Do you work in the digital media industry? At one point a Producer will probably ask you to grab a video off YouTube.com. I work for a major network morning show and have to do this all the time. Here's a quick tutorial on how to do it.

Requirements:

• A link to a YouTube video
• MoviePod

Preparing a YouTube Video for an edit session

1. First, you are going to need to download MoviePod. It's free and can be downloaded here from Nullriver.com. Just click on "Download Now" on the right side of the screen. Save the application somewhere in your user profile.
   
   
   
2. Now, open the link that the Producer provided for your YouTube video. Open it in Safari. If you want to try this tutorial out, use this video as a sample:
   
   http://youtube.com/watch?v=8wd7O0TEb7E&search=commercial
   
   

   NERD NOTE: Most graphics departments use Macintosh computers so I'm using Safari in this tutorial.

   
   
   
3. Let the clip load in the browser. You will know the clip is fully loaded when the grey play bar is dark grey like in the picture below.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Now open up your Activity window (Window > Activity). Look carefully. One file will be larger than any of the others (MBs are bigger than KBs). This is your video. Simply double click it to download it.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Open up the application MoviePod. Just keep hitting "later" in the registration window which will open from time to time.
   
   
6. Drag the just downloaded Safari FLV file into the MoviePod queue. It will automatically convert the video.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Control click on the file and choose "Reveal in Finder" and it will direct you to where they are saved. By default, they are saved in your user profile's Movies folder.
   
   
   
   
   
8. That's it. MoviePod will convert your video to a MP4 file. Most editing software including Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects will be able to handle a MP4 file. If you need another format you can open the MP4 in QuickTime Pro and convert it to another format.