The first step in any video project is to decide what kind of video you need. In my last post, I covered the major styles of video you can make.
Now today’s post will give more details on how two of the easiest styles are done.
SCREEN CAPTURE AND SLIDE SHOW VIDEOS
Screen capture and slide show videos are by the far the two easiest forms of video to make. They are also very functional and can actually be highly creative.
A screen capture video is one where the viewer sees a computer screen. A slide show is made from still pictures and/or graphics, not moving video. A power point presentation on video would be an example of a slide show as well as a video put together out of still images of your newborn baby.
Both forms usually have a voice track or music but not necessarily.
Google Gets Creative
Did you see the really popular Super Bowl ad Google did that told the entire story of a romance through screen capture video? It was an incredible example of creative use of screen capture but do not worry if yours is a bit more mundane!
Screen capture videos are best used to demonstrate software or websites so if that is your purpose, this is the best way to do it.
To make a screen capture video requires that you have some screen capture video software. Camtasia is the most popular and common. Many people call this type of software video editing software, and that is actually a bit confusing. Screen capture software records your computer screen and then allows you to do a bit of editing to it. Editing is not the main function, recording the screen is. The editing features are actually a bit clunky when compared to standard video editing software. Standard video editing software however does NOT record the computer screen but does a much more complete and smooth job editing video. You can import moving video files shot off a regular camera in some of the more sophisticated screen capture programs, but like I said it will be clunky.
Most screen capture software allow you to import power point or other types of slides so you can do slide show videos with these programs too, which is another big selling point. You can usually also integrate a webcam in these programs so you can add a talking head video to the screen capture or the slide show. I do this all the time and really like the style.
I love screen capture I just want people to understand how it really works and what it does. If you want to make a cooking demonstration video or a gardening video or a video of yourself showing customers how to use your exercise product, something like that with live moving video, you need to shoot that video with a video camera and edit it in a standard video program, not a screen capture program.
In my experience, it’s best to minimize editing with a screen capture video. I plan mine out well then record them in one take. If I goof, I just pause for a few seconds, back up to before the goof, then start talkling again. Later, I can easily chop out the goof and the silent chunk. Give it a few seconds of silence otherwise it is harder to get a clean edit. This also helps because you can see the audio line go flat in your timeline during editing which makes it easy to see exactly where the goof is.
AUTOMATED SLIDE SHOWS
Slide shows can be done in a standard video editing program or a screen capture one. You can create the graphics within the video editing program or import graphics from Power Point or similar program to do a slide show.
The easiest way however is to use an automated editing services like animoto dot com. You can produce some awesome slide show videos using that service and it is very low cost, even free if you make short videos.
Does it have to be hard? NO!
Easy-to-make video can be just as effective as ones that are difficult. Credible research has shown that simple videos can be incredibly effective marketing tools. You do NOT NEED to make anything complex.
A plain talking head video can work wonders. A simple slide show or screen capture video can increase your sales and traffic levels and do all kinds of wonderful things. You can make fantastic paid products out of any of those simplistic styles of video. The vast majority of online video is NOT about being George Lucas. Even if you want to create a paid video product, you can stick with the simple formats. You do not have to let technical issues or expensive video production stand in the way.
Thanks for reading VPT
Lorraine Grula
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