Last revision: May 4th 1995
Video is a great way for publicizing your work, the look and feel of your applications or demos as well as the concepts and theoretical explanations. Much of the work in HCI involves highly interactive applications and examples that are difficult to capture using words and static images. Task analysis, design, and evaluation techniques involving human interaction can also be presented effectively in video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a good video can be worth many more still.
This document provides information that will help you prepare a video tape that will be acceptable for inclusion in the CHI 96 Video Program. CHI 96 videos are an excellent way to reach a wider audience at the conference as well as outside the conference.
In keeping with the CHI 96 conference theme on Common Ground, submissions from different domains, countries, and perspectives are encouraged. Videos focusing on topics such as visual interaction design, innovative interaction techniques, multimedia, usability testing, design techniques, and visions of future interfaces are welcomed.
Prepare a two-page Conference Companion Summary of the video, containing video title and author(s), contact information, keywords, a 100-word abstract, and a text describing the video's content. This summary may also include references and figures, but remember to use the limited space wisely. This summary must be prepared in the Conference Proceedings format.
Pay particular attention to the summary, as it will provide the framework within which the reviewers assess your video. Both the video and the text summary should be designed as complementary but separate presentations that can be viewed or read independently of each other. However, avoid creating a mismatch between your summary and the actual video. Don't be tempted to use the summary to add extra material that you weren't able to fit into the video!
Submit SEVEN stapled copies of the Conference Companion Summary (with the three cover sheets described in the call for participation).
The video submission itself should be between 2 and 8 minutes in length. Stricter acceptance criteria will be applied to videos exceeding 8 minutes in length. Thus you are strongly urged to be concise in your presentation. Head shots of researchers or authors discussing the project in general should be limited to what is absolutely necessary. Try not to make the viewers feel like they are watching a lecture. Beta SP, 3/4" U-matic, Hi-8, Super-VHS formats will be accepted in the PAL, NTSC, or SECAM standards. VHS is NOT an acceptable format for submission. Only ONE copy of the tape should be sent. You should keep your own copy of the tape. Authors of accepted videos will be given the opportunity to make minor revisions before the final CHI videotape is prepared.
For all tapes which are sent from outside the United States, please mark clearly on the package that the contents are for research purposes and of no commercial value. This will avoid the need to pay import duty or tax unnecessarily.
While the deadline is September 22, 1995, it would help us if you could send us an informal statement of intent to submit ahead of time. However, all videos submitted before the deadline will be accepted even if not preceded by a statement of intent.
Catherine Plaisant Human Computer Interaction Laboratory A.V. Williams Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-3255 USA
Mark Chignell Tel: +1 (416) 978-8951 Fax: +1 (416) 978-3453 Catherine Plaisant Tel: +1 (301) 405-2768 Fax: +1 (301) 405-6707 (Questions in French or English)
In order to publish the CHI 96 which will be sold through ACM following the conference, we will need the authors of videos to sign a permission form. You will keep ownership of the copyright on the video, but you give SIGCHI the right to show and sell it. The form will be sent to authors of accepted videos, but if necessary, you can get one in advance from the video chair.
As the producer of a video, you should be careful about observing copyright laws. Make sure you have the appropriate permissions to use any video clips, music, or other copyrighted material in your video. Media places usually have a library of stock music that can be used for a nominal fee.
Obtaining permissions for using copyrighted material on your video is the responsibility of the person or people submitting the video, and he, she, or they will be held personally responsible.
Video shown previously or available commercially will be considered for the Video Program providing that:
Videos will be reviewed by international experts. The submitted tapes will be edited together onto a master tape, and copies will then be sent to the Video Review Committee, which will be comprised of five to seven people. Each committee member will review all the submissions, and fill out review forms. The best tapes will then be selected for inclusion in the CHI Video Review. Authors will be notified about two months after the submission deadline.
