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  Note:  I am republishing this from my LinkedIn Newsletter, the Instructional Media Insider   The Problem with Video Production To access a template for the Instructional Video Planning Tool discussed in this article, open the template and click File —> Make a Copy. You must be signed in to your Google Account to make a copy of the template. From there, you can export to Excel if you prefer it to Google Sheets.   I know firsthand how time-consuming and expensive video production can be. It seems like there are a million things to keep track of, and when things go wrong, it can be a real headache. That's why I'm excited to share a planning tool with you that can cut your production time and costs by 50%.   Without proper planning and organization, we can find ourselves floundering and wasting precious resources. Have you ever found yourself scratching your head, trying to figure out what needs to be done next or redoing work that wasn't done correctly the first time? It's frustrating, and it can cause major delays and increased costs.   But fear not, my friend! With the right planning tool, we can streamline workflows, improve communication, and reduce production time and costs. Imagine having a clear plan of action, assigning tasks to team members, and tracking progress in real-time. It's a game-changer!   So, if you're tired of headaches and want to save time and money, give this planning tool a try. I promise you won't regret it!   The Tool: Instructional Video Planning Document I'm a huge proponent of spending time in the preproduction process. A thorough process you reuse every time will provide several efficiencies once you adopt it.   Every hour you spend in the preproduction process can save you two hours — or more — of expensive production time.   Remember that the most expensive part of the production process is production and post-production— so spending time in the relatively inexpensive pre-production process makes sense if it saves time in the expensive later stages of production.   Pre-production is often given short-shrift because it's not sexy. Pre-production is planning, spreadsheets, and writing. These activities are not why we became video producers, but they make us good video producers.   I like to think of my production process as follows: Pre-Production: Plan the production process scene by scene using the instructional video planning document. Production: Shoot the video and create the assets according to the document created. Post-Production: Assemble the video and assets according to the document created.   If the process seems over-simplistic: Good!   Processes bogged down in lots of minute detail tend to move slower, be more expensive, and don't often yield a better result. Step 1: Plan Your Scene Inventory When using the instructional video planning document, the very first thing I do is create an inventory of shots that I'm going to use in production. You can think of these scenes as "screen layouts" that we will use in the video series.   To keep viewers engaged, I recommend changing your shot every 15 seconds or so. At first, this may seem like a lot, but this is critical to keep viewers from fatiguing and zoning out when watching your video.   Check out the average network tv show and observe how often they change shots. You'll find that the big network producers change shots or perspectives every 3-5 seconds. They do this because it engages audiences. Much instructional video is shot with a single shot of the instructor and/or slides. How do you think this engages as compared to the media that viewers are watching on HBO?   I placed a sample inventory of 10 shots in the instructional video planning document template.   You might have different types of shots or a different number of shots depending on the type of video you're shooting. The sample provided is for an eight-video-long WordPress course with a live instructor and screencast videos.   If you're creating a video about workplace safety, you'd likely include B-roll shots and more infographic shots in your inventory.   The thing to keep in mind is that your shot selection during this stage of pre-production planning is not arbitrary. Your shot selection is closely related to the training topic and video resources you have available. (This is where you put on your instructional designer hat!)   I recommend creating obvious, descriptive titles for each shot when producing your shot inventory. I use an abbreviated version of the shot title for the image assets corresponding to each shot. If your video is complex and contains many different types of shots, it will prove helpful to identify your shot templates by their filename. Step 2: Plan Your Video Sequence When my Scene Inventory is completed, it's time to move on to planning my video sequence. While unnecessary for a stand-alone video, for a series of videos, this is an essential process. This planning process essentially yields my course outline. For each video in the series, I first develop a title and a learning objective. I'm a huge proponent of having only one learning objective per video, which keeps videos more focused and shorter. (I won't have the video length debate here, but let's say I think shorter videos are, in general, better.)   The video description column is completed with a user-facing description of the video. This is not the same thing as the learning objective, although it may be similar. In the video description, I'm writing instructional marketing copy — text encouraging the user to watch the video. This text often appears in LMS systems or sales sites where your video series is offered.   If I plan to include any external resources with the video, like a PDF tipsheet or lab exercise, I note that in the column labeled Resources included.   Finally, the filename prefix is created automatically by joining the course prefix from the document header and the video number. In a busy studio like mine, where we create up to 10 videos daily, this is a critical organizational element and prevents us from losing video and other important assets. Every file associated with a video is named with the respective file prefix. For example, an infographic might be named WP_02_infographic_01.png, meaning it's the first infographic associated with the second video in the series. Step 3: Plan Your Individual Videos This is the giant meatball and where you'll find most of your time efficiencies realized.   Every video can be broken down into a sequence of shots. Your planning process for invidiual videos in your series will amount to a shot-by-shot plan of what you intend to compile.   