Companion Videos for HCI and Visualization

The Pragmatist’s Guide

Woman in a white coat holding a clapperboard. (Image by MidJourney v6.)

Companion videos have become an essential component of academic submissions in visualization and HCI research. Whenever my students ask me whether they should include a video with their submission, the answer is almost always a resounding yes. However, creating an effective companion video can be a time-consuming enterprise. Here I describe my own strategies to achieve this task in a timely and efficient manner.

Why Videos Matter

The nature of interactive computing demands more than static PDFs can offer. Videos provide a dynamic medium to showcase the interactive elements, animations, and user experiences that are central to our research. They bring our work to life in ways that text and images alone cannot.

Furthermore, videos also serve an important role in the validation process. They offer tangible proof to reviewers that you’ve actually built and implemented your proposed system or technique. This visual evidence can be a powerful complement to your written description and methodology. There’s been many times when I have struggled to understand the system description of a paper I am reviewing only to have everything fall into place when I watch the video submitted with the paper.

Videos Don’t Stand Alone

It’s common to see researchers investing significant time and resources into creating polished, high-quality videos. While this level of effort is commendable and sometimes necessary for certain venues or types of submissions (system or interaction technique papers, for example), not every submission requires a professional-grade production.

The key is to understand that your companion video doesn’t need to stand alone as a complete representation of your paper. It’s perfectly acceptable, and often more efficient, to create a video that works as a complement to your written submission. The paper can provide the full context while the video focuses on demonstrating key aspects that can’t be conveyed through text.

Streamlining Your Approach

When creating your companion video, consider these techniques for streamlining the process:

1. Focus on the Interactive: Prioritize showcasing elements of your work that cannot be adequately represented in a static PDF. This might include real-time interactions, system responses, or visual transformations.
2. Skip the Extensive Background: There’s no need to delve into detailed background information, motivation, or related work in your video. Your paper is the place for that context.
3. Methodology in Brief: While your paper should detail your methodology and user studies, your video can skip or summarize these aspects.
4. Avoid Unnecessary B-roll: Don’t feel pressured to fill your video with extra footage. It’s okay to have focused, concise content without decorative filler. (If you find yourself browsing stock video footage websites for your video, you may be afflicted by the “B-roll fever”.)
5. Consider Simple Text Screens: While voiceovers can be effective, don’t underestimate the power of well-crafted text screens. They can convey information quickly and clearly, especially for reviewers who might be skimming through multiple submission videos.
6. Narrated Walkthroughs: For system papers, consider recording yourself going through a typical scenario or workflow while providing spoken narration in real-time. This approach can effectively demonstrate your system’s functionality and user experience while being relatively quick and painless to create.
7. Video Editing is Hard: There are people who spend their careers honing their video editing skills. Unless this is your passion, focus on creating something functional and not overly fancy. Creating the perfect video can easily become a limitless time sink.

Caveat and Conclusion

Let me close by saying that the above guide obviously does not apply for those of us who take pride in creating masterpiece videos that are, essentially, a live-action version of the paper. This guide is not designed to detract from these efforts. All I am saying here is that such craftsmanship takes time, planning, and skill; resources that not all of us possess in abundance. This guide is for the rest of us.

Remember, the goal of your companion video is to enhance your paper submission, not replace it. By focusing on showcasing the interactive aspects of your work, you can create an effective video that complements your written submission without overextending your resources.