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Subject:Re: Professional how-to videos From:Hannah Drake <hannah -at- formulatrix -dot- com> To:Erika Yanovich <ERIKA_y -at- rad -dot- com> Date:Mon, 27 Jan 2014 09:14:23 -0500
Polish: Intro and Outro short music that fades in and out; title "shot" for
video; narrative that does not include pauses, ums, or likes; zooming or
on-screen effects to enhance the screen cap; ending "shot" (company name,
etc) after video. Audio quality is pretty important too. No background
noise. And, I know most people recommend using a script, but I find it's
impossible to record a screencast and read a script at the same time -- and
I have yet to figure out how to put separate audio and video tracks
together without mismatching the video and audio. However, I still write a
script and go off of that when recording.
Pro tip: If you screw up something you're saying, don't stop recording --
just count to three mentally (no changes with mouse on screen either if
recording screen) and continue. It makes it SO much easier to edit.
It takes me about an hour per minute of video to product a screencast /
introduction video / whathaveyou that will get signed off on by the Powers
That Be.
On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 7:02 AM, Erika Yanovich <ERIKA_y -at- rad -dot- com> wrote:
> We've been doing short training videos to demonstrate how to perform a
> task or to explain how something works. My initial idea was to keep them
> simple, with text-to-speech, so that tech writers can make them themselves.
> I was quite happy with the results until I was told that while the videos
> give value to users they convey a message about our company being cheap.
> How can I make them more polished beyond using professional voices and
> better graphics? What makes a video polished?
> TIA
> Erika
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--
Hannah L. Drake
Lead Technical Documentation Specialist
Formulatrix, Inc.
781-788-0228 x137 (office)
617-610-6456 (cell)
hannah.drake.formulatrix (skype)
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Doc-To-Help: new website, content widgets, and an output that works on any screen.