In the first column, you can label each shot (known as blocks). I assign a letter identifying each shot in the video. The next column, populated for you, provides a filename prefix for all assets associated with the individual video and shot. We use this religiously, and it almost makes our file assets self-organizing. We can search globally because, as long as your series prefix is unique, each asset filename will be unique.   The dropdown in the next column is populated from our first spreadsheet. Each of the shot types defined in the Shot Inventory Tab appears. You'll choose the type of shot you want, and the following two columns displaying the shot thumbnail and the template filename will populate automatically. We use the following two columns to insert either our scripts or outlines if sections are being voiced extemporaneously. (Our on-camera instructors don't script the meat of lessons word-for-word and instead depend on outlines to seem more natural.)   Finally, we have a column to link to relevant assets, such as individual infographics developed from the templates. The final two columns provide a space for production notes and editor notes. Step 4: Shoot Your Videos Shot by Shot I shoot each video in sequence, shot by shot. My producer has the completed instructional video planning document open during the shoot, marks off each shot as completed, and makes any relevant notes for the editor right in the document itself.   This shot-by-shot strategy has several advantages. First, because each section is short, we have fewer on-camera errors. In fact, we don't "edit out" errors but, instead, reshoot any short sections where the presenter (or producer) makes an error. This is much less time-consuming than having an editor attempt to edit out individual errors during the post-production process. We can also avoid discontinuities that lead to jump cuts.   Jump cuts might work on YouTube, but we're creating professional education here! I've also found that people who are new on camera find this approach much less intimidating because they have a minimal amount of material to get through in any section. The producer does have to keep things moving, but, in the end, avoiding long reshoots and edits is a huge time saver.   As we go, we're naming our file assets according to the document. We have separate audio and video files, so we would name assets we shoot for a section like this:   WP_01_E_AUDIO.mp3 WP_01_E_VIDEO.mp4 WP_01_E_SCREENCAST.mp4 Step 5: Put it All Together in Post-Production Once we've shot everything, the document and all the assets go to our video editors, who work remotely.   The Instructional Video Planning document provides them with everything they need to assemble high-quality videos according to my plan. There's no question about how any screen should look, and due to our strict naming convention defined in the document, no lost or mislabeled assets to track down.   I hope you find this process and my Instructional Video Planning Document helpful. Please feel free to modify it works with your own studio workflow!  Good luck!   This is the video resulting from the workflow in the template:          
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  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).   View the full discussion here
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Hello dear colleagues!    I want to ask which type of teleprompter are you using? I have experience with this BestView T1 prompter but it is small, and when I read the text, it either goes quickly to the bottom or goes slowly, in general, it does not work very well, but I want to read and so that it would be convenient. The prices for prompters are different and 1 k and 2 k, as for me it's a lot.   Want to know which type of teleprompter are you using, instructor community?     I have heard good reviews of Glide Gear linked to an IPad or phone. https://glidegear.net/products/glide-gear-tmp-100-ipad-smartphone-video-teleprompter     MagiCue Studio 15" Prompter Kit with Hard Case MAQSTUDIO15K   Which ever teleprompter you choose, I suggest downloading an app called Prompt +... The app is free but has limitations unless you purchase the pro version, which is about $15 CAD. With this app you can control font size, scroll speed, import/edit scripts from other programs. I use this on my phone and it works brilliantly.   I don't write a script so I don't use a teleprompter. I write outlines and diagrams which I place in PPT for prompting my brain. I use a tripod desk that I place my laptop on and then advance the PPTs with a clicker (not the right word, but you know what I mean.) See https://www.intension-design.com/tripodtable.     I use a Glide Gear TMP50 teleprompter with my Canon M50 and the Prompt Smart app on my cell phone for my scripts.            I use a Padcaster Parrot Teleprompter attached to my DSLR - just $79 and does the job nicely. The best app I've found it PromptSmart Pro. It listens to you as you speak and automatically adjusts to your speed - even if you speed up, slow down or pause. You can also go off script for a bit and it will patiently wait you're back and then carry on. It's brilliant 95% of the time, which I find is more than enough for me.   I'm a new instructor, and I had to buy most of my course gear. To avoid overspending, I normally start assessing the cheapest options, leveling up in case the quality is not good enough for the outcome I desire.    In case of the teleprompter, I settled for the cheapest option. I bought the Pronstoor/Ambitful teleprompter. Be warned: the case is made of plastic, and the reflective glass is made of plastic as well. Only the adapter ring is made of metal. But it gets the job done. After all, I only needed something to reflect the text from my iPhone. I recorded my videos with a Canon 80D and I started to see the black borders only at 20mm approx., so a pretty wide angle.   I bought the package with the Bluetooth remote control included and only paid 25€, so an excellent value for money in my opinion.     I am cheap and also use a Parrot Telemprompter, attached to a DSLR I had anyhow. Generally the only lectures I actually script are the promo video and maybe section intro videos, so it's not something I use often.   If you are just getting going learning how to present to a camera and practicing with a Webcam on your laptop, you can make a full script teleprompter that you control the scroll using a mouse with a wheel (can't usually hear it at all) using MS Word for example as your teleprompter. 1. Type out the script 2. Enlarge the font and double or triple space 3. View the document in full screen read mode to clear all the tool bars 4. Scroll with your mouse wheel so no clicks are heard HINT: If you wear glasses put word in BLACK MODE so your screen does not reflect on your glasses. Now practice. Even though you see your eyes shift back and forth while reading its a great way to practice. Like what you see? You're ready to level up to the great suggestions the Udemy pros offer here.   
