Once you have developed a storyboard or script and have begun recording your video for your course, it’s important to know what the next steps for processing your videos are. Here are five helpful tips for the beginning director (and self-proclaimed star of the show). 

1. Have adequate storage and computer options. Before you can begin editing your footage, you have to have the right equipment to be able to store any footage you upload. This comes in the form of a fast hard drive and at least 8GB of memory—the more, the better. If you have a computer with a lot of the hard drive used up already, consider purchasing an external hard drive that can be plugged in via USB to give your computer a needed boost. Store any files and folders on this device.

2. Pick the right software or application for editing. The software you choose will vary depending on the type of computer you have and what features you are interested in using for editing. A trial version is best to start with, so you can experiment with various programs and make sure they do exactly what you need. For each trial, use a tutorial and learn the program’s terminology and keyboard shortcuts so you can navigate with ease. A quick Google search will give you dozens of options, but some of the most popular editing programs include:

• Mac or PC: Adobe Premiere Pro, Lightworks 
• Mac: iMovie (pre-installed usually), Final Cut Pro
• PC: Windows Movie Maker (pre-installed on some PCs), Filmora
• Mobile device applications: Adobe Premiere Rush, PowerDirector, LumaFusion

3. Editing clips creates engaging, clever content. No one wants to sit and wait for you to collect your thoughts while they are listening to you during a screencast or watching you on camera. Editing out pauses and any unnecessary blips will speed up your video time and keep viewers actively listening. If you are showing an interviewee, switch camera angles as you ask questions and they respond. Make it original and flow as if the viewer is in your shoes. When initially filming, it never hurts to have more footage than you need or to take multiple clips in different areas. You can mix and match these clips, use pieces from one shot to the next as transition, or save for a later project or module. As you omit content, you may consider creating additional video lessons to reduce the time of the current video. Don’t try to cram everything into one project. As stated in previous blogs, bite-sized bits of information are more retainable and engaging.

4. Organization is key. Remember as you edit, you are telling the viewer/listener a story. Try to follow the storyboard or outline that you have created, but feel free to make creative changes and edits as necessary, to follow a “path” and keep it interesting. Watch the footage multiple times through and use markers in your program, or write down with pen and paper, the timestamps that you deem as needed/not need footage. As you splice and trim footage, keep clips saved in folders that have descriptive names. You should even keep the unwanted clips somewhere in the sub-folders in case you find a place for them later on. Using your storyboard and new notes, rearrange the clips to create your edited video!

5. Add effects to keep viewers’ attention. Effects come in a variety of options–text, graphics, animations, etc. As with almost everything, less is more, so keep this in mind as you get creative. You can add instrumental music at the intro and ending that fades in or out. Clean, simple text (usually white) can be used to introduce a speaker or spell out a concept you are talking about. Animations and annotations can be added in the form of arrows or shapes, especially in screencasts or PowerPoints, to guide the students’ eyes to a certain area you are talking about. 

Now that you have rearranged, edited, and added effects to your video, walk away and come back with a fresh viewpoint. Watch your video from start to end and catch any issues that you may not have noticed before. Feel free to do this throughout the editing process as well. Once you are happy with the final product, export the video in the file format you would like to use in your course. 

After all that hard work, you have a completed video, and now it needs somewhere to go. Upload your new video to DigitalChalk’s chalkboard for a quick and easy way to add media to your course content. You can upload any video files up to 1 GB in size and an hour in length. We can support short microcontent, long video courses, and anything in between. Watch this video to learn how to add media to the chalkboard: