Wikipedia:Videos

The following is a proposed Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption.

This is modeled on Wikipedia:Images, and is still very much a work in progress.

Grand Central Terminal (example video)
Example caption for video

To produce this box, use:
[[File:Gct.ogg|thumb |320px | alt=Example alt text |Example caption for video]]

Wikipedia is still at an early stage in its process of incorporating videos into its encyclopedic content. This page gives a very brief overview of how videos are used in Wikipedia; for more information, see Images guideline and Image use policy, and see Help:Files on how to upload and include an video.

The impetus for starting this page was the Wikipedia:Lights Camera Wiki video initiative, which should lead to a good expansion of video content..

Limitations of video on Wikipedia

Currently videos, like other files used on Wikipedia, are limited to 100 MB. This means that most videos will be short (no longer than 3-5 minutes), and dimensions of 320x240 are recommended.

In the future, we hope to be able to accommodate larger video files.

Equipment for user-created videos

To participate you will need access to a digital camcorder or still camera with video recording capability, a tripod, and a computer with video editing software.

No matter what device you choose to shoot with, a steady hand is what we are looking for. Please use a tripod or other stabilizing equipment

Types of videos

Because of the file size limitations, and because of resources typically available, most videos on Wikipedia will fall into three broad categories:

Snapshot-type videos

Snapshot-type videos illustrate a single action, and are usually 30 seconds or shorter in length. An example would be a video of a traffic signal changing.

This is the easiest type of video to produce, but it is somewhat limited in what it can convey.

Performance-type videos

Performance-type videos are recordings of individuals performing an extended series of actions. An example would be a musician playing a song; the activity of a wild animal might also fit into this category. Usually this type will have only one shot, and can be up to several minutes long.

A tripod or other stabilizing device is especially important for performance-type videos.

Tour-type videos

Tour-type videos will shift between different views to illustrate different aspects of a subject, or to tell a kind of narrative story. An example would be an architectural tour of a building. Usually this type will have a sequence of several different shots, and can be up to several minutes long.

If one wants to create a tour-type video that is an overview of a particular subject, one should read through the article of the subject to find queues on aspects of the space that deserve attention in the video (eg, the video of Grand Central terminal features the constellations on the ceiling and they are also mentioned in the article).

Additionally, if the tour-type video is being made about a particular physical site, a short scouting trip would be helpful. Before you start shooting, take a tour of the site. Using available informational material on the site, look it over to find other shots you might want to include in the video.

Sample shot list for Grand Central Terminal:

front of building (zoom in/out)
Close up statue details
pan left to right front of building
wide shot of main concourse
medium shot of stairways on either end of the concourse
pan close up of windows on ceiling
ticket booths
wide pan across concourse
close ups of constellations on ceiling
side passage ways
lower concourse passageway intersections

Style guidelines

Shooting video

When shooting please do not provide on-camera commentary or narration. This is to ensure that these videos can be used by similar articles in languages other than English.

Composition and camera movement

The style of these videos are intended to be simple and clean. No quick zooms or handheld walk throughs. Any movement within the frame (panning, tilting, or zooming) should be done slowly so that the viewer is able to focus on the detail of the images. Try and get a reasonable balance between shots with and without movement.

Buffers

If you are recording a shot with no camera movement or zoom, do not record for less than 5 seconds. If you are zooming, be sure to record 3 seconds before the zoom and wait at least 3 seconds after you reach the end of the shot. The same guidelines for zoom shots also applies to any shot that has movement (panning or tilting). Buffers will help with the editing of the video.

Editing video

Using editing software like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker (see video editing software for a fuller list of options), import the video onto your computer to edit. Refer to instruction manuals for your specific software and camera to learn how to import and edit.

In the editing process of multi-shot videos, think about opening your video with a shot that helps to establish the location of the site. (eg: the opening shot in the Grand Central Terminal video is of the front of the building with surrounding buildings.)

Do not include narration, titles, transitions, special effects (with the exception of image control effects). The reason for this is twofold: one, to support the eventual possibility of online editing, where the inclusion of transitions and special effects would make re-editing difficult. Two, as stated previously, narration will render the video incompatible with the same article written in another language. Eventually online video editing will allow the overlay of effects and narration without changing the source video.

This initiative is promoting an encyclopedic brand of video that helps to establish the very basics of the subject, and this can be reflected in the editing (eg, the opening shot in the Grand Central Terminal video is of the front of the building with surrounding buildings).

When finished, export your video. When exporting, be sure to select any options that support web streaming.

Converting video

After exporting the video, you must convert the file to the Ogg Theora (.ogg) format. If you are using quicktime on either a PC or Mac, you can download the necessary software, visit http://www.xiph.org/quicktime/download.html. that will allow you to convert your video to the .ogg format. Note on Mac you can only do this using QuickTime 7 (you can download Quick Time 7 by visiting http://www.apple.com/quicktime/). When converting the video to .ogg format, please also resize the dimensions of the video to be 320x240

For more information on converting video, visit Help:Converting video to learn more about how to do this.

Uploading video

Videos should be uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons at Commons:Upload, where they will be accessible to all of the different language editions of Wikipedia.

We recommend the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.

Embedding

The process of embedding of videos on Wikipedia articles is quite similar to that for embedding images. To learn more, visit Wikipedia:Creation and usage of media files#Video usage.