Guide to Successful Video Submissions
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by Alison Lee and Andreas Girgensohn
A printable version of this guide is available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Due date: May 12, 2000
Note: This document has drawn heavily from the version produced by John Tang and Steve Whittaker (CSCW 98 Video Co-Chairs). Their version was drawn from the Guides for Submission written by previous CHI and CSCW Video chairs. We will update this document as we collect more guidelines on producing the video. This document is meant to complement the CSCW 2000 Call for Participation.
Introduction
Video is a great medium to present new scientific work that is best shown directly. For example, videos can highlight studies of collaborative activities, work practices and interesting aspects of group communication. They can also present descriptions and demonstrations of new innovative systems with relevant collaboration scenarios.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Demonstrations of innovative research prototypes
- Demonstrations (but not marketing) of innovative aspects of commercial systems
- Studies of work practice that have implications for CSCW
- Retrospective collections of significant CSCW fields of work
- Visions of future technologies
Videos must not have been presented in any previous formal video program. Authors submitting papers are encouraged to submit formal videos that illustrate their work. We also encourage people with innovative or novel ideas for video submissions to contact the program chairs. A panel of international reviewers will review videos for their technical content, interest and relevance to the CSCW community, communication effectiveness, and production quality.
CSCW is an international conference. We would like to encourage submissions from around the world. One of the ways we can reflect our research goal is by involving the many different geographic communities in the field. The video program is a great opportunity for bringing together a collection of work that might be otherwise difficult to see first-hand due to geographical distances.
The video program will be played continuously at the conference and in the conference hotel. A videotape will be published and sold by ACM (although copyright will be retained by the authors). A CDROM will also be produced and distributed to attendees. Each accepted video will be represented on the CDROM by both a written abstract (from the authors) and a Manga summary (generated by the video co-chairs). The Manga summaries will enable viewers to directly access videos of interest and to easily browse within them. A Manga summary for an example video is available in the Manga section of this document. To see other sample Manga summaries go to http://www.fxpal.xerox.com/mbase/ and click on Manga.
- Submit 6 copies of the proposal. Each copy should contain the cover sheet and 150 word abstract (see General Submission Requirements)
- Submit TWO videotapes for review in any of the following formats: DV, Digital8, VHS, Super-VHS, Hi-8, 8mm, 3/4 inch in NTSC or PAL. If the video is accepted, a high quality format will be required for the final version (in decreasing order of preference: DV, Digital8, Beta SP, Hi-8, Super VHS, 3/4 inch).
- Videotapes should be a maximum of 8 minutes long. We will also accept submission of longer works in progress but submitters should understand that these will be subjected to stricter reviewing criteria.
More specific guidelines for producing effective videos are discussed in the Video Production section below.
In addition to the video, prepare six (6) copies of a cover sheet that has:
- Title
- Name, affiliation, addresses (postal and electronic), and telephone numbers of all authors
- Name of primary contact person
- Abstract of no more than 150 words
The deadline for submitting videos is May 12, 2000. It would help us if you could send us an informal statement of intent to submit ahead of time.
|
Andreas Girgensohn FX Palo Alto Laboratory 3400 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 USA |
email: cscw2000-videos@acm.org work: +1 650 813 7244 fax: +1 650 813 7081 |
Clearly indicate on all tape packages, sent from outside the United States, that the contents are for educational purposes and have no commercial value. This will avoid the unnecessary need to pay import duty or tax. Some international customs agents require more information about the video (e.g., duration, brief description of contents, and disclaimer statements about no pornographic content or no material to incite action against any government). Therefore, be prepared to provide such information on the packages. Upon receipt of your videotape, we will send an electronic mail confirmation.
| email: cscw2000-videos@acm.org |
Andreas Girgensohn work: +1 650 813 7244 fax: +1 650 813 7081 |
Alison Lee phone: +1 914 784 7712 fax: +1 914 784 6498 |
In order to publish the CSCW 2000 Video, the authors of the videos must sign a permission form. You (or your company) will retain ownership of the copyright, but you give the ACM the right to show and sell it. As the producer of a video, you should be careful about obtaining appropriate permission for using the material included in the video. This is both an issue of legal copyrights and ethical use of video and audio records.
