ShoutTip: Video Thumbnails

If you are a fan of the new Full Script view in MediaShout – it is probably because you like the visual cues that the thumbnails provide. With an expanded script, you are able to preview what comes next – or quickly scan down the script for the cue that you would like to use without having to click on it to preview it in one of the Shout Monitors.

Pretty nifty trick – unless the thumbnail is filled with black.

This doesn't happen all the time – but is most likely to happen if a video you are using fades up from black. The default setting for videos is for the thumbnail to be the first frame of the file and therefore the screen is black. That isn't at all helpful if you are using the cue's thumbnail to give you a visual indication of the contents. Never fear, you may select another frame of the video to act as the thumbnail. To accomplish this in your script simply Insert>Video. This will bring up the video selection dialog box.



After selecting the proper video, preview it using the play button located under the preview monitor. When the video advances beyond the black frames located at the beginning, select another frame by clicking the button located to the far right of the Thumb counter. (See button circled in red in the above graphic). This selects the current frame in the preview monitor as your thumbnail view. You can select any frame that will be a good visual reminder of the video's contents.

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