ALL VIDEOS WILL BE ACCEPTED "AS IS". If the committee feels that a tape would be better with some minor edits, improvements will be suggested in the acceptance letter. The final versions of the accepted tapes will have to be received by January 5th 1996 to be edited together into the CHI 96 Video Program. Original tapes will be returned to the authors when the reviewing process is completed.
Accepted videos will be selected on the basis of their interest to members of the human-computer interaction community, their technical content, and how well they communicate the purpose and impact of the work. They must also have suitable production quality. Key issues in judging the acceptability of video submissions will be whether they are intrinsically interesting to watch, and whether they say anything substantially new, or contribute to knowledge about the HCI discipline in some way.
The two-page Conference Companion Summary of accepted video submissions will be published in the Conference Companion. This will provide an archival description of your video.
The SIGCHI Video Programs are shown in special rooms in the Conference Center during the conference. In addition, the Video Program is shown on the TVs in hotel rooms in selected conference hotels during the conference.
The Video Program is also made into a publication of the ACM that is sold to its members and to the public. A special effort will be made at CHI 96 to increase the exposure of the Video Program by selling it at a significantly reduced (close to cost) rate during the conference. The SIGCHI Video Programs are usually two hours each. For information about purchasing previous SIGCHI Videos, contact:
Publications Office ACM 1515 Broadway New York, NY 10036-5701 USA Tel: +1 (212) 869-7440 Fax: +1 (212) 869-0481
The submission of your video for the Video Program must include a two-page Conference Companion Summary. The summary should describe the contents of the tape, but since it will be read by many people who will not see the tape, it must be understandable without seeing the tape.
The abstract should be formatted to look like papers that appear in the proceedings. They must be in the Conference Proceedings Format. Good videos will not be rejected if their summaries deviate slightly from the Conference Proceedings format. However, if your video is accepted you MUST revise your summary to ensure that it meets the requirements of CHI 96 submissions exactly.
The summary should contain references to papers about the system shown on the tape, if any, as well as any closely related work. A figure or two showing important concepts of the work is often helpful as well, providing that they fit in the two pages.
There are many ways to organize a video presentation, just as there are many ways to write a scientific paper. You should select a theme for the tape and present the research in a way that contributes to this goal. It is generally not a good idea to simply show all the features of your system; you must identify what is novel and interesting. Emphasize the problems or issues being addressed. Present the concepts and principles upon which the work is based. Always clearly state the status of what is being shown. If you are faking any aspect of the system, be sure to mention this.
Remember that your tape must stand alone, and be understandable to viewers who are not familiar with the subject. You cannot assume that the viewer has read your printed abstract. Therefore, most videos will need a short introduction explaining the goals and context of the work. To maximize the utility of the video for the viewer, you should also provide pointers to further or related work. This can be done by showing one or two slides containing references that the viewer can find. However, show these slides only briefly, as the viewer can always pause or replay the video to copy down that information.
Before taping begins, have a detailed script of the video that has been thoroughly rehearsed. Videos require much more planning and preparation than most people think. Find someone who doesn't understand what you do, sit them down and give your demo to them before the camera arrives. It's good practice in speaking and helps to clarify the delivery of your ideas. If your demo involves a larger group of people, it will be especially important to have the major scripting and production bugs worked out beforehand.
It is generally not appropriate to hire professional actors to appear in your video. (However, professional readers may be appropriate for the audio, see below.) Usually the most realistic and convincing advocate of an idea is the person responsible for the research. However, make sure people who appear on camera speak naturally, and don't look like they are reading. Remember that the value of video is as a way of demonstrating things, so keep talking heads to a minimum unless they are an intrinsic part of the event or process being described. Remember also that CHI will not edit your tape, and that we must judge it based on what you submit. Therefore, you must edit your tape into essentially its final form before it is submitted.