The legal issue is that you must observe copyright laws. If you submit a video that includes copyrighted video clips, music, or other copyrighted material, you are required to obtain permissions to use the materials. You will be held personally responsible for obtaining the appropriate permissions. Video production places usually have a library of stock music that can be used for a nominal fee.
The ethical issue is that you must obtain consent to present the video in a public forum from all the people whose images or voices are on the video. By their very nature, images and voices do not allow the participants in the video to remain anonymous. You need to apply your own judgement to make sure that their participation in the video is neither embarrassing nor uncomfortable to them. While a CSCW conference video is not like a public TV broadcast, it does involve a fair amount of public exposure. You should make sure that participants in the video are aware of and are comfortable with this public showing (e.g., it will be playing continuously in hotel rooms during the conference and will be available for sale to the public). A signed consent form is a good way of documenting agreement on how the video is intended to be used.
The submitted tapes will be edited together onto a master tape, and copies will then be sent to the Video Review Committee; a panel of international experts. Each committee member will review all the submissions, and fill out review forms. (If we get an overwhelming number of submissions, we will delegate videos to appropriate reviewers.) Accepted videos will be selected on the basis of their interest to members of the CSCW community, their technical content, their contribution to the field (e.g., novelty, lessons learned), and how well they communicate the purpose and impact of the work. They must also have suitable production quality.
We will notify authors if their video is accepted by July 14, 2000, and will provide all authors with the feedback collected from the review process. If your video is accepted, you will be given the opportunity to make minor revisions before the final CSCW videotape is prepared. If the committee feels that a tape would be better with some minor edits, improvements will be suggested in the acceptance letter. We recognize that making video editing changes can be complex, and will work with you to try to achieve the best end result that is practical.
The final versions of the accepted tapes must be received by September 8, 2000 to be edited together into the CSCW 2000 Video Program. However, if your video will be revised so that the Manga summary from the review video will be different from the Manga summary of the final video, then you must submit your final version by August 18, 20000.
For the final version, a high quality format will be required: DV, Digital8, Hi-8, Beta SP, S-VHS, or 3/4 inch (in decreasing order of preference). Although we will accept submissions in PAL, SECAM, or NTSC formats, we would prefer NTSC. We will be doing our final editing in NTSC format, and conversions from other formats can be expensive, can reduce the final quality, and can crop out some of the picture around the edges. Please contact us if you would like to submit a final version in a non-NTSC format or in 3/4 inch so that we can explore our conversion options. Providing the edit master or a direct copy of it will help assure the best quality for the final tape. Original tapes will be returned to the authors when the editing process is completed.
The CSCW Video Program will be shown in a designated area in the Conference Center during the conference. In addition, the Video Program will be shown on the TV channel in the conference hotel during the conference. The Video Program is also made into a publication in two formats: a videotape and a CDROM. The videotape is produced for ACM and is sold to its members and to the public. It will be available for sale at the conference and also available through the ACM after the conference. The CDROM is produced for CSCW attendees and contains all the conference videos in MPEG format and visual summaries of the videos. The summaries use a novel approach developed at FXPAL for selecting still images from videos suitable for summarizing the videos and for providing entry points into them. Images are laid out in a compact, visually pleasing display reminiscent of a comic book or Japanese manga. Users can explore the video by interacting with the presented summary. Links from each keyframe start video playback and/or present additional detail. Additional information about the technique used can be found at http://www.fxpal.xerox.com/mbase/.
