Edited & Last Updated 3/14/2002 by jow

Notes on Video Editing to Protect 

Privacy & Confidentiality

Post-Production Editing to Protect Privacy & Confidentiality

The question that started the discussion on the DCC listserv:

• Area-Localized Image Smear/Pixelation - Protecting Confidentiality    Whitlock, 3/13/2002

  I'd appreciate tips and steers to the best package(s) to use to
  edit MPEG1, and ideally MPEG2, files to hide identifying information
  (faces, identifying text) without requiring sound-track editing to
  compensate for trimmed segments as would be necessary if one simply
  trimmed the offending segments out of the clip.
  
  The usual visual effects seen on commercial channels is a localized
  (within the video image) area of large pixels or smear that eliminates
  any possibility of recognizing a person or reading text that could
  otherwise serve to disclose identify and/or location.
  
  I have Adobe Premier, Adobe After Effects, Ulead's Media Studio
  Pro, Terran's Media Cleaner Pro and a few other lesser editing
  packages but have only started to explore them and have no prior
  experience to bank on.

Responses received to date:

• Jim Gordon on Final Cut Pro (Mac)     3/23/2002

  FinalCutPro is probably the best, plus it's also probably the easiest to
  use.
  
  The Educational Technology Center may already have this program available
  for you to use at the ETC. Give Mike Morin a call at 645-7700 ext 17.
  
  Final Cut Pro Real-time transitions and filters
  <     Cross Dissolve
  <     Iris transitions:
  Diamond Iris
  Oval Iris
  Point Iris
  Rectangle Iris
  Star Iris
  <     Wipe transitions:
  Center Wipe
  Clock Wipe
  Edge Wipe
  Inset Wipe
  V Wipe
  <     Color Corrector 3-way filter
  Real-time motion effects
  < Opacity
  < Scale
  < Center
  < Offset
  < Crop
  < Aspect

   

• Roberta (Robin) Sullivan on Adobe Premier, After Effects and Photoshop    3/13/2002

  We played around with this very briefly using AfterEffects using
  pixelation filters and tweening the movement.
  
  You should also be able to accomplish this in Premiere using a black box
  to obscure your portion of the image and have the graphic follow a motion
  path.
  
  One final option would be to export the portion of the clip in filmstrip
  format which can be opened in Photoshop. Depending on the length of the
  clip this can result in very large files that need to be manipulated.

   

• Logan Scott extending the question beyond MPEG source files     3/13/2002

  I would also like to hear of any tips on this problem - with any
  format not necessarily MPEG.  We do a fair amount of video with
  classes of school children and privacy is a growing concern.  I
  notice that you asked for responses to be direct to you, if you do
  hear of anything could you pass them on, or post them to the list.

   

•  Jim Gordon on contacts at UB's ETC and ETC assistance     3/23/2002

  Mike Morin of the ETC did a brief demo for me of a windows product that has
  some digital editing capabilities. Whether or not that product is as capable
  as FinalCut Pro, I don't know.
  
  However, the ETC's role is to help you in exactly this situation. They have
  Macs, Suns, and Microsoft OS based computers on site.  If they don't have
  software installed for you to try out, just ask them to get it and I bet
  they will comply in a flash.
  
  

Near Real-Time Editing to Protect Privacy & Confidentiality