With no prior knowledge of non-linear editing, and indeed, not having ever edited video before in my life, I dove into the deep end yesterday to produce a short video describing iotum Talk-Now, the Blackberry application which we’re previewing. It ended up being a late night as I ran into the shortcomings of the various tools I was using. However, I think the end result “not bad”. The video was produced using Camtasia for screen captures, AVS Video Editor for non-linear editing, and Powerpoint 2007 for the intermediate slides and clip-art. The live video was shot using the Project-A-Phone ICD-5000, with Blackberrys clamped on the stand. The background music is Janos Starker playing Bach’s Cello Suite no 1.
Judge for yourself, and feel free to critique, or suggest production tools. I liked the result enough that I may just do it again. With a better quality video camera, and a little practice with Camtasia, the results might be very compelling.Â
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
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The application is so impressive that your production skills really don’t matter
Thank you both! It was fun to do.
The video is terrific. I kinda knew what you guys were doing, but this really gave me a great feel for what its like operationally.
Fun! Good job.
A couple of thoughts.
If you are going to do more of these, invest in a pop filter that will reduce pop or create a pop filter yourself–the pop is quite distracting. You can make a pop filter out of an embroidery hoop and an old nylon. Put the filter in front of your microphone. If you want to buy a pop filter, they are not terribly expensive–check out http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/CAD-EPF15A-6Inch-Flexible-Pop-Filter?sku=420373 .
Second, don’t just post to YouTube. I would also post to Revver simply because you can garner ad revenue–the revenue might not be huge, but it should be enough to pay for the pop filter! At least eventually.
You have a good voice, but I think a female voice would be more compelling and pleasant to listen to.
Otherwise, very effective – I understood the application by the end of it.
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