Your reels for websites
Being a techie, I get this question a lot.
Many actors want to post their reels online, but they don't have their videos in the right format. Most websites accept MP4 files, some accept AVI files, but other than that you might be out of luck. It certainly makes sense to have the same exact video on all of your social profiles, be it youtube, vimeo, stage 32, twitter or instagram, but keep in mind that some of them have length and size limitations while most have format limitations. Here's what you do.
There are many tools on the market that can do this for you. There are high-grade applications that filmmakers use, and there are cheaper versions available for the simpler tasks. If you search the web you'll find bunch of lists of best video converters, the ones I've used in the past are: Any Video Converter (priced at $39.95) and iSkysoft Video Editor - I don't remember how much this one was but I think it was between $30 and $40 - they don't have a price listed, don't you just hate that? Still, both of these are affordable and work very well, but that's not my main recommendation today
VideoLAN's VLC Player is probably the most powerful player out there, and I've been using it for years. Not only is it free, but it's available for all platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and IOS. If you don't have VLC yet, just go to their website and get the newest version.
Once you have it on your computer here's what you do:
- Open up the VLC
- In the main content menu click "Media" and select "Convert / Save..."
- Under the "File" tab, select one or more files you want to convert
- Click "Alt+O" or select "Convert" option from the selector on the bottom right
- Select type of file you want to convert it to, I recommend MP4
- Select the destination file, as in, where you want to save it
- Click Start
It's pretty simple. If you want some more options, you can click the wrench and screwdriver icon next to the type format select box, which will allow you to customize the codec with some filters (i.e. add mirror filters or magnify your selection). It's really neat, and best of all it's free.
