Case Study 2/29/2016 How To Create High Quality Online Videos Using Affordable Software!

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another online teaching case study! In this weeks case study, we are going to be discussing: How To Create The Highest Quality Videos Possible For Your Online Video Courses!

I will be discussing three main areas and showing you specific examples from my own online courses! The three main areas we will be discussing in this post are:

1) What Video Editing Software You Should Look At Investing In To Create High Quality Videos

2) The Benefits and Differences Between Filming Indoors & Outdoors

3) Taking Your Videos To The Next Level By Adding Text/Pictures/Overlay

Let’s get started!

We are first going to be discussing What Video Editing Software You Should Use and Invest In.

When I first started teaching online I used quicktime screen capture software (Mac computer, free software) and a Blue Snowball USB microphone.

I also used iMovie to edit the screen capture videos (free Mac Editing Software)

Needless to say these were the absolute bare essentials to creating an online video course. In the past year my video editing skills and video recording skills have evolved immensely!

I have invested in using a new video editing software called Final Cut Pro X! They have a 30 day free trial and then after that it costs $299.00 to buy the full version.

Without going into to much detail about the specifics of how Final cut Pro works, this new editing software has allowed me creating amazing looking videos shot form all around the world! Here are a few examples of Finished videos with Final Cut Pro X! 

I highly recommend using Final Cut Pro X as a vital investment into creating professional looking videos for your online courses!

If you are a Windows user (or Mac User) another comparable software editing system is Camtasia Studio! I personally have not worked with this video editing software, but have heard very good things and have seen some excellent videos edited using this software.

Camtasia also has a free trial option and costs right around the same as Final Cut Pro X does for the full version ($299.00 for Camtasia 8)

2) The Benefits and Differences Between Filming Indoors & Outdoors

Now that we have an idea of what software editing program we need its time to go out and start shooting some videos! I have create a whole blog post on which Cameras I recommend, so we will skip that for now, but I wanted to share my experience filing indoors (with a green screen) vs. filming outdoors (in nature/public places)

Filming indoors:

The Pro's

There are a lot of different reasons why filming indoors is a great way to create high quality videos. First, you really do not have to worry about any weather conditions, (unless your power get cut off) or microphone issues (as long as you are in a quite room without background noises). Second, filming indoors can be very comfortable as most people will be likely filming in their own homes or a professional studio. Third, setting up and recording should be easy once you have everything in line and set up! Here is an example of me using my green screen indoors! It was worth the effort to learn these skills!

The Con's

Setting up and getting all of the lighting/equipment to work perfectly can be a pain in the neck. I remeber it taking me hours to finally have everything set up the way I liked it the first time I filmed indoors! Second, you are limited to what you can do indoors. It's not like you can move around a lot on screen because you are in a fixed area. Third, you may only be able to film during certain times (maybe you live with a roommate/family/ect and you cannot film in a certain area at a certain time).

Filming Outdoors: 

The Pro's

You can really engage and inspire your students by filming outdoors! Some of my bestselling courses have multiple lectures where I film outdoors! You also have a lot of flexibility when filming outdoors! You can move around more, get different angles, and shoot almost anywhere at anytime! Here is an awesome example of me filming outdoors!

The Con's 

Weather can always be a big factor when trying to film outdoors. When its cloudy, windy, or even rainy/cold, mother nature can ruin your video before you even begin! Always be aware of the current weather before starting your video shoot!

3) Taking Your Videos To The Next Level By Adding Text/Pictures/Overlay

A wonderful way to engage your students and enhance your videos is byAdding Text/Pictures/Overlay to your videos! Using your new software there may be multiple different ways to do this, however let me show you a few examples from my own videos! 

Here you see I have added simple text "Special Bonus" to my video to have it look more professional!

In this picture I have a video inside of a vide using the picture in picture option!

These are just a few way you can make your videos more engaging, professional, and take them to the next level!

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks case study! There are many ways to begin teaching online, but this should give you some great ideas that have worked for myself and many other online instructors! Stay tuned next week were I discuss more online teaching strategies.

Thank you for reading our blog post today! If you have any questions please feel free to post your comments below!

Also, you can check out all of my blog posts for FREE by going to:

http://joeparysacademy.blogspot.com/

Sincerely,

Joe Parys​