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Hi,   To create our training courses, the use of the correct microphone is critical. When I began my journey on Udemy, I invested in the Blue Snowball USB Microphone. It is outstanding and works superb even today after six years of its regular use. I use it to record audio lectures.   With that said, as I progressed and started using a DSLR camera, I required another microphone that could connect to the camera. So, I purchased the Rode Video Mic Pro+. Its a compact directional shotgun microphone with an outstanding sound quality.   Some details of both these microphones are as below:   Blue Snowball iCE USB Mic for Recording and Streaming on PC and Mac, Cardioid Condenser Capsule (Price ~$40 on Amazon)       Rode VideoMic Pro+ Compact Directional On-Camera Shotgun Condenser Microphone (Price ~$265 on Amazon)     Which microphone do you use to record your video lectures? Share your thoughts.   Author: @Rahul Iyer    @FrankKane: I'm a Shure SM7B guy, paired with a "CloudLifter" box to boost its signal, and a "Blue Icicle" device to convert it to USB. It's more expensive than the other options listed so far, but not crazy-expensive like the professional-grade Neumann microphones. It's a dynamic mic so it's not too sensitive to noise, and it sounds really rich.   @StanVangild204: I use the Blue Yeti Nano on a boom arm.  Nothing fancy, but I'm happy with the sound quality, it's affordable, and super easy to set up and use. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DTTGZ7M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1       @LawrenceMMiller: The mic you use is partly determined by how you shoot. I stand in front of a green screen and my camera is back abut 20 feet on a tripod. I use a wireless mic. I went through three different cheaper brands and finally decided to spend the $500 on a genuinely pro quality Sony transmitter and receiver. This has worked very well plugged into my Nikon z6ii camera.  https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1484178-REG/sony_uwp_d21_14_uwp_d21_camera_mount_wireless_omni.html   View the full discussion and comments here. 
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Hello, I am working on my future first Udemy course and I am facing a problem when recording my voice simultaneously with my screen. I am using a Blue Yeti micro which is very performant at capturing sounds and a video recorder and editing software called Free Cam 8. Since I don't have any 100% isolated room within my studio flat, my recordings are biased with noise from fridge, cars outside etc... I am also facing another problem which is reverbations.  Could you advise me how to get rid of such noise using  some material and/or techniques or maybe denoising software ?   Thank you very much in advance,   Author: Mehdi (@SakjiMehdi359)   Setting up the right acoustic environment for your recording is for many the most taxing, time-consuming, yet important technical task in teaching on Udemy.   It is an investment worth making, but you need to be aware of this:   You need to: 1. Sound proof the room OR 2. Sound proof some part of your environment, like a walk in wardrobe OR 3. Build a shell around your desk to make a DIY mini room and sound proof that   AND OR   Turn off appliances   Before doing all that, you might like to try boxing the Yei into a cardboard box lined with foam. Search Google for 'Microphone Box'.   You can use Duvets or foam to sound proof the environment.   You tube is full of videos showing you various ways to do this.   Search for how to do DIY sound proof for podcasters or something similar.   Once you have done it once you won't have to do it again.   @SakjiMehdi359 , I use a Blue Yeti and had similar problems with computer sound being picked up (I foolishly bought an all-in-one that puts the computer fan about a foot behind my mic.  Padding my environment with foam squares helped a little but I was able to greatly reduce unwanted sounds using a Kaotica Eyeball:   The mic stuffs into a foam ball with a cutout to speak into with a blue pop filter over it.  The thing isn't cheap ($199) but it cuts sound nicely without a lot of effort.  I was barely able to stuff my Blue Yeti into the thing.  I noticed they now offer a Fatboy option for larger mics.   $0.02,   ---Brian   @Vigasan: Hey Sakji,   There's really only two ways around that problem.   1) Change the environment - See if you can book a private conference room, other instructors have prepped in advance so they can book just 1-2 days and get their recordings done and done the editing at home.  An alternative is to see if you can use a friends house, someone who lives outside of the city, to record. You can offer to dog sit, or house sit when they go on vacation for example. 2) Change your set up - This won't help with all problems of course but the best thing to change out is the microphone. The Blue Yeti is a decent entry mic but is known to pick up a ton of background noise as well. Depending on your budget, I would look into good dynamic mics to pick up. There are mics out there that will pick up only objects super close to the microphone itself so definitely do some research and listen to sample audio before deciding.   You can use software like Audacity to help remove noise but it works best when the same noise is present throughout like a hum or fan sounds for example. It's not as great for random sounds. Always try to get the best sound quality directly from the mic though.   @BrunoG: Hi, I would suggest using a dynamic microphone such as a Sennheiser E835 as it does not pickup far sounds as condenser mics do. You have to speak close to the microphone as it's effective range is about  2 to 15cm.   @Umar: nVidia recently released NVIDIA RTX VOICE. It removes noise in realtime in many applications. I started using it for my recordings and the results are amazing. The only catch is that you need to have nVidia GPU on your PC (non-RTX gpus also work through a tweak). Here is the link to setup : https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/guides/nvidia-rtx-voice-setup-guide/       @PranavP: Have been in similar situation where i tried few things like using a very closed room or using zoom inbuilt cancellation,but more efficient then it found recently a nice AI based tool named Krisp ,which helps cancel all types of background noise with its advanced algorithms. Give it a try,would be surely helpful.   
