Teacher Q&A: Best Practices for Filming Your Screencast Video Lessons

We want to you have the best experience possible when you produce your class, so we’ve asked a few of our top teachers to share some best practices for filming their screencast video lessons.

“For my software/products, I use Screenflow (I think it's only available for mac) as my screen recording and editing software. I use an Audio Technica AT2020 as my usb mic and I purchased a high def webcam (Logitech C920) for the waterbrush course since I needed a camera on my hands so much throughout my class. The webcam worked perfectly with Screenflow and the usb mic, so I was able to deliver good quality video + audio and edit them in the software I'm familiar with. I've never had any video editing education, just jumped into Screenflow after seeing positive reviews and taught myself, googling whenever I needed to figure something out :) It's extremely user friendly though, so it was really easy to pick up.” - Teela Cunningham

“There are a lot of video capture and editing options out there, but I find that Camtasia is especially good for recording on-screen tutorials. For those just getting started, they have a free trial period and tons of tutorials on how to use the software. I've been using Camtasia for all my screen captures and all my video editing. I just record any of the off-screen tutorials on my camera and import them into Camtasia alongside the screen recordings. Just remember to save early and save often. Camtasia tends to crash, and you really, really don't want to lose your editing work.” - Leitha Matz

A few additional  audio-specific tips:

"Spend some time to learn about the audio editing tools. A little bit of noise reduction goes a long way toward smoothing out the recording. I also use the audio editing tools in Camtasia to clip out excessive "umms" and "uhhs." - Leitha Matz

"A technical tip I can give is regarding audio: if you have a walk-in closet that would work as a recording booth, that's the most ideal location in a house to be. It keeps you separated from a lot of ambient noise and clothes on hangers are a great way to deaden unwanted sound and reduce echo." - Aaron Bartlett

"I think sound quality is often overlooked and that makes a big difference in the student experience. A lot of the online content creators recommend using a second source for audio so I used this mic that plugs into your phone to capture audio and then import it into Premiere and edit into the lessons." - Ria Sharon