Best video format...

[HappySnail]

Hello

I have a short HD film which sits at around 400MB (2 mins) in a .mov from final cut pro. I would like to put this in a portfolio for an application, however:

"Media files (sound or video, animations etc.) of not more than 15mb each. These must be playable without specialist software (i.e. using standard applications like Quicktime). Our preferred format is Quicktime (.mov or .qt) for video, or MP3 for audio."

15mb! I know that my 400mb video was massive but how can i compress it to that size, play it in normal quicktime in a standard format without it being unwatchable?
Is there a format to export the video in that could be watchable at that size? Or any other way to super compress the video?

I have the HD video on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H286Uie0MF4) would that video be compressed enough to use if i downloaded it and what is the most compressed format quicktime can play?

Sorry there are so many questions, i'm just a bit confused by the whole thing having been used to working with much larger files.

Thanks for any help.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Do you have to send the files via CD/DVD or via internet?
Anyway, H264 is a good codec, maybe try Compressor (part of FCS) to export to such codec and get the size down.
As it is, the file from YouTube is 35.9MB in size and 1920 x 1080 pixel in resolution. Maybe you can try 720p or an SD resolution (PAL or NTSC).
Or you can try Handbrake.

Btw, the content of the video does not really require 1920 x 1080 pixel and the interviewee is quite dark.

 

[Consultant]

The 720P from YouTube is 18.7 MB.

Might want to adjust contrast first though. Quite gray overall.

 

[HappySnail]

Thanks. I'll try the compressor method in H264. Yeah I know the whole thing is dark/gray. I'm colour correcting it now . The youtube video was simply a test and it's probably easier to change the file size when exporting than to get the compressed version back from youtube.

I managed to compress it in H264 to an ok looking 10.4mb. It is 320x240 though so it only looks good at a tiny size. I'll keep messing around with quality settings to see if i can get a bigger resolution under 15mb but that video format seems pretty good for compression.

 

[zblaxberg]

Thanks. I'll try the compressor method in H264. Yeah I know the whole thing is dark/gray. I'm colour correcting it now . The youtube video was simply a test and it's probably easier to change the file size when exporting than to get the compressed version back from youtube.

I managed to compress it in H264 to an ok looking 10.4mb. It is 320x240 though so it only looks good at a tiny size. I'll keep messing around with quality settings to see if i can get a bigger resolution under 15mb but that video format seems pretty good for compression.

You said your video was only two minutes long? You should be able to get it down to 720x480 or even HD 1920x1080 in an H.264 MP4 format and it should be very small.