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Hi guys, I thought it could be useful to publish a list of shortcuts by keyboard for moving inside the Camtasia different panels, so here it is:   Media Bin is the panel where all files used in your project are showed... to view that you'll use the "B" key in your keyboard Media Bin = Keyboard Key: B Library panel has all the intros and music... the key to go directly there is the "R" Library = Key: R   Annotations is the panel with all the objects you can use to make annotations and pointers... the key is "N" Annotations = key: N   Transitions is the panel with all the transitions you can use in your videos... the key is "T" Transitions = key: T   Behaviors is the panel with all the movements with intros and outros you can give to things in your video... the key is "O" Behaviours = key: O   Animations is the panel where you can add an animation to your video like scale up or scale down... the key is "A" Animations = key: A   Cursor Effects is the panel with the effect to add to your cursor... the key is "U" Cursor Effects = key: U   Voice Narration is the panel where you can add a voice over your video... the key is "V" Voice Narration = Key: V   Audio Effects is the panel where you can add effects to your audio... the key is "D" Audio Effects = Key: D   Visual Effects is the panel where you can add effects to your video (like chroma key)... the key is "X" Visual Effects = Key: X   Interactivity Panel is where you can add quizzes to your video... the key is "I" Interactivity = Key: I   Gesture Effects is where you can add effects to your mouse gestures... the key is "G" Gesture Effects = Key: G   As usually if you want to add something to this list or if you want to modify something or simply correct some errors that I could have done (English is not my primary language), you're welcome to do it, just leave a message and I will correct it. Hope this can help someone to work better and faster! Ciao Massimiliano (@MassimilianoAlf) 
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Hi All,   By the time I started my Udemy journey I had already been making video content for many years and was using video editing software which was affordable but also had plenty of functions (VideoStudio X6). When I started on Udemy I realised I needed something different. My sound quality from my camcorder wasn’t suitable, the camcorder only took proprietary microphones which required batteries for the lapel mic (and there wasn’t a compatible mic to place on the camcorder). The lapel mic batteries only lasted about 4 hours and I had times when the mic would cut out (it was bluetooth) or where the batteries would run out and I wouldn’t have noticed and would end up with a silent, unusable video.   So I realised I was going to have to capture the audio separately (I was using my Zoom H2 and then more recently my Zoom H2n. I now also have the Zoom H1 and Zoom H4n Pro, all of which serve different purposes) to the video and then synch it in video-editing software. I initially tried to do this manually by zooming in on a clap in the waveform of the video and audio and lining them up, but frequently they would be slightly out of synch and it was time-consuming if I have recorded 100 videos for an eCourse and I now have to synch 100 videos of audio, and then there was the added problem that when cropping the video I had to make sure I cropped the audio at the same time and didn’t accidentally just crop the video, or I would quickly have a video way out of synch, so I was saving each video as an unedited video with the external audio as a track, and then editing this video, but that took a long time to do.   So, for me, the biggest decision over choosing new video-editing software for making my Udemy courses was whether it could auto-synch the audio and video file together and have a single file created quickly which I could work with. I found that the most recent version of the software I was already using happened to have this feature included, so I upgraded to that software (I now use VideoStudio X9 Pro). It significantly sped up my production time.   I have recently found out that there are video-editing software programmes available which allow you to bulk process videos. Currently I have to edit a video, then wait ages while it processes before I can edit the next video. What would be ideal is to do all the editing during the day and bulk process all the videos over night, so I may be finding software which can do this and upgrading my software again as this is one of the most time-consuming parts of my editing stage.   How did you pick your video editing software? What is important to you in the video editing software you choose?   All the best Dan   @DeniseFletcher: Hi @Hypnodan, I'm at the low tech end of editing so I just use Camtasia, Audacity, my iRig mic my iphone and powerpoint. I try to do as little editing as I can 😉    @GregReverdiau: Hi Dan, Several factors I consider: - ease of use: this really depends on how our brain works. There’s no right or wrong answer. Try the software and see what works.  - compatibility with your operating system: some software works better with windows and some better with Mac.  - price: free vs one time fee vs subscription model.  - functionalities: Does it do all you need to do   Based on all those, I am a Mac user and I tried both Premiere and Final Cut and went with Final Cut. It reportedly works faster on Mac than Premiere because it was designed for the hardware, it’s a one time fee vs a subscription and it was easier for me to use. It has functionalities like multi cam which I love for my editing. With that said, Premiere is an industry standard and an amazing software. Btw, both do batch exporting so you can export everything at the end of your editing day and let the computer do the work while you sleep!    @GrahamNicholls: I'm not what I would call technically advanced with editing software to be honest @Hypnodan    I edit everything on my Ipad and started out just using iMovie but after a few courses I wanted something with more functionality but was still easy to use. I came across LumaFusion which claimed to be the cloest thing on a tablet to that of PC software. After trying it out I found it very easy to use and it processes videos really quickly so I went with it and haven't looked back since. Author: @Hypnodan 
