Suggestions For Creating Video Content

Hi Trent,

There's a thread here that's got some suggestions: Tips for recording screen and camera

A smartphone works fine, but any camera and desk clamp or tripod will be good too. And then transfer across the photos/videos using SD card etc.. Maybe webcam is not needed, since a camera doesn't cost that much extra (e.g. IXUS seems low-cost). Also, the small cameras often have good macro capability, so you get a multi-purpose tool with that.

To me, there seems to be at least two categories of video creation/editing methods.

Method 1: Requires you to set up sources, and then record.

Method 2: Requires you to (a) independently record your material, and then (b) later rearrange it all in a timeline view.

The method I use is Method 2. For part (a), I'll use a camera for photos/video, and Snagit for desktop screenshots and video captures. For part (b) rearranging it in a timeline view, I use Camtasia.

For me the main benefit is that Camtasia is easy to use (it is like a dumbed-down video editing system). Once you have your previously recorded material (from anywhere - can include photos, video, audio etc) you have a timeline, and you can drag any content to it, and cut and rearrange and overlay and resize as necessary, and do fade ins/outs/mixes etc to any previously recorded audio too. Camtasia cannot do high-end audio/video effects, only basic stuff. The main disadvantage is the cost (more expensive than I wish it was, but at least it's cheaper and easier to use than Adobe etc). There's a list of other timeline-based tools here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_editing_software

Sometimes for part (a) I'll use Audacity to mess with audio, but I find its interface to be confusing. There is a better 'Cool Edit' which I have an ancient (maybe Windows 95 era? but it still runs on Windows 10) license for, so I'll use that more often. It is not available any more though (Adobe took it and made a more complicated and expensive subscription version)... you can see my pattern : ) Cool Edit was a dumbed-down audio editing piece of software too : )

Example below.. The lower half contains the timeline, and the top-left portion has the source media files, which were dragged to the timeline. You can see the audio is on track 4 (some basic stuff can be done to it, like amplify or fade-in our out, using the Audio Effects menu on the left-side palette). The video is on track 1 mostly it seems, as well as some screen capture on track 1 with the name code1. There is a Transitions menu item on the left that can be used for video, and any chosen effect is dragged onto the timeline in the desired location. The other tracks for this project just contain random bits of overlaid text or arrows or boxes, etc. I don't have any set pattern that I use.

Hi Trent,

There's a thread here that's got some suggestions: Tips for recording screen and camera

A smartphone works fine, but any camera and desk clamp or tripod will be good too. And then transfer across the photos/videos using SD card etc.. Maybe webcam is not needed, since a camera doesn't cost that much extra (e.g. IXUS seems low-cost). Also, the small cameras often have good macro capability, so you get a multi-purpose tool with that.

To me, there seems to be at least two categories of video creation/editing methods.

Method 1: Requires you to set up sources, and then record.

Method 2: Requires you to (a) independently record your material, and then (b) later rearrange it all in a timeline view.

The method I use is Method 2. For part (a), I'll use a camera for photos/video, and Snagit for desktop screenshots and video captures. For part (b) rearranging it in a timeline view, I use Camtasia.

For me the main benefit is that Camtasia is easy to use (it is like a dumbed-down video editing system). Once you have your previously recorded material (from anywhere - can include photos, video, audio etc) you have a timeline, and you can drag any content to it, and cut and rearrange and overlay and resize as necessary, and do fade ins/outs/mixes etc to any previously recorded audio too. Camtasia cannot do high-end audio/video effects, only basic stuff. The main disadvantage is the cost (more expensive than I wish it was, but at least it's cheaper and easier to use than Adobe etc). There's a list of other timeline-based tools here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_editing_software

Sometimes for part (a) I'll use Audacity to mess with audio, but I find its interface to be confusing. There is a better 'Cool Edit' which I have an ancient (maybe Windows 95 era? but it still runs on Windows 10) license for, so I'll use that more often. It is not available any more though (Adobe took it and made a more complicated and expensive subscription version)... you can see my pattern : ) Cool Edit was a dumbed-down audio editing piece of software too : )

Example below.. The lower half contains the timeline, and the top-left portion has the source media files, which were dragged to the timeline. You can see the audio is on track 4 (some basic stuff can be done to it, like amplify or fade-in our out, using the Audio Effects menu on the left-side palette). The video is on track 1 mostly it seems, as well as some screen capture on track 1 with the name code1. There is a Transitions menu item on the left that can be used for video, and any chosen effect is dragged onto the timeline in the desired location. The other tracks for this project just contain random bits of overlaid text or arrows or boxes, etc. I don't have any set pattern that I use.