- Music: music must have lyrics. If applicable, you MUST purchase the music; all music must be high-quality, with lyrics clearly audible.
- Picture resolution: always download the highest resolution possible, and aim for at least 1920 pixels along one edge.
- Picture source: all pictures and video must be free for commercial use; for copyrighted pictures, you must produce permission to use the picture, or as a last resort invoke the Fair Use Clause.
- Picture content: must be related to the lyrics, and must not contain graphic nudity or violence.
- Picture placement: pictures should appear centrally and scroll left to right. Use borders and remove backgrounds where this would create a better-looking picture or aid in clarifying the meaning of the lyric. Optional but recommended – pictures should begin at a reduced size and expand to full size as the lyric passes.
- Text lyric and lyric marker placement: text lyrics should be Times New Roman, size 60 font, placed at 950 pixels from the top (130 from the bottom). Each lyric should appear at the center of its corresponding picture. The lyric marker should move below the center of each lyric as it is sung.
- Video settings: MP4 1080p HD or higher, 29.97 frames per second or higher (should match source if you use recorded video), High Profile, Bitrate 10 Mbps or higher, see YouTube recommendations for further guidance.
- Sound quality: AAC, stereo, 48khz, 320 kbps or higher.
- Book-keeping:
- create a folder called “PictureLyrics (song name)” to save all files related to video – keep “picture dictionary” folder separate from this folder
- save music, video editing files, title picture, and final exported video in this folder
- save all pictures used in BOTH the “picture dictionary” and “(song name) video pictures” folders
- save all picture data in the Excel file “picture dictionary source data”
- use “(song name) source data template” to record sources for pictures and fonts used; if you have entered the data in the “all source data” tab of “picture dictionary source data”, copy the “all_source_data” region in that file to the “all_source_data” region in “(song name) source data”, then enter the word/element and file information and the sheet will calculate the rest
- share “PictureLyrics (song name)” folder with picturelyricsdotorg(at)gmail.com when you are finished
- Slides for home and school use: once we approve the above materials we will work with you to produce slides – a straightforward process of removing the background and lyrics marker, exporting a freeze frame each line, and adding these to a PowerPoint presentation.