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I have been trying to take my green screen game to the next level for a while and last night I found the ultimate guide so I thought I would share it. If you are having issues getting good effects with your green screen, take a look at this video (it is not mine). If you think your green screen is really good, I'm sure there's a tip for you in here too! This is the best video I have seen on this subject and I have looked at a lot of them! https://youtu.be/OH8TWTt51W8   Here are some takeaways:  Most green screen issues are because of lighting, namely "hot spots" (too much light in one location. Think about green screen lighting separately from the subject (you) lighting. Light up your green screen with bank lights (tall vertical lights) and not spotlights. Here's a video from the same author showing you how to make bank lights for cheap. I will be making those in the next few days and report: https://youtu.be/BpOakYp-gJ4 Use an app (iPad, $10) to determine if your screen is evenly lit. Naked eye doesn't cut it.  Stay away from the screen so you don't cast a shadow (6-9 feet).  Smooth out your green screen (by stretching it or steaming it) Use a backlight (hair light) to pull your subject from the screen (so it doesn't look "flat").  Light your subject a little brighter than your screen (see video for details).  Don't wear green clothes or clothes with green in it.  Blur your background (low f/stop on your camera if you can control that, around f/5.6).  Remove motion blur (slightly higher shutter speed, see video for details).  Frame your shot correctly so the green screen covers all your movements.  Be careful if you have a monitor in front of you connected to your camera as it will reflect green light on you. The trick is to change your saturation to zero to make the screen black and white (love this tip!).  Get good lighting for your subject (after lighting your green screen).  Later this week I will be shuffling my studio to apply some of those tips and will keep you posted on the results. I hope this helps someone! Share your green screen tips if you have any that are not on the list.      @LawrenceMMiller: Greg,   A couple suggestions on this. I worked a lot on this issue and watched a number of good YouTube videos (just search "green screen").    It is usually recommend that you stand eight to ten feet in front of your green screen, rather than two or three feet in order to reduce the chance of shadows.    About the f.stop on your lens: I would not try to blur the background, that background being the green screen. If you are using a green screen then you can insert a photo as background, that is blured. I recommend that your f.stop be at least 5.6 otherwise your depth of field may cause you to be out of focus with just leaning forward or back. If you are down to around f.2.0 your nose and your ear will be out of focus if one is in focus. The more depth of field (higher f.stop) the less chance of being out of focus. Of course, the more light you have, the higher you can move the f.stop.     *** I wanted to give an update on this topic because it took me a long time to get what I think is the proper setup. I'm sharing this in hope that someone else can find it useful and not have to experiment as I did. *** I'll start with what I did for my very first Udemy course. I went to Joan's fabric to get the greenest and most neon looking big piece of fabric I could find. Then I hung it behind my desk. Then I put a lot of lights on my desk lighting up my face and lighting up my green screen (both from the same location... mistake). The lights were those Home Depot $8 metallic light bulb holders that you can clamp on things. Cheap! I got some 60W and 100W light bulbs, not sure what color temperature they were but here's what I got: something that was hard to white balance and to key! I look at this and I cringe now, the green screen is yellow, has tons of shadows, wrinkles. My face has weird nose shadows, a bad hue, etc... I made it work though, this is the course that still brings me the most money each month, is best seller and best rated (at 4.6). I am in the process of reshooting this course as explained in this thread. Students never complained about the quality of the course production, not once!    Then I thought I'd study green screens a little... I started making money on Udemy and taking this more seriously. I had a big course to record (35 hours of content) so I took over our guest bedroom, stretched a green screen on the wall, put the camera on a tripod, put some lights on me, some lights on the green screen, it was looking a little better. Here's a picture of the mess. I had to shoot in a corner because the distance was too short from the camera to me (the camera is hidden in the very right corner, behind a home made teleprompter)...  The screen was the same as earlier, the lights were the same too. I was able to better light my face and remove some shadows and I started using a grey card for white balance. I also started using a better camera (Panasonic GH5 vs DJI Osmo). Here's what I got out of it.  The screen is unevenly lit, which results in difficulties with keying but with the limited space, that's really all I could do. The lights are in the frame so they had to be cropped out and masked, which works since I don't do large arm movements. This was a big improvement from before, easier to white balance since I used a card and a custom white balance on my camera but I knew the green screen lighting could improve.    So I did more research, found the cool tutorials I shared above and decided to start with my studio (guest bedroom) from scratch. I got a new green screen. The main difference is that it's much larger than the old one. It's also much darker green and less neon. That helps with keying. I got some studio lights (came with the green screen). I also built 2 box lights out of fluorescent lights. Those are for lighting my screen. I bought T8 lights that are 5000K in color temperature for the green screen. The problem is that the studio lights came with 2500K lights. So while my green screen was lit correctly, the difference in temperature created issues (notice how teal the green is). When I did my white balance correctly using the card near my face (based on 2500K lights), some of the 5000K lights from the background reflected on my shoulders and head, creating a purple hue. This is what the result looked like (those are noise canceling headphones on my head):    I couldn't really white balance my face properly without having weird purple colors on my shoulders. So I went back to home depot and bought 9 LED lights that were 5000K (much cheaper than buying 8 T8 fluorescent lights in 2500K). The idea was to have the same exact light temperature everywhere. This really