"Getting it right in the camera" is the best advice EVER:
- Get the camera setup right (audio, white balance, framing, record in AVCHD)
- SHOOT IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
- Use pauses (audio silence) to indicate minor goofs
- Use stop/start (new clip) to indicate major changes/restarts
- Avoid retakes: Get to the point where the first take is good 90% of the time.
The editing advice ("don't fiddle with the video") is also vital:
- Don't worry much about video fades: Jump cuts are almost always OK
- Don't bother with automated audio normalization (or other automatic "corrections")
- When needed, manually adjust levels between clips (mainly when changing cameras or setups)
- Use audio cross-fade between clips (and across edits?)
- Use a simple process for graphic and text overlays
Finally, rendering and upload advice:
- Use the output format that renders fastest with good quality
- Transcode only when upload time or storage space matters
- Get to the point where watching the final product is NOT NECESSARY
- Know when/how using the YouTube tools can save you time and/or improve your video
That's a good concise list.
So, Dave, how much (and what kinds of) pre-shoot preparation do you do for "Fundamentals Friday" videos?
Not much, mostly in my head thinking about the stuff I want to cover, maybe looking at some app notes or whatnot to see how other people have explained it before and see if I can do it clearer/simpler etc.
Sometimes I'll have a post-it note with a bullet point list of things to cover. But I find that more stuff always come up when I'm standing there explaining things, which is why most of my FF video's are longer than I expected.
Usually a few hours of prep work + time to set up breadboards etc.
Very often between takes I'll go look something up, and sometime I'll print out a datasheet etc so I have that handy, the same one I'll include in a screen overlay later.
And for debunking videos, I'll do calcs on a sheet of paper first so I know what the outcome will be and can copy them to the whiteboard hopefully without error. And usually in the order I want to explain them.
But in the end I'm still winging it when I hit record. Sometimes good explanations come out, sometimes more waffle than I wanted.
Sometimes I'll think of something after the shoot, and maybe go back and add a clip, or just do a voiceover in the edit.
I always want to start and finish (including editing) a video in a day. As I think spending more than day on one video is generally not a good investment of my time, and it ruins the flow. But some videos will inevitably spill over into the 2nd day.