Filed Under: Internet, Media, Movies, Tutorial

Today in class I figured out how to Get a YouTube video on a Verizon Cell Phone for Sam. I thought I would create a little tutorial for him, and others and place it on my site. So here it is.

• Quicktime Pro
• Perian
• Safari
• A Phone that supports 3GP video playback and receiving.

Part one
Get the video from YouTube.

1. Using safari go to the page for the video you want.
   
2. Open up the activity monitor in Safari. (Command-Option-A)
3. Find the file in the list that is the biggest. This should be the only file that is over 1mb in the list.
   
4. Hold down option and double click the link in the list. This will download the file to your default download location. It will be named “get_video”.
5. Go into the Finder and rename the file to something ending in flv.
   

Part Two
Convert the file to a format you can use on your phone.

1. Open the newly renamed .flv file in Quicktime Player.
   
2. Using the timeline select 29 seconds of the video you want to use. (I say 29 since the limit is 30 seconds, and just 1 frame extra over that limit will cause it to be too long. Thus 29 seconds keeps you safe.
3. Copy this selection (Command C)
4. Create a new player from the file menu (Command-N) and paste (Command-V) the video into it. Go to the end of the video and verify that the time is indeed 29 seconds or less.
5. Choose export from the file menu. (Command-E)
6. From the Export format menu select “3G”. And then click options.
   
7. Now you need to set up the specs for the video. I found that the default bit-rates and formats worked on the phone I was doing this with, so I recommend using those. I also found that the newest version of Quicktime updated the 3G capabilities and formats. So if you are using a version below 7.4 the dialogs might look a bit different than mine.
8. Select ‘3GP’ or ‘3GPP (Mobile MP4)’ (depending on your quicktime version) from the File format menu at the top of the 3G Export Settings dialog. This should in both cases set all the default settings needed to export. Below I have a screenshot of the settings just incase.
   
9. Click OK and then Click Save. Once finished encoding you should have a video file ready to send to the phone.

Part Three
Send the video to the phone.

1. Head over to https://picture.vzw.com/ and click “Send a Message” over on the left.
   
2. Click ‘Upload Media’ located at the bottom of the left column of the interface.
3. Follow the dialogs to pick your exported video and upload it.
4. Once uploaded drag the preview of your video over to the area on the right and enter any text you want to send along with it. Click Preview & send.
5. On the next dialog you will enter the number of the phone you are sending to and an optional additional text message.
6. Click send and it should send.

Part Four
The disclaimers and notes.

• This might work for sending to other carriers phones. You would have to test to see. It might be verizon only. And if that is the case there might be other services out there that let you send 3GP videos to phones on those carriers.
• This will work with other settings and 3g2 videos. Though this depends on the phone you are sending to some can’t play all file types, or bit-rates. So play with increasing the bit-rates and sizes and 3g formats to see what works and what don’t. Remember the Verizon site limits the file size to 3mb. So you might be able to get some clips looking really good. You never know. I just don’t have any phones handy to test with.
• There are other ways to get the FLV from YouTube. The method shown here is just a quick and easy one all Mac users can do. KeepVid.com is another way to download the FLV.
• There are other ways to encode to 3g other than Quicktime with Quicktime Pro. I don’t know them off hand, but this will work with those too as long as the produced 3g videos are of the proper specs.
• Remember there are fees related to messages and data on phones. So don’t go crazy with this unless you know what your rates are, or the rates of the person receiving the video.

I hope this tutorial is found to be useful in some way. Apologies if something is unclear. Ask in the comments and I might be able to help.
Remember that Perian is the only way you can open the FLV in Quicktime, and it needs ‘.flv’ at the end of the file to open it.

Filed Under: Animation, Media, Movies, School

This is an animation I made for 3D class. Our goal was to create an animation with a character as the focus. Along with use multiple angles to be edited together in another program, such as Final Cut Pro. The sounds were not a requirement, but added a lot to the video, and make it more effective.

This was created in Strata 3D. Though I do not, at all, recomend anyone use it.

Filed Under: Animation, Illustration, Images, Movies

I recently watched Twice Upon a Time The uncensored version. A really interesting animated movie with a great cutout style. It inspired me to make the above image. I recommend getting your hands on a copy of Twice Upon a Time if you are into obscure classic animation.

Filed Under: Media, Movies

I recommend all 3. In the Bedroom, Transamerica & Michael Clayton.

Filed Under: Life, Media, Movies, School, TV

Here is the video I mentioned in my previous post. I was editor and camera on the project. The rest is Ben’s work. He entered just for the experience of creating something and submitting it. It turned out rather good for his very first outing in creating a short film.

On The Lot - Just Another Toy: http://films.thelot.com/films/15466

Filed Under: Media, Movies

I just watched Magnolia for the second time today, all 188 minutes of it. I love it. Take that for what you will. Just thought I would put it out there.

I highly recommend it. Though if you have A.D.D., I pity you.

Filed Under: Life, Media, Movies

Pretty good movie. Lots of funny parts, great voice acting. And one thing I have liked since I saw the trailer is the character animations. They just feel different than what you have seen in the past, And I like it.

IMDB tt0385880

Filed Under: Media, Movies, School

Here is a video I worked on back in High School. Its really quite bad, but I had fun making it. I also have had this as a draft post for over a month now, never wanted to post it. Guess I felt it was not of quality to post. What eva, Here it is!

Filed Under: Movies

On Saturday Tim and I went to see Howl’s Moving Castle in the theater. I found it was playing in one of those theaters that carries movies that just moved out of most theaters. Now Howl’s did not have a huge release, so I was quite surprised to find it playing there.

Howl’s Moving Castle is Hayao Miyazaki’s newest film. He is the director of Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, and many more.

We both loved this film, it has a great story with wonderful and fun characters. The animation is great, and a nice change from all the 3D stuff America if pumping out these days. If you have enjoyed any of Miyazaki’s previous work, you will love Howl’s Moving Castle.

Plot outline from IMDB:

When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking home

Filed Under: Movies, NotestoNetflix

Movie: My Flesh and Blood

TV Show: Carnival

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