Sneaky Bastard

I bought a Snowball by Blue Microphones recently. I used it for the first time to create a screencast last night. Using the little tri-pod that they provide (which is a very nicely designed, chrome part) it was too far away from my face when placed on the desk. I picked up a larger microphone stand with a telescoping boom, and that is perfect.

The screencast I created is on a pager solution that I use, and wanted to share with others, and hopefully, get some feedback. Here’s the process I used to create the screencast.

• Using Keynote, I created a series of slides in with static information. I exported the slides from Keynote to video using a Quicktime conversion to HD 720p with fixed timing for each slide — about one second per slide.
• I imported the video into a Final Cut Express video project. Using the Freeze Frame tool on each slide (a frame showing each slide), I created a clip about two minutes in length. Then I added the freeze frame clip to the timeline and used the Voiceover tool. After several takes doing the voiceovers, I trimmed the video down to match.
• For the demo of the of Firefox and Eclipse, I used iShowU with live audio. I made several short captures, then added them each to the project in Final Cut. The screen capture was at 1280×720 using the Apple Intermediate Codec. The file sizes are huge, but the quality is pixel perfect.
• I exported the sequence from Final Cut to MPEG-4 (H.264/AAC) using the settings that Vimeo recommends, and then uploaded it their site for conversion to Flash Video.

It’s a bit of work, but it’s good practice for presenting and training.