Help! Need to make a video

[Wicked Dark]

I'm so frigging ignorant of this kind of thing.

My business partner and I are launching a new company which will have a private, online community component. I want to put together a series of videos to help people with the site itself. How to and take a tour type stuff. Welcome video...you know.

I haven't the least idea how to go about it. I have MS Office and Google Docs and some other weird Microsoft stuff, but nothing seems to make sense. I envision something with a voice over (my laptop has a mike) and only a couple of minutes long each. Something with screen shots of the site and me pointing, clicking and narrating features and where things are.

Can anyone offer any suggestions or tutorials? There is SO MUCH out there that I think I'm going to spin my wheels for a long time just sorting it out. Free or nearly free is preferred since we have yet to make dime one.

So I guess what I'm asking is who has used screen capture and recording software before and can tell me which are easy to use and which aren't. There are a million of them.

TIA

[Richard]

I've done some video's at work using Adobe After Effects and Premier, impressive packages but also pretty impressive price tags...

Since your looking for a cheap/free option, you could try using windows movie maker to chop and edit your work, and windows media encoder to actually capture the screen and voice. You might want to invest in a headset to improve the audio quality.

Audacity is a freeware wav editor that will allow you to boost your captured audio to a usable level and add reverb etc.


I can dig out some download links if that is of help...

[Wicked Dark]

I've been poking around CNet today trying to figure this out and have come up with some candidates to try. I hesitate to try to manage a video and audio editor separately and then try to combine them, but thanks for the ideas.

[Wicked Dark]

Well I think I have it under control. I downloaded a totally free screen recorder and have made some trial videos. My voice is way better on the recording than it is in my head and for that I'm grateful. Now I have to write a script so I don't say 'uh' too much or other stupid things.

[Iguanasan]

Sorry I just stumbled into this. I really like CamStudio which is free. If you run into problems with what you have you can get CamStudio here: CamStudio - Free Screen Recording Software

Also, if you need something to edit the videos and you are on Windows then Windows Movie Maker is built in and available for use. Just look under Start...All Programs...Accessories

[Richard]

Well I think I have it under control. I downloaded a totally free screen recorder and have made some trial videos. My voice is way better on the recording than it is in my head and for that I'm grateful. Now I have to write a script so I don't say 'uh' too much or other stupid things.

cool, I hope it all works out for you.

[Wicked Dark]

I think it is Cam Studio that I'm using, however I wish it did something pretty basic that I need. I want to circle or otherwise *subtley* highlight an area of the website that I'm referring to. Right now I have to circle my mouse around. Our site is geared toward CIOs, CEOs and other fairly high level guys, so I don't want to appear like it's amateur hour. LOL.

[Richard]

I've never used cam studio but my friend Google says:

Options > Cursor Options > Visual Click Feedback (no different noises for each left/right click though)

this is on beta 2.5 and onwards.

If all else fails you could always distract them from the video by offering them coffee and biscuits and a look at you photographic portfolio....

[Wicked Dark]

Thanks Rich - I'll give that a try on the next go round. I didn't even see that under options at first. I found screen annotations, but they are too big and clumsy and I don't want to annotate per se, just highlight.