Video tutorials are a great way to teach someone how to do something computer related. If the lesson requires that the student observe the mouse movements the teacher uses, the menus they open and options they choose, then video tutorials are the ideal format. And you’d be surprised by how easy they are to create.
Let’s explore how to create a video tutorial that teaches people how to use an internet browser like Internet Explorer. All you need is:
- screen recording software
- a microphone
- Internet Explorer
Screen Recording Software
Screen recording software records every mouse movement and every click you make. You start the recording process with a mouse click, perform your tutorial and then end the recording with another mouse click. Simple!
The video recording is held in a file that has a particular format, and this file can be edited by your screen recording software. Common edits that people make are to cut out unwanted parts of the recording and to zoom in on certain parts of the screen.
Once the editing is complete, you can “export” the project into a particular movie format like .FLV, .MOV or .AVI, to name a few.
There are a few free screen recording programs, like CamStudio, and then there are the more professional tools like Camtasia. Camtasia is by far the better product, but the downside is the price tag ($260).
The Microphone
Many people create video tutorials that have no sound. In certain circumstances, this is OK, but most tutorials will be enhanced immensely by the presence of narration. The teacher can talk the student through precisely what they are doing and also explain why.
When shopping for your microphone, don’t just get the cheapest one! Cheaper microphones tend to introduce a lot of distortion that the more expensive ones leave out. You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars either, as you can get a good one for under $100. The Samson CO1U USB Condenser Microphone, for example, is only $75 yet offers superb studio quality.
Internet Explorer
We chose Internet Explorerhere, simply because most computers have this browser installed. However, the program that your tutorial is about could be anything:Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word etc.
How To Create A Video Tutorial
Check out this video tutorial. You could be making tutorials like this very soon!
Once you have your screen recording software, a good microphone and the program your tutorial is about, you are ready to start! The very first thing you should do is write a script. Unless you are very good at thinking on your feet and improvising, making it up as you go along is usually a bad idea. Without a script, there’s a good chance that you will falter and just lose the thread. Nothing sounds more unprofessional than long gaps in the recording as you struggle to think of the next thing to say.
Your screen recording software should have a pause button that you can use when you feel you need to look at your script. And when you resume the recording, it’s seamless: nobody knows that you paused there.
Another tip is to record in chunks. If you are recording a total of 1 hour’s worth of video tutorial, try recording 12 lots of 5 minutes. Handling your recording this way is easier than trying to record a large amount and then editing it later.
Be prepared to make mistakes and re-record again. Even with a script, you will find that you trip over your words and get tongue-tied. Don’t worry, this is natural. Even the most natural and spontaneous sounding tutors are working from a script and have made many attempts to get to the finished article.
What you are making as you record are the source files. You edit these source files after you’ve recorded them to get them the way you want them and then export the movie. The exported movie is what the student sees.
When editing your recording, think about what areas of the screen the student needs to see. If the screen is large, but the menu you’ve opened is small, maybe you should zoom in to that small area so that the viewer can see better what you are doing. Once you’ve completed that task, you can zoom out again. Alternatively, if you have zoomed in on one area, you can stay zoomed in as you pan smoothly to another area of the screen. Do whatever is necessary to make your tutorial more easily understood.
If you want to display your own branding on your movie, you can add a watermark. People often use the name of their website as a watermark, or the name of their company. To add a watermark, you may first need to use a program like Photoshop to create an appropriate image.
Bear in mind what medium will carry your video tutorial. Movies can get very big and if the student has to download the whole thing in its entirety, that will be a pain. Think about breaking up the movie into more easily downloadable segments. If you are going to burn the tutorial to a DVD, you can use larger movies, but even so, smaller sections might be easier for the student to search through.
Once you’ve made a dazzling and stylish video tutorial, maybe you should upload it to Youtube!
