Creating Custom Client Review Systems

Aanarav Sareen New Jersey, USA ©2006 Aanarav Sareen and Creativecow.net. All rights reserved.

In today's rapidly moving editing and post-production world, faster methods of client review have become an absolute necessity. Although custom-developed client review systems can be difficult to implement especially if you are not a coder, Adobe Captivate 2.0 makes this task very easy.

Adobe Captivate 2.0 is primarily marketed as an e-Learning application and since it has the ability to import and export a variety of Flash based files, such as FLVs, the process has become extremely easy.


Background: Being a TV editor and a producer, most of our client review systems are based on scenes rather than edits. We present the edited product to the client for review purposes in 2 formats:

• Adobe Clip Notes: which was introduced with Premiere Pro 2.0, permits the client to watch the entire video and insert comments at any time during the video. These comments usually vary in topic and range from 'bad cut' to 'obstruction in scene.' While all of these minor details are extremely helpful, they aren't very useful in conveying whether the scene is consistent with the story-line.
  
  
• Adobe Captivate 2.0: recently released, permits us to import FLV files from each of the scenes onto the 'stage', then later follow these scenes up with questions that rate the particular scene or provide us with some general feedback regarding the scene.
  

The Old Process: Since Clip Notes use PDF technology, these generated files can be viewed by almost anyone that has the free Acrobat Reader and either the Quicktime Player or the Windows Media Player. Clip Notes are fairly easy to understand and use. For a brief tutorial on using Clip Notes, please click here.

The New Process: If you are not using Captivate 2.0 as an e-Learning tool, then think of Captivate 2.0 as an authoring tool for Flash files. To implement Captivate 2.0 in your review environment, use the following steps:

Step 1: Launch Captivate

After you have launched the application, select 'Record or Create a New Project'

Step 2: Create a Blank Project

Navigate to the following option in Captivate 2.0:

Step 3: Project Dimensions

The project dimensions largely vary on the type of project and your client's requirements. We often send out full resolution (NTSC) FLV files for review purposes and set the screen dimensions to 1024*768

Step 4: Import FLV Files

After you have decided on your project dimensions, it's time to start creating your review system. Double click on the blank slide, such that you can edit it. Once you have editing capabilities, click on the button that says 'Flash Video'



Step 5: Customize Playback Settings

In the pop-up dialog box, select the FLV file, customize the settings as required and select 'OK'

Step 6: The Review

Once you are satisfied with the video in the first slide, it's time to generate the questions. Go to Inset > Question Slide.

After selecting 'Question Slide' you will be presented with different options to customize or define the type of questions you want to ask.

Since each project will have different types of questions, select the one that is the most relevant to your project or client's requirements.

Step 7: Reporting

Now that you have designed your video and your questions, it's time to get these results back. The easiest way of doing so is via email. Create your question and select 'Quiz Manager'

In the box that pops open; go to the 'Reporting' tab and check 'enable reporting for this project'. If you prefer to get the results via email simply select the email option and enter an email address.

Step 8: Delivering

Once you have customized your review system to meet your requirements, it's time to deliver this project to the client. To publish this project go to File > Publish. Modify the options as required and select 'Publish'.


CONCLUSION: Captivate 2.0 can be used for a variety of reasons, and using Captivate for review purposes is just one of many applications! Download the demo from Adobe's website and experiment on your own.

Click here for more information.

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