Eclectic Memes

Good grief how the day just files by when you’re concentrating.

I’ve been focussed on putting together a load of video demonstrations for this online training course I’m writing. Time has just flown by.

I’m gradually figuring our an effective (and increasingly efficient) workflow so my hope is that I will continue to increase the speed with which I produce each part of the course. (The good news being that all the writing is pretty much done.)

For those interested I’ve outlined my current workflow below.

With each page written on the website I have placeholders showing where the various media files will appear.

For each video I create a running order. This is a page per video in Notebook, with each instruction I am going to execute, notes on why I am running it and what points need to be made in the final video. These pages form the shot-list for each video.

Then I use SnapzPro to capture video of the on-screen activity as I run each page of commands. I’m using a virtual PC running VMWare Fusion for the execution. Using the virtual machine has big benefits for being able to recover to a known state, but more importantly most potential students for this course will have access to Windows, so the course is run on Windows XP (which runs in the VM).

Once I have all the raw screen capture, I process it with Apple’s FinalCut Pro to remove any mistakes and make each sequence into one seamless shot sequence. These sequences are very short as all the pauses in the original captured material are removed.

These shorter sequences run through the examples very quickly, often only a few frames of each command are shown. Obviously useless for a demonstration, but lightweight material for the next step.

Referring back to the Notebook shot-lists I process each of the reduces screen sequences to make one longer sequence with animated graphics explaining what is happening with each command. These sequences are longer than the reduced screenshot material but still run through far too quickly for demonstration purposes.

The Motion sequences produced in the previous session are not rendered, but left as motion projects. Leaving them as Motion project makes them easier to adjust later.

Next, I record the voice over using Apple’s Soundtrack Pro. Again, the Notebook shot-list and notes are used to ensure I cover the relevant material.

Using Soundtrack Pro to record the voiceover is a bit of an overkill, but it allows me to record and edit the voiceover in one seamless workflow. As I record the audio I manually step through the Motion sequence to make sure the voiceover makes sense with the graphics. I make notes of any additional information the sequence requires using Notebook, tagging it with a keyword to make it easy to find. Most of the additional material is, at this point, things like additional slides, ‘tip’ boxes, and other material that will be overlayed onto the Motion sequence, rather than changes to the Motion sequences themselves. If I spot a mistake in the Motion sequence while recording the voiceover I edit it there and then.

Once I am happy with the voice over I render the audio out from Soundtrack Pro to a new aiff file. I do this because the Soundtrack project can be pretty busy at this point and producing one consolidated voiceover track makes it easier to handle in subsequent steps (it also means I do not have to worry about the temporary capture files produced by Soundtrack).

I now have the Motion sequence and a full length voiceover, but the two do not match up.

Returning to FinalCut Pro the final assembly can begin. Each Motion sequence contains one or more teaching units. For example, one sequence might show two or three ways to use one particular command. The voiceover for each unit is cut into its own sequence and the Motion sequence is then retimed using freeze frames so that it coincides with the voiceover. Any additional information identified during the creation of the voiceover is overlaid onto the resulting sequence. (These overlays are often Motion sequences too, so these are create now.)

The result of the workflow to this point is a FinalCut project with a collection of sequences each representing one teaching unit. These individual sequences are now assembled into various combinations depending upon the target output. For example, a sequence may be used in a show ‘Show Me’ style video, as part of a longer video that aggregates all of the information for one particular command, and also as part of a promotional/tutorial video to be posted on YouTube. The individual sequences are joined with transitions to ensure a smooth flow to the final product. Where appropriate title sequences are added to the start and end of these aggregate sequences.

Finally each of the aggregate sequences is output to Soundtrack Pro for audio finishing. This involves adding music, stings and sound effects as well as smoothing out audio transitions and sweetening the audio to get the best results I can. Once this sweetening is complete the whole project is re-exported back to FinalCut.

A final check in FinalCut and any changes required after the final audio changes, then each aggregate sequence is rendered to HDV720p using Compressor. Selected sequences are also rendered for other formats such as H264 podcasts. The HDV720p material can be uploaded straight to the training course and sites like Vimeo and YouTube. It can also be used as source material for assembly into a DVD format, more an this later.

Each sequence is checked and then uploaded to the appropriate service for use.

And that is why producing this stuff takes time!