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MS Office Forum / General PowerPoint Questions / August 2006how do I generate a "movie" background to run during my pres.?
I would like to run (in the background of my slide presentation)a movie and have the option of overlaying text onto the slides The first question is why would you want to? I've tried various animations and movie clips in my MBA program, my civilian career and as a military officer, and found this one undeniable truth in all settings: things that move on the presentation are distracting and annoying. The flashier your graphics, the more detracting from your message. This also includes a lot of the transitions, sounds, music and text effects. If you need eye-grabbing graphics or movies, you are better off using them as embedded files that run on a mouse click before or after your point is made, rather than running in the background. Powerpoint is a good presentation tool, but you're not going to get slick Hollywood video out of it. If you really need to put together a video presentation, use a good video editng program, most of which allow you to compose and superimpose titles. With that said, here's what I've found about how to do this... You can't really run a movie file as a background, since it is constantly refreshing and no matter how you set your graphics order, it will superimpose itself on the text. You're better off having the movie under, over or to the side of the text where it can run without interfering. The most effective method I've used was to first display the text, then run the video to make the point. That might also work the other way around, depending on your material. The only way I've found to have a 'movie' run under the text is to use an animated GIF file. These are generally very short, made up of less than 100 frames, and loop constantly. Again, these tend to be more annoying than anything, even if they are just off to the side as a decoration. You also tend to lose resolution when you set them as a background on the Slide Master, so what you thought was pretty slick ends up looking grainy and cheap. HTH JonR > I would like to run (in the background of my slide presentation)a movie and > have the option of overlaying text onto the slides Not all presentation are alike so I wouldn't generalize on 'static' is good. For example if you have a high impact message, where you want to keep a certain level of energy going, Powerpoint static or jerky white text animation over a static background will be detrimental. If you look at broadcast titling system used by CNN and the like, its rare if ever that the background is static. You dont want to put a jumping tiger in your background, but you also dont want something completly static for every presentation. Lets say you have a short marketing presentation about your company new audio amplifier product line, woudlnt' that type of PPT template be more fitting ? http://www.seriousmagic.com/products/presentations/powerLooksViews.cfm?opt=resonance Or maybe an invitation to a investment seminar ? http://www.seriousmagic.com/products/presentations/powerLooksViews.cfm?opt=marke tTrends Stephan > The first question is why would you want to? I've tried various animations > and movie clips in my MBA program, my civilian career and as a military [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] >> I would like to run (in the background of my slide presentation)a movie and >> have the option of overlaying text onto the slides Impressive backgrounds. Unfortunately, they don't move on the web, so I'll have to download the free trial and give it a spin. I'm impressed that you have presentation notes on the presenter's screen while the audience sees nothing but presentation. That's a feature Powerpoint has been screaming for ever since I've first used it. I'm not extolling the virtue of the purely static, which is exceptionally dull, and animations are very effective when properly used. I've used animated text and a few (IMHO) cleverly animated grahics, and even movie clips from time to time to reinforce a point or draw attention to a particular concept. I've also seen (and been guilty of) having animation for animation's sake. I've been both praised and berated for clever (or annoying) grahics on different slides in the same presentation! Little dinko things bouncing around the screen which serve no purpose are annoying, and distract from the message. Many users get wrapped up in the package and forget that they're trying to sell an idea. My bottom line is: if it sells your idea, use it. If it doesn't, dump it. > Not all presentation are alike so I wouldn't generalize on 'static' is good. > For example if you have a high impact message, where you want to keep a certain level of energy going, [quoted text clipped - 49 lines] > >> I would like to run (in the background of my slide presentation)a movie and > >> have the option of overlaying text onto the slides This cannot be done. Movies are always on top of everything else.  