The title, author information, abstract and visual summary of accepted video submissions will be published in the conference proceedings. Except for the visual summary, the final form of this information must be received by August 18, 2000. We will generate the visual summary on the basis of the video submitted for review. If you want a better summary than that represented by the one submitted for review, you need to submit your final version of the video by this date. The proceedings will provide a brief archival description of your video, and a pointer to how to obtain a copy of the video.
The CSCW 2000 audience and everyone who buys the Video Program after the conference, will get the most benefit if the video is of high quality, both in content and in technical production. Beyond the content of the video, we encourage you to think carefully about the presentation (e.g. the right pace, clear explanations) and production quality (e.g., clear images of the screen, clear and understandable sound). While we would like to see high quality video production, we realize that it can be very expensive and we don't want to exclude people who don't have access to professional video resources. We encourage you to make the best use of the resources that you have available; even a consumer-level camcorder can produce acceptable results with clever usage and planning. Please read on for details of how to produce a good quality video.
You should select a theme or message for the tape and present the work in a way that communicates this message. Viewers should be able to easily identify this message, and in fact, should be able to restate it in their own words. Every line and scene in the script should contribute toward developing the message. Just as with writing a paper, providing a good structure that follows a logical progression and works together to make some simple, clear points is a necessary foundation for effective communication. Developing a clear message for the video is a crucial requirement for developing a good video; failing to develop and communicate a clear message seems to be the most common reason for rejecting videos.
A simple structure would include explaining the context for your work (what problem is being addressed), demonstrating your work, and summarizing what you've learned from it. Emphasize the problems or issues being addressed, and describe the concepts and principles upon which the work is based. It is generally not a good idea to simply show all the features of your system; you must identify what is novel and interesting. Clearly state, throughout the video, the status of what is being shown; if you are faking any aspect of the system, be sure to mention this. It is also a good idea to minimize the amount of time spent just viewing somebody talking – talking heads can quickly become uninteresting.
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 or a related paper submission. 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 providing one or two references that the viewer can follow up on. However, show these references only briefly, as the viewer can always pause or replay the video to copy down that information.
If you have never produced a videotape, team up with someone who has. Videos require much more planning and preparation than most people think, and experience is the best resource for making a good video. If you do not have video production resources within your institution, strongly consider working with an external resource (e.g., a video production house, a communications department, a local public access TV station).
It would be impossible to adequately summarize how to produce a good video in a few paragraphs, but here are some guidelines to help in your planning (and identify areas where you will need outside help).
- Before any taping even begins, develop a detailed script of the video. The script will help you to plan how to develop the message of your video, as well as track all the details that are involved in producing the video. Before you think about bringing in any video cameras, find someone who does not understand what you do, sit them down and act out your video according to the script. It is good practice exercise in speaking and helps to clarify the delivery of your ideas. Allow enough time to repeat this process until you have refined your script. If your video involves a larger group of people, it will be especially important to have the major scripting and production problems worked out beforehand.
- Eventually, the script should be turned into a storyboard, where you sketch out every scene change. These do not have to be artistically elegant, but it will prompt you to think through the decisions you need to make about camera angles, transitions between shots, positioning of subjects, etc. A good storyboard will save more time than it takes to make by helping you plan out your video shooting.
- It is not appropriate generally to hire professional actors to appear in your video. The most realistic and convincing advocate of an idea is the person responsible for the research. However, make sure the people who appear on camera speak naturally, rather than looking like they are reading. Remember that the value of video is as a way of demonstrating things, so try to minimize shots of researchers or authors discussing the project. It is far better to show your idea or system in action than to have it abstractly described. Also, try not to make the viewers feel like they are watching a lecture.
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. Avoid a pace that is either too slow or too fast. A recording of a live demo will appear too slow. A large number of jump cuts (abrupt changes from one shot to the next) 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 viewers orient themselves. Display screens have few natural navigation aids, so you may have to provide them verbally or by superimposing graphic highlights. Make your point once, and make it effectively; avoid being repetitious.