solved the issue! I set up my white balance at 5000K in the camera and here are the results:  Now my entire body is lit correctly with the same color temperature. No more purple shoulders. I also used a 3-point lighting setup with a key light (brightest part of my face, left side), a fill light (softer than key, create a light shadow on my right side) and a back light (light shine on my hair and shoulders, giving depth), which looks more inviting. For reference:  My key light is 4x 60W LED bulbs, with a white diffuser in front of it, located about 45 degrees from my face, a little higher than eye level My fill light is 1x 60W LED bulb, with a white diffuser in front of it, located about 45 degrees from my face, a little higher than eye level My hair light is 1x60W LED bulb with a diffuser, on top and slightly behind my head, with a dimmer on it (dimmed about 50%) My green screen is lit with 2 homemade box lights, each has 4x T8 fluorescent lights, with a little reflector (high tech piece of cardboard) so their light doesn't hit me. I also have another light at the bottom to remote hot spots. I used the Green Screener iPad app ($9.99 on iOS) to make sure I didn't have any hot/dark spots on my screen, which are mostly invisible to the naked eye. The result is an amazing keying that doesn't need any tweaking.  My camera is set at ISO 400 (native ISO for the GH5), 1/60 shutter (shooting in 4K/30fps), f/5.6 aperture, with a custom white balance of 5000K.  Here's a quick video walk around of my setup so you can see it in action (yes this is a guest bedroom so the bed is sideways on its side). Note that I am missing a rug in there to absorb some of the echoes. I hope this helps someone save some time if they need help with green screening!    And finally, this is me right before I said: "Look, I'm Harry Potter. "   Author: @GregReverdiau 
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Hi everybody,   I'm wondering how I could go about recording my screen (a regular screencast) and then with a tablet or something how I could draw on the screen with a stylus? And then when I'm done I could clear my doodles and return back to regular screencasting again. I actually have no idea what that's called, but if someone could help guide me in the right direct, that'd be really helpful!    I'm using a MacBook Pro, if that makes any difference.   Thank you!    Hi,   I'm not sure for Mac, but for my courses I have used Microsoft OneNote to draw on a touch-screen laptop.   This is how I do it. I connect a graphics tablet to my computer using usb that comes with the tablet. The I run my powerpoint slide. I may have a blank slide with my preferred colour (black). When runing the PowerPoint slide, go to the "pen" icon next to the navigation at the bottom left corner. Click it and the pen appears as a dot. You may choose the colour of the pen at this point. Keeping my eye on the screen and guided by the dot on the screen, I can write on the scrren as I would do on papre using a pen. When I'm done writing, I simply navigate to the next slide. But when you want to exit the slide show, you will be promted to save this inking of the slide. You may discard it but it will of course appear in your screen capture. If you're using camtasia, you can hold "ctrl + shift+ D". A pen appears and you can write on the screen. You do not need to use PowerPoint. Hope this helps.   @KalobTaulien  I use Camtasia 2018 (Windows/MacOS) to record my screen while drawing on a tablet attached to my computer.  I can then edit my recordings in the Cmatasia 2018 video editor in post-production to remove transitions from PowerPoint slides and other unwanted errors.  I draw using the application Clip Studio Paint. Hope this helps, ---Brian   I record on a Windows system and use an free application called ZOOMIT. I did a quick search on MAC alternatives and this one came up, https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/draw-on-my-screen-ez/id1082177879?mt=12   I haven't used it but looks similar to ZOOMIT on Windows, plua it's free. Worth a try.   In my opinion, if you want accuracy when drawing, you need a dedicated drawing tablet.   I don't use it for my courses, but for my photography projects I use an XP-Pen Deco 01 tablet, which connects to my computer via USB.  I use it on Windows but it works on Mac as well.   There are more expensive ones, but this is enough for me at the moment. It has a big enough drawing surface, detects pressure, works very well and it is not too expensive ($60.00).   I use the iPad Pro with Notability. It's extremely powerful and the handwriting optimization makes it great.    Now, the trick it to record it easily! I fire up Quicktime and use iPad as a camera in there. That brings in the screen of the iPad so now, it's just a window that I can use. Doodle away! Shift to whatever other window you want to show/code in/animate.    Hope that helps.    Any tablet will do the job, buy the Wii Styles Pen it works with all devices, record right to the tablet using any screen recorder and you won't face any problem  Use OneNote   You could use a graphic tablet which comes with a stylus and not as expensive as iPad.   Basic model: https://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Graphic-Drawing-Tablet-Beginners/dp/B07S1RR3FR   Pro model: https://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Digital-Graphic-Drawing-PTH460K0A/dp/B07PPQH867/   Author:  @KalobTaulien 
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Recording your desktop can be achieved using any number of software programs designed to do just that. These programs are called 'screen capture software'. Many applications will capture not only what is onyour screen but also what is seen through your webcam and heard through your microphone.   You may have heard of Camtasia? Whilst this is a screen capture tool it is also a video editor and boasts a number of features targeted at the online education sector. Its down side is that it is not cheap.   You may also have heard of ScreenCast-O-Matic. This is also a screen recording software. And it does come with a very rudimentary editor (paid version). I like its simplicity and is ideal for quick short videos and screencasts.   You might even have heard of OBS (Open Broadcast Software)? Primarily aimed at gamers to stream gaming sessions. It can also save those streams locally as video files. This makes it a very good application for creating screencasts. Oh, and did I mention its free? 