Making a screencast
Now that my first screencast has been finalized and published online, I thought it would be a good time to share insights into the things that I learned while producing it. You’ll see that what initially seemed to be a pretty straightforward task, turned out to be a quite a bumpy ride indeed.
The first, and probably biggest mistake I made, was to assume that the production of a screencast resembles anything close to the prep and delivery of the regular training sessions that I normally conduct. Talking to a live audience is much more forgiving and natural than making an impersonal recording. For me, it felt like the screencast uncovered all the weaknesses and dark sides of my communication abilities.
Despite your best efforts, it is very difficult to deliver a natural-sounding script during the screencast. I eventually realized that the best method to use was to focus more on what I wanted to demonstrate, in terms of individual steps and important points, than to try and meticulously plan out a script.
I would advise to start recording raw version first. Focus on showing the information that is important and try to talk it through set-by-step. Don't worry about saying something stupid, making mistakes or mumbling: that's all very natural. Recording made me realise how difficult is to focus on doing something while speaking about it at the same time.
When you’re happy with the recording (which might take several re-edits), review what you said and make appropriate corrections. I think that the best way to approach this is to write it all down. The trick is to use the edited version as the basis for your voiceover; it will make your speech much more relaxed and natural sounding and you don't have to worry about timing, because as long as you're watching the video track at the same time it's easy to get in sync.
I found that splitting both the recording and the voiceover into 3 - 6 minute long segments provided valuable checkpoints. Although the length of the screencast really depends on the target audience, it is worth noting that, in my (limited) experience and based on the first viewing statistics, it seems that the majority of viewers tend to give up after watching the video for 20 minutes or so. If you really can't get finish within this time, it's probably best to split the screencast into several parts.
With the right tools editing can be easy. My software of choice is ScreenFlow for Mac or Camtasia for Windows. Both share similar features like multi-layer editing, trimming, audio and video adjustments, callouts, and also provide streamlined workflow.
While the software you use makes the difference when editing, it’s the microphone you use that can be the real showstopper. My original voiceover was recorded using an everyday Bluetooth headset. Looking back I admit it was foolish to think it might work. The audio quality was just awful, and spending time trying to clean it up/adjust it was not worth the effort. I really would recommend that you buy a semi-professional microphone like Rode Podcaster; it is certainly worth the investment (especially if you're thinking about podcasting/screencasting on a regular basis).
