Your First Steps So you've recently purchased a VidSimple Studio in a Box and you want to make videos but you're not exactly sure how. You're in exactly the right place. We've created a series of tutorials below that you can follow step by step. Beginning at the huge FedEx box sitting at your door, they'll take you all the way to your first finished video downloaded to your computer, ready to show the world. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."~Mark Twain View this welcome video Before you jump into Step One, we've made this Welcome Video that you definitely want to check out. It's not enough to know how to use the gear if you don't have any strategy or goals you're working toward. For most of you, video is just a means to an end. You're using it to convert customers, train employees, build relationships, share knowledge, or any number of other things. But you have a purpose in mind, and so everything you shoot and edit should help you reach that end goal. Plan but don't procrastinate. It's always easy to get distracted by petty details, but that's especially true in video. Watch our Welcome Video and think about your plan, commit to the strategy, but most importantly you must take that first step. You'll soon learn how to make videos efficiently, and then once you're comfortable with the process you can refine the strategy with some more advanced training. Step One - Unboxing and Assembling Your Studio in a Box Step Two - Preparing to Shoot With

Uploading Your Footage to the CVP Once you have files on your computer that you want to start working with, the next step is to send those files up to the CVP. This allows you to access your videos from any computer with an internet connection, and your editing team can do the same. Later we'll delve deeper into some of the cool stuff the CVP lets you do, but for now you just need to know how to upload footage. There are two ways to upload footage, one uses your web browser and the other uses an FTP program. Both achieve the same result, it's just a matter of which feels more comfortable to you. Uploading via Web Browser If you prefer not to touch FTP programs then you can just use your favorite web browser, provided that it's not ancient. So Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome are all supported. To log into the CVP so you can upload through your browser: Visit http://sunpop.mediasilo.com Enter your Username (which should be the same as you use to access this website) Enter your Password (which should be the same as you use to access this website) If you're having trouble logging in, email us at info@sunpop.com and we'll take care of you Once you're logged into the CVP, click over to your project folder at the top left of the window, click Upload at the top right, double click your folder in the new window that pops up, then drag and drop your video files into to that window. Easy! Important Once your video files are finished uploading, you may need to click the refresh button (looks like two arrows in a circle) located at

Introduction to the Collaborative Video Player Welcome to your CVP The CVP is the online workspace that holds your raw footage, your videos in progress, and your finished productions. It's the primary means of communication between you and your editors, and so you can think of it as the kitchen where the work gets done. How to access To log into the CVP so you can upload through your browser: Visit http://sunpop.mediasilo.com Enter your Username (which should be the same as you use to access this website) Enter your Password (which should be the same as you use to access this website) If you're having trouble logging in, email us at info@sunpop.com and we'll take care of you Quick note Sometimes if you get signed out of the CVP, you may be taken to a login screen that asks for not just Username and Password, but also Account Name. When that happens, the Account Name is sunpop What you can do in the CVP Upload your raw footage to your secure online workspace, so you and your editors can view it from anywhere Watch your videos, and make comments regarding specific moments of the video within the timeline itself Interact with your editors, responding to each other to achieve clarity on instructions Request that your editors begin editing a specific piece of raw footage into a finished video View the polished videos that your editors completed, and either approve the work or reject and then request a new edit Download the approved and finished videos right to your desktop And much more, including tagging the videos, creating folders, and customizing your workspace to stay organized. Once you're comfortable logging into the CVP, and you feel

Ingesting the Footage Now that you know how to record footage, you'll want to start using it. In your setup, that process can be broken down into two parts, ingesting and uploading. Ingesting is the act of pulling the footage off of your iPhone and putting it onto your computer. Once the footage is ingested, then you'll have handy video files on your Mac or PC that you can start working with. Uploading is the act of sending those video files from your computer up to the internet. You'll do this when you want to send raw footage to your editors so they can turn it into finished videos. There are two different uploading techniques you could use. This tutorial is going to cover ingesting, and another tutorial will cover uploading. Ingesting - Grab the footage with iTunes As an iPhone user, you're already familiar with the iTunes software. What you probably don't know is some of the advanced functionality hidden in iTunes, which lets you copy files from your iPhone apps over to your computer. It's actually quite simple, and this video explains how to do it. While the exact layout of your iTunes interface may look slightly different depending on your version, the process is the same in every version. Naming Conventions - Organization matters To save yourself a lot of headaches, we strongly recommend you use descriptive and organized names when you ingest your files. If you don't have a structure in place for naming your video files, you'll soon find them overwhelming and could easily lose track of the footage you're looking for. The following structure should help you immensely: CompanyName - Date Shot - Actor - Subject - Take Number

Manual Settings Secrets Friends don't let friends use auto settings. If you're like most of our clients then you're probably not used to the manual settings we introduced in Step Two. That's why we've recently upgraded the size of the gray card, making it easier to dial in your settings when you're shooting alone. And that's why we've made an extra video to ensure you're comfortable with the process. Don't just passively watch this video. We want you to actively follow along and dial in the settings on your setup for a test run as well. Once you've done it a couple times you'll see just how easy it is, and you'll be less likely to forget during a real shoot. If you're having trouble getting your footage to look and sound like ours, with nice bright whites, lively colors, and rich audio, make sure to tell us about it. We'll help you get comfortable with the process and ensure you're getting the full quality the system is capable of. In case you don't already know, let's remove the mystery around these settings and briefly explain them. Exposure - Exposure controls how bright or dark your image is by determining how much light the camera lets in. It acts much like the pupils of your eyes as they expand and contract depending on how bright your surroundings are. You want the exposure to look natural, not too bright, not too dark. Focus - Just like your eyes need to focus on something either close up or far away, so does your camera. If your focus is set correctly then all your details will look sharp, and a poor focus will result in blurry visuals. White

Unboxing and Assembling Your Studio in a Box You've just received your Studio in a Box, and if you're like most of our clients, you're feeling overwhelmed at all the gear we've stuffed in there. You might even have trouble recognizing some of the pieces! Never fear, that's why you're here. This video explains exactly what you should do next, step by step, from the unboxing to the assembly. We recommend clicking the fullscreen button at the bottom right corner of the video, and also pausing regularly to complete things one piece at a time. Simply click play and go at your own pace. Feeling overwhelmed? It's okay if you don't know how anything works yet, we're just putting the pieces together and we can worry about that stuff later. If you have any questions about the assembly itself, please send us an email or tell us during your scheduled Skype session. One quick note: we're always making improvements to the equipment we send our clients. So one or two pieces of your setup might be upgrades that differ slightly from that shown in this video. Once you finish this step, let's move onto Step 2, preparing to shoot. VidSimple Beginners: Table of Contents Step One - Unboxing and Assembling Your Studio in a Box Step Two - Preparing to Shoot With Your New Studio Step Three - Manual Settings Secrets Step Four - Ingesting the Footage Step Five - Introduction to the Collaborative Video Player Step Six - Uploading Your Footage to the CVP