*NOTE: If you are having trouble viewing the movies, are a novice, or simply need the free version of Apple's QuickTime, click ON

INSTRUCTIONS.

Mercedes "JoyRide" Movie.

Check out this Mercedes Benz footage you will never see anywhere else! Shot on location in N.Y.C. with my Nikon #990 "digital still" camera in it's 15fps QuickTime Movie mode. The original QuickTime movie file I created was 5.4 megs. and runs 19 seconds. I used Sorenson compression to reduce the file size to 1.5 megs. for faster online viewing. Later I decided to add a sound track and a few more seconds of video and a title, and the file size grew to over 16 megs. and now runs for 23 seconds. Compressing this new version got it down to 1.7 megs.

The actual 35mm short movie was produced for Mercedes dealers only, and stars Sarah Jessica Parker and her "real life", hubby Mathew Broderick going on a blind date. This scene is called "Joyride", as the parking attendants take Sarah's car out for a test spin. Just for fun, I edited using QuickTime 4.0 only.

INSTRUCTIONS: How to use your browser to view and download QuickTime Movies.

The techniques for viewing and downloading a movie are very similar to that of any file. The speed can be affected by many things, including the speed of your computers processor, the modem speed, and server speed you are connected to. Unless you buy a new computer, you are stuck with whatever processor speed you currently have now. You also can't control the speed of the server's system you are connected to. The best thing you can do to improve and enjoy online movie viewing is to get a fast modem and connection to the Internet. If you are still using a 56k modem, many movies on the Internet will load very slowly. Besides file uploading and downloading, and general "surfing", movie viewing is one of the best reasons to get yourself a DSL line or Cable modem. There are some things you can do to minimize viewing problems.

First, try to keep the version of whatever browser you use up to date. Currently, the two most popular "browser" software programs are, Netscape Navigator, and Internet Explorer. Web pages have to be designed with both in mind as identical web pages can appear much different in both browsers. On the Apple Mac, I write my HTML code for Internet Explorer 5.0, and then check to see if it functions in Netscape Navigator 4.08. I mention this because each browser has it's own way of loading and downloading movies. Since the both programs are free it is a good idea to have both available on your system.

In both programs you must have a version of the "QuickTime Plug-In", located in your browsers "plug-in" folder. You have to configure this plug-in in your browser settings, usually in the "Preferences" menu. With this plug-in properly configured, when you click on a movie ".mov" extension, a new browser window should open with the QT "Logo" in the middle or Apple's QuickTime Player application. Depending on the movie's size, it should begin loading in the "Player", otherwise the QT Logo will be replaced by the "Player" when the movie has loaded, just be patient. If the "Player" loads, you will see the progress bar getting larger from left to right within the player window. Some movies are set to play immediately, even though the entire movie is not loaded. This is an internal setting in QuickTime called "AutoPlay", and is an option the creator can turn ON or OFF when saving the edited QuickTime Movie. On the bottom right corner of the QuickTime "Player" window is a button that opens a sub-menu with various options, one of those options is: "Configure QuickTime Plug-In", here you can also select the movies to "AutoPlay", as soon as the "Player Window" opens, if you like. If you wait for the entire movie to load, it will play all the way till the end without pausing. If you are impatient, and start to play it before it fully loads or have "AutoPlay" set to ON, you may have to wait part way through, for more of the movie to load. Once loaded you can play it as many times as you like or download it. In this same configuration menu is an option for "Saving to Cache", you should set this to "ON", so movies are loaded into your RAM, and you can play them back quicker when you want to view them again in the browser. Here is a little trick, if you set the Movies to save to your "Cache", the file will be loaded into that folder as it downloads from the site, and this is true in most cases unless the Movies QT author has turned off this option. So if you want to keep this movie on your computer, you can open up the folder containing this TEMP movie file. On the Mac, I open the "Temporary Files" folder, located in my System Folder/Preferences/Explorer/Temporary. After the QT Movie has loaded in your browser but before you go to another page or site, simply copy the movie file to a permanate folder on your hard drive. Most of these files will disappear from the temp folder when you move to another Internet site. There is a similar cache folder in Netscape's browser. NOTE: I have found that in some cases the "file creator" types of these copied movie files are not "true .mov" files and you will need some kind of "resource editor" to change them so that "double clicking" on them opens your "QuickTime Player". This can be somewhat complicated for the novice, so stick with using the "QT Players Download" button if you want to keep the movie on your computer. I am currently using QuickTime Pro, version 4.0.3. The non-pro version is free from the Apple.com web site and should play most QuickTime movies and is available for both Mac and Windows as QuickTime is a "cross-platform" program.

