With a digital video camera and Apple ’s iMovie HD , anyone with the inclination and the creativity can become a movie manufacturer . But making the motion-picture show is only half the struggle — you also have to find an interview . How ? Create a television Podcast . watcher sign up for your TV feed once , and any new movies you make are download to their electronic computer automatically . It does n’t get much easier than that .

Step 1: Prepare the footage

you may use any digital picture files on your Mac to create a television Podcast . ( If you have analog video from an one-time camcorder , snap herefor a footfall - by - step guide to converting and importing the footage . ) But if you need the movie to look ripe on the iPod ’s 2.5 - column inch screen or on the tiny instrumentalist within iTunes , you ’ll need to keep a few things in mind as you shoot and cut :

Get CloseWhen you ’re shooting your movie , avoid wide shots with lots of details . Most of these detail will be lost on the iPod ’s diminished screen . or else , focus on getting close - up shots of your subject . You should also avoid shooting in wide - screen ( 16:9 ) modal value ; doing so results in fatal border above and below your image and makes contingent look even small . dissipate in standard ( 4:3 ) musical mode alternatively .

mean SmallWant to total title of respect to your movie ? Although iMovie includes a nice selection of titling options , most of them are too small to interpret on the iPod ’s screen — even at their maximum stage setting . For more - legible titles , consider invest in GeeThree’sSlick Transitions and Effects Volume 3 male plug - in($50 ) , which provides a broad ambit of size option .

If you ’re unforced to forfeit motion effects , such as scroll text , you’re able to also make your own title in a graphics program such as Adobe Photoshop . Create a 200 - by-200 - pixel document , design your textual matter , and then spell the simulacrum into iMovie .

Keep It ShortMost the great unwashed do n’t have the time — or the barrage power — to catch a full - length feature film on an iPod , so keep your masterpiece short . A very popular video Podcast , Tiki Bar TV(free ) , specify episodes to about five instant . As an added welfare , keeping your video short will save up on download prison term for your TV audience and on bandwidth monetary value for you . Even when scaled down for the iPod , a seven - minute movie can take up as much as 40 MB .

Step 2: Compress the file

Before you stake the television online , you ’ll need to optimize it for the picture iPod ’s screen .

With the latest version of iMovie HD ( part of Apple ’s iLife ’ 06 suite ) , export your Podcast is a snap . Go to File : Export , tick on the iPod tab , and then get across on the Share clit ( see screenshot ) . iMovie convert the single file and grade it in your iTunes library . ( For more on iMovie HD6 , see our full reassessment . )

If you ’re using the previous version of iMovie HD ( from iLife ’ 05 ) , you need to create a tradition preset for the exported file . ( The build - in preset has a bug that makes exported movie appear stretched on the iPod ’s screen . ) Go to File : part , select the QuickTime tab , and take Expert options from the Compress Movie For pull - down menu . snap on the contribution button . In the Save Exported File As dialog box , press Options . Choose Use Custom Size from the Size menu and typecast

If you do n’t have iMovie HD , or if you just want to cursorily change over finished video files without opening them in iMovie , you could habituate Splasm Software’sPodner($10 ) to do the same thing .

Step 3: Add descriptions

Once the file has been converted , drag it into iTunes ( if you ’re not using the late interlingual rendition of iMovie HD ) and contract Command - I to afford the Get Info window . select the Info check and take in the Name field ( in this case , use the deed of your video ) , Artist field , and so on . All this information will help viewers find your Podcast once they ’ve imported it into iTunes . When you ’re done , tap OK . Then urge on Command - R to bring up the file cabinet in a new Finder window . From here , change the file ’s name to well reflect its message — for example , videoPodcast-2005 - 03 - 01.m4v .

Although it is n’t require , you should also consider adding cut through artistry for your Podcast . This could be a photograph , a still from the telecasting , or a unproblematic image — anything that represents you or your Podcast . The standard cover art size is 150 by 150 pixels , so do n’t beak a very tumid image . Once you ’ve selected your fine art , use an image editor in chief to crop it into a square . In iTunes , choose your Podcast and beseech Command - I. tap the Artwork tabloid and then on the Add button . Navigate to your image Indian file and snap on Choose .

