Better Videos with the Tools You Have

Transcription

1 Better Videos with the Tools You Have (and Some You Don t) Bronwen Nemaric and Stephen Lee GCFLearnFree.org INTRODUCTION 1. Welcome I m Bronwen, and this is Stephen and we re both instructional designers / digital media specialists for GCFLearnFree.org. 2. About GCFLearnFree GCFLearnFree.org is a non-profit funded by the Goodwill Community Foundation. Our whole mission is to offer free learning content on the website, basically for anyone who wants to improve their skills. We have courses on Microsoft Office, social media, math, reading - even life skills and career advice, so just about anything you could possibly want to learn. We see millions of visitors on the site per year (total of 8 million YTD). And between the two of us, Stephen and I have created hundreds of videos. We re not experts, but we ve been at this for a while, and we ve experimented with a lot of different ways of making videos over the years. So there are just a few things we ve learned along the way that we d like to share with you, and hopefully you find them helpful. We create mostly screencasts (in other words, demonstrations of something being done on the computer). But we also create other types of miscellaneous learning videos (in-house, we sometimes call these conceptual or narrative videos). These are all done with motion graphics or animation of some kind. We also do live action, but that s a little beyond the scope of this presentation. 3. Challenges of creating quality videos Time Budget/software/equipment Lack of experience or lack of manpower Getting your point across in a limited amount of time Creating real-time demos that flow effortlessly We ll show you some ways to get around these challenges, so that you have the freedom to make the types of videos you want to make 4. The case against just hitting Record

2 There are many ways to create a screencast, but we've found that adding an extra level planning (and scripting in advance) allows us to be more flexible. We have an approval process that generally involves at least two stages in producing the video script and rough cut. This allows us to work together, give and get feedback, and work to refine the video. We always record our audio and video separately, which gives us higher quality and more flexibility. The results are very professional and easy for the learner to follow. PART 1: SCRIPT AND CHOREOGRAPHY 5. Title A good script and a little planning can help you avoid a lot of common pitfalls along the way. It can mean the difference between sounding like you know what you re talking about (and inspiring confidence in the learner) versus coming off as unprepared, or even a little unprofessional. 6. Primary reasons for screencasts Goals during the scripting phase: Plan what you re going to say. Control the length of the video, so you can get your point across in the time you have. Determine the order of topics, so the demonstration flows smoothly. Stage your visuals/examples so they give the best possible impression. *Most of our advice here is for screencasts. 7. Getting started Getting started with a video, there are a few things we like to do up front. The first thing is developing an outline. Not just for the purpose of listing what we want to cover, but to make sure the narrative is easy to follow, and appropriate for the screencast medium. 8. Sample outline The actions may be in no particular order at the outset, but order is ultimately very important. First of all, you want to make sure it makes sense for a real-time demo Goal is to make it logical and as realistic as possible, so the learner can follow along, and come away with a good understanding of the subject that they can apply in real life. 9. Whoops... Things to avoid: A moment when you have to backtrack or undo an action to demo another. You also never want to hear yourself saying, Oh I forgot to tell you about this other really important thing hold on! Next thing you know, you re completely off track, talking about something you should have explained much earlier. Stuff like this is so easy to avoid if you re

3 thinking everything through. So just pay close attention to your outline, the order of the demo, and it s going to make your video just that much more polished and professional. Think ahead to the production phase. Right now, are all the actions actually going to fit inside the frame of the video, or will you need to zoom/pan excessively in order to capture them? Sometimes it s hard to avoid, but you can mitigate this from the very beginning by grouping certain actions together. So things that are nearby, try to demonstrate them at the same time, and you won t have this effect of the mouse going all over the screen. 10. Tone While you re just planning your video, you also want to start thinking about your tone and approach. Are you crafting a demonstration or introduction? Or are you trying to sell an idea, or convince the learner of something they might be reluctant to accept? All these things can have a big impact on your script. If you know from the beginning what you want your audience to think or feel (in addition to what you want them to learn), you can pay special attention to your message, and what you re trying to communicate. 11. Graphic style For motion graphics: Start thinking about the best way to communicate your ideas visually. You might want something photorealistic, something that looks hand-drawn, or something more graphic. Often, it s going to come down to the time you have to create what you want, and also tools you have at your disposal. Up on the screen, we have 4 different stills from 4 very different videos that we ve made. And they all took various amounts of time to create. For example, the one in the top left with the hand-drawn chef - that s something I did personally for our Microsoft Access course. It s one of our most popular videos on YouTube, but it also took a really long time to create - probably a couple weeks, whereas some of the other examples only took a few days. If you don t have a lot of time, you might want to go for a more simplistic graphic style. And that s a good thing to decide now, while you re still pretty early in the process of creating your video. 12. Ready, set, write Perform the actions as you write. Make sure you know how everything works. 13. Pawses Note pauses in the demonstration, even teeny tiny ones. This will help you with your timing when you record narration later. Things that might require you to pause in narration: Clicking a button Waiting for a page to load Navigating from the top of a drop-down menu, all the way down to the item that you plan to click.

