You would typically require at least the following equipment to be able to
record a video:
A typical laptop with an in-built webcam usually suffices. Except that for
better audio quality, you may want to connect an external USB or Bluetooth
speaker-cum-recorder, or a mobile phone, to it. Some laptops are
pre-equipped with high-quality
audio equipment, while others may have problems like low reception/volume.
An external USB or Bluetooth speaker-cum-recorder may be required
for the latter category
of laptops/computers.
If your laptop does not support
high-quality audio reception, and you do not have an external USB orr
Bluetooth speaker-cum-recorder, you may use a mobilee phone
to record your speech separately. For example, if you are using an Android
mobile phone to record your speech,
you may like to use the "Voice Recorder" app. In this case, you will have
to submit your recorded video file (through your computer) and the
recorded audio file (through your mobile phone) separately. These can
then be merged using a Video Editing Software by our video-editing team.
Software Tools
There is a plethora of tools available to record and edit videos. We
share instructions for using the
tools with which we have had personal experience. We have
found these tools to be
reasonably easy to use and well featured.
Importantly, these tools are
free and open-source.
In general, two types of software are required for creating
a short research video: Video Recording
Software (VRS) that is used for the actual video recording;
and Video Editing Software (VES) that is used
to edit the raw video
footage to create a final version. You are not required to edit the
video yourself. You can simply record your talk using the
VRS ad then share it with the video-editing team. The video-editing
team could help edit the video. However, in some cases, you may prefer
to edit the video yourself before handing it over to the video-editing
team (e.g., if you wanted to split and join two or more videos
yourself). Thus we provide instructions for both VRS and VES on this page.
Here are our recommendations for the VRS and the VES. These are
based on our own experience. You are free to use your own favourite tools
instead, if you prefer.
Video Recording Software (VRS)
Broadly speaking, Zoom is easier to use, while OBS Studio has more features that
may allow you to create a more professional looking video. You are welcome
to choose any of these two options.
Video Editing Software (VES)
We provide detailed instructions on how to use these software tools in the tutorials linked above.
High-level steps in creating a research video
A research video could be of several types. In this discussion, we will assume that you have
a set of slides (e.g., PowerPoint, PDF, Google Slides, etc.), and you are interested in
presenting them such that the video of you explaining those slides appears along with
the slides (e.g., as an inset). The approach for creating other types of videos (e.g.,
just you talking without any slides) is not too different, and usually simpler.
Broadly, here are the steps required to create a research video:
- Create a presentation in your favourite software (e.g., PowerPoint).
- Ensure that your presentation is approachable for a generalist, and not meant
for an expert audience in your specific research area.
- Also ensure that your
presentation is not longer than the stipulated time. It
is always a good idea to practice and time your presentation
multiple times, before starting to record. The presentation should be no
longer than four minutes. The editorial
team will enforce this time limit strictly. The editorial team encourages
shorter videos, as they typically have wider reach and higher impact.
- We intend to put the CSE logo on the top-left corner of the video. Please
leave some space on the top-left corner, so that the logo does not interfere with the
contents of your slides. You can estimate the position and size of the logo by looking
at the following video that also contains such a logo (albeit on the top right corner):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=FBpz5DzqBkk&feature=emb_logo.
- If you
want to include other videos in your presentation, do not include them
in your slides. Instead, a video editor software (VES) could be used to splice
those videos into your presentation video. You could do this editing work
yourself, or you may prefer to clearly provide instructions to our video-editing
team who may do this editing work on your behalf.
- Open the Video Recording Software, or VRS, (e.g., OBS Studio) and the Presentation
Software, or PS (e.g., Microsoft Powerpoint) simultaneously on your computer.
Set up the "video sources" in the VRS such that one video source
is the PS window (in which you are presenting your slides) and the other video source
is the camera attached to your computer (which can record you while you are speaking
and presenting your slides). The full details on how to set up these video
sources OBS Studio are discussed in the OBS tutorial linked above.
- Press the "Start Recording" button in the Video Recording Software (VRS), open
the Presentation Software (PS) window and present your work looking into the
camera, as you would normally do.
