Maya VPS

We're going to build a custom Flash Video Player using a combination of Flash's pre-defined components and ActionScript 3 with some of our own symbols. First, we need the video to be prepped and ready to be played on the web. For this, we're going to use the FLV format, which reaches 99% of internet-enabled desktops thanks to Adobe's Flash Player. The FLV format is ideal in it's reach level and quality-weight ratio.

The Source Video

We're going to borrow the trailer from a movie I'm looking forward to, Oceans, using the medium quality file as the balance.

Once you have your file, in this case, an MOV file, you're ready to convert it. Let's say I cut and edited my own video, then if I were using Premiere Pro I would simply export it for Flash Video.

Adobe Media Encoder

If you already have the file like I do, you can use the Adobe Media Encoder. You may add multiple media files to convert, then let it do its thing. Here I'm converting both the medium and high quality videos. If you decide to change the FLV settings, take note of the file size on the bottom right corner as this will be the weight of the file. If you're planning on distributing on the web, try to keep it light. Using the Media Encoder, you may also crop and add minimal effects in the Settings...

The End Result

Remember, an FLV file format does not neccesarily end with a .flv extension. According to Wikipedia, it may also end in .f4v, .f4p, .f4a, or .f4b.

You can't do much with an FLV file without an FLV player; using Flash, we're going to build one in the next discussions. Alternatively, there are some stand alone FLV players that can run on your local machine such as this one CNET offers.