Video is an effective way to add context to your content. But how do you effectively produce video? I've worked out techniques that let me produce crisp, professional video at about an hour per minute of video, which is about 1/4 of the time required previously. Because the videos are short, they are inherently reusable across company channels, as well as via social channels and blogs. See http://bit.ly/tcs-videonotes for a 25-video series I did for Adobe using these techniques.

1. @mattrsullivan | www.techcommtools.com
T E C H C O M M T O O L S
B I T. LY / T C S - V I D E O N O T E S
Matt Sullivan
Creating reusable screencasts for
your content
Headshot optional

2. Quality video production is
faster than you think, when
you adopt a topic-based
video approach.

3. Places to
reuse video
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
Blog
Community email
Help, user guide, support
Online education, courses

4. What do you say
when your client asks
you to write a manual
on how they should
use FrameMaker?

5. Done!

6. Demo: PDF with video

7. Write
Pare down
Record
Process
Timing
1-hour formula

8. Write (Storyboard and Script)

9. My process:
Create storyboard in
PowerPoint,
using outline mode
- Use notes for script
Storyboard/ Script

10. Example-Needles Script

11. Script 1/3

12. Script 2/3

13. Script 3/3

14. Or…

15. Revised Script

16. Record audio and screen

17. My process:
- Record one action
- Read script related to
action
- Repeat until satisfied
with audio
Record audio and
screen

18. Edit Audio

19. Process in Audition
(Audacity is another)
- Process the file to
reduce gaps
- Delete gaffes and
multiple takes
- Demo (16:34 raw)
- Demo (02:31 clipped)
Edit in DAW

20. Options to normalize
recording
- Hard Limiter or
Compressor for audio
outliers
- Normalize to -3dB
(broadcast standard)
Prep for export
in DAW

21. Captivate, etc.
Delete empty slides
ScreenFlow, Camtasia
Scrub out processing
time, flubs
Video Processing

22. Resulting videos in ScreenFlow
(before, after, and demo)

23. Hardware

24. MacBook Pro

25. Storage on MBP

26. Heil PR-40

27. FocusRite Scarlett 2-4

28. Software

29. Audition
Audition is a DAW,
or Digital Audio Workstation

30. ScreenFlow (Mac only)