Prezi Tips: Think Like a Director

Prezi is best when framing the visual of the narrative

Earlier in March courtesy of Gregory FCA, the PR firm in Philadelphia that I do business with, I attended a training session for the slick new presentation tool Prezi. I have been toying with Prezi since I first discovered it in the fall of 2010 (here you can check out my review of the tool and my first attempt at creating a Prezi.) The training was delivered by Kevin McAlister of Prometis Design. Kevin interned with Prezi and has used that experience to help businesses learn and use the tool. I was thankful for the training, Prezi is very easy to use in some regards, but there are many nuances that, if mastered, will significantly improve the quality and impact of a Prezi. Unfortunately it has been my experience that help is a little hard to find, so after the two half day sessions I decided I would do my part to propagate the lessons learned to the quickly expanding Prezi community.

As I sat down to put together the Prezi tips I’ve learned in my own research and in the training session I found myself up at around 1500 words in no time. Realizing there was much to cover I decided that it might be better if they were broken into multiple discrete posts. So here is the first of what I hope will be several entries on Prezi tips and tricks.

Prezi presents user with a seemingly endless canvas on which to lay out their story. The tool then allows you to control how the visuals fill the screen in order to tell the story. This is, in my opinion, the most crucial element to consider when creating a Prezi. How are you framing the visuals to underscore the elements of your narrative?

Prezi Tip 1: Frames and the importance of screen resolution

Framing: The frames are aptly named because they are intended to not only group similar images but also to frame images that you would like to all appear at the same time. Additionally the frame enables the path move the viewer smoothly from one concept to the next. Mastering frames is essential to mastering Prezi.

Think like a Director: While I don’t know for sure whether or not there are any cinematologists behind the creation of Prezi the fact that the standard presentation window on prezi.com is in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1, one of the standard aspect ratios used in major motion picture production today, would seem to suggest that there very well may be. Why does this matter? Because it indicates that Prez is naturally designed to frame an entire ‘scene’ of a story much like a director would do when filming.

A director and his cinematographer think in terms of their visual canvas that is captured through the lens of the camera. They meticulously plan what they want in the frame, what they want to implicitly be in the frame, and how they will transition focus from one element to the next. Prezi has to be approached in this manner. Thinking not just of what you want to say and the order in which you want to say it, but in terms of how the visual will appear and fill the screen to support what you are saying.

Film for me is like wine or cigars. I’m not expert but I know what I like and like to believe I can spot a good one when I have it. That said I think this opening scene in the late 90s film Boogie Nights offers up example of the sort of perspective that one might take when building out a Prezi. While you give this a view notice that the entire scene is filmed in a single shot and that the focal points brilliantly introduce key characters of the story in a very natural manner.

Aspect Ratio Matters. . . . a lot!: This is my biggest hang up with Prezi. It is highly dependent upon the aspect ratio (or resolution) of the device on which the Prezi is being viewed. Unless the aspect ratio/resolution of the device on which you are viewing a Prezi closely matches the aspect ratio/resolution of the device that created the Prezi, the visuals will not adequately represent what the director intended for the audience to see. Moreover if the Prezi is intended to be viewed on multiple platforms it is likely that versions must be created for each screen resolution on which you intend to display the Prezi.

The long and short of it is that the Prezi canvas is presented in the context of the projecting device’s aspect ratio.

Therefore in order to plan out what you will see in the frame of your Prezi it makes sense to understand a little bit about how screen resolution impacts the aspect ratio of a display. Longer explanations on aspect ratio can be found here and this link here provides a useful conversion chart of resolution to aspect ratio. Here are more Prezi tips for screen resolution offered up by Andrew Davis co-founder of TippingpointLabs.

For the aspect ratio challenged (like yours truly), consider that today’s flat panel televisions are wide screen displays while yesterdays set top box TVs were not. Currently most projectors, by default, project in the narrower ‘set top box’ like resolutions (with a screen ratio of 4:3). The aspect ratio of laptops or desktops varies depending upon the resolution of the display, but most newer laptops have a widescreen ratio of 16:9

What does all this mean? Well a couple of things. First you have to direct your Prezi for the screen on which you anticipate it being viewed. A short check list of considerations and aspect ratios to use

• Projected Prezis should be developed to an aspect ratio of 4:3
• Prezis intended to be viewed primarily though a laptop monitor should be developed to an aspect ratio of 16:9
• Prezis intended to be viewed on prezi.com and NOT in full screen mode should be developed to an aspect ratio of 2.39:1

Secondly you must quickly adopt methods that allow you to easily and consistently generate a frame in the aspect ratio you wish to direct to.

• 4:3 Aspect Ratio: Prezi offers a default frame of 4:3 when you press the shift key and drag the frame.
• 16:9 Aspect Ratio: This requires that you are working on a device that projects in 16:9 AR. If this is the case you must enter full screen mode and then on the path menu use the capture view to create a frame in 16:9 AR
• 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio (the default AR of the display window found on Prezi.com): Create a PNG image that has a thin boarder around a transparent area and the approximate pixel dimensions of 841 x 352. Load this image into your prezi and use the hidden frame tool to trace the image to create the 2:39 AR frame. I found this tool that calculates your AR based on Pixel size.

One you have a single frame created you simply copy it and reuse every time you want to frame up your visual.

Before you take a look at the examples I threw together below, there is one more thing to consider. If you are embedding your Prezi it is critical that you set Pixel height and width to match the aspect ratio that you directed towards. I set the AR here to mimic the 2:39:1 AR of the Prezi display window. The 2nd example should be framed properly.

Step through one time in this window then show the presentation in full screen. You will see the differences in the three examples fairly easily.

The idea here is to use a sort of Ken Burns effect to underscore the power of framing properly.  Thus ends tip one at well over 1300 words.  I hope it was useful.  if you have your own tips and tricks that you have learned please share them, I’m always looking for new ways to improve my use of  Prezi.

More Prezi Tips: How to Select Multiple Objects in Prezi