TO ADD A MOVIE TO A MOODLE PAGE

The following is a similar process to adding a single image or multiple images to a Moodle web page or forum.

First of all, you must establish an “movies” folder in the “pub_html” of your home or network directory. You must name the folder with letters written entirely in lowercase (and please understand that the “parentheses” in this document are merely meant to highlight the names: do not use parentheses when naming files).

  • pub_html/movies

The <movies> folder is where you should store all of the images that you intend to add to Moodle pages. Clipsmust be be in the form of a QuickTime movie [.mov] or AVI [.avi] file.

Movie files must also be scaled down from your source file dimensions:

  • 1080p (1920 x 1080) = 960 x 540 pixels at 24 fps
  • 720p (1280 x 720) = 640 x 360 pixels at 24 fps

You can use Adobe Premiere or After Effects to render a compressed MOV files, specifically designed for the Internet. For example, you could work from a “source” movie and render an "output" file with the following specifications:

  • Original "source" movie or project file:
    • QuickTime or AVI
    • Uncompressed
    • 1920 x 1080 pixels
    • 24 frames per second
    • 48 kHz sound
  • Final "output" destined for a Moodle post:
    • QuickTime
    • H.264 codec
    • 960 x 540 pixels
    • 24 frames per second
    • 44 kHz sound

You could also use QuickTime Pro in the Animation Labs to render a compressed MOV files, specifically designed for the Internet. Again, you could work from a “source” movie. To do so, take the following steps:

  1. Resize the movie. Open the uncompressed source movie with QuickTime Pro. Go to View > Half Size. This should make scale it down to 360 x 270 pixels. To check this, use the Movie Inspector (Main Menu > Window > Movie Inspector).
  2. Export for Web. Go to the main menu and choose File > Export for Web. From the dialogue box, set the following:
    • Save as: Give the file a very short one-name file (i.e., no spaces between words). For example <elephant>.
    • Where: Save it in the Scratch Disk. As soon as you export the file, QuickTime will make a directory with several source files. You will then move the directory/folder to your <pub_html> folder on your network space.
    • Export versions for: Select “Desktop.”
    • Click "Export."

QuickTime will export a movie, made up of several linking source files, all contained in a directory/folder with the name of the movie. The folder should have the following files:

  • elephant-desktop.m4v
  • elephant-poster.jpg
  • elephant.mov
  • ReadMe.html

All of the files are important, expecially the "m4v" and "mov" files. You will eventually make a link to the "mov" file.

You should transfer the directory/folder, and its containing files, to:

  • http://www.ecuad.ca/~your_user_name/movies

To add a movie to Moodle, e.g., to forum posts, you must place the movie files in the <movies> folder in your <pub_html> directory. You should use FireFTP to do this, to "ftp" files from a local drive, scratch disk, temporary work folder, etc., and upload them to the <pub_html> folder on your network space.

URL addresses

This is the URL address (Universal Resource Locator) for your <pub_html> folder:

  • http://www.ecuad.ca/~your_user_name

This is the URL address for the <movies> folder in your <pub_html> folder:

  • http://www.ecuad.ca/~your_user_name/movies

This is the URL address for the <elephant.mov> file, which would be in <elephant> folder and then in the <movies> folder in your <pub_html> folder:

  • http://www.ecuad.ca/~your_user_name/movies/elephant/elephant.mov

With this particular URL address, all web browsers will know to look into:

  1. Your <pub_html> folder;
  2. Your <movies> folder;
  3. The <elephant> folder; and
  4. Display the <elephant.mov> file

To add movie links to a Moodle post or entry

The addresses that I described above are proper URL addresses; that is, you could type the address into a web browser, and the browser would call up the images. Therefore, you could add such an address to a Moodle post as a "web link."

For example, if you were to make a forum post, referring to the Message Section of a new discussion topic, you should do the following:

  • In the Message Section, type the name the image you would like to link to and then highlight the text.
  • Go to the Formatting Tools in the Message Section and click on the Web Link icon (it looks like a single piece of chain, or a link). An Insert Link dialogue box should then open. You would then take the following steps:
    • URL: Add the URL to the image you would like to add. For example:
      • http://www.ecuad.ca/~your_user_name/movies/elephant/elephant.mov
    • Title: Give the image a title
    • Target: Choose "New Window" for the image to open in a separate window or "Same Window," etc.
    • Anchors: Don't worry about this.

Press OK.

To complete the process, click on "Post to Forum"