I'd love to see some posts of course videos and some of the things that make your videos unique.
For those of us who work in competitive sectors there are often dozens or even hundreds of videos covering the same material-- so how do you make the experience unique for viewers? Here's a recent video:
A couple of things that help make our videos stand out:
1) We annotate screencasts with arrows to guide the viewer to what we're talking about.
2) Our instructors appear on screen at different points in the video to refocus the learner and re-engage.
3) We create a graphical theme that carries through the video and video series.
Let's see your videos and some things you do that are different!
Author:
@MarkLassoff
@LindsayMarsh:
Love the graphics by the way! Going to add a few more points....
1.) I like to do an ease in ease out smooth zooming in on parts of the application I am working on. This helps to reduce clutter on the screen other parts of the software that we are not needing at the time. As you mention, annotations are so helpful!
2.) The first 5 seconds I do some sort of animation (of moving image) that shows the end product that we produce.
3.) The first 5 seconds I do a unique music clip that you do not hear elsewhere in the course. I have seen courses have the same 5 second audio clip and by video 20 you are needing something fresh to shake it up. Sometimes, I take the same audio track and do a continuance. So, video 1 will have the first 5 seconds of the song, second video another 5 second clip from the same audio track so it is different yet thematic.
4.) I always have small titles fly out at the top of the screen like a small tab that shows the topic we are talking about. This helps when someone scrubs the video and can see it like a bookmark. Never too large to obstruct the learning experience.
5.) Never do pure talking heads for more than 30 seconds. Break it up by showing a visual or software application etc. I have seen too many videos will a talking head the entire time with no visual aids.
6.) I make the end of my videos as exciting as my intros. The last 5 seconds eases in the music a bit and shows what we are working on in the next video (maybe even a clip from the next video).
7.) Videos should stop around 10-12 minutes in length (or shorter).
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