To complete “The Best Of” video assignment, follow these steps.

The first step is to pick your favorite tv show (the assignment repository says you can do your least favorite as well, but I recommend doing your favorite, you will see why in the next step). Think deep thoughts about what you want to do, and make sure it is a show you have access too several episodes of (i.e. it is readily available on YouTube, or you own the DVD). Pick something that you would have fun watching, because you are going to.

The second step is to watch a few episodes (I watched 5-6, but that’s because they are only about 22 min each). While you are watching take note of which particular scenes you want to cut out, or use to highlight some aspect of the show (keep in mind that that is what you will be doing–highlighting).

The third step is to retrieve the video. So, if you are watching it on YouTube, you can use keepvid.com to download the MP4 version to your computer. There is a tutorial on how to do that here (super helpful).

The fourth step, once you have gotten it onto your computer is to open it with the editing tool of your choice (I used MPEG StreamClip, as per the recommendation of my instructor). Skip ahead to the scenes you noted earlier, and trim your video down to the points that you deem necessary. (There is a handy tutorial on how to trim and combine videos with MPEG here). If you are doing multiple clips from one video, you have to re-open the whole big video. Make sure you save your trimmed clip before doing this. It works best if you keep them organized, and number them; this is important, because you will be working with a lot of little clips, and the order in which you select them in the end is crucial.

The fifth step, once you have your clips all picked out, open the files to combine them. If you have a Mac like I do, use the command key to select multiple clips. Make sure you select the clips in the reverse order that you want them to play in. (This is where numbering them comes in handy). Otherwise your clips will play in the wrong order. If you used different sized videos when you were trimming, the videos might appear different sizes when you combine them all. We don’t want this. To avoid it, go back into the individual videos and set them all to the equal frame length/width. Then try reopening them.

The sixth step, and final one, is to save the clips once you get them all set in the order that you want. Make sure you save it as MP4–this seems to be the most universal. Upload it to YouTube, and make sure you add the correct tags so that everyone can see your work.