idea and ready to jump in.
How do I begin?

Identify Requirements for the
Animation or Video
 Write a concept document
 Staff are assigned for specific work
 Objectives are explained
 Content of the animation or video is described
 Components of the media are listed
 Concept document is approved by Pubs team and
management
Sample Video Concept Template

Sample Video Concept Template
21
Video title
Script and storyboard writer
Objective
Duration
Video components
Topic overview
Main content
Conclusion
Staff

Tests, Allies, and Enemies
Production work begins.
We meet some friend and foes.
Who will join us?

Production Begins
 Content is identified:
 Storyboard developed
 Script developed
 Detailed schedule for production work
Sample storyboard
Sample script

Sample Storyboard

Sample Script
25
Script title
No. of lines in script
Front matter
Procedure overview
Main content

Approach the Innermost Cave
Team encounters problems. Staff becomes discouraged.
We need to be proactive and confront the challenges.

Production In-Depth
 Issues can arise when:
 Shooting video/screencast
 Creating sequences
 Capturing screens
 Creating image files (jpg, png, etc.)
 Creating and revising front and back matter
 Recording audio narrations
 Creating captions
 Reviewing prototypes
#stc14, How to Get Started With Video and
Animation 27

The Ordeal
28
Results might not work out as expected.
How do I keep the team motivated?

What Can Go Wrong?
 Need to prepare for when:
 Schedules are moved in
 People resources are lost
 Script is technically incorrect
 Tools are missing or inadequate
 Recording locations not available

Seizing the Sword
30
The reward is within reach

Your Reward
 Take possession of what you have earned so far
 What has been accomplished is clear and the goal
is in sight
 Realize the significance of what you are doing
 Share your accomplishments outside of your team
 Celebrate the team’s efforts

The Road Back
32
Using their honed skills and tools, team pushes
the idea forward and are victorious.

Assembly, Integration, and Proof
 Owners assigned, and resources available for:
 Reviewing script text for accuracy
 Reviewing script implementation
 Comparing audio narration to storyboard
 Comparing closed captions to narration
 Verifying audio narrations are in sync
 Soundtracks applied appropriately
 Revising video or animation, based on reviews and
comparisons

Resurrection
34
Any final ordeals are overcome.

“Finishing” the Final Product
 Owners are assigned to:
 Attach front and back matter
 Render final file output
 Manage:
 File transfers
 Publication
 Archiving of files

Return With the Elixir
36
The “ordinary world” becomes a better place.

Your Work Is Complete
 The video or animation is complete and
published for customers
 Documentation web sites
 Marketing web sites
 Training web sites
 Corporate media sites
 YouTube
 Facebook
 Twitter
 Blogs

Video Library

Production phases and the finished product
How long should it be?
What makes a good tutorial?
What makes a good narration?
Accessibility and localization
File and publishing considerations
Be an evangelist
Oracle videos and animations
Resources and more information

Production Phases and Finished
Product
Production Timeline
Concept
10%
Pre-
Production
10%
Production
30%
Post-
Production
45%
Finish
5%
40
Finished Product Structure Proportioned Scale
Branded
Opening
~6 sec
Front
Matter
5% (~10 sec)
Intro and
Conceptual Content
20% (~36 sec)
Main Topic Content
60% (~110 sec)
Conclusion
10% (~20 sec)
Back
Matter
5% (~10 sec)

How Long Should Videos Run?

What Makes a Good Tutorial?
 Informs user who the audience is, and purpose of the video or animation
 Provides user-friendly, concise, clear content
 Includes instructions that are easy to follow:
 Focused on essential features and one task
 Easy-to-follow solution for a particular task
 Short, sequential steps per screen build into a full procedure
 Terms and images are consistent
 Tutorials can be developed and compiled into a library of
related tasks
 Refers to additional, related documentation
 Recaps the tutorial, shows user what the task accomplished, and points
user where to go or what to do next

What Makes a Good Narration?
 Narrations complement the video or animation action
 Appropriate style:
 Simple text
 Fluid, conversational voice
 Simple declarative sentences with pictorial nouns and
action verbs
 Active voice
 Address the second person, “you”
 Keep a reasonably slow pace

Accessibility and Localization
 Accessibility
 Captions in Oracle technical videos are required.
 The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act
(CVAA) has guidelines for:
 Captions
 Audio descriptions
 Not necessarily so: As long as videos or animations have a
counterpart in documentation, the accessibility requirement is
satisfied. Confirm this with your accessibility representative.
 Localization
 Oracle is currently not translating narrations or localizing video or
animations.
 Camtasia software can generate closed caption scripts files that can
be submitted to a translations group, edited, then re-imported to a
Camtasia project to generate closed caption videos in other
languages.

File and Publishing Considerations
 File considerations:
 Video or animation use a consistent format and output is good quality
 Audio levels are consistent and output is good quality
 File format runs on a variety of browsers and platforms
 PC, MAC, Unix machines
 Firefox, Chrome, IE browsers
 HTML for browser access; MP4 for downloads
 Publishing considerations:
 Upload restrictions
 Findability
 Download capability
 Supported file formats
 User comments

Be a Publicist
 Promote your videos or animations in:
 Newsletters
 YouTube
 Oracle YouTube -- http://youtube.com/oracle
 Media Networks
 Oracle Media Network -- http://medianetwork.oracle.com
 Facebook
 YouTube
 Twitter
 Blogs

Oracle Videos and Animations
 Oracle Server Documentation Sites:
 Sun Server X4-2 animations
 Oracle Servers Video
 Oracle Learning Library:
 Sun Server X3-2 animations
 Oracle Endeca Information Discovery YouTube:
 Oracle Endeca Information Discovery Product Demos
 Oracle Endeca Information Discovery Screencast Series
 Oracle NetBeans Media Library:
 NetBeans IDE 7.4 Overview
 Setting Up a GitHub Repository Using NetBeans IDE
 Oracle Cloud Marketplace:
 Oracle Cloud Marketplace Tutorials and Videos

Resources
 General production:
 Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_production
 Camtasia tutorials:
 To create, edit and produce videos:
http://www.techsmith.com/tutorial-camtasia-8.html
 Accessibility:
 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act
(CVAA)
http://transition.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/cvaa.html

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Getting Started With Video and Animation for STC Summit 2014

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Getting Started With Video and Animation for STC Summit 2014