I will probably use this very blog post as a script for my first video (number zero) to test and verify my setup. Or maybe I just upload a repetitive loop of a funny sound when taking off my headphones and call it "Klak Test" instead.
Video #0: "Klak Test"
I could watch this for hours. Maybe I should put an old television screen looping this video and call it an art installation. But seriously...
No more Meetups?
I love(d) going to meetups, the kind of micro-conferences after work where you can meet fellow developers, have a drink, and share some tech news and experiences. Meetups made me feel connected to the developer world beyond my current company or project. This is what it felt like until 2020.
Good old times: standing around, talking and holding drinks in their hands at a pre-pandemic meetup. I love in-person meetups!
When I stepped in as a co-organizer of the Cologne Web Performance meetup group, the COVID pandemic changed the work culture a lot. Suddenly everyone was allowed and even encouraged to work from home, there were hardly any in-person events in the tech scene anymore for the next 2 years, and it still hasn't fully recovered.
But it gave us the opportunity to open up our local communities to a more international crowd and pretend to overcome Brexit, at least for a few hours. Here is a typical meetup experience in 2021: I hosted a talk by @grahamthedev – 100% remote, no "cheers mate, hold my beer".
My talk about Google's new Core Web Vitals metrics was only a Zoom meeting. Instead of standing in front of a local audience, I was sitting at my desk, staring at my laptop screen, unable to see if anyone was still listening. As we had decided not to record our virtual events, I couldn't publish any of my meetup talks. Instead, I started a blog series at "The Practical DEV" on DEV.to back then, and now I am going to publish a video blog series with updated versions of some of my blog posts.
Recording videos at home
In my first video, I want to show my new setup and verify that it works as expected. I will use my mobile phone as a camera, attached to this ring lamp, and a second smartphone mounted on a smaller tripod on my desktop so that I can switch between both viewpoints during the video. I will use my laptop computer to record presentations or live coding using screen capture software to ensure readability. I will use a microphone with a windscreen and a pop filter for better voice quality.
When the setup is ready
Once the setup is ready, I can record my video like a conference talk with live coding and room for improvisation. Later, I will merge my sources using a video editing software like Flowblade and add subtitles to make the video more accessible and prepare for possible translation. I can also add the text as a transcript of the video when uploading to YouTube or an educational tutorial platform.
To focus on content and coding and not waste too much time on editing, I will try to keep it simple and focus on the screen capture and audio track, and add the camera video to insert my face next to the code, much like in a video conference, but in better quality. Maybe I don't need a second camera at all.
Focus on content, don't get lost in video editing
I won't do much video cutting, either. There will be an introduction before "screen sharing" and a conclusion at the end. If I want to cut out lengthy parts or accidents, I will do that at the end, so I don't have to worry about getting the different sources out of sync. And, of course, I will have to get used to my tools (flowblade and ffmpeg) which turned out to be slightly less amateur-friendly than iMovie.
That's my idea of a video setup without much hassle but with more of a live event atmosphere than the usual "techie guy at a laptop" recordings. Maybe that's quite over-ambitious, and I will come back to just sitting at my desktop and reading my articles aloud, skip the intro and cutting different sources like I did in this video introducing my setup.
Introducing my video recording setup
I have recorded a video of my setup test, but it is not 100% finished yet, and I think the "klak test" short on top is even better ;-)
To watch my upcoming content, you can subscribe to my new YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@ingosteinke.
Next, I will proceed with content from previous talks and blog posts to focus more on web development. Stay tuned and subscribe if you like!
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