Extract high resolution image stills

Summary

This workflow is intended for faculty and students who need to extract specific still shots for class presentations and course assignments.

The VLC program can be used when a patron obtained a licensed copy of film media from the publisher and would like assistance extracting high resolution frames or image stills from the film.  This also helps break the film into frames so that an exact moment can be captured.  This works ideally when working with a clip, since a full length film will create many images and use up local storage; however, if you stop the video in VLC, the extractions will also stop.

Environment

Windows, Mac, VLC

Directions

Note: It is helpful to start by creating a folder where you would like the images saved.

1. Open VLC Media Player.
2. Go to Tools > Preferences.
3. In the bottom-left corner, in the "Show Settings" box, click All.
4. Scroll down in the list that appears.  Under Video, click the Filters drop-down, then choose Scene filter.
5. The png image format is usually perfect to work with, though you may change it if needed.  Leave the width and height as default.  "Filename prefix" will help with finding the images, choose any appropriate identifier.
6. In the Directory Path Prefix field, enter the path of the folder where you would like the images saved.  You may copy the path of the folder you created initially, and include the folder name in the path.
7. The Recording Ratio mostly depends on the frame rate of the video.  The smaller the number, the more images will be saved.  Usually 10 is sufficient.
8. In the left-side menu, scroll up the filter list and click on Filters.
9. Click on the checkbox for "Scene video filter" then click Save.
10. Start playing the video - the images will start saving automatically, and will catch up to wherever you press Stop.
11. Once finished, open Tools > Preferences > Show Settings set to All > under Video click Filters > remove the checkmark for "Scene video filter" and click Save.  That way this will not run every time the patron uses VLC.
12. Look in the folder you specified earlier and delete any images that won't be needed.