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Tips for creating video for mobile devices

Use these tips when shooting content for mobile devices:

  • Tight shots are better. Try to keep the subject separated from the background; the colors and values between background and subject should not be too similar.

  • Be aware of lighting. Poor lighting is a greater problem with mobile devices and can reduce visibility on small screens. Shoot and adjust with this limitation in mind.

  • Avoid excessive panning or rolling.

Use the following tips when editing video with Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects:

  • Set the frame rate for the output movie according to output device or output type. For example, a commercial in After Effects might be rendered at 15 frames per second (fps) for distribution on mobile devices, but at 29.97 fps for broadcast television in the USA. In general, use a lower frame rate. A frame rate of 22 fps is a good compromise for reducing file size without losing quality

  • Make the movie as small as possible and remove any extraneous content, especially empty frames. Many actions can be done pre-encoding to limit file size. Some of them apply to shooting techniques, while others (for instance, using motion-stabilization tools in After Effects or applying a noise-reduction or blur effect) are post-production tasks that facilitate the compression portion of the encoder.

    Note: For tips on making movies smaller, see the online Help for After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro.

  • Match the color palette to the correct mobile devices. Mobile devices, in general, have a limited color range. Previewing in Device Central can help determine if the colors used are optimal for an individual device or range of devices.

  • Adjust clips. Grayscale view is helpful to compare values.

  • Use the presets available in Adobe Media Encoder. Several presets are designed for export to 3GPP mobile devices in Adobe Media Encoder. 3GPP presets come in standard sizes: 176 x 144 (QCIF), 320 x 240, and 352 x 288.

  • Crop wisely. A common practice is to work at standard DV project settings and output to a combination of DV, DVD, Flash, WMV and mobile 3GPP. Use the usual presets, but at encoding time manage the difference between 4:3 or 16:9 video and the 11:9 aspect ratio of mobile 3GPP. The AME crop tool allows constraint to arbitrary proportions in the same manner as Photoshop’s Crop tool and adds an 11:9 constraint preset to the existing 4:3 and 16:9.

  • Work at an aspect ratio consistent with mobile output. New project presets (available only on Windows) make this easy. The frame dimensions are larger than the ultimate output size (working at 176 x 144 can be difficult, for example, for titling), but they match the output-frame aspect ratio to facilitate easy encoding. Each Windows project preset renders to uncompressed video, but most computers can manage the data rate at these reduced frame sizes and halved frame rates. (This process is for projects where the only output is for mobile devices.) Two frame aspect ratios account for the majority of support in mobile devices: 4:3 (QVGA, VGA etc.) and 11:9 (CIF, QCIF, Sub‑QCIF). These two common project settings are included in the Adobe Media Encoder “Mobile & Presets” folder.

    Note: Do not use the device data in Device Central to determine how to configure a custom preset. Device Central does not have information about video or audio support (frame sizes, codecs, bit rates, and so on). The frame size data in Device Central refers to screen size and wallpaper and screen saver sizes, which are different from video sizes.

For more tips and techniques for creating content for mobile phones and devices, see www.adobe.com/go/learn_cs_mobilewiki_en.