Challenge of the week
This week your challenge is to record a screencast or software simulation. You can choose any type of topic that interests you.
Tools
You can use Articulate Storyl...
Published 11 years ago
Version 1.0
Blog Post
I'm sorry for 'over' posting. But there are a couple of things I wanted to share regarding screencasting.
A friend of mine, that was new to screencasting used to get quite worked up about doing a screencast. He would get lost in all the details and spend hours preparing and hours recording, re-recording and re-re-recording... all that time and work for a 2 -5 minute stand-alone how-to video.
Part of the problem was worrying about the lack of professional equipment. He'd seen some stuff I did as well as others and read up on microphones, camera's and accoustics of rooms and how to create mini sound booths etc. It was almost overwhelming. How could he ever get started without all the right equipment??
So I showed him my setup for a screencast that includes talking head video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5YJfqKOfGphdW1USF9zWU85UFE/edit?usp=sharing
Exactly... My investments are a €30 logitec 720HD webcam, a €28 Logitec desktop microphone and my 3y old daugther's toy box (€5 at your local IKEA) to get an ideal position for the webcam. I'm sitting at my kitchen table (provided I am home alone) or at my desk in the attic when recording. The key is a quiet environment and, if your recording yourself, a not to messy background.
So that addressed his equipment anxiety. Secondly, and I've said this before, it does not need to be a hollywood production. Yes sometimes when you're addressing a global audience on a very serious topic you want it to be flawless. The rest of the time you can relax.
One of my friend's problems is perfection. Now I believe perfection should be eliminated from the dictionairy and from all human live. It's just an unobtainable concept that causes nothing but unhappines. He spent hours scripting, 'perfecting' the sentences, preparing all the steps, going over and over them to make sure he missed nothing. Then he started recording... and there was deviation from the script... cancel, rerecord... and then there was an 'uhm'. cancel rerecord etc etc. When he finally did get it recorded, he was so frustrated with the whole thing he didn't like it enough to publish it.
The lesson here is not to over-analyze, truly people won't care if they are looking for a how to video that explains exactly what they are looking for. You can say ehm a thousand times if you need to, if you still show me how to do what I want to learn in an acceptable timeframe I'll love you for it. So relax. You know what you are about to share with your audience. You are the 'subject matter expert' and your audience... treat them as a friend that you want to show how to do something.
If your Mother comes by and askes you how to send a text message via her new smartphone you don't need hours to prepare, research the phone model and operating system, script the optimal words to explain... no, you pick up the phone, you try it and when you know how it works, you simply tell her (with as many uhms you need). And she will love you for it!
A friend of mine, that was new to screencasting used to get quite worked up about doing a screencast. He would get lost in all the details and spend hours preparing and hours recording, re-recording and re-re-recording... all that time and work for a 2 -5 minute stand-alone how-to video.
Part of the problem was worrying about the lack of professional equipment. He'd seen some stuff I did as well as others and read up on microphones, camera's and accoustics of rooms and how to create mini sound booths etc. It was almost overwhelming. How could he ever get started without all the right equipment??
So I showed him my setup for a screencast that includes talking head video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5YJfqKOfGphdW1USF9zWU85UFE/edit?usp=sharing
Exactly... My investments are a €30 logitec 720HD webcam, a €28 Logitec desktop microphone and my 3y old daugther's toy box (€5 at your local IKEA) to get an ideal position for the webcam. I'm sitting at my kitchen table (provided I am home alone) or at my desk in the attic when recording. The key is a quiet environment and, if your recording yourself, a not to messy background.
So that addressed his equipment anxiety. Secondly, and I've said this before, it does not need to be a hollywood production. Yes sometimes when you're addressing a global audience on a very serious topic you want it to be flawless. The rest of the time you can relax.
One of my friend's problems is perfection. Now I believe perfection should be eliminated from the dictionairy and from all human live. It's just an unobtainable concept that causes nothing but unhappines. He spent hours scripting, 'perfecting' the sentences, preparing all the steps, going over and over them to make sure he missed nothing. Then he started recording... and there was deviation from the script... cancel, rerecord... and then there was an 'uhm'. cancel rerecord etc etc. When he finally did get it recorded, he was so frustrated with the whole thing he didn't like it enough to publish it.
The lesson here is not to over-analyze, truly people won't care if they are looking for a how to video that explains exactly what they are looking for. You can say ehm a thousand times if you need to, if you still show me how to do what I want to learn in an acceptable timeframe I'll love you for it. So relax. You know what you are about to share with your audience. You are the 'subject matter expert' and your audience... treat them as a friend that you want to show how to do something.
If your Mother comes by and askes you how to send a text message via her new smartphone you don't need hours to prepare, research the phone model and operating system, script the optimal words to explain... no, you pick up the phone, you try it and when you know how it works, you simply tell her (with as many uhms you need). And she will love you for it!