PHOTO FILMSTRIP TO  MAKE PHOTO SLIDESHOW VIDEOS

©2022 Donald R. Snow - Page last updated 2022-05-09
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ABSTRACT: PHOTO FILMSTRIP is a free program that makes "Ken Burns"-type videos of you still photos.  These videos appear to have motion which is the "Ken Burns" effect. The program allows captions, visual effects, and sound files for background music or narration.  This class will discuss the program and how to use it.   The notes for this class and related articles, all with active Internet links, are on Don's website http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html .

    WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

  1. Instructor is Donald R. Snow of St. George and Provo, Utah ( snowd@math.byu.edu ).
  2. These notes, with active Internet links and other related articles, are posted on Don's website  http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html .
  3. Tips:  (1)  To put an icon on your desktop for the URL for these notes, or any web page, just drag the icon in front of the address in your browser to your desktop.  (2)  To open a link while keeping your place in the original page, hold down the Control key while clicking the link so it opens in a new tab.
  4. Problem for today:  What is  PHOTO FILMSTRIP, where to get it, how to use it, and we will  look at examples.

    5. WHAT IS PHOTO FILMSTRIP?
  5. PHOTO FILMSTRIP is a free program that makes "Ken Burns" type videos from your still photos.
  6. Available from -- in German: http://www.photofilmstrip.org/de/
    and in English from -- https://www.photofilmstrip.org/en/
  7. Article about it -- https://www.ghacks.net/2011/07/13/photofilmstrip-turn-photos-into-video/
  8. Ken Burns is the fellow who makes historical videos that are educational and entertaining for PBS and other TV channels; many of his videos include still photographs, but by panning around in them, they appear in motion and hold your interest and you can emphasize what you want; you set the length of time for each photo and any background narration or music that you want
  9. Video tutorials are at  http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=tutorial+photofilmstrip&qpvt=tutorial+photofilmstrip&FORM=VDRE
  10. We will look at the steps in using PHOTO FILMSTRIP.

    11. STEP 1 - DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL PHOTO FILMSTRIP

  11. After downloading, install it. There is also a portable version that runs from a flash drive, so it doesn't need to be installed on the computer running it.
  12. On the website is information about the program, including a video made with it. 

    13. STEP 2 - SELECT AND ORGANIZE THE PHOTOS TO USE

  13. Include as many photos as you want, b  but start with just a few to learn the program.
  14. Each slide needs to be shown for several seconds,  so you can get an estimate of how many to use by dividing the total desired length by about 10 seconds. music
  15. he nusic/narration will also determine the total length and the times can be adjusted later in the program.

    16. STEP 3 - BACKGROUND MUSIC OR NARRATION FILE

  16. PHOTO FILMSTRIP only allows the sound formats of wav or mp3, soy ou many need to convert yo ur music or narration  into one of those formats. 
  17. if you have something in a different format, you will have to convert it to one of these  formats.
  18. The length of the sound track determines how long your video will be; if it is a narration about the photos, note the length of time for each description, so you can set the time to show each photo; you can adjust the PHOTO FILMSTRIP default time of 5 seconds to whatever you need for each photo

    19. STEP 4 - RUN THE PROGRAM

  19. Run PHOTO FILMSTRIP and click to start a new project.
  20. The setup screen asks for the aspect ratio to use, i.e., the ratio of width to height of the final video; I usually use 4 x 3, rather than 16 x 9
  21. Tell it where to find the sound file and that will set the length of the video
  22. If you don't use a sound file, you can let it default to 5 seconds for each photo you will use or set the total length yourself 

    23. STEP 5 - DRAG AND DROP THE PHOTOS AND SET THEIR PROPERTIES

  23. Drag and drop the photos into the program and they form a "film strip" across the bottom of the screen
  24. You can rearrange the photos  by dragging and dropping. 
  25. Click on the first photo in the filmstrip and set its parameters, i.e. how long to show it on screen, what rectangular part of the photo to start with and what rectangular part to end with; add a caption, if desired; and set other options.
  26. The starting and ending rectangular boxes show what the final video will show; these will be in full screen and expand or contract and move to where the ending rectangle is, so if you start with a small area of the photo, that will be shown full screen at the start; it takes a little practice to get used to how this works, but it's not hard
  27. The program has a default setting for the beginning and ending rectangles of each photo that you can use to start with and watch the video to get the idea 
  28. Text jpg's can be included as titles in any photo position to indicate new sections of the video; these can be made using text art from word processors, as discussed above
  29. There are fades and rotations and other settings that you can also use for each photo
  30. Go through all the photos to set the options the way you want

    31. STEP 6 - RENDER THE VIDEO AND SAVE THE PROJECT

  31. "Rendering" means forming the video using the photos, sound, and settings that you have made
  32. IMPORTANT NOTE 1:  Before rendering, change the default setting from PAL to NTSC, since PAL is the European system and NTSC is the American system. 
  33. Draft rendering takes much less time than the final High Definition rendering, so you can see a rough copy of the video and make changes the way you want before doing the final rendering.
  34. When it is the way you want, Render a Medium or High Definition video -- High Def may take 30 minutes or more, but gives you a better final product. 
  35. Formats for rendering:  Of the several final format options, I usually use mp4/avi format
  36. When finished rendering, the final video and subtitle files will be in a folder and will be called "output.avi" and "output.srt", respectively; you can rename "output" to anything you want, but do it in each file so the subtitle file will be recognized, and keep the two files in the same folder or it won't know where to find the subtitle file
  37. The final video can be converted to another video format which will include the subtitles in the same file, if you want.
  38. IMPORTANT NOTE 2:  Save the Project -- This means saving all the details, sound file, photos, options, etc., in PHOTO FILMSTRIP, so if you ever want to change parts of it or render it in a different format, you won't have to start from scratch -- When we first started using PHOTO FILMSTRIP, we didn't know this, so after making several videos and then wanting to out in subtitles, we had to start over from the beginning and find the photos and sound file again, and reset all the times and boxes, etc.  We had the final videos, but hadn't saved the projects.

    39. STEP 7 - WATCH THE VIDEO

  39. VLC is a good free video player -
  40. Usually the avi and subtitles files need to be in the same folder with the same names, except for the extensions

    41. CONCLUSIONS
  41. This is a powerful program and it is free, but it takes some learning to use it well.
  42. Once you do one or two videos, others will be easier to do.
  43. These videos make wonderful family history presents and to post on websites.
  44.  FamilySearch will not take videos yet, but will eventually.
  45. ====================================.