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My Screencasting Workflow

Laurie on April 23, 2020

This post was originally published on laurieontech.dev I was scrolling through twitter the other day and happened upon my friend, Jake Dohm, prett...
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John Munsch

I also make sure to turn off notifications, remove extraneous visuals (like the bookmark bar in the browser), etc.

I can't speak to Windows, but on a Mac, create an additional user specifically for screencasting. Set the wallpaper to something simple that looks nice, the resolution and aspect ratio, remove the clock from the corner (if it changes in the editing, it's distracting), and since it's not "you" it will keep you away from most notifications, unwanted bookmarks or autocompletions in the browser, etc.

You can also do away with most of the unneeded toolbar tchotchkes and dock apps too.

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Ted Stresen-Reuter

I also set up some kind of sharing (Google Drive) with my screencasting user and my main user and before I start recording, I put all the resources I might need into the shared folder. It makes it easy to copy files back and forth if needed.

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Laurie

Yup, I know lots of people who do that! I find it's more of a pain if I'm recording something quick, but it's a solid option.

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Thomas Lombart • Edited

I did some screencasts in the past and I found myself constantly re-recording. I spent too much time doing that... Why didn't I think of recording first and then adding the sound?

Anyway, thanks for this great (and enlightening) post! 😄

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Shaiju T

Good one, 😄, I have heard OBS is good for recording. Is there any open source solutions for Editing Video, like Cropping, Adding Narration, Adding Transition Effects etc. ? Also instead of Video Transition Effects I think we can use Animated PPT with Transition Effects.

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elfalem

Not sure about Mac, but Kdenlive is a popular option for Linux.

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Laurie

Since I use Screenflow I’m not super familiar with the alternatives 😕

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Sia Karamalegos

I never thought of zooming in on the recording. I usually use my smaller screen to record and up the font size on everything before starting (VS Code, browser, browser dev tools). I should try the voice over method. I've been doing both at once. Thanks for the tips!

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Nick Scialli (he/him)

Woah, narration after recording! That does seem pretty unique. I wish I could pull that off but imagine it'd be hard to get the timing right. Is that ever an issue?

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Laurie

That’s what the freeze frame is for! But more often than not it isn’t necessary. When you’re not worried about typing it’s easier to keep pace with what’s on the screen.

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Ahmed Mahmoud

That was really helpful. I will apply it and make my first video!

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Gift Egwuenu

This is an amazing post! I spent hours the other day trying to record a video and more hours editing it.

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Brian Douglas

Thanks for sharing. I had not thought of the freeze-frame tip.