Pictures to Videos: a Short How-to Guide - By: Deon Reynders

Some people are prolific article writers. One-a-day is not a serious challenge for them. However, let's assume that you are 'challenged' in this regard and can only manage one a week. That is still acceptable, since you can use submission software and plaster it all over the World-Wide Web. You can also post it on sites such as Hubpages and Scribd, with very little extra effort. If you got this far, you might as well do a decent job.

What if we could turn this article into a video at the same time? After all, you have already done all the hard work! For some people it's easy to switch on the video camera and record a short video. However, what do you do if you don't like appearing in front of a video camera?

Let's do it without a video camera! The simplest approach is to use custom-made software for this job. Software products that I have experimented with include MemoriesOnWeb and Online Video Story. You do, however, have much more control over the procedure if you use a dedicated video editing suite such as those by AVS, Pinnacle, Sony or Corel. Or even Microsoft Movie Maker, if you can get it to work! I happen to use Pinnacle Studio, the $80 or so was a good investment since I use it for my vacation videos as well.

This is what you do.

- Edit your article down to about one sentence per paragraph. I prefer between 5 and 15 sentences. Limit your sentences to a few words each. Short sentences are better since they are easier to read.

- Open up PowerPoint and create a slideshow with blank pages, one for each sentence. Copy and paste your sentences, in sequence, onto plain backgrounds. Keep it simple, white on black is easier to read than the fancy stuff; I use white Arial 44pt bold on black. Don't forget to put a URL and a call to action on the last slide. When finished, 'Save As' individual JPEG files (just confirm when prompted) so that you end up with slide1.jpg, slide2.jpg and so on.

- Now you need some JPG pictures to place between the text slides. Use your own, or check out MorgueFile or Stock.xchng for royalty-free pictures. Be aware of copyright issues if you use other sources. Store them in the same folder as the text files. Ideally you should name them pic1.jpg, pic2.jpg, etc.

- Run your video editor, and drag the text and picture files onto the story line, in the correct sequence. Following that, adjust the duration of each clip against the time line to suit your own taste. Let it play so you can verify that it looks good, and adjust the times where necessary. You are half-way there!

- Select a transition effect and repetitively drag the appropriate transition icon to the juncture between successive frames. Don't waste time here, any transition will do.

- Now it is time to add the music. I use Pinnacle Studio Plus 12 and it has a music library built in. As an alternative you could look for royalty-free music online. Start with Jamendo. Do not use tracks off CDs as you could be sued for copyright infringement. Now drag the music file onto the soundtrack, trim off any excess at the end, and do a fade-in and fade-out at both ends. It should not take you more than a minute to do this.

Your video is just about complete!

Only one more hurdle needs to be crossed. Your video still has to be 'rendered'. I usually take the easy route out and ask for a Flash (FLV) format. Then I make some tea while the video is being built. Who said making videos is difficult?

Don't have a video camera? This article will show you how to make a movie out of text and still pictures.

Deon H Reynders is the CEO of Visionary Marketers and lives, with his wife and an assortment of four-legged and feathered friends, near Toodyay in the Western Australian countryside. Deon is an accomplished marketer, electronics engineer, coach, trainer and published author. You can read more on the conversion of articles to videos here.