Lecture Recording Checklist (Webcam + Slides)

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Follow the steps below to ensure you record the best possible lectures for your online courses.
You can also get free access 100+ hours of course creation training at: https://grumo.com/teach

Requirements Checklist

Screen recording software (Camtasia for Windows: https://grumo.com/camtasia, or ScreenFlow for Mac: https://grumo.com/screenflow or OBS for both: https://obsproject.com/)

Presentation software (PowerPoint for Windows, Keynote for Mac, Google Slides for both)

External USB microphone (Blue Yeti: https://amzn.to/2kl3Maq, or Audio Technica AT2020: https://amzn.to/2l1UxJ4)

Webcam (Logitech C920 or newer: https://amzn.to/2lDAljU)

Basic 3-point lighting kit (https://amzn.to/2kqsFfX)

[Optional] seamless paper background (Savage: https://grumo.com/savage-paper)

Pre-Recording Checklist

Make sure your slides are in wide format (16:9) so they cover the entire video frame.

Create your lecture slides. Less is more. Make sure they are not cluttered with information. Use large sans-serif fonts. Use royalty free photos from http://pixabay.com or http://pexels.com

Use a Three-Point lighting setup: Key, Fill, Back (Explanation here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-point_lighting)

Webcam should be setup at eye level

Background should be not distracting. Either a solid color or add to the theme of the course without clutter

Your head should be in the middle of the frame

Your eyes should be aligned 1/3th from the top of the frame (see rule of thirds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds)

Record in a quiet room (no noise from AC, fridge, street, ideally carpeted floor, or get some foam acoustic panels: http://amzn.to/2kN8iwM)

Use external USB microphone (Blue Yeti, or Audio Technica AT2020)

Check your audio levels before recording. When you speak the levels shouldn't be too low or two high

Adjust the cropping, exposure and white-balance of your webcam (on Mac with iGlasses: https://www.ecamm.com/mac/iglasses/ or ManyCam for both: https://manycam.com/)

Make sure your appearance and attire are appropriate (avoid bright colors, plaid shirts, reflecting jewlery, bad hair, food in your teeth)

During Recording: Teaching Your Lecture

Take a deep breath and make sure you are relaxed and in a happy mood before and during recording

Rehearse at least once to warm up

Make sure you look at the camera so your students feel you are looking them in the eye

Avoid using complex jargon or fancy words. Speak casually like if you were chatting with your best friend who doesn't know anything about your subject

Speak loud, clear, with confidence and passion (don't forget to smile :-) )

Make sure your lectures are between 5 and 10 minutes (if they are considerably longer try to break them into more lectures. Remember Udemy doesn't allow lectures over 20mins)

When you make a mistake, pause, breath and resume from where you left off

Take a break and stretch often between takes

Never lose sight of the big picture. ie: why are you doing this? how is your course going to make people's lives better? how is the potential revenue will impact your wealth and freedom?

Post-Recording: Editing Your Lecture

Make sure your canvas is set to 16:9 HD 1080p format (1920x1080). You can also use 720p (1280x720) if you want smaller file sizes at the expense of some resolution loss

Edit out any mistakes (if possible remove "errs" and "uhms")

Only show the webcam layer when you are addressing your students and remove it when you want them to pay attention to your presentation slides

Post-Recording: Video Export Settings

Set video compression format to H.264 or MPEG-4

Data Rate/Bit Rate: 3000 kbits/seconds

Dimensions: 1280x720 or 1920x1080 (16:9 Aspect Ratio)

Frame rate: 30 Frames Per Second (30 FPS)

For more detailed info check: https://bit.ly/2kEq2Ii

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