If you are to look back on your learning life, are you able to identify a great teacher? Someone who kept you in school when you felt that you didn’t fit, who demystified maths, or made your fall in love with physics or even poetry? VidVersity founder Natalie Wieland has created a short video series […]
For organisations to empower staff to generate great learning and training content in house, a basic toolkit for quality production is key.
Here at VidVersity, we have compiled a basic kit for all staff. The benefits are that we are able to create a consistent ‘quality controlled’ level of content for all team members, whether they are working out of an office, or from home and whether they are in a live Zoom meeting or the content is recorded.
For many organisations, recording and repurposing Zoom content is now standard practice. We work hard as organisations to create a good impression and to convey our values as an organisation. This should extend to the material we produce from our homes and offices and beam out into the world via various online platforms.
So here are our top tips on creating great video content.
Each month, we run an online workshop called Getting Started with Video Learning – getting started. We spend some time in this session discussing our set up and when the group convenes at the end of the morning session, most have already ordered a green screen. We use the Elgato model. It’s not small but it is fast and easy to set up, sturdy and can be stashed under a bed or sofa when not in use.
To create a background image, we used Unsplash for an image and then Canva to impose our corporate logo. Here’s the impact of a consistent image across the team, all working from home during COVID.
Many people will use the digital background function available on Zoom but there is a ghosting effect that is not prevalent with a green screen and it makes for a much more professional image.
Personally, I love the anonymity the green screen provides and it is irrelevant how messy my workspace is or who happens to wander past during filming. VidVersity Co-Founder Natalie Wieland posted on LinkedIn during the Melbourne COVID lockdown on the importance of empathy and kindness. Not everyone has a camera switched off during Zoom because they have left the room. There are a lot of domestic environments that are extremely challenging. This post attracted 95,525 likes/loves/support, 1,303, comments and 4,418,753 views, and the response overwhelmingly positive.
A camera with an integrated microphone will raise the quality of your recording to a professional standard. The VidVersity team has used various options from the Logitech range. This is the model I use, Brio Ultra HD Pro I find this incredibly easy to connect. I use a Mac however with a lightning adaptor, it is literally ‘plug and play’. I now use this for Zoom meetings as well as recorded content.
Most cameras will have an additional microphone that is sufficient for Zoom recordings. However, consider whether sound quality is an issue in which case, you may wish to invest in a lapel mic or desktop mic. This can then do double duty for podcasting, presentations, or interviews. Consider some basic aspects of the room you record in. A carpeted space will have better acoustics. Attention to these small details can make a really big difference in production quality.
A quality camera can bridge the gap if your lighting is not optimal, however there are some simple fixes. Sit in front of a window so light is cast on your face as you speak. You can also use a lamp and cover the globe with white paper if the light is too bright. There are plenty of simple lighting kits available online if you wish to complete the kit and have everything on hand.
Now you have your kit set up the next step is recording. To record a ‘piece to camera’, one of the simplest ways is to launch a Zoom meeting just for you. You can record, share your screen, and then an MP4 file will be available immediately after you end the session. I like to do a few different takes and then choose the best of the bunch. To conduct an interview as your video source, you can also use Zoom. Consider whether ‘speaker view’ or ‘gallery view’ will look best for the view once it is recorded. You may wish to edit out questions and have your interview subject speaking in which case speaker view will work best. Again, this is such a great way to access quality content for your suite of online training and learning. Take advantage of the skills we have all gained during COVID in accessing and recording Subject Matter Experts and to use this content to educate and enhance skills within your organisation or to provide value to your clients and customers.
The ability to record screen activity with a voiceover is an incredibly powerful and under utilised tool. There is no better way to create training tools or a resource library of ‘help’ content to assist users of software or online platforms. Here at VidVersity, each time we update a feature of the software or receive an inquiry, we will record a short video using screen record and voiceover. This can be sent as a stand-alone file or uploaded to an LMS or to a private YouTube account. For users of VidVersity, learners can receive a share link, upload to the LMS, or provide a secure login. A learner can return again and again to access information. Video is an incredibly powerful teaching tool even in the simplest of formats.
You can create great video with the simplest setup and minimal equiptment. A simple tool kit is all that is needed to raise the production quality to a level that will reflect positively on your organisation and support anyone producing training content in your team.
Here at VidVersity, we are all about empowering everyone in an organisation to create and share skills and knowledge. Why not check out our upcoming complimentary workshops to learn how to design, create, and deliver great online learning. Click here to sign up for our free self-paced workshop on creating video learning with VidVersity.
A little bit about VidVersity.
There are plenty of video editing platforms on the market but here at VidVersity we have created an end to end solution from capture, upload, easy editing and the ability to add interactions and a range of ways to deliver to your clients. Our key focus is ease of use so anybody can use it and a produce a high quality end product.
To find out more contact us at:
1300 928 090
Video is of course a powerful teaching tool. We all carry a sophisticated piece of video equipment in our back pocket and it is a great way to capture training for your staff and content to engage your customers and clients.
Interviewing a Subject Matter Expert is a really effective way to capture technical training or professional development content. For the consumer of this video learning, sound quality will be of greater importance than picture quality. Poor sound is annoying and problems will be evident once the learner is listening via high quality headphones.
We recommend a good quality lapel mic for live in person interviews, or when recording on work sites. Rode have a range of great mics. We love the wireless, lapel style. These cost around $300, are super compact and compatible with your phone and laptop.
https://djcity.com.au/product/rode-wireless-go-ii-single-compact-wireless-microphone-system/
With the inbuilt recording function in platforms such as Zoom, you can instantly create a video studio by launching a meeting and recording. Your laptop is likely to have a good quality microphone so you may not need additional sound equipment however the look and feel of the recording is important.
Firstly, get your lighting right. The best lighting is natural daylight in front of your face. You can face a window or if you need a quiet space but don’t have natural light, a lamp covered in white paper will create a similar effect.
A physical green screen will create a superior quality background and you can add the image of your choice and your corporate logo if you wish. Controlling the background removes distractions for learners and provides you with some creative license on how you are presenting your video ‘product’.
We use the Elgato pull up green screen. It’s not particularly portable so is ideally kept in the office or space where you intend to record but it’s fast to assemble and very stable. These cost around $300. You can built your background image and add your logo in a platform such as canva.
You might think the camera quality on your laptop looks ok, but plug in a high definition web cam and you will be blown away. We use Logitech here at VidVersity. They are compact, plug into any laptop and sit at the top of your screen and provide a mini studio with functionality such as auto light correction and an inbuilt microphone. Prices start at $99 and head all the way up as far you would like to go. However a price point of $99-$300 will give you all the functionality and picture quality you need.
https://www.logitech.com/en-au/products/webcams.html
There are so many ways to capture video for staff training or client engagement. In person interviews, Zoom or Teams recordings or even screen capture with voiceover to create instant video using Powerpoint or to demonstrate software. By setting up an essential equipment kit and having your ‘studio’ ready to go at any time, means video creation can become a normal part of your working day.
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