seven steps to creating effective screencasts
TRANSCRIPT
SEVEN STEPS TO CREATING EFFECTIVE SCREENCASTS
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mattrsullivan
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714 798-7596
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SEVEN STEPS TO CREATING EFFECTIVE SCREENCASTS
Design and deliver screencasts
with ease and confidence.
What are the seven steps?
Improve branding
Choose proper length
Proper audio
Choose appropriate video tools & settings
Proper lighting
Tether goals to budget
Make speed/quality improvements to the process
Branding/Expectations
Question:
What’s the first thing you
judged me on?
Website announcement
Text version
The growing user preference for video over text content is a wake up call for technical communicators. Screencasts provide
added value to online documentation for today's users. Examples include: tutorials, simulations, and software demonstrations.
A screencast is a video recording of computer screen output, often containing audio narration and/or text annotations. Some
screencasts grab your attention, and demand to be watched! Others? Well, not so much.
Join OCSTC senior member Matt Sullivan for a presentation about how to create effective screencasts, including:
• Identifying candidates for screencasts
• Using a Title First approach to content and script
• Choosing resolution and recording size
• When to use audio, and maximizing audio quality
• Whether you should consider a ‘talking head’ video
What did you judge me on today?
Personal Appearance
Slides
Demeanor
LengthYour lesson is like a web page.
You only have a few seconds to
connect and convert
Important to get to the point
How many seconds
til you judged me?
Strategy for keeping it short
Title-first approach
•Establish your goal
•Write script to meet goal
•Granularize! Leverage your LMS
Conversion
Lessons have a goal
State the goal
Get there as fast as possible
Order of operations
1. Clarify goal/create title
2. Storyboard/script
3. Record screen/video
4. Edit
5. Record audio
6. Apply branding elements
7. Publish/broadcast
Audio
Background noise
Quality of recording
Degree of confidence
Background noise
Acoustics
Environment
Method of saving to disk
Quality of recording
Microphone
•Voiceover
• Lavaliere
•Mixing board
Degree of confidence
Easy delivery
Knowledge of material
Uh’s, umm’s
VideoWebcam
DSLR or better
Webcam
Low cost
Works with conferencing/presentation software
DSLR or better
Better image
More control over color, zoom, etc.
*Requires transfer of video to PC
Lighting
3-point lighting
Lighting temperature
Lighting temperature
3-point lighting basics
• 2 lights in front of subject, slightly
above eye/camera level
• 1 light behind/below subject,
lighting bkg or subject
Lighting temperature
5600° Kelvin is considered Daylight
Lower numbers are considered warmer
Most bulbs now have both a number and a temperature graphic
http://www.birddogdistributing.com/images/color-temp-chart.png
Lighting temperature
• Incandescent lights are hot, cheap, & expensive to run
• LED lights are cool, expensive, & cheap to run
Consider your environment & budget when purchasing
Goals v. cost
Training hours
Production hours
Hardware/software
Speed versus quality
Recording frames per second v. recording points in time
Camtasia is generally a frames per second recorder
Captivate is generally a point in time recorder
Generalizations
Good equipment is reasonably priced.
Great equipment will make you cry.
Assign hours for production based on size of
audience and significance of interaction
Take your time for title, script, and recording
If recording audio, harness your inner ShamWow!
SEVEN STEPS TO CREATING EFFECTIVE SCREENCASTS
Connect with Matt Sullivan
Newsletter-techcommtools.com
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn-
mattrsullivan
YouTube-tc2ls or mattrsullivan
714 798-7596
http://bit.ly/stc-video