The video medium is different from either a lecture or demonstration. The pacing of a videotape presentation must be appropriate for concentrated presentation through a TV monitor. Too slow a pace is as common as too fast. A recording of a live demo will appear too slow. A large number of jump cuts (abrupt change of image) tends to create too fast a pace.
The exposition style of your videotape presentation will greatly affect its impact. Use the multiple modes of communication that are available simultaneously in videotape. Always explain (briefly perhaps) what is about to happen or what is most interesting. Tell the viewer where to look and what to look for. You might speak aloud the directions to the camera operator, such as ``if you zoom in on the top right corner of the display'' which will help the viewer orient themselves. Display screens have few natural navigation aids. Make your point once, and make it effectively; avoid being repetitious.
Seek variety of image: switch between face, screen, hands, and slides to keep the viewer's interest. Always start out with an establishing shot, which shows the context of the subject and/or group. This might be a wide shot of the group in a meeting room, a split-screen shot of users in different locations, a wide shot of a meeting participant at the computer, or of the entire computer screen. This helps the viewer stay oriented. Periodically return to an establishing shot to keep the viewer from getting confused.
Each shot should be visually well-composed. Avoid having the subject in the exact middle of the screen. Pay attention to the background and colors; the eye is drawn to the most brightly colored part of the scene. Make the lightest and brightest part be the point of interest. Carefully consider lighting and make sure that there are no ghoulish shadows on faces (a common occurrence with overhead lighting) and no dramatic shadows on walls.
Do not overuse panning, zooming and other moving shots. Begin and end each moving shot with a static shot. Avoid visual distractions, such as idly moving the mouse. Fades to black can be used as transitions between scenes, but they should not be overused. A full screen fade usually indicates a change in subject, time or place, and can be confusing when used elsewhere.
The final production quality of a video depends both on the quality of the equipment and the training and experience of the video maker. If you have access to a high-quality production studio and trained personnel, use them. However, production quality suitable for CHI 96 can be achieved with the commercial equipment found in most universities and companies. The guidelines below are intended for researchers who have access to such equipment, but little experience in making videos.
Maintain the quality of the original recording medium throughout the editing process. Shoot black and white displays with a black and white camera or only one gun of a color camera, usually green.
Keeping the camera stable and level is vital. Use a tripod, whenever possible. Remember that camera jiggles are more apparent in telephoto shots; take extra care in zooms and closeups.
Avoid using different sources of lights when shooting, as it will throw off your colors. For example, avoid taping in a room with both natural and artificial light sources. The white balance setting adjusts the camera to your lighting. When setting, focus the camera on the color that you want to be filmed as white. This could be a sheet of white paper or the whitest color in the scene, depending on the effect you want. Avoid having too much white in a scene because it will make all your other colors too dark. Monitor your video levels. White levels should be at 100 units, and black levels should have a pedestal of 5 to 7.5 units. If possible, include 30 seconds of color bars and tone at the beginning of the tape. The color bars must be generated by the camera or editing equipment. Color bars copied from another tape are worse than none at all.
You will need to use a TV in addition to the view-finder of the camera during taping. It is impossible to tell if the shots are correct from just the little view-finder. Remember that the final picture will not be as clear as the picture in the monitor, so zoom in closer than might seem necessary, and make sure that no important parts are at the edge of the picture.
Use the best quality camera and video format possible. In decreasing quality,the formats are: 1-inch, Beta SP, 3/4 inch U-matic, Hi-8mm, and Super VHS. Regular VHS format is not acceptable. Our preference is for 3/4 inch or better, if you have a choice. Regular home equipment will probably not be good enough, especially if the video requires several generations of editing.
Recognizing the increasingly international participation in CHI 96, we will accept submissions in PAL, SECAM or NTSC formats. If you have a choice, please supply NTSC, however, since it is expensive to convert. Bear in mind that since the final version will be NTSC, if you use the other formats, some of your picture around the edges might be lost.