Signature<>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<> <><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><> <><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><> <><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><> Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP] |I would like to run (in the background of my slide presentation)a movie and | have the option of overlaying text onto the slides > This cannot be done. Movies are always on top of everything else. > > |I would like to run (in the background of my slide presentation)a movie and > | have the option of overlaying text onto the slides It seems somewhat strange that 3rd party software, and MUCH CHEAPER display software can make it work, but the giant Micro$oft talent can't figure out how to do it and make their product more versitile! > This cannot be done. Movies are always on top of everything else. > > |I would like to run (in the background of my slide presentation)a movie and > | have the option of overlaying text onto the slides I think you misunderstand, what you see almost all other software do is create some sort of "video" or recorded script that is later ran. PowerPoint is doing a real time rendition of the content in the presentation while the video is ran as a separate thread. To change the text integrated into a video or even in a scripted playback requires a lot more work that making a text change in PPT. Flexibility in editing a presentation is one of the key factors that has made PowerPoint so popular. Austin Myers MS PowerPoint MVP Team Provider of PFCMedia http://www.pfcmedia.com > It seems somewhat strange that 3rd party software, and MUCH CHEAPER > display [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >> and >> | have the option of overlaying text onto the slides >I think you misunderstand, what you see almost all other software do is create some sort of "video" or recorded script that is >later ran. PowerPoint is doing a real time rendition of the content in the presentation while the video is ran as a separate >thread. To change the text integrated into a video or even in a scripted playback requires a lot more work that making a text >change in PPT. Flexibility in editing a presentation is one of the key factors that has made PowerPoint so popular. Not all software :) Powerpoint uses GDI to render the slide content and its not the best suited for realtime compositing. But it works on all machine that can run windows, so Microsoft sacrificed visual feature for compatibility. Not a bad choice, because I sure allot more people would be complaining "Why doesn't powerpoint 2007 work on my 6 year old laptop?!" After Vista is out for a 'while' you might find new version of Powerpoint starting to use the new graphic feature of the OS, and Powerpoint will be able to do visually allot more. Stephan www.seriousmagic.com > Austin Myers > MS PowerPoint MVP Team [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >>> |I would like to run (in the background of my slide presentation)a movie and >>> | have the option of overlaying text onto the slides Yeah, but if PowerPlugs: Video Backgrounds Player and other program add-ons can figure out how to do it, shouldn't you expect that M$ could figure it out? Why pay big bucks for PowerPoint, then have to shell out another $100+ to get it to do what you need it to do to get something besides very crude presentations? > >I think you misunderstand, what you see almost all other software do is create some sort of "video" or recorded script that is > >later ran. PowerPoint is doing a real time rendition of the content in the presentation while the video is ran as a separate [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > >>> |I would like to run (in the background of my slide presentation)a movie and > >>> | have the option of overlaying text onto the slides > Yeah, but if PowerPlugs: Video Backgrounds Player and other program > add-ons > can figure out how to do it, And they work on a limited machines, in limited environments. > Yeah, but if PowerPlugs: Video Backgrounds Player and other program add-ons > can figure out how to do it, shouldn't you expect that M$ could figure it > out? Why assume that they can't? Why not instead assume that they've considered it, weighed the likely cost against the expressed needs of the majority of their users, future marketing plans and whatever else makes MS tick, and decided that the time and money would be better spent on other features? > Why pay big bucks for PowerPoint, then have to shell out another $100+ > to get it to do what you need it to do to get something besides very crude > presentations? Because PowerPoint doesn't do what you need it to do. True, an AWFUL lot of people are looking for more sophisticated handling of videos in PPT. And true, it sure could use it. And maybe it'll be there in the next version and we can start grumbling about something else we'd like it to do but it doesn't. It makes a lousy cup of tea, I'm told. Something must be done. ;-) In the meanwhile, we'll have to accept that it doesn't do everything, and we'll have to find tools that do. > > >I think you misunderstand, what you see almost all other software do is create some sort of "video" or recorded script that is > > >later ran. PowerPoint is doing a real time rendition of the content in the presentation while the video is ran as a separate [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > > >>> |I would like to run (in the background of my slide presentation)a movie and > > >>> | have the option of overlaying text onto the slides ----------------------------------------- Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com PPTools: www.pptools.com ================================================ This has been a very interesting thread to read through. I too have been wondering how this effect is generated at a local church. They use, I assumed, PPT to display song text with moving clouds in the background. With all this under my belt, I won't feel so bad asking tehm next Sunday, how they do that. Thansk to all who responded. > > Yeah, but if PowerPlugs: Video Backgrounds Player and other program add-ons > > can figure out how to do it, shouldn't you expect that M$ could figure it [quoted text clipped - 71 lines] > PPTools: www.pptools.com > ================================================ |
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