Project explainer video

Produce a short video presentation that documents and explains the project process and outcomes for a general audience unfamiliar with the work (1-3 minutes).

Creating the video

There are different approaches to documentation video. A typical documentation video consists of the following:

1. Short concept statement on screen, including title. Ensure that it is visible long enough to be read. This should simply be readable white text on a black background.
2. Images or video clips showing the work at various stages of development, or key aspects that you developed to make the project successful.
3. Overlay text on top of the images and video to describe the project's development and outcomes. Alternatively, you can use voice narration to describe the project.

Software Tutorials

Recording and editing software

• Screen Recording
  • Apple Quicktime
  • How record your screen with Quicktime
• Screenflow (free trial)
  • Lynda course
• Camtasia (free trial)
  • LinkedIn Learning
• Zoom
  • Using Zoom to record a slides presentation
• Video Editors (NLE)
  • Adobe Premiere Pro — Great all purpose editor
    • Adobe Premiere Pro: Adding text to video
    • Essential Training (LinkedIn Learning)
  • Adobe AfterEffects — For fancy animations
    • Essential Training: Motion Graphics (LinkedIn Learning)
  • Adobe Spark — For simple slideshow videos — Easy!
    • Telling a Story with Adobe Spark (LinkedIn Learning)

Exporting Your Video

Videos should be exported as a .mp4 file with an h.264 codec. This is most common format for distributing videos on the web.

1920px x 1080px is standard HD video size, so that's a great target to make your video, but if you have a conceptual or technical reason you need to size your video differently, other sizes may be acceptable.

• How to export in H.264 format with Adobe Premiere

Videos should be smaller than 500MB. To decrease your filesize, you can try the following:

• Ensure you are using the h.264 codec
• Decrease your video's bitrate in the export settings (for refernce check out the recommended bitrate settings for YouTube). Bitrate is basically how much detail goes into each frame of your video.
• If you aren't happy with the results from that you can always decrease the overall size of your video to 1280px by 720px or something similar.

Submission details

• Upload an .mp4 video file to the canvas assignment.
• The video should be:
  • Smaller than 500MB
  • 1-3 minutes long
  • h.264 codec