- Please introduce you and your team at the beginning of the video. Please thank the audience at the end of the video.
- Try to be clear and fluent
in your speech --- hopefully you have already practiced multiple times already. Ensure that
your speech matches with the movement of the slides that you are presenting on your computer screen.
- You may want
to introduce intonations in your voice to add effect as you are describing your
work, e.g., for emphasis.
- If you want to intersperse an existing video (e.g., some
kind of video related to your research) with your presentation, simply pause for
a few seconds. For example, you may say, "... and here is a video that
demonstrates our research... <pause for 5 seconds> ... resume speaking as
though the video has been shown". These pauses
can be edited out later using a video editing software (VES).
- When you are finished with your presentation, press the "Stop Recording" button in the VRS.
By now, you have created a raw video footage of you presenting your work.
You can playback your recording by opening the recorded file in your favourite media player.
You can review this raw video footage by playing it in the VRS itself. You
can also export this video to a format of your choice and have it reviewed by your collaborators
if you like.
Slide layout guidelines
- The presenter's face must be visible in the video (Zoom provides this feature)
- Typically, the editorial committee will provide support to subtitle your videos. For this, we request the presenters to leave some space at the bottom of their slides.
- You may choose to design your slide layout so that you add the subtitles to your video yourself. In this case, you do not need to leave space at the bottom. In the interest of uniformity, we would prefer if you do not add subtitles on your own; please check with the editorial committee before going down this path.
- The last slide of your presentation may optionally include a human-readable reference, e.g., "For more information see ...".
How to organize your content for a short video
Let us understand our intended audience first. The general characteristics of this audience is that the audience member has a general interest in computing but level of knowledge could vary from elementary to advanced.
Our audience may include: the general public, non-professional CS enthusiasts, potential industry partners, alumni, early UG students, 1st year and potential MTechs, 1st year and potential PhD/MS(R) students.
With this in mind, here are some principles to follow
- It is more important to explain the problem than the solution. First and foremost the viewer needs to be oriented. The following questions must be answered in the following sequence:
- What is the general area of this work (e.g. systems, networking, algorithms etc)?
- What is the specific subarea (e.g. cache memories, supervised learning, network flows etc)?
- What is the exact problem statement? Here you must exercise your judgement. Sometimes problem statements can be easily accessible to a general viewer, sometimes you may have to state in a general way so that it is made accessible.
- This video is a highlights package. You need to summarise and present the key ideas in your work. This is the most important and most difficult part of it. Remember that most people will not follow the details of what you did so you have to explain the idea at a higher and more accessible level. If there are a sequence of small ideas then say that, and talk about the goal of stringing the sequence together.
- Keep domain-specific technical terms to a minimum. This is another difficult ask but very important. There are some terms that everyone in your area understands and no one outside your area knows. Don't use these terms. Think of this as introducing two strangers. You can't assume the audience knows what you're talking about.
- Don't crowd your slides. If you do the viewer will start trying to read it and won't hear what you're saying.
- Never put a figure/theorem/graph on a slide without an explanatory caption. Remember the viewer is going to read your slides even if you are talking alongside. Make sure that everything on the slide makes sense. For figures or graphs or theorems provide a caption that helps the viewer make sense of it.
- Conclude. Make a few concluding remarks to round off the presentation. Tell the audience again what you have explained to them just now and offer some new perspectives as well e.g. future work, or impact this work has already had, or any recognition the paper has achieved.
Finally, please watch some of the presentations from the
Three Minute Thesis series to get an idea of how a whole PhD thesis can be presented in exactly three minutes.
Editorial Process
The editorial board consists of at least two faculty members and potentially some
PhD students. The editorial board would carefully review your video, and evaluate
it for clarity and approachability for a general audience. The editorial board
will
not evaluate your video for its technical research contributions.
Based on this evaluation, the editorial board may either accept your video, or
may provide some feedback to the authors on how the video's clarity and approachability
may be improved. We will ensure that at least one faculty
member who has reviewed your video is outside your research area, because we
are primarily interested in evaluating whether the video is approachable for
a non-expert audience.
Thank you, and look forward to a good set of research videos, that may help us
communicate the nice work we are doing to a wider audience.