Because video editing involves copying from tape to tape, there can be a significant loss of quality from the raw footage to the final version, every time the image is passed from one tape to another (called a 'generation'), the quality goes down, sometimes significantly (this is one reason why using the best file format possible is so important). Therefore, you should be sure to edit your original raw footage directly onto the final master tape. The tape you submit to CHI 96 should be a copy of this master. That way, it will only be third generation (two copies away from the original).
Many successful videos use trained readers for the audio, which you can find by calling acting schools or radio stations. Alternatively, the researchers may do the voice-over after the demo is complete.
If it is important to hear key clicks or computer audio output (beeps), record these on a separate audio track, and mix them with the voice-over in the editing studio. Similarly, if you are adding music to the video, this can go on a separate track, so it will be easy to fade out music when narration begins, etc.
Because of incompatibilities of resolution, refresh rate, and interlacing, it is often difficult to get good shots of computer screens on video. Two ways to capture the image: by pointing a camera at the screen, or using a scan converter or video encoder to translate the computer's signal directly to an NTSC signal or videotape. You will probably need to experiment to find the best way of capturing screen images on video.
Most people will film the screen with a camera. In this case, darken the room to enhance contrast, and set your white balance to match the white of the screen. Position your camera to avoid rhomboidal windows from the curved face of the display. You will have to pan around the screen to show different parts, because the video will usually not show the entire display in sufficient resolution to read text and see the graphics. If you have problems with one camera, you might consider borrowing or renting different cameras to see if you can obtain better results when shooting from the screen.
Try to find a display that has a refresh rate that is compatible or synchronized with the video camera rate of 30 frames per second. Most displays are not, so you will get a crawling refresh line on the tape. In this case, try to wait until it is not visible before each video segment. If there is a continuous beating or flashing on the video, this means that the refresh rates are completely incompatible, and you should probably not make a video of that screen.
If you have hardware that converts your computer signal to NTSC, you can record directly from your computer to tape. A major problem with this is that single pixel horizontal lines will flicker badly (in fact, all odd number width horizontal lines will flicker somewhat). If your display is color, limit color saturation to 75 to 80% and choose hues carefully, especially reds, to avoid exceeding the NTSC color bandwidth.
They say that the children of shoemakers have no shoes, and that people at the human factors and ergonomics conference tend to use illegible slides! Participants in HCI conferences and publications need to make sure that their presentations and products are usable. Thus it makes sense for you to carry out usability testing on your video just as you would on any other product. You can start off by testing your script with colleagues and friends. Is it interesting and understandable? Next you may want to storyboard your video. Do the cuts and transitions make sense to people, can then visualize how it will look? As well as being useful for usability testing, the storyboard should be an important part of your planning process. Next you should do roughcuts of the video. Do people want to see more talking head shots or less? Is the demo clear? Is the pace too fast or too slow? Are there any particular usability problems with specific segments of the video?
Anyone who has done video editing and post-production knows that it is a surprisingly time consuming business. However, it's garbage-in garbage-out, and if you don't have good content or message, the best video editing in the world won't help it that much. So, make sure that you thoroughly usability test your video. The time will be well spent, and it will probably still only require a fraction of the time that you have to spend anyway on video production.
Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by the end of November 1995.
If the video is accepted it will be included in the CHI 96 Video Program which will be shown at the conference, and available at significantly reduced cost to attendees. After the conference it will be published and sold by ACM.
Summaries of accepted videos will be published in the CHI 96 Conference Companion and on the CHI 96 CD-ROM.
You will then be able to prepare a small preview of your video in digital format (for example, QuickTime, MPEG) for inclusion on the CHI 96 CD-ROM. The maximum lenght or size of this preview has not been determined yet.
The primary author of each accepted video will receive an Author Kit with Permission forms and detailed instructions on how to submit the revised tape and the camera-ready and electronic materials for publication. These materials are due on January 5, 1996.
Please follow the steps in this checklist to ensure completeness in your submission.