After downloading and installing this software check to see if the "Plug-in" was installed in all your browsers "plug-in" folders. You sometimes get the same QuickTime plug-in when you install new versions of the browser software. If movies are not loading online for you, this is the first thing to check for, and also how you have the plug-in configured. There are also settings inside your browser, usually under the "Preferences" menu. In "Internet Explorer" you go to the browser's preference settings and click on "File Helpers". You then see a list ofall the Plug-In's you have enabled in the browser. Scroll down to the one called "QuickTime Movie" and select the one that shows it works with the ".mov" extension. Highlite this one and click on the "change" button. Here is where you will see settings for "Handling", this controls the behavior of your plug-in. I believe the "default" setting is for a "Movie" file to begin downloading when you click on it, rather then loading the "Player" window. Change this to "view with plug-in".

You also have to configure the QuickTime "Control Panel", on the Mac. (I am sure there are similar settings for the Windows platform). Go to your: Control Panel-QuickTime Settings. The most "IMPORTANT" setting for online movie viewing is to set your "CONNECTION SPEED"! When properly matched to your modem speed, the QuickTime Movie file you click online, can read and determine what size file is appropriate for your modem. If you have a 28.8 dial up modem and set the speed in this dialog box for a "T1" connection the movie you will end up downloading will be huge and take forever to view. My DSL modem is capable of 64 KiloByte/sec. downloads, I experimented by setting the connection speed to "T1" and ended up viewing a slow loading 15meg. movie. I then reset my connection speed to the closer match of the "112K Dual ISDN" setting and was able to watch a much quicker version of the same Movie Trailer which was a 7.5meg. movie. So you can see how setting the proper "connection speed" is very important. Programs for the Mac like Media Cleaner Pro and Sorenson Compressin allow QuickTime Movie authors the ability to create several versions of the same movie. When you click on the "movie", the correct size version is chosen for you, but only if you have chosen your "Connection Speed" properly. Some QuickTime Movie sites have different "icons" with modem speeds listed below them to make it easier for you, but do take the time to configure your QuickTime settings in the first place. The Apple server is very fast, so a good place to go first, to check all your settings, is the same place you can download the free version of QuickTime (see link below). The address is: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/. Once there click on the Movie "Trailers" link, and check out the latest Hollywood releases.

Getting back to using QuickTime itself. If you take a little time to read the QuickTime information and help files you will learn what some of the Player's buttons do, or you can just experiment. If a QuickTime movie was created with the option for "downloading" turned ON, in version 4.0 of QT you can press the button on the bottom far right of the player window (described above) and a sub-menu will pop-up with options for saving the movie to your hard drive and other options, try it out.

If none of the options above appear for you, or you do not want to spend to much time configuring your system, both browsers I mentioned above have special mouse commands that many are not familiar with. If you hold the cursor/pointer over the link to a movie or file and hold the left mouse button down, a pop-up menu will appear, right on your browser screen, with options for saving the movie to your hard drive and other options. Once downloaded you will still need a version of QuickTime's Player on your computer to actually play the movie.

Remember, all of these instructions were written with the software versions I mentioned. Since software changes faster then your underwear, some of these menus and settings will change also, but not so radically that you won't be able to figure them out once you learn the basics. If you have followed all the instructions above and are still having trouble viewing or downloading movies from my site, please e-mail me with the specific problem you are experiencing (*e-mail address is at my home site link below). Include the following information; the operating system you use, the browser type and version, the QuickTime version, and the modem and connection speed.

It may sound overly complicated, but once you learn all your options, it will seem real simple and you will find yourself helping others to enjoy online Movie viewing! Remember, the faster your connection the more you can enjoy.

"CLICK" here to go back UP to: MOVIES.

Go here "QUICKTIME" to download the latest version of Apple's "QuickTime" program, works on Windows and Macintosh computers alike!