Cynthia Chin-Lee and Mary Martyak
Jul 17, 2015
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.”
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Animation Example
Installing a DIMM
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Video (live action) Example
Automating Server Management
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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)
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The Ordinary World
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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?
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Call to Action
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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)
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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
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Find Allies Find allies from other groups who support the
project:
Service
Marketing
Product mgt
Customer training
Employee training
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Meeting With the Mentor
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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
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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
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Sample Video Project Proposal
Sample Video Project Proposal
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Page 1Objectives
Proof of Concept
HW/SW Resources and Budget
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Sample Video Project Proposal
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Page 2
Staff and Roles
Mentors
Video Procedures
Schedule
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Video Editing Software iMovie (Mac) $15
Windows Moviemaker (free)
TechsmithCamtasia ($299)
Adobe Captivate ($899)
Avid Media Composer ($999)
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Crossing the Threshold
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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
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Sample Video Concept Template
Sample Video Concept Template
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Video title
Script and storyboard writer
Objective
Duration
Video components
Topic overview
Main content
Conclusion
Staff
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Tests, Allies, and Enemies
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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
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Sample storyboard
Sample script
Sample Script
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Script title
No. of lines in script
Front matter
Procedure overview
Main content
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Approach the Innermost Cave
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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
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The Ordeal
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Results might not work out as expected.How do I keep the team motivated?
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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
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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
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The Road Back
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Using their honed skills and tools, team pushes the idea forward and are victorious.
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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
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“Finishing” the Final Product Owners are assigned to:
Attach front and back matter
Render final file output
Manage:
File transfers
Publication
Archiving of files
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Return With the Elixir
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The “ordinary world” becomes a better place.
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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
Blogs
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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
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Production Phases and Finished Product
Production Timeline
Concept
10%
Pre-Production
10%
Production
30%
Post-Production
45%
Finish
5%
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Finished Product Structure Proportioned Scale
BrandedOpening
~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)
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
YouTube
Blogs
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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
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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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