If you are watching the screencast, you might be wondering how can I make my own screencasts. Here are some tips for creating high-quality screen recordings that will help you in producing better videos.
Create Outlines Before Recording
Before you record anything, make sure to write down your plan and how you’ll cover the recording project. This way, you can cover all the steps and avoid unnecessary disruptions.
Find a Quite Recording Environment
Find a quiet room that has no echo or other sounds that might disturb the video quality. The best option is to find an empty meeting room for this purpose. Although setting up your studio would also be great if you have the possibility of doing so.
Rehearse Before Recording
Sit in front of your camera and do everything that needs to be done for your screencast to look precisely how it should. For example, you can learn how to navigate through your website. Try wearing the same clothes you are planning to wear when recording, sit in the same place, and use the same microphone and other recording devices.
Clear Background Data
If you’re showing people how to do something on your screen, make sure they can see what’s on the monitor and that nothing is distracting behind you. Even more important – that no information is visible that might give away some of your secrets! For example, hiding price lists on competitor pages, etc.
Take a Glass of Water to Avoid Dry Mouth When Recording
If possible, drink plenty of water before you start voice recording so you won’t dry up while talking. It would be even better if someone else could read out loud from a script while you’re recording your screencast.
Test Recording Software
Make sure everything is set up correctly before you start recording. That widescreen resolution for capturing isn’t very useful if the window of your video editing software looks strange and all stretched out. You can check whether it looks OK during a rehearsal. But some things might not be as noticeable as others on a small monitor/webcam so try to test it on a big TV screen first!
Record What Is Needed Only
Record what you need so people won’t have to sit through boring stuff that has nothing to do with their question or problem. This way, they will watch your videos more often and return to learn from you in the future.
Clean Up Recording Space
Make sure there is nothing on your desk that might distract the viewer, such as pens and other items. This also includes having a clean desktop and making sure no cables are visible, such as recording something with an iPhone/iPad, etc.
Add Second Monitor
If possible, try to set up a second monitor to show your viewers exactly what you’re doing on your primary monitor without having to switch back and forth all the time. The only drawback is that some people might think it’s you looking at those windows instead of just using them as props. And if they notice that, maybe they’ll think you don’t know how to do what you’re doing right now.
Inform Viewers What the Video Will Cover
Tell the viewers what you’re going to be showing them ahead of time. This will save them from waiting for something that doesn’t come or having to fast forward because they already know how it’s done. Also, direct people to find your other videos, so they don’t have to search all over Youtube/Google, etc., for them!
Keep the Recording Short and Concise
If you must show this particular step more than once, try not to say the same thing again and again, each time like a broken record player (or whatever it is kids listen to these days). Only explain what needs explaining. Otherwise, some people might get confused by extra information. If any question pops up in their minds, they can leave a comment on your video, and you can reply to it after the screencast is over.
Embed Webcam Wisely
If possible, tell people if you have a webcam, so there is no confusion as to why some information is only visible on the webcam monitor and not on their actual screens. Also, let viewers know whether they should look at your face or what’s happening on their screens while viewing your video. Otherwise, those who aren’t paying too much attention or are slightly confused might think that you’re talking directly to them!
Speak Slowly
There will always be impatient people who want to get everything done in an instant. Many of them won’t watch your videos to the very end since they will get bored/impatient. So speak slowly and clearly so those who want to learn something from you can do so without interrupting too much or having to go back because they didn’t catch something you said earlier. It’s OK if it takes a little longer than usual, your viewers will appreciate it and say thank you later!
Don’t Panic If You Slip and Make a Mistake
It happens even to the best of us at times. People slip and make a mistake that they think might completely ruin the video. Maybe they don’t talk for ten minutes straight only to suddenly blurt out some ridiculous comment about penguins. Luckily, most people won’t even notice these small slips, but if someone does, they might label you as an idiot and stop watching your videos. So don’t panic and simply ignore it!
Use Standard Dimension to Record
Before recording anything or video messaging, make sure your screen is set to standard dimension so those who watch the video on other screens won’t have black bars framing the recording. This will also ensure that nothing important gets cut out, making your audience miss crucial information such as code or other items.
Use the Best Microphones
If possible, always try to use a quality microphone since this makes everything sound just a little bit better than using the built-in one many laptops come equipped with, for instance. External microphones often pick up less background than just using laptop/desktop microphones. Unless you’re using a headset with a built-in microphone, use an external one to get better screen recording or voice messaging quality!
Zoom In
Although the standard video dimensions are typically good enough for most people watching your videos or those video messaging, some might have screens that aren’t the same size, so every inch of what you record will be seen by them too. To make things a little easier for those users while still showing everything you intend, zoom in so that what appears on their screens is roughly the same as what they’ll see if they view it full screen on their monitor. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should forget about your viewers with regular-sized monitors and focus on zooming in.
Use Annotations
Be sure to use annotations since they help viewers who want to skip ahead or dislike certain parts you record without having to re-watch the entire video! Annotations are also useful if you think there might be a possibility that your computer will crash and end up losing quite a bit of recording (annoying) and need to take some drastic measures.
Remove Unwanted Recorded Part
Sometimes by accident, the screen recording goes missing, which leaves space on the screen, making it look as though nothing happened for several minutes. The worst part is that both live viewers are watching, and their friends/family members have no clue what’s happening either. So they might quickly turn elsewhere for learning material. After learning this unfortunate lesson, remove any unwanted recorded part by cutting it out with the help of annotations, for instance. This way, people viewing won’t have to watch my hands flying over the keyboard looking completely bored.
Pause When You Want To Plan another Unplanned Move
Sometimes when screen recording something intricate which requires a lot of planning beforehand, it is possible to make a mistake. You may have to rerecord everything if you continue. To avoid this problem, simply pause after making most moves to correct any errors before moving on to the next complicated task. Then when everything is planned perfectly and ready to go, start recording without pausing anymore! This also makes it easier for live viewers to watch along since they don’t have to watch parts of the video they might not want to.
Make the Recording Interactive
Many people watching your screen recording are more interested in how you work than what you’re working on. To provide more interactivity with these viewers, make sure to record your mouse pointer when possible and use annotations frequently. This way, people can click any hotspots you left when highlighting certain features without re-watching the entire video for them! Annotating can also be used as speaker notes during recording (allows live viewers who want to listen only actually listen). If you prefer typing instead of using annotations, then simply include both!
End With an Attractive Summary
Instead of leaving space at the end where you might have been doing nothing of importance, record a short video summary of everything that happened throughout the recording. Although this will make the file size larger, it’s better for people who missed part of your video or want to quickly review what happened without having to re-watch the entire thing from start to finish! This can be done with annotations if desired.
Trim the Recording
You don’t need to keep all that extra time at the beginning and end of your screen recordings where you’re not doing anything important. In fact, it makes more sense to cut out these sections so that viewers can get straight into watching things rather than being forced to watch what they might perceive as boring sections. Cut them out using annotations if desired.
Provide More Resources to the Viewers
Don’t forget to add any resources discussed in the recordings, such as software download links, extra reading material, or anything else that might be useful to have included! At the very least, try including a link to your blog so that viewers can follow you for future videos. That’s about it! It sounds like a long list, but most of these tips are simpler than they sound and only take a few minutes once you get used to doing them automatically throughout each recording session. And even if you miss one or two steps from time to time, there’s no need to worry. Just remember what was missed and include it in your next video. But do make sure not to leave out purposefully
If you are planning a virtual meeting and using a screen recording app, https://www.stork.ai/ messenger can be an excellent platform for video and voice recording. Follow the tips provided above to get the best recordings.