4 These things just take time. So if you note them in your script, you can give yourself enough time to actually perform the thing you re trying to demonstrate. 14. Plan for production Think through every aspect of the demo, and plan accordingly. You might even need to develop something that s going to appear in the background of your video. 15. Example 1 For example, here s a sample spreadsheet for a screencast about MS Excel. We actually took the time to create a realistic spreadsheet (that someone might use in real life). Then we used it as part of our demonstration in a whole series of videos. 16. Example 2 Sometimes you need to go to far as to create a completely fabricated example like this one from our Facebook tutorial series. Julia Fillory is not a real person. We completely made her up for the purpose of our demonstration. Best to do this during the scripting phase, so you can tailor the example to your script, and tailor your script to the visuals you re working with. Still thinking ahead to production, you want to look for opportunities where you can divide up your script. Filming a screencast in a single shot is hard, and frankly, just not worth the effort. If you make a mistake, you pretty much have to start over. So look for places where you can divide the screencast into multiple shots. Believe it or not, there s a way to do this seamlessly, so the audience will never even know. 17. When to cut A moment when you can move your mouse out of the frame, then re-enter it later. There are also moments when your cursor disappears naturally (often happens when typing in a form, text field, etc.). If you begin the second shot with your cursor in place, it ll appear seamless once you edit them together. If you figure that out now, you can put it into your script. And that s a good thing. All part of what we call choreography for your screencast. 18. For motion graphics Getting back to motion graphics for a minute, my best advice at this point in the process is to storyboard while writing your script. Here s a storyboard from a video we did introducing learners to Twitter, and I actually threw this together in PowerPoint just to see what everything was going to look like. So if you have PowerPoint, it s actually a really easy to use resource for storyboarding.

5 Create a proof of concept. If you don t have a lot of experience (or a lot of resources at your disposal), make sure you can actually DO the stuff you ve been writing for yourself this whole time. What you want to do is pick the hardest scene in your video, and see if you can do it. 19. Final walkthrough Finally, I recommend doing a walkthrough, either by yourself or with another person. Last chance to confirm you ve accounted for everything we just talked about. 20. Review This includes: Having your outline in order Making sure you have a good script with a clear message Knowing what you re going to do in terms of choreography Having everything planned and taken care of (including any examples that you might need) If you discover any issues, my advice is to take care of them now. That s because the slightest problem can necessitate changing your script, and that s not something you want later on down the line. Once you re confident that you re fully prepared, you can move onto the next step in the process, which requires a completely different set of skills. PART 2: RECORDING AUDIO 21. Intro Why does audio quality matter? Your voice is the "human" aspect of a screencast. Better audio means it will be easier for your learners to understand you, and it will also let more of your emotion and inflection get through, which helps your learners connect with you. 22. Use the right equipment Don't need pro-level equipment, but upgrading to a decent quality mic can make a big difference. 23. Budget equipment for musicians is probably more than good enough (shop where musicians shop) You can get a lot of bang for your buck in the $50-$90 range 24. Mic We prefer not to use headsets, but if you do, it s best to use one with a flexible arm. This lets you adjust the mic distance 25. Pop filter One reason why we don t use headset mics is it lets us use a pop filter P words can cause pops (also known as plosives), which sound unpleasant and distracting Pop filters block the puff of air that causes pops, but they let the sound through

6 A pop filter is a cheap way to improve your audio quality 26. Acoustical treatments One thing I haven t talked about yet is acoustical treatments Walls, floors, ceiling, etc. cause sounds to bounce around and cause reverb We use a very cheap, DIY solution to bad room acoustics: draping blankets behind the computer monitor (careful not to let it touch the monitor!) If your room doesn t have great acoustics, or if it has too much reverb, you can put things on the wall to absorb the excess reverb 27. Be physically/mentally prepared to record your audio Pick your preferred time of day to record, and plan your schedule so that you can record then We both have preferred times of day to record, and both of us avoid recording immediately after lunch Recording is kind of a performance 28. If you have to record right after eating, avoid problematic foods Dairy Fried foods High-sodium foods Some allergy medications 29. Record your audio Don't be afraid to re-record a line. Start by re-reading the end of the last line - this will make it more seamless when you edit it. 30. Record a practice take first - you might be able to use some lines from it 31. Try to connect directly with viewers Audio without video tends to lose something, since the person can t see your body language You may have to read with extra feeling Facial expressions and body gestures can affect the sound 32. Edit your audio Once you ve recorded your audio, listen to it critically - you may be able to fix some issues in editing One thing you can fix in editing is the actual sound of your mic, so even if you don t have the best quality mic, you can still make it sound better. And you ll do this with EQ, or equalizers 33. A microphone picks up a range of different frequencies, from low to high, Sound consists of an entire spectrum of different frequencies, from low to high, and your mic picks these up. 34. Each frequency range performs a different role, and if there isn t enough of one range, or too much, the sound will be off (muffled, tinny, etc.) You can fix these problems with EQ 35. You ve used an EQ before - for example, a car stereo often has bass and treble controls 36. Your audio editing program (or maybe your video editing program) probably has various EQs in the list of effect plug-ins 37. These are a couple of examples of using EQ to fix audio problems. Example 1:

7 Too thin - Boost the low frequencies to fix it 38. Example 2: Muffled - Boost high frequencies and/or cut low frequencies 39. Let s Review! Buy the right equipment Be prepared to record Connect with your audience Listen to you audio Adjust with EQ PART 3: FILMING SCREENCASTS 40. Title 41. As we said before, we always record the audio and video separately, and there are a couple of ways of doing this: Bronwen: Film while listening to audio (timing will need to be accurate in this case, so the focus is more on your performance). Stephen: Film while visualizing your script (timing will need to be adjusted in the editing phase instead). Do whatever works for you. Most of us have habits that make us more quick and efficient with a mouse; for example, we lift it up when navigating from point to point. Try to keep your movements seamless, so the learner can easily follow along. Look for more opportunities to simplify the take. Avoid risky maneuvers that may ruin an otherwise-perfect shot. For example, if you want to point out something that s difficult to indicate with your mouse, use a callout instead. Keep in mind, you ll want to figure this out before you start recording. PART 4: CREATING OTHER LEARNING VIDEOS 42. Title So at this point, I thought we d talk a little about creating some of those other types of learning videos, specifically motion graphics. 43. Tools at your disposal There s a wide range of software available that can help you with your project. Up here are some you might have heard before. They range from simple & inexpensive (like imovie and Windows Movie Maker) - all the way up to products that are more high-end. These also have a little bit steeper of a learning curve. The truth is, motion graphics don t have to be complicated if you don t have the skills or the resources. What we do is we often use Camtasia instead the same program we use for filming and editing screencasts. The reason we do this is because we already have it on hand, and it s a little simpler to use than some of these other movie editors.

8 The example we ve been watching up here is from our Twitter series, which you might recognize from the storyboard we saw earlier. And the final product was constructed completely in Camtasia. The thing I want you to keep in mind is the fact that you don t need a lot of special features to create something polished and professional-looking. You don't have to do a full-fledged animation either. There are simpler types of motion graphics that can still be effective. Slide shows (with or without "special effects"). Slides could be infographics, screenshots, or almost anything else. Static images that are animated (but not really) using simple effects like fading in & out, scaling, or moving on a path. If you have a program that you like to use, look for simple effects like fading in & out that you can easily apply to the images in your project. Motion graphics can be used to supplement a screencast If there isn't much action on screen, but an explanation is needed, you can switch to a more conceptual mode. 44. General graphics tips You can use Photoshop, PSP, GIMP, or any other program that lets you output an image. (We use Photoshop Elements) There are just a couple of considerations you ll need to make: Resolution Transparency (so that the background will show through) 45. Always make sure your image is bigger than you need it to be. This will allow you to zoom in (in your video editor) without losing quality. For example, if you make your image 4x bigger than the video canvas, you can zoom in up to 4x. In other words, the zoomed image should never be bigger than the original. When you re working in your image editor, you may want to zoom out to about 25% to ensure that you always have more resolution than you re seeing. You can save your images as PNG files to preserve the transparent background. This makes it easier to combine graphics in your video editor. 46. (Low resolution and high resolution images, zoomed in) Use the tools you have Stephen was talking about different graphics programs that you can use. What if you don t have those programs? You can still create graphics that look good, videos that look professional, even if you don t have the tools or the budget. You just have to get creative with the tools you have. We do many of our graphics with PowerPoint Basically PowerPoint is more powerful than you think. And it s something that a lot of us already have on our computers. You can use it to: Create vector graphics Create title screens for your videos

9 Create and export simple motion graphics using slide animations (which is something that ll be familiar to you if you ve used PowerPoint before) We seriously do this all the time, both for videos, and other general graphics on the site. So here are some quick tips to help you get started hopefully I m not going too fast for you to follow along. 47. Tip 1 Customize clipart (from the Microsoft library) if you don t have the time or experience to create graphics from scratch. You can do this by ungrouping the clipart, which turns all the elements into shapes that you can edit. This makes it really easy to create something that suits your needs. 48. Tip 2 Add commands to the Ribbon that will let you work with shapes just like you would in a regular vector graphics program (like Illustrator). If you re looking to develop your design skills in PowerPoint, using shapes to create images is what you want to focus on. Not on the Ribbon by default, so you have to add them manually. Just right-click the Ribbon, choose Customize the Ribbon, then look for the commands. The ones that you want to add are: Shape union Subtract Combine Intersect 49. Tip 3 Be familiar with the two different export options: To export the objects on your slide with a transparent background (which is what Stephen was talking about a minute ago). Select all the objects you want to export as an image. Then: Right click them > Save as Picture > PNG Alternatively, you can just export the entire slide (including the background and the objects) by doing: Save As > PNG One more tip: Be conscious of size and resolution. PowerPoint measures in inches, then determines resolution per inch only when exporting so results are always smaller than actual size. So like Stephen said, when in doubt, work much bigger than you need to, and that s especially true in PowerPoint. 50. Conclusion Hopefully this gives you some ideas, and gets you thinking about other ways to use the tools you already have to enhance your projects.