7. Producing Sign Language Videos

Recommended Equipment for Studio Setup

      ITEMS

QUANTITY

      DESCRIPTION

• Professional Digital Camera

     1

     1920 x 1080 Resolution

• Lighting system

     4

     Main, Flat, Filler, and Rear

• Camera tripod

     1

     Standardized camera mount

• Green Screen

     1

     9 x 10 feet backdrop

• Professional microphone

     1

     Dynamic microphone   

• A set of headphones

     1

     Professional semi-open microphones

• Microphone stand

     1

     free-standing mount for a microphone

• Editing software

     1

     Adobe Premiere Pro

• Camera format
• The camera should be digital, because of its superior ease of use, quality, and edition.
• The camera should have at least 8 GB of storage.
• It should be a camera that can film in high definition, HD: The exact quality to be used is decided in post-production, but for editing purposes, it is crucial that the filming is as high quality as possible.
• The camera should preferably have a manual configuration.
• The camera should preferably have a manual lens.
• The camera should preferably have an automatic or Manual White Balance.

Image showing the Camera format

• Lighting system
• Point lighting
• The main light is positioned about 45 degrees right or left of the subject and 45 degrees downward, pointing to where the face and torso are located.
• A filler light is located behind and opposite the main light, at the height of the camera,
• Rear light that is slightly above the subject, shining back to the screen or chroma
• Flat lighting
• Two lights are positioned behind the camera, in opposite directions, in order to cover the entire surface and eliminate shadows.

Image showing the Lighting System

• Sound Recording
• The recording of the voiceover should be in WAV format, which provides the best audio quality
• The recording should take place in a recording studio or in a controlled environment that is acoustically desirable and isolated to reduce background noise.
• The microphone should be a high-sensitivity digital microphone, preferably unidirectional
• Closed or semi-open headphones
• Microphone stand: this makes the work easier and helps avoid vibrations
• Editing software such as Audacity will be used

Image of the studio showing the necessary distances

• The camera and the signer 6 meters
• The reflectors and the camera 5 meters
• The green screen and the camera 7 meters
• The screen and the signer 3 meters
• Video editing
• The video has a voice-over, which can be turned on and off.
• The voice will accompany the sign language, not the text.
• The duration of each film block is calculated and then used to time the voice recording, which should last about the same as the sign language block.
• In the case of literary texts, the voice-over will accompany the written text.
• In the case of storytelling, a voice-over accompanies the narrator.
• The team will convene persons to put their voices to the text or story.
• A detailed timeline will be developed by the reader and the sound engineer.
• Each reader will practice reading according to the speed of the sign language narration.
• The reader must agree to the use of his or her voice.
• During the recording, an assistant will make sure that the reading of the text, the pronunciation, intonation, and timing are adequate.
• The sound engineer edits the voices and sends the files to the coordinator, who checks them before sending them to the editor
• Packaging
• DVDs
• EPUBs - early grade template is located in Github
• Online
• Flash Drives

Image showing the end product: EPUB for the video

Image of the Signer, Background, and the text caption

• Signing Actor
• The clothing used by the actors must be one color, either black or white, depending on the skin color of the presenter
• The clothing or the hair must not interfere with the clear understanding of the signs and during editing
• High contrast between the signer’s hands and the video background-color
• Caption text 
• Make subtitles optional for the videos, i.e. that the videos can be watched with or without subtitles.
• Color: White fill, Black stroke, and large font

Image from original PDF book

How to extract the image and add it to the video:

• Open the PDF in Acrobat, and then choose Tools > Export PDF
• Click **Image and then choose the image file format that you want to save the images in.**
• JPEG
• NPG
• Click **Save to save only the images from the PDF to the selected file format**
• Place the image in the video

×