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Recording tips
Before you begin recording, decide:
- Is a screencast the most effective way to communicate the information?
- How much time do you want to spend?
- Something that provides simple, clear, instructions but has no added features, might do the trick really effectively
- Is what you're teaching likely to change soon (eg you're demoing a website or software that frequently updates its features or interface)
- Do you want something polished, for marketing purposes? Are you more interested in providing quick answers/demonstrations/explanations?
- A well branded title slide (or at least a consistent slide) for the opening of the video can also add a professional quality, especially if you plan on making a series.
- Outline your screencast
- If you're demoing a process with more than a few steps, plot out the most logical order to present the information
- Is it worth preparing a script?
- How will you disseminate it? This might influence the size of your recording
- Are you recording for full HD in YouTube, or for an iPhone?
- Will you be doing something quick, and emailing it as an MP4? For Moodle?
- When you record, do a double or triple take of a sentence
- You might like the sound of one take more than another; it's easy to cut what you don't like
- Pause occasionally.
- This makes it easier to edit out anything you don't like, or a nice space to insert something new (without cutting into some other content)
- If recording audio, it is worth investing in a quality microphone.
- Poor audio can be extremely distracting.
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