😉   So, whichever application you are using, remember that you may also need a seperate video editor? You might need a certain feature? Or, you might be starting on a budget? What ever your situation - there is something available for you to get started right now.   I hope you find this useful? If you do, give it a like and let others find this post. Warm regards, Robin.   @Anonymous: I use ScreenFlow and find it really good for what I do. First I start with iShowUHD but for some reason, I left it behind. Still, have it but just collecting dust. ScreenFlow is a good solution for people who just starting and need all in one solution. The software offer editing, transactions, effects, sound adjustments, just to name a few.    Most of the time I edit everything in Adobe Premiere Pro but as I mention if you starting and you don't have a subscription for Adobe then ScreenFlow is good as a one-off buy.   Of course, all of the above mentioned are good solutions but I never try them and can't say much about them.   @AmrinGrewal: Camtasia is great for price!   @Chris_Haroun: I use Wirecast as I stream a lot online...and I am not smart enough to understand OBS - no joke : )    Prior to this, I used the following 2 products:   On my Mac: Quicktime   On my Windows PC: PowerPoint (on the Windows version you can do an "Insert Screen Record")   @ZbigniewMisiak: I use Loom (https://www.loom.com/)   Best regards,   Zbigniew   @MarcoAdda75: @Robin_Slee for Mac users, I work with Screenflow, free and easy to use, it's a great one.    @JeffSharman592: I would like to add my experiences in course creation right from the beginning. My first course was trial and error. I made some talking heads video using a Canon camera on a tripod. The sound quality was terrible. I then did the same thing using a Samsung Smart phone on a tripod. Much better than the camera. I use a Dell laptop with built-in webcam and Mic. Originally on quite an old laptop. It was OK but the sound quality needed improvement. I purchased a separate Mic which improved it a lot.  It is always necessary to have some good audio and video editing software. There are some free ones around, but I opted for NCH Videopad, Wavepad and Debut Video Capture. All excellent and not that expensive. Very user friendly and effective.  I now have a new Dell laptop and I still use the built in Mic and Webcam. Excellent quality and after editing, noise is virtually non-existent. I don't use a separate Mic anymore or Webcam for my recordings. I have made a recording booth to cut down echo and outside ambient noise. Cheap and easy. A plastic box covered in a thick multi-layered blanket. Works beautifully.  It is nice to know that you don't have to spend a fortune to obtain good results.   I use zoom for my Virtual Classroom learning. It does record during the class so it should work.   Author: @Robin_Slee 
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I am now contemplating upgrading my current set up of webcam and mid range mic.   I would like to spend some money on investing in a camera, mic and some lighting with a backdrop.   What is your current set up it terms of camera and mic, plus what lighting fo you use?   Really intersted to know before I take the capital expenditure plunge.   Julian   @GrahamNicholls: Hey @JulianJenki396  Here's the basics of what I use.   I use an Ipad as a camera that has a Rode Lapel mic plugged into it via the 3.5mm port which provides HD quality video and great sound (the Rode mic is fantastic).   As far a lighting goes I've got 4 Pro Softbox lights to light the area I record in.   @LawrenceMMiller: You will find a huge range of responses in terms of the sophistication and expense of the equpment that instructors are using. I suspect that I am somewhere in the middle. Here are two photos of my office/studio. One is from behind the camera, the other looking toward the camera from where I stand.  Obviously, I use a green screen and insert a background photo in editing. Here is my gear breakdown. I have been using a Fuji XH1 camera with a variety of lenses, usually the 16-55/f2.8 set to f5.6 and a custome K scale level (3300) to match the lights, auto focus off and auto white balance off. I recently acquired the new Nikon Z7 and I may use that for my next course. I use a laptop for a teleprompter, but that is just to give me an outline or a graphic, which I use a lot of, to remind me of my key talking points.  I use a Sony URX-PO3 wireless receiver and transmitter. This is a relatively expensive unit ($500) but I went through several other cheaper units and they kept failing for one reason or another. This one is excellent.  Lighting is probably the most critical element of your set up. I have four  Generay Spectra 500 bi-color lights. These allow you to adjust the color temperature of the light. Two are in front of me and two only illuminate the green screen. I have two smaller lights that are above and behind my head aimed at the back of my head, this eliminates the glow you can get around your head. These aren't shown in the photos.  Oh, notice my mascot, Bella on the couch. Very imporant. This is her position while I am filming so she isn't looking out the window downstairs and barking at people or dogs walking by. Hate that!   @KylePew: I started out with a logitech webcam and a couple of small lights. After a couple of courses I upgraded to using a Sony A6000 with a Sony ECM-GZ1M mic in the cameras Multi-Interface Shoe. I also purchased a simple retractable green screen, from Elgato. When I made the upgrade I also changed from using Camatasia to OBS. OBS is super easy to use with the green screen adjustments. I recently upgraded to a Sony A6400. This camera gives me more options as far as microphones are concerned as the A6000 didn't have a Mic input other then the Multi-Interface slot at the top of the camera. My lighting has also changed over time, I now have a couple of LED panel lights to light me and the green screen.   @Hypnodan: Hi @JulianJenki396  For camera, I use a Sony AX53 camcorder or Sony A6400 camera. On either I use Rode Mics. Either the Rode Lavalier microphone (about £40) or the Rode VideoMicro (about £40). Obviously the cameras I mention here are quite expensive, but the microphones are reasonably priced. For lights, I use the 'Neewer 3 Packs Dimmable Bi-color 480 LED Video Light and Stand Lighting Kit - LED Panel (3200-5600K) with U Bracket Light Stand for YouTube Studio Photography Video Shooting' (about £150 for 3 lights plus stands. You can buy them cheaper individually if you don't need 3) I used to use softbox lights which were much cheaper (about £40 for two plus stands), but they take up a lot of room. I rarely use green screen, but do have a green screen setup I can use if I want. It was quite cheap (about £35) to purchase the set which included green screen plus white, black and red and the frame, which at it's largest is  2m x 3m. I also have a teleprompter. I don't use it often. It was about £80 and you put your tablet device lying down on it and read off (using any free 'teleprompter' or 'autocue' app) the slanted perspex which is in front of your camcorder. It fits on the tripod and you put your camera on the telepromper.   All the best Dan   @AliciaPaz: I've made some upgrades recently, not sure your area but I also initially used Omni which is an app where you can borrow stuff and tried a DSLR first.  I made an Amazon list of what I use/have used- not an affiliate link below, a wide range of items and all pretty cheap.  I started with an iPhone 7, $9.99 lapel mic and a $9.99 app (ProMovie.)   Current set up is a lighting kit; 2 on tripods and umbrellas and one softbox on a tripod, blue ICE mic which is bungee corded to another tripod with a pop filter.  I use a Canon DSLR as well which has made a huge difference in quality.     My basic kit for social media and promo is that I use my iPhone and a ring light that attaches to it.   I don't use a green screen and my videos are all talking head (it's less ego and more that I am a therapist!) and I have this as my background in all videos.  I also use Mac products so I also have 23029508 adapters due to the C-port.      I should add I also have a room I use as a studio with no windows (3/4 basement) and white walls so lighting is easy as is sound.  And to prevent echo I have a mattress against a wall- it might also be my never used guest bedroom so it also has a dresser and nightstand to the sides.   If I had to choose what to buy looking to upgrade presuming someone's set up is alright, to begin with; mic > lights > camera    https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1X1J354MTOLQI?ref_=wl_share   @GregReverdiau: I just finished construction of my home office/studio. This is my setup.    Logitech 920 Pro or iPad available light or 3 photo LED lights Greenscreen on a frame and stand Auna USB MIC 900B with mike stand and pop filter (might be a different brand in the US) which is a large-diaphragm condenser microphone. The mike is very important because I do screencasts. This mike is simply overwhelming and really makes the difference. This has improved my sound quality dramatically. I used to have a Rode smartLav+ before, but in comparison, the Rode is like phone quality.   Bottom line: mike is king, the rest is nice to have.   @RobinHills: Some of these bits of kit are very impressive.  They may be very off putting to new, inexperienced instructors.   PLEASE do not think that you have to have all this gear to be successful on Udemy.  I started out with a Logitech c690 webcam giving me HD video and a Blue Yeti microphone giving high quality sound.  Together both cost about £150 (~$150 equivalent).  They got me started and established with my courses.    Over the months I have invested my Udemy income in a DSLR camera (Nikon d5600), a Rode Video Pro microphone, a white screen, a lighting kit and a teleprompter.     Having got got my professional kit together, I still haven’t mastered the art of producing great videos that I am 100% happy with!   Author: @JulianJenki396 
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Hello fellow instructors,  I think that recording studio setup is one of the most difficult subjects to get your head around. Microphones, audio interfaces, lights and sound all seem to be important. However the amount of technical details and hard decision on priorities are making studio setup quite overwhelming.    I've gone through a long journey of building home studio from $500 to $10k setup, made many mistakes along the way, bought few pieces of equipment that I almost never used, and some other pieces that I can't imagine my work without.  I decided to record a short video and describe the priorities and options for your home studio. Check it out! How to set up home recording studio If you're curious, here's the list of my equipment that I use for recording. Notice that videography is my hobby, so I also shoot some short films, interviews and occasionally corporate promotional videos, so this equipment set is a bit of an overkill for Udemy Microphones: Neumann TLM-102 (voice-overs) Sennheiser ME-2 (lavalier mic for talking to a camera) Radio transmitter/receiver set for mics Sennheiser G3 Audio Interface Focusrite Clarett 2Pre (thunderbolt version) Field recorders Zoom H6 Zoom H1 Cameras Canon C100 MK-II Canon Legria HF G-25 (cam B) Lenses Canon EF 24-105mm f/4l IS II USM Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8l IS USM Lights LEDGO 2x 1200 Bi-colour Lighting Kit Monitors (headphones) Audio Technica AT-M70x   @Khushboo98: Is this complete set up is necessary..? Can't we use our smartphone to record and create our course..?   @GregReverdiau: There is no requirement for equipment and you could record your course with only a smart phone. However, the microphone on your smartphone is not going to give you great results compared to even some of these cheaper microphones on this list. Remember that students will give you some slack for lower video quality but you will get bad reviews if your audio is bad...    @JeffSharman592: I would like to add my experiences in course creation right from the beginning. My first course was trial and error. I made some talking heads video using a Canon camera on a tripod. The sound quality was terrible. I then did the same thing using a Samsung Smart phone on a tripod. Much better than the camera. I use a Dell laptop with built-in webcam and Mic. Originally on quite an old laptop. It was OK but the sound quality needed improvement. I purchased a separate Mic which improved it a lot.  It is always necessary to have some good audio and video editing software. There are some free ones around, but I opted for NCH Videopad, Wavepad and Debut Video Capture. All excellent and not that expensive. Very user friendly and effective.  I now have a new Dell laptop and I still use the built in Mic and Webcam. Excellent quality and after editing, noise is virtually non-existent. I don't use a separate Mic anymore or Webcam for my recordings. I have made a recording booth to cut down echo and outside ambient noise. Cheap and easy. A plastic box covered in a thick multi-layered blanket. Works beautifully.  It is nice to know that you don't have to spend a fortune to obtain good results. Author: @Juriy 
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