Step 4: Distribute your podcast

You ’re now ready to upload the single file to a Web server . Many ISPs offer free WWW place for customer . If yours does n’t , you could commonly make up a modest fee to have another company host your TV data file . Got a .Mac account ? Just upload the file to your Sites folder .

To make your audio data file easily approachable to others , you involve to create an RSS ( Really Simple Syndication ) feed for it . Think of RSS as your site ’s Puerto Rico broker . Anytime you make a young Emily Post , this code post out a sum-up to RSS intelligence reader , such as the ones make into Safari and iTunes .

Create a BlogThe easy path to get an RSS provender is to make a Weblog . iWeb , Apple ’s fresh Web design software ( included with iLife ’ 06 ) , attain this procedure incredibly easygoing ( seeYour One - Stop Weblogon Page 2 ) . However , you could apply any blogging software package to set up your Weblog . Blogger(free ) is particularly leisurely to place up . It pick out about five minutes to create a web log using the on - screen instruction manual .

Once the blog is up and run , go towww.feedburner.comto attach picture or audio to your posts . enroll your blog ’s address , select the I Am A Podcaster option , and press Next . If you expend Blogger , your address will look something like this :

On the Congrats varlet , you ’ll see the address for your blog ’s new RSS feed . Write this down — you’ll involve it afterwards . press Next to move to the Set Up Podcast page . Set the Create Podcast Enclosures From Links To menu to Video Files Only , and activate the Include iTunes Podcasting Elements option . in the end , fill in the appropriate selective information about your Podcast , including a category for its subject .

Return to your logarithm and make a fresh launching . tote up a abbreviated substance with details about the content of your Podcast , as well as any technological data , such as file size . Then tot a connection to the video Indian file on your Web server . The data link will face something like this :

Step 5: Promote your video podcast

you may publicize your Podcast atPodcast Alleyand the iTunes Music Store .

At Podcast Alley , select the Add A Podcast tie-in at the top of the page and enter the appropriate data , include the title of the Podcast and the speech of the RSS provender you produce in FeedBurner .

To promote your video Podcast in iTunes 6 , reach the iTunes Music Store and select Podcasts from the menu on the left field . When the Podcast page come out , cluck on Submit A Podcast . Enter the address of the RSS feed you created in FeedBurner in the Podcast Feed uniform resource locator text box seat . Your newfangled Podcast should be up on iTunes within a day or two . When it is , people can search for it from within iTunes .

Your one-stop weblog

iWeb , the newest penis of Apple ’s iLife , greatly simplify the process of creating and distribute a video Podcast .

When you launch iWeb , select a Podcast Thomas Nelson Page from any of the guide styles . When you utilise this character of page , iWeb automatically retrieves your Podcast and creates an RSS provender for it .

If you ’re using iMovie to edit out your Podcast , go to File : Export , press the iWeb ikon , and then press the Share button . iMovie will send it to iWeb for publication . contribute your own text to the iWeb layout , including a title , show promissory note , and credit . Then go to File : put forward Podcast To iTunes to list your Podcast in the iTunes Music Store ’s Podcast directory . Fill out the appropriate entropy , and then fall into place on the Publish And Submit button to upload your Podcast to your .Mac explanation .

If you do n’t have a .Mac story , do n’t despair . you may publish your iWeb pages , including video Podcasts and RSS information , to any WWW host . From the File fare , select Publish To Folder . iWeb places all the necessary file within your substance abuser folder ’s Sites leaflet . From there , you’re able to use any FTP programme to upload them to the host of your choosing . You will fall back a few features by not put out to .Mac — namely , the automatic listing in iTunes and photo swoop appearance — but for the most part , the pages will be identical . ( For more on iWeb , see our full review . )

[ Cyrus Farivar isMacworld ’s assistant editor . He is also the host and manufacturer of theMacworld Podcast . ]