Thank you for choosing to work with us in the Center for Instructional Design & Technology! Although getting in front of a camera can be intimidating, especially if it’s not something you commonly do, the opportunities it provides are well worth it!  With that in mind, here are some tips for getting ready before you come to the studio.

Schedule Early

Rush jobs aren’t usually a good thing. Our team can make a good video for you in less than a week if that’s absolutely necessary, but we prefer at least two weeks for the post-production process of editing the raw film footage and adding closed captions. 

Write a Script

Even if you only plan to talk for 60 seconds, a script will help you remember everything you want to include. We can also use your script to help us create closed captions to meet federal guidelines for digital accessibility.

As you write, follow these suggestions to lengthen the shelf life of your video (Norman, 2017):

• Avoid references to earlier and later lectures or modules — You may want to change the organizational structure later on, making such references moot. Keep your script generic.
• Avoid discussing other assignments — Again, if you modify your course design in the future, the video becomes out of date.
• Avoid using web links — Since links change all the time, it’s best to limit URLs to your slide presentations or course content pages, which you can edit as needed.
• Avoid university-specific references — Offices change locations and people change positions. Go with basic references such as “a librarian” or “the Registrar’s office” as much as possible.
• Avoid referring to current events - Students watching your video in the middle of September don’t necessarily need to hear about the wonderful Christmas you had. Talking about current events is fine if you only plan to use your video once.

Keep It Short, If Possible

A large-scale study has shown that students engage best with videos under 6 minutes. Engagement drops a bit for videos between 6 and 9 minutes, then begins to plummet when videos are between 9 and 12 minutes (Guo, Kim, & Rubin, 2014). Guo and colleagues also found that the narrator's speaking rate affected student engagement; the faster the speaking rate, the more students paid attention. Of course, we understand that longer videos are necessary sometimes, such as for interviews. Still, you might consider ways to chunk your presentation into several videos that comprise a whole, so students can watch each segment at their convenience.

Dress Accordingly

Some things look and sound better on camera and will help enhance your presentation’s appearance. Also, the lights can be a bit warm, so if you wish, bring a handkerchief or cloth in case you need to take care of a glistening forehead. 

Items to Avoid

• Very brightly colored clothes
• Pure white articles (especially white shirts) 
• Jewelry other than a ring, bracelet or short earring
• Crinkly clothes (as in fabric that makes a sound when you move, like corduroy)
• Dress jackets

Items That Tend to Do Well

• Polo and button-up shirts
• Simple blouses (colorful is nice as long as it’s simple)
• Slacks
• Skirts
• Short earrings
• Ties
• Vests 

Add Extras

We’re very flexible. Prefer slides in your video? Sounds good. Curious to try the green screen so you can look like you’re in Britain during World War II? We can make that happen! Contact us with your requests before the recording date.

Relax

Cameras are not judging you for your eloquence or presentation. Imagine the camera is one of your students. Look at the camera and share your information clearly, as if you were talking with a person. 

Take Several Takes

Flubbed a line? Lost your place? Take a breath and start over -- that’s what professional actors do all the time. The Technical Assistant will be able to edit the raw footage, even cut out any “Um” or “Ah” moments. Again, just relax.

 

Thanks again for allowing us to work with you. Please contact us with any questions.

InstructionalDesign@nnu.edu
(208) 467-8034

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Works Cited

Guo, P. J., Kim, J., & Rubin, R. L. (2014). How video production affects student engagement: An empirical study of MOOC videos. In L@S '14 Proceedings of the First ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale, Atlanta (pp. 41-50). New York: ACM. Retrieved from http://pgbovine.net/edX-video-production-research.htm

Norman, M. (January 16, 2017). Extending the shelf-life of your instructional videos: Six common pitfalls to avoid [Blog post]. Retrieved from Faculty Focus at https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-with-technology-articles/extending-shelf-life-instructional-videos-six-common-pitfalls-avoid