We are asking that you use the English language in the videos. If you are not comfortable speaking English, you should consider involving a fluent English speaker in the production and narration of your video. You can also rely on the visual nature of the video to demonstrate your work, and simplify and minimize the amount of narration needed in the video.
Seek a variety of images: 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 – this is perhaps where our intuitions as laypeople are least reliable (since we tend to take lighting for granted). Professionals spend a lot of effort to make sure that there are no strange shadows on faces (a common occurrence with overhead lighting), no dramatic shadows on walls, no glaring reflections on computer screens, and that there is enough light to provide crisp, sharp, high contrast images to be captured on videotape.
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 CSCW 2000 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.
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. To view what you are videotaping, you will need to use a TV in addition to the viewfinder of the camera during taping. It is impossible to tell if the shots are correct from just the little viewfinder built-in to the camera. 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. Videotaping computer screens requires some extra precautions, as addressed in the next section.
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. If possible, include 30 seconds of color bars and audio 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. If you can, monitor your video levels. White levels should be at 100 units, and black levels should have a pedestal of 5 to 7.5 units.
Make sure to allow enough time to shoot the video; record each segment more than once to give you some choices when it comes time to edit. Allow enough time to redo segments until you can get it right. Doing another "take" is much less time than discovering a flaw in the scene at edit time and having to reshoot the video. Since shooting the video usually involves other people, locations, and resources, everyone will appreciate organizing the shooting to be as efficient as possible (e.g., shoot scenes in the same setting together regardless of their order in the video, shoot scenes that involve the same people together).
Because of incompatibilities of resolution, refresh rate, and interlacing, it is often difficult to get good shots of computer screens on video. There are 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 straight on center, 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. Shoot black and white displays with a black and white camera or only one gun of a color camera, usually green.
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 with that camera. There are cameras that allow you to tune their video capture frequency to match the display refresh frequency of the computer screen, to avoid the "rolling bars" problem. You might be able to rent such a camera (e.g., Sony video cameras with a "ClearScan" feature) for your final shooting.
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 approach 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 (i.e., color "bleeding" or "beating").
Use the best quality camera and video format possible. In decreasing quality, the formats are: DV, Digital8, Hi-8, Beta SP, 3/4 inch, and S-VHS. Regular home equipment (other than DV and Digital8) will probably not be good enough, especially if the video requires several generations of editing.
Although we will accept submissions in PAL, SECAM, or NTSC formats, we would prefer NTSC. We will be doing our final editing in NTSC format, and conversions from other formats can be expensive, can reduce the final quality, and can crop out some of the picture around the edges.
Make sure to plan to complete your shooting of the video to allow plenty of time for editing. Much of the work that ultimately makes a video successful is in the editing. Editing will be much easier if you have access to video editing equipment and people who are trained to use it. Even so, it will be your job to review all the video that you've collected, pick which segments you want to use, and indicate where each scene starts and stops and how to transition from scene to scene. Preparing this "edit list" will help prompt the decisions you need to make beforehand and will make your editing time go quickly (very important if you're paying for using an editing studio).
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 tape 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 CSCW 2000 should be a copy of this master. That way, it will only be third generation (two copies away from the original). If you use DV or Digital8, you will not have any traditional generation loss. However, there might be compression loss if you apply effects on top of effects which might require uncompression and re-compression.
Over the last few years, the prices have come down on good quality digital video editing systems (often called non-linear editing systems). Given a reasonably fast Intel or Motorola based personal computer, editing software, storage, and digitizing hardware can be purchased for less than US$2000 to complete a non-linear video editing station. With such equipment, video clips can be captured to disk, edited and assembled with an editing program, and played back for recording to tape. These kind of systems offer great flexibility in editing power, a variety of useful tools and effects not easily available via analog means. They also avoid losing a "generation" of image quality in the editing phase. A good system will either be able to process DV or it will allow you to capture, edit and play back in PAL or NTSC S-VHS at full frame rate.
There is a wide range of digital video editing systems available. Most modern hard disks are fast enough for video editing purposes (7200 rpm or faster is preferred). For DV editing, we have had good success with Sony Vaio or with Miro capture boards. An Apple iMac DV is also a very good DV editing system.
Manga creates a visual summary of the video based on sequences of video frames that are similar to each other. If the whole video consists only of a single shot, the Manga presentation will not be able to summarize the video. Manga presentations produce the best results if cuts correspond to boundaries of semantic units. Additional information about the technique used can be found at http://www.fxpal.xerox.com/mbase/. The following presents such a summary for an example video.
Audio quality is probably more important than image quality to the overall impact of your video. Clever placement of microphones can really help improve audio quality. Try to place the microphone very close to the mouth of whoever is speaking (or other sound source) and away from any distracting sounds (e.g., the noise of computer fans and disks). People should talk clearly and "speak up" so the microphone can get a good audio signal. Avoid using the camcorder microphone, since it is omindirectional (tends to pick up all sounds everywhere, rather than just the sounds you want) and usually is not very close to your sound source.
If you have introductory "talking heads," try to do these with the computer off, or with the microphones arranged so that the computer noise is not picked up. When describing what's being demonstrated, it is generally better to record the audio after the video by doing a voice-over in a studio or other quiet room. With a voice-over, you watch the video and record the sound that explains what is happening. Make sure that the discussion is synchronized with the action on the screen. Another motivation for doing a voice-over afterwards is that the person operating the computer can concentrate on the demo and go as fast as possible without awkward pauses while they think about what to say next. Many successful videos use trained readers for the audio, which you can find by calling acting schools or radio stations.
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.
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 they 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 rough cuts 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 whether their video is accepted to the formal program by July 14, 2000. If the video is accepted it will be included in the CSCW 2000 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 the ACM.
If the revised version of the video is substantially different from the version submitted for review, that version needs to be included with the final version of the abstract due on August 18, 2000. This early deadline is needed in order for the Manga summary to be generated. Otherwise, we will be working off the video submitted for the review process.
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 September 8, 2000.
- Your submission must be in English.
- Your submission should contain no proprietary or confidential material and should cite no proprietary or confidential publications.
- Responsibility for permissions to use video, audio or pictures of identifiable people rests with you, not CSCW 2000.
- If your submission is accepted, it will not be published without permission forms signed by the first-listed author or a representative of the first author's institution.
- We strongly suggest the use of express mail or a courier service, for prompt delivery. Customs labels should bear the words "Educational materials with no commercial value."
Please follow the steps in this checklist to ensure completeness in your submission.
- Read the Call for Participation. If you have never submitted a video before, learn how to prepare your video from the Video Production guidelines (e.g. write a script, test for flickering).
- Prepare your videotape.
- Prepare a cover sheet with title, name, affiliation, addresses (postal and electronic), and telephone numbers of all authors, name of primary contact person, and an abstract of no more than 150 words. Provide 6 copies of the cover sheet.
- Send the 6 copies of your cover sheet and TWO copies of your videotape to the Videos Chair at the Submit To address shown.
Making a good video is hard work, but it also has potentially great rewards. The rich and compelling nature of the video medium makes it another venue to allow people to become aware of and understand excellent CSCW work. In fact, one of the Co-Chairs is currently teaching a graduate CSCW course and has found the collection of CHI and CSCW videotapes to be invaluable in giving the students a compelling, upfront and closeup, experiential perspective that is unlike that gotten from a paper.
We believe it is important to develop and promote the Video Programs in our technical conferences as a different form of an archival collection of research in the field. Our plan to create a CDROM containing MPEG versions of the conference videos along with their Manga summaries and to include the Manga summary in the print publication is an effort to make videos a useful and frequently viewed resource.
If your video submission is accepted, the Manga summary will provide another kind of visibility to your work both in print and in a random-access browsing tool. We hope that you will take the time to make a video of your work and and look forward to seeing your submissions!
Last updated: February 22, 2000