Guest blog by Roy Rasmussen
Co-author of Cloud Computing Simplified for Small Businesses for DMS & Associates
CX has recently added some new slideshow features that expand your ability to share audiovisual presentations with others. To take maximum advantage of these new features, here are some production tips for planning the workflow of your slideshows, screen captures, and videos, borrowed from strategies used by professional filmmakers and videographers.
1. Start with Your End Goal in Sight
A good visual production starts with a good plan. Your planning process should include a clear vision of the ultimate reaction you want from your audience. Do you want them to learn something? Buy something? Be entertained? Define the purpose of your production, and let this guide how you write your script and select your audiovisual aids.
You should also plan how you intend to distribute your production when it’s done. Where will you host it? How will you let others know where to view it? How you answer these questions can affect the format you use to create your production, so it’s best to address them early.
2. Script Before You Shoot
While many amateurs just turn a camera on and start filming, professional filmmakers always start with a script, and you should, too, if you want the best results. A script is to a video what an outline is to a written work. It provides a structure that focuses the production on its intended purpose. This structure should include a clear beginning, middle and end, which can be further subdivided, just as a play is typically divided into three acts. Each section should have a well-defined purpose that advances the script towards the goal of the final section, which should be consistent with the goal you set forth when you started planning your production.
For instance, if you were writing a sales video, at the end you would want to make sure you provide the contact information your audience needs to take action and order the product. Earlier segments would then be designed to set the stage for the final sales pitch, performing functions such as introducing the benefits of the product and giving the audience a reason to want to buy it.
3. Storyboard Your Shoot
Storyboarding is a technique filmmakers use to visualize how each scene in a film will be set up and how the sequence of the scenes will correspond to the sequence of the script. Professional directors often have an artist draw a comic book layout of each scene showing the camera angle, background scenery and actors. If you’re not on a Hollywood budget, you can draw quick stick-figure sketches to achieve the same thing. Or, if you will have very simple visuals, you can just include verbal notes in your script as to where the visuals should go. When I’m writing a script for a PowerPoint presentation, I usually just add headings to the script to number each slide, followed by a bracketed note such as a stage direction to indicate which visual goes with that slide.
4. Assemble Your Set and Props
Once you have a storyboard laid out, you can start assembling your set and props. If you’re shooting a live video, you may need an actual set, along with lighting and recording equipment. If you’re creating a slideshow or screen capture presentation, your set is your virtual set. For slideshows, one important piece of this is the background template you select to define the overall look of your presentation. For screen captures, the look of your screen defines your set.
Along with your set, you may also need props. In a slideshow context, your props include any images you will be using in your presentation, along with audio elements such as background music clips. For screen capture presentations, you should make sure any windows or websites you need to have on screen are readily available, so you can avoid the nuisance of searching for these during production.
5. Produce Your Video and Audio Tracks
With your set and props assembled, you are ready to film your video and record your audio. If you’re shooting a live video, you normally create these simultaneously, unless you plan to add a separately-recorded narration later. If you’re creating a slideshow or screen capture presentation, you have a few options for how you sync up your visuals with your audio.
One method is to start recording your audio and then manually advance your slideshow or screen capture sequence as you read your script, following cues in your script that let you know when to advance to the next visual.
Another method is to organize your visuals on your production timeline first and then record a narrated audio as an accompanying track.
A third method is to record your script as an audio track and then import it onto the timeline where you have your visuals.
The latter two methods require more editing time syncing up your audio with your visuals, but this can sometimes be easier to manage than trying to read a script and advance your visuals at the same time.
6. Edit
Once you have your video and audio tracks recorded, your production enters the post-production phase where you edit your presentation. The heart of this process is syncing up the timing of your audio and video and making sure the transitions between your visual frames match the timing of your audio. During this phase, you can also insert transition effects between frames, along with other special effects and captions. You can also add audio effects, background music tracks and video tracks, including screen capture videos and movie clips.
The final step of the editing process is typically to export your final production into the format you will be using to distribute it. Here, you select which file type to use, such as MP4, along with variables such as screen resolution and audio resolution settings. These are best determined by the preferred settings of the site where you will be hosting the video, which is why I emphasized deciding this in the early planning stages. Most video hosting sites will have FAQ’s giving you guidelines on which settings to use.
7. Distribute
The final step is to distribute your production to your intended audience. Depending on your purpose, this may involve anything from doing a live slideshow presentation in front of a room, to using social media or e-mail to invite viewers to see your production. If you’re using a CX folder for hosting, you can use the “share” feature to help you distribute your production to your audience.
Freelance writer Roy Rasmussen co-authored Cloud Computing Simplified for Small Businesses for DMS & Associates, a company that provides cloud-based office automation and accounting solutions to small businesses.
