Pre-production planning:

  • Edit all pix to the ratio you’ll be recording in. otherwise you won’t fill the whole screen (portrait-orientation pix are bad about this. You might favor landscape-style when you are picking pix.)One way to fill the dead (visual) space is to have the main points appear as text/bullets (powerpoint style)

800 by 600 is the largest you would want to go for this. That’s a 4:3 ratio, which is not as modern-feeling as a 3:2.

Aim to be able to do at least a 90 second video with no post-production needed.

don’t doodle with the mouse.

plan your sequences/statements in short chunks and use the pause button.

Look for ways to cut dead space. Sometimes an 8min video can be cut down to 5min.

As you proof-watch the video, look for any confidential info onscreen that should be fuzzed out. I’ve already learned a lot by seeing the toolbars and Firefox add